My fight is for my system. Vinyl and music.

[Coshac333]

Very cool I did a search and found a Russian Reel to reel recording company that records music
for sale. Are you familiar with it?

Mostly Classical ......

Reel to reel tapes russia

reel-to-reel-tapes-russia.com

Very interesting ........

Athanasios

I am not familiar with this firm. But judging by the site they must have a good product. And the prices are definitely high.

In the former USSR, there are again many dealers who offer services for recording music on compact cassettes and tapes of reel to reel tape recorders. Often these are the same dealers that ran the same business underground under communism. This phenomenon arose for nostalgic reasons. Nostalgia for both customers and sellers. Everyone wants to return to their youth. Dealers again do not pay royalties, as before. In Russia, President Mr. Putin in 2022 abolished copyright in relation to Western products and intellectual property. Piracy is now legal.

 

[Pio1980]

I am not familiar with this firm. But judging by the site they must have a good product. And the prices are definitely high.

In the former USSR, there are again many dealers who offer services for recording music on compact cassettes and tapes of reel to reel tape recorders. Often these are the same dealers that ran the same business underground under communism. This phenomenon arose for nostalgic reasons. Nostalgia for both customers and sellers. Everyone wants to return to their youth. Dealers again do not pay royalties, as before. In Russia, President Mr. Putin in 2022 abolished copyright in relation to Western products and intellectual property. Piracy is now legal.

Has been "permitted" (ignored) for quite some time in/from the RF, movie downloads and the like on the 'net.

 

[Coshac333]

Has been "permitted" (ignored) for quite some time in/from the RF, movie downloads and the like on the 'net.

All Hollywood films in Russia are now shown in cinemas without a license or payment. This was resolved by a special law in Russia. President Putin signed it last year. Until 2022, for 25 years, all film production from the United States was bought under license and localized for Russia by American film companies themselves. As for downloading movies from the Internet, it has always existed. There is a resource on the Russian-language Internet where almost all Hollywood films from the 1930s to the present day are posted with Russian translation. There are usually 3-5-6 sound tracks with Russian translation for each film. When viewing, you can choose the one you like. Translations are very different, they are made by lovers of this business. This is for movie lovers and collectors. This is not piracy, but rather a special kind of hobby and collecting. These films are downloaded by very few collectors. These people would not bring much income to Hollywood.

 

[Coshac333]

To complete the topic of Soviet Hi-Fi devices, I will tell you about several interesting models of the 80s. In addition to the vinyl player with a ball designed by Anatoly Likhnitsky, there were perhaps only a couple of high-quality mass models. The rest were rude in execution, or were belated and worse copies of Japanese entry-level devices.
My elder brother in 1982 had a good but strange device - "Electronics D1-012". It was a top-end device, but a combine consisting of a high-quality automatic player with an expensive Soviet head, a built-in Hi-Fi amplifier with a tone block, a beautiful indicator, and two good three-way bookshelf speakers with paper speakers. The device was very heavy. The sound of this system was good. Soft loud and musical. Pop music and vocals sounded great. The system was expensive. My brother gave his salary for six months in the store for it. In addition, this system went on sale in small quantities and it was not easy to buy it.

 

[Coshac333]

Another good player was the Elektronika 012 model. Without letter D

 

[Coshac333]

It should also be said about Soviet acoustics. There were many models, especially in the 80s. The most massive of those that were considered top-end was the S-90. Her sound was of average quality, but loud. Its modifications in different buildings had all those who aspired to Hi-Fi at home. I had her too. It evokes nostalgic memories. There is nothing to criticize her for, but nothing to praise either. It was popular because it is impossible to buy something bette

 

[Pio1980]

I saw Soviet testing apparatus for sale in West German electronic specialty shop windows when I was there 1970s/80s, almost never seen in the U.S. I do not recall consumer grade electronics, tho parts like electron valves may have been on offer. Exceptions including Exakta and Practica cameras from E. Germany were respected and sold in the US. I had an older model Exakta with a 50mm Zeiss Jena Biotar lens I wish I'd kept.
It's interesting to see dedicated enthusiasts perusing ultimate excellence under very difficult circumstances with such dedication and ingenuity, you all have our admiration and respect.

