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RE: Stereo Introduction Impact

Neff, hi. I was first introduced to multi-channel playback (Stereo if you will) in motion picture theaters. Growing up in Los Angeles in the 50's had some advantages when it came to ground breaking sound. The exploding television market and the anti-trust legislation against the studio system caused major rethinking of exhibition. All of a sudden there was 20th C Fox and Cinemascope and multi-track sound to go with it. I remember seeing Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days at the Cathay-Circle Theater (70mm, 30 fps (!), and multi-track steerable sound. The sound would follow the action. It was mesmerizing! The first stereo in the home I heard at a friend's house where his dad had built Heath amps. I think the LPs were Audio Fidelity. I remember a ping pong game. My dad got a Roberts 1/4 track stereo recorder in 1959 and a bunch of tapes from associates at Magnetic Tape Duplicators in Hollywood. The earliest stereo demo I remember was set up in the outer lobby of Grauman's Egyptian Theater. McIntosh amps. Ampex reel to reