Did HI-Fi thinking almost ruined the music industry?

Perhaps yes. But it might had been pseudo Hi-Fi thinking.


So what had happened?


It seems mankind started thinking flat frequency response from mic to loudspeaker instead of flat frequency response from record producer' brain to listener's brain.


Attention had also been paid to almost meaningless total harmonic distortion numbers at high levels forgetting distortion at low levels or order of harmonic distortion, slope of overload curve etc.
And forgetting much more severe distortion as distortion due to abrupt clipping, transient intermodulation distortion due to heavy feedback and tremendous open loop gain etc.


Op amps had come round to promise heaven like politicians.
With many components and a lot of feedback.


Once they were used in reproduction the sound was almost bearable as the signal dynamic range is already conditioned by descrete no feedback one transistor or electron tube amplifiers with many great sounding signal transformers at the recording studio.


When operational amplifiers (initially made for making mathemagical operations) started being used at music production where much much much more higher dynamic range is to be handled the game was almost over.


But it is the best of the Hi-Fi enthusiasts that are already saving the day or the next century.
Their awareness of the pristine sound quality of one transistor or electro tube amplifiers in Hi-Fi reproduction is passed on to the music production enthusiasts.


So both are starting using again the amplifier miracle.


So what is the best?


Possibly the one that everyone kicks when they see it on the street.


A microphone connected to


a Pleiades (R,L) filter for flat frequency response from producer's brain to listener's brain connected to


an input transformer connected to


a one transistor or electron tube amplifier operating in class A (electrons flowing all the time)
The schematic that can be seen first in almost any elementary to university textbook.
Even the EMI TG12345 multiway mixer uses it on almost any stage with the BC109 transistor.


Chances are that we were conceived while our parents had been making love listening to music produced by such an amplifier as Lefteris might say.


The miracle amplifier.





P.S. For the importance of flat frequency response from producer's brain to listener's brain see:
A brief history of early Motion picture recording and reproducing practices - John K. Hillard - JAES vol33 no4 1985 April or

Sound picture recording and reproducing characteristics - D. P. Lowe, K. F. Morgan - Journal of the society of motion picture engineers