The 1973 issue 4 of The Audio Amateur closes out the year with a focus on high-power amplification, precision recording tools, and foundational engineering theory. Here are the highlights to entice your inner audio craftsman:
- The Listening Machines: Part 1: Embark on a journey into the world of microphones. Richard Honeycutt explores the fascinating history and complex working principles of the devices that stand at the beginning of every recording chain.
- A Modified Dolby B: Transform your Advent 101 into a professional-grade tool. Fred Gloeckler provides a detailed guide to modifying this classic unit, slashes distortion, and expanding frequency response for serious live recording sessions.
- Reduce Speaker Distortion by Tuning a Pipe: Audio innovator Nelson Pass presents a creative new application for the bass reflex principle. Learn how "tuning a pipe" can significantly lower distortion in your loudspeaker enclosures.
- An Electrostatic Speaker System: Part II: Experience the sheer authority of high-voltage sound. David Hermeyer unveils a massive 900-watt amplifier designed to be coupled directly to electrostatic panels for unparalleled transparency.
- A Power Doubler: Craving more power for your 4-ohm loads? John E. Hill shares a clever technical "trick" using inverters to effectively double the power delivery of your existing amplifier.
- Multipath Distortion: Master your FM tuner's performance. Learn how to use an oscilloscope to visualize and eliminate the signal-degrading reflections that cause multipath distortion, ensuring pristine radio reception.
- Audio Fundamentals: The Matching Myth: Reginald Williamson returns to debunk common misconceptions about impedance. Discover how to properly load your components to achieve a truly flat frequency response.
- Learning to Use Transistors: Master the art of small signal design. This installment provides the critical equations and biasing techniques needed to build stable, high-performance amplifiers.
- Book Talk: Build your technical library with confidence. R.H. Miller evaluates essential texts on everything from basic electricity to advanced integrated circuit applications.
- Tips & Techniques: Tap into the collective wisdom of the TAA community. This issue features ingenious hacks for Dynaco PAT-4 capacitor upgrades, Rabco tonearm improvements, and essential circuit board mounting techniques.
Table of Contents
- The Listening Machines: Part 1: by Richard A. Honeycutt ........................................ 3
- A Modified Dolby B: by Fred M. Gloeckler, Jr. ................................................................ 4
- Reduce Speaker Distortion by Tuning a Pipe: by Nelson Pass .................................... 6
- An Electrostatic Speaker System: Part II: by David P. Hermeyer ............................. 9
- A Power Doubler: by John E. Hill ....................................................................................... 13
- Book Talk: by R.H. Miller ................................................................................................... 15
- Tips & Technique: by readers Taylor, Hazlehurst, Wiley and others .......................... 17
- Audio Fundamentals: The Matching Myth: by Reginald Williamson .......................... 20
- Multipath Distortion: by Robert E. Berglas .................................................................... 23
- Learning to Use Transistors: Part 11: by C.N.G. Matthews .......................................... 24
- LETTERS ................................................................................................................................. 27
- CLASSIFIED ............................................................................................................................. 30
- JUST LOOKING ..................................................................................................................... 30
- AD INDEX ............................................................................................................................... 28