 

[beekeo]

Thank you very much for sharing @Coshac333 !!

I carpooled with a Russian coworker for about a year, I’m not sure of his exact age, would estimate that he was born around 1970… but he had similar stories of growing up in the USSR and then the changes under Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin.

Very interesting to hear the specifics for black market western music and HiFi gear, and I’m super impressed with your dedication to the hobby!

 

[jetstream]

Thanks for the story.
Afaik there were hi-fi manufacturers in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary...Weren't their products available to the USSR? If not, why? What about the records made in those countries?

 

[Coshac333]

Thanks for the story.
Afaik there were hi-fi manufacturers in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary...Weren't their products available to the USSR? If not, why? What about the records made in those countries?

Hi-Fi from Eastern Europe was not readily available. A little. There was no free market. The Soviet government decided what to buy. Officials in Moscow. The USSR was in a constant economic crisis. Lack of food. Lack of all goods for the mass people. In exchange for the supply of oil, gas and military equipment, the government of the USSR sought to receive, first of all, not Hi-Fi from Eastern Europe, but food, furniture, and clothing. To fill stores in the USSR. Hi-Fi was supplied, but very little. I personally saw only magnetic tape and speakers from East Germany.

 

[Coshac333]

Thanks for the story.
Afaik there were hi-fi manufacturers in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary...Weren't their products available to the USSR? If not, why? What about the records made in those countries?

Vinyl records from Eastern European countries were on sale in the USSR. But it was pop music from local artists. She was not very popular. Everyone in the USSR wanted Western pop music. The exception was the jazz of Eastern European musicians. For example from Czechoslovakia and Poland. The musicians were good at playing American jazz standards or their stylizations. These vinyl records were sometimes for sale. I have several of these records now, I like them.

 

[jetstream]

Vinyl records from Eastern European countries were on sale in the USSR. But it was pop music from local artists. She was not very popular. Everyone in the USSR wanted Western pop music. The exception was the jazz of Eastern European musicians. For example from Czechoslovakia and Poland. The musicians were good at playing American jazz standards or their stylizations. These vinyl records were sometimes for sale. I have several of these records now, I like them.

What about records from Yugoslavia? A lot of Western music released under license there.

 

[Coshac333]

What about records from Yugoslavia? A lot of Western music released under license there.

In Yugoslavia, a lot of Western music was released under license then. Pop and rock. Fresh albums. But Yugoslav records were not sold in Soviet stores. The Soviet government did not buy them. Only the government could purchase goods for delivery to the USSR. But Yugoslav vinyl records were brought to the USSR by private individuals. Sailors, tourists, civil servants returning from Yugoslavia from business trips. They brought these records. For their collections or for resale to make a profit. Yugoslav vinyl records were of high quality. It did not differ externally from the Western ones. Yugoslav vinyl records were highly quoted in the USSR and cost about half the price of Western records on the black market. They differed from Western ones only in that they had a small inscription "made in Yugoslavia" on them. There were scammers who carefully painted over this inscription with black paint and sold the record at a Western price on the black market. They told the buyer that it was a Western-made record. Not all collectors knew about this inscription. And did not notice the black stripe. I now have in my collection one Yugoslav vinyl record with an album of Western rock music.

 

[Coshac333]

 

[flavio81]

Wrote articles for Russian audio magazines. In these articles he expounded very unusual views and ideas. And it was not clear whether he was joking in places or speaking seriously.

Thank to your posts, i "discovered" Anatoly and thus I read some of those articles recently.

To me, it seems that Anatoly had a good sense of humor and liked to place lots of jokes in his articles.

