Topic noboby wants to think about?

[mg196]

... but there's the irony... a lot of the content sucks too!!

Dude! There are so many cool channels that I listen to! Of course with 200+ channels you are gonna have a bunch of junk, but where on the FM Dial can you find stuff like...

(un)Signed - XM 52: New/Emerging Rock from Canada
Laugh Attack - XM 153: Uncensored Comedy

There are so many channels specifically tailored for specific audiences, you'd be hard pressed NOT to be able to find at least one channel you'd enjoy.

 

[Brian]

I too listen to FM for the majority of listening time. Primarily 3 stations: 91.1, 94.1 and 96.3. Jazz, Classical/Jazz and Classical.. Not even sure if there are other stations here in Toronto . What scares me is when someone sas a broadcast is as good as a CD. Yipes, has it come down that far? I think I'll keep polishing my tonearm and buy more LPs.

 

[doug s.]

My KT-8300 seems to be getting a bit wonky... it even conked out last night for a few hours!. Looks like it is time for a trip to the spa for a tune-up, recapping and alignment.

I was contemplating investing some $$ in some audiophile mods as well, but this discussion is bringing me down and making me rethink my assumptions about the near-term ( 5 -10 years ) outlook for analog FM broadcasts.

I'd hate to sink in a few hundred $$ in modifications only to find my favourite FM sources off the air in less than 5 years!

I don't really believe this will happen in that timeframe, but not knowing what a probable timeline looks like is a bit unsettling.

Until today, my personal assumptions were that digital broadcasting in Canada probably needed a minimum of 2 - 3 years (maybe even 5 years) to establish a firm toe-hold, and that it would be closer to 10 years before we saw any significant decline in the availability of existing analog FM broadcast sources. In fact I was thinking it might be more like 20 years before a major decline in FM was underway. Is this completely unrealistic?

several reasons why you should mod that tuna:
-fm is 90% of your listening. (it's ~95% of mine! )
-the cost is negligible, even if you get only five years out of it (and you will likely get a lot more than that).
-the kt-8300 is a mediocre sounding tuna when in stock form, but an absolutely stellar performer when modded - if you have a hi-rez system, you will be *floored* by the difference.

go for it!!! :yes:

doug s.

 

[doug s.]

Well, I listen to it in the car, which I don't find to be a very good "test room." On my car speakers it sounds just fine to me...clearer than FM.

Everything is a trade-off. I would rather have a MUCH wider selection of stations at a lower quality than only a handful (at most) of FM stations at a slightly higher quality.

I know it isn't considered "Simulcast," but I remember turning down the volume on Cleveland Indians TV broadcasts on Channel 43 and turning up the dial on the radio to listen to Herb Score call the games.

yure right everything is a trade off. i don't listen to tunes in the car, so xm does nothing for me there. in the home, the sound is completely unlistenable as a serious music listening source, so i don't care *what* the content is. you absolutely can *NOT* sit in the sweet spot & listen to a digital broadcast on any system even remotely resembling a hi-rez system. even as background music, i can only listen for ~30 minutes before i get a headache.

fortunately for me, jazz, blues, latin, caribbean & world music is at the top of my listening list, & wpfw 89.3 in downtown dc broadcasts a clean strong uncompressed signal. the sound, w/a nice tuna, easily rivals hi-end digital & analogue playback systems. i send wpfw money every year - if they stop broadcasting, 90% of my music enjoyment is gone. :scratch2:

digital radio SUCKS!

ymmv,

doug s.

 

[soundoc03]

Man, this is one depressing thread.

I'm no Luddite, but for God's sake, why in blazes can't these money-grubbing S.O.B.s just leave us the hell alone? And let the average person and their wallets alone? And live in peace and let us do what WE want instead of iBiquity and Queer Channel want?

I wonder how much these broadcasting corporations paid the government to railroad their propaganda through Congress and get it passed. Supposedly broadcasters act in the public interest and use publicly-owned airwaves. Well, I'M the public, $&$ #@$# it, and no one asked ME what I wanted!! First HDTV and now THIS $hit!!:gigglemad

I'm doing a slow burn here and I'm frustrated and getting angry and there's not ONE set of ears out there that gives a rat's a$$ what I think that can actually DO anything about this ramming this $hit down our throats!

