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Obsolete Features on Audio Equipment

Urchinn said:
I have a laserdisc player that has a huge, open slot in the front. Apparently, you plugged in some sort of game cartridge to play on your TV set. Still plays laserdiscs, but no clue what the games were. Anyone?
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Here is the Wiki they where called PAC modules, Sega, and NEC made them they added firmware to the Laserdisc player that enabled games on Laserdisc's :D It hit the ground like a wet cow turd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_LaserActive
 
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Are VU meters obsolete? :scratch2:

I knew some people don't like them at all... :sigh:

L507uX_front_small.jpg
 
On consumer grade cassette decks ,I think dolby c was obsolete from day one..as if dolby b wasn't bad enough :D
 
Karl vd Berg said:
Are VU meters obsolete? :scratch2:

I knew some people don't like them at all... :sigh:

L507uX_front_small.jpg
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I like meters such as this for decorative purposes, they look so cool, and they are handy when a channel dies you can look at the meter to see if the amp is going to the shop or its speaker issues.
 
zebra03 said:
Dolby C , IIRC , was a great addition to the cassette experience . Dolby S was obsolete before it hit the market .
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True.

Also because Dolby S was available for mid-level decks very late, around 1992 or something like that, when Mini-disc and DCC decks were also on the market.
 
i love VU meters especially over bar graph meters. they are easier to read to predict tape overload. on amps such as the big macs, they are beautiful and on the accuphase and luxmans as well. the VU meters on the yamaha b2 were exemplary.

melofelo,

dolby b, if properly callibrated is fine. i missed out on dobly c but dolby S is the greatest, maybe the best noise reduction in the tape world. it covers three or four bands and it is quiet ALL the way down to the lowest recordable frequency.

the deck will self calibrate to a specific tape and is backwardly compatible with dolby B. had dolby S been made affordably available to us just a couple of years earlier, CD may have had a harder time gaining a foothold. or not.

i still use mine for playback but havent recorded any cassettes in some time due to the low cost and ease of CDR-ing.
 
I've always known that the main reason many didn't like Dolby B was because most two and a lot of three head decks were never properly calibrated. Ever since my first three head cassette deck (Sony TC-K81) bought in 1981 I've known that a properly calibrated Dolby level and correct recording bias will result in very good sound with no trace of the dulling that people complain about. In addition, keeping the record level below 0dB makes a considerable difference.
 
The new Dolby S (1991 article)

Interesting review from far 1991

New Dolby Has Sounds Of Silence

by Jonathan Takiff, Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: March 12, 1991

While rival tape recording technologies warm up in the wings, ready to thrill you as the next big audio thing, don't count out the compact cassette just yet.

A new noise reduction system called Dolby S, now premiering on two high-end Harmon/Kardon tape decks, seems likely to give our popular "analog" music medium a prolonged lease on life.

(...)
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Full article: http://articles.philly.com/1991-03-12/news/25793623_1_cassette-tapes-dat-noise-reduction

..
 
ElPee said:
Those pieces of gear that you mention were discontinued sometime in the 1990s. Ergo: the features included on them are obsolete.
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FYI, the "reverse", and mono features are still offered on both ARC's & Spectral's current top of the line preamps. :thmbsp:
 
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