For example in one article he says feedback was invented by William Blake (the poet), of course it was Harold Black (or was it Blackmer?).

Note that i'm reading russian articles translated by Google Translate.

" By the way, does it not seem strange to the reader that the negative feedback invented in 1924 by William Blake was not used by the Telefunken company until 1945, that is, during the entire time that the Tibetans surrounding the Fuhrer were alive."

Or for example his theories on why on two tubes of the exact same type, the Telefunken could sound better.

Theory 1: The materials used in the manufacture of radio components "self-clean" over time. Therefore, equipment that uses old parts sounds better than assembled from modern elements.

Theory 2: Radio components and devices assembled from them have a soul, and therefore they should be considered not only as physical objects, but also as “living entities”....

Theory 3: The specialists of Telefunken and Siemens, not trusting the objective parameters of the equipment being designed, paid the main attention to research related to the sound quality of the devices. A special role in their work was played by research in the field of the esoteric essence of sound, kept in deep secrecy. The specialists of these firms drew the necessary knowledge from ancient manuscripts taken from Tibet and India. They say that in 1934 the highest ranks of the SS turned to the Telefunken company with a proposal to develop a lamp similar in parameters to the 2AZ lamp just created in the USA. The proposal included the unusual requirement: "The new lamp must convey the hypnotic effect of the Führer's voice." It is said that Telefunken successfully coped with this task. How the specialists of the company managed to do this is still unknown. By the way, does it not seem strange to the reader that the negative feedback invented in 1924 by William Blake was not used by the Telefunken company until 1945, that is, during the entire time that the Tibetans surrounding the Fuhrer were alive.


I find his writings entertaining and there is some truth to his views on audio, correctly pointing out that audio engineering abandoned looking for realistic reproduction, he is of the "less is more " philosophy and his take on 78RPM records versus the transistor, stereo, microgroove recordings is interesting to read.

 

[flavio81]

Exceptions including Exakta and Practica cameras from E. Germany were respected and sold in the US. I had an older model Exakta with a 50mm Zeiss Jena Biotar lens I wish I'd kept.
It's interesting to see dedicated enthusiasts perusing ultimate excellence under very difficult circumstances with such dedication and ingenuity, you all have our admiration and respect.

As a camera technician, and photographer, i feel compelled to say that the Ihaghee Exakta (Dresden) cameras were very advanced for their time, effectively the first 35mm "system camera". A mid-50s Exakta Varex has more features than a 1959 Nikon F (!)

And the Carl Zeiss Jena lenses were very good, as good as anything from japan, and sometimes better. Sometimes, better than their counterpart products from Carl Zeiss(West Germany), as some testing done by amateurs show.

Praktica cameras were aimed at lower prices, however the same factory also brought out the Praktisix and Pentacon Six cameras, good Medium Format cameras with many good points, great Carl Zeiss Jena optics and good design (sadly, not so good reliability...)

The USSR/CCCP also had a tradition of very good optics. Usually, not with the best resolution (compared to contemporary japanese or german lenses) but almost always excellent (even superb) in the "rendition"deparment, that is, in the artistic qualities of the image like smooth blur on the defocus areas or high contrast. I guess this is the result of designing lenses for actual usage, instead of trying to win a "specifications race". I hope this was the same philosophy they took when creating high fidelity gear.

 

[Pio1980]

I recall my Biotar being a comparatively "soft" image lens, ideal for portraiture.

 

[flavio81]

I recall my Biotar being a comparatively "soft" image lens, ideal for portraiture.

The 58mm f2.0 Biotar is currently a very desired lens. The Helios-44M is a soviet "copy" (not an exact copy since it had to be recomputed for the glasses available on the soviet union). Then the soviets improved the Helios-44M in subsequent versions up until the 1990s.

But well, we're going off topic.

 

[Coshac333]

Thank to your posts, i "discovered" Anatoly and thus I read some of those articles recently.