I know I'm ranting, guys, but I'm getting sick and tired of change for change's sake. REAL progress would be improvements in things over the status quo. We're not GETTING progress, we're getting forced CHANGE!! We care, we see the problems, we don't like what's coming down the pike. The majority of sheeple ( good call ) DON'T care, they DON'T see the problems, they DON'T give a crap about sound quality, and, remarkably, THEY get to make the call as to what we all get!

Every electronic advance so far has been a true advance in the art and science of accurate sound reproduction: the transitions from AM to FM to FM stereo, as well as tubes to transistors, and wax cylinders to shellac discs to vinyl microgroove LP's to stereo to CD. This IBOC stuff is a step BACKWARDS, and it's being allowed and forced onto us solely for cash profit. And it SUCKS!

It isn't right, gentlemen!!

*gets off my soapbox and stomps off*

Tom

"Depression = anger without enthusiasm"- Steven Wright

 

[mg196]

i don't listen to tunes in the car, so xm does nothing for me there.

Yeah, there is so much ambient noise that all of those headache-inducing frequencies can't be heard.

Then again, FM radios in the home still have that OTHER headache-inducing element - COMMERCIALS!

Have you tried to run the XM signal thru an EQ to make it listenable for background music?

 

[bob adams]

I was wrong over on the Digital (IBOC) Radio News thread

about Congress giving the HDTV industry $900 million dollars to have peoples analog TVs converted to receive digital broadcasts. The number is 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money. Here's a link.

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/mostread/s_401695.html

Nothing but corporate welfare.

 

[bob adams]

And quoting one line in the editorial

"Gattuso says defenders of this entitlement argue that taxpayers will not be burdened by its costs because the government's sale of the analog frequencies will yield perhaps $10 billion."

So the government is going to sell the TV analog frequencies for other purposes. Do ya think that maybe they have the same idea for analog FM frequencies? The government and the MSBM are going to pillage the publicly owned frequencies. Everything is for sale in Washington, DC.

Which brings up these questions. I wonder where Michael Powell went to work after he left the FCC? I wonder how many ex-MSBM insiders and lobbyists work at the FCC now? I wonder how many palms in Congress and at the FCC were greased for this wonderous transition to digital to come about? Inquiring minds should want to know.

 

[hpsenicka]

Then again, FM radios in the home still have that OTHER headache-inducing element - COMMERCIALS!

.. not if you listen to a public radio station!

Have you tried to run the XM signal thru an EQ to make it listenable for background music?

I don't think an EQ alone will help much. A digital processor or dynamic range expander like some of the DBX models may help, but at best they are faking it. It is not quite the same as the real thing.

 

[mg196]

I can't wait for HDTV. I go over to my Uncle's house and am blown away by the picture. I can't wait for digital broadcasting...makes for better recordings also!

I dont care who pays for it or who gets rich of of it as long as I have my HDTV in the living room.

 

[dr*audio]

I can't wait for HDTV. I go over to my Uncle's house and am blown away by the picture. I can't wait for digital broadcasting...makes for better recordings also!

I dont care who pays for it or who gets rich of of it as long as I have my HDTV in the living room.

I think that was Bob's point. The problem is, if he's right, we will all suffer in the end because quality and content will go downhill.

 

[doug s.]

Yeah, there is so much ambient noise that all of those headache-inducing frequencies can't be heard.

Then again, FM radios in the home still have that OTHER headache-inducing element - COMMERCIALS!

Have you tried to run the XM signal thru an EQ to make it listenable for background music?

wpfw is non-commercial. (and, no, the npr stations around here are *not* non-commercial - their commercials are yust a bit shorter.)

i talked my friend w/the xm to get a tubed buffer stage to use between the xm box & his preamp - it did reduce the headache factor for background music, but it's still not a serious listening source.

doug s.

 

[doug s.]

I think that was Bob's point. The problem is, if he's right, we will all suffer in the end because quality and content will go downhill.

quality & content of tv will go downhill?!? :lmao: :nutz: :lmao: :nutz: :lmao: :nutz: :lmao:

tv SUCKS! i don't care what ever happens w/it, cuz it ain't ever gonna be on in *MY house. :thmbsp:

ymmv,

doug s.

 

[bob adams]

HDTV is great when they broadcast in HDTV. The question is when the transition to HDTV has been totally made (i.e. no more analog broadcasts) will the people who own the broadcast media continue to broadcast in HDTV or will they get greedy and decide to break there allotted bandwidth down into multiple signals and have 3 or 4 TV stations broadcasting non-high definition TV (basically exactly what we have now but digital)?

As an example, pretend for a moment I'm MSBM CEO Mr. X. I owe it to the stockholders to maximize a return on their investment. If I don't Wall St. will run me down every quarter and the board of directors will get rid of me. I could loss those stock options. I have to make a decision. I can:

1) Have one TV station that broadcasts in HDTV in that geographic region. We can charge more for our commercials because we run HDTV.

or

2) Have four TV stations that broadcast the equivalent of analog quality TV. We get a lot of low cost syndicated re-runs like Fear Factor, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70s Show, etc. We can't charge as much for each commercial as we would if we just had one HDTV station but ............

Several factors the CEO is taking into consideration as he ponders his dilemma:

a. I wonder if John Q. Public willl buy into the more options benefit of four TV stations and forget that we sold them digital on the high definition aspects of the medium? Hmmm....Probably so. Look what the cable companies did. Sold the public on the endless variety of cable and now they repeat the same shows and infommercials infinitum. Still the public just keeps on shelling out the big bucks each month!

b. Can the general TV watching audience in American tell the difference between quality and chit? He's thinking "I wonder if The Jerry Springer Show has been syndicated yet?


Are there really any AKers out there that still believe that captains of industry are going to do the best thing for the public? I'm 55. I've been around long enough to know how industry and the government works.

Hint: Follow the money. It's always about the money.

 

[Andyman]

Are there really any AKers out there that still believe that captains of industry are going to do the best thing for the public? I'm 55. I've been around long enough to know how industry and the government works.

Hint: Follow the money. It's always about the money.

Our local NPR, WDET just took a sucker punch from this sort of mentality. What had been a musical crown jewel for the last 48 years, just became another boring NPR today and lost my annual contribution. I'm really curious as to how the next fundraiser will go for them, because there are a lot of hot heads around here today.
So now we get 3 extra hours of news during the day, and lose 3 hours of the finest music variety I've heard in my life. The only good thing about the switch is that we picked up 2 more hours of jazz from 10-12, but I wonder how long that will last???

 

[bob adams]

Yeah Andy... NPR is one of the biggest proponents of IBOC HD digital broadcasting and Ibiquity. One of their plans is to give away digital radios on their fundraisers. I listen to public radio stations 99.5 percent of the time. Next year when I see this givaway scam I'm gonna call them and tell them I'm not giving them a dime because of their switch to digital.

If full IBOC digital transmission comes to pass I'll never give them any money unless they garrantee a HD broadcast with no compression from high bit-rate sources. I'll go Sirius or XM for what $120 a year? Less than what I give to public radio each year right now. That or get me a shortwave radio for news and listen to music on cds.

 

[devoid]

Please, don't even mention short wave. In my opinion that's radio at it's finest. Live, real time world communication with simple circuitry that can be whipped up. Including transmission. I wonder how much longer the public will be allowed to do that until a total media (mind control) is achieved?

 

[mhardy6647]

I'm not even sure how much life good ol' short wave radio has left... the "third world" (e.g., Africa) has exploded with "Internet cafes". This was a good thing while our daughter was in Senegal for a semester, but it does diminish the importance of good ol' low bandwidth, high penetration analog radio information.

I am going to start sounding like a nutso "conspiracy theorist" if I go too much farther...
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue22/cjdiaries_lennon.htm

 

[soundoc03]

Sheesh... look what I started! I thougnt this was a topic no one wanted to think about but apparently there is no such inhibition to rant!

"can you get scared half to death twice and still live?"- Steven Wright

 

[bob adams]

soundoc03

Yep..... you stepped on a landmine in that one. IBOC is one of my pet peeves. You shouldn't have got me started.