To me, it seems that Anatoly had a good sense of humor and liked to place lots of jokes in his articles.

Anatoly Likhnitsky had jokes in his articles. But he also expounded fragments of his alternative view of the world. He did not impose this view on anyone. He also did not express this view in its entirety. The reader was invited to think for himself over all the mysteries of the universe. Likhnitsky had a "theory of entities" developed by him. She explained the mysteries of audio technology and the mysteries of the universe in general. This is not easy to understand. He did not impose and even kept this "theory" a secret. He only occasionally referred to it. He sometimes expressed his opinion. According to him, Telefunken's specialists received some information in the 1930s and used elements from the "theory of entities" in their technology. Likhnitsky did not want to explain this theory to outsiders in detail, not to impose it. He just pointed in the direction. Those who wanted to, were invited to go this way themselves.

 

[tnsilver]

Telefunken's specialists received some information in the 1930s and used elements from the "theory of entities" in their technology.

I've read Anatoliy M. Likhnitskiy's article "'High-end is dead, say hello to 'hi-end'" as published (poor translation from Russian) here. AML seems to have a fixation for simplicity, and for the shortest possible signal path in audio gear (playback, and recordings just the same).

I don't know what those Telefunken engineers got in the 30's, nor from who, but even according to AML it resulted in a very logical, 1930's correct, rudimentary development. In his (translated) words:

"I am referring to the usage of shortest route of musical signal by German scientists in the audio equipment. Germans designed their amplifiers exclusively on two, in exceptional cases on three, electronic tubes and what is even more important without negative feedback."

We're not talking Nazi flying saucers here, we're just dealing with very rudimentary audio gear design. For some reason ALM seems to hold it in very high regards, when compared with his view of modern day (2001 era) hi-fi gear. I figure if the Germans had any advice from 'entities' back then, Hitler would have beaten gravity (not to mention the allies), or at least he'd cure cancer, but instead, the pinnacle of this 'encounter' was using two or three primitive vacuum tubes in old Telefunken amps. Oh well...

I don't mean no disrespect. ALM suggests that he has compelling evidence for all his claims, and some of his analysis is brilliant, but I don't like the gist of his article/s. It's like his entire field of sight is narrowed down and focused on his own society, as if he is looking through a straw aimed at the reality of a decadent and failing USSR. He's not blind to many of the maladies of his regime, and he spares no criticism, albeit mild, but I don't see any clues for a profound knowledge of how it's done elsewhere in the world at the same time.

In fact, I am not getting the impression ALM knew much about anything that was going on outside his country. Has he ever left the USSR to visit some of the countries that made excellent hi-fi gear at that time? Did he visit Germany, Japan, the USA, England, or even closer to mother Russia - did he go to Denmark?

I share non of his observations regarding the declining quality of LP's through the 60's, 70's and 80's and I find his claims about how the effects of 'complexity' in the electronics of contemporary audio gear (including recording studios) on the deterioration of the output signal, to be nothing more than his personal bad experience with Soviet made gear.

At some point in the article ALM references a picture of a Thorens TD-520 turntable with an SME 3012 tonearm and a mono cart provided by another soviet audio engineer, a one Roman Ilyich Pasharin. By his sense of humor, the $3000 (back then) worth of audio equipment could cover the cost 'of high-accuracy machine for processing of diamonds'. ALM was obviously not aware of AK and other on-line resources dealing with analog playback. It seems to me, he would have found it shocking to find out $3000 is not an inconceivable sum of money, when it comes down to enthusiasts and their turntables. It's a handsome pile of cash, and perhaps only a lottery dream for the average Russian, but too many of us here own audio gear worth so much more. The joke is on you ALM. Sorry, it only reflects your economic reality.

The analysis of the design, by the way, is omitted from the article, but according to ALM: "The mentioned equipment is only one example of an unsuccessful design". Fine. I don't buy it, not from anyone whose view, and perhaps professional insights, are bound exclusively to Soviet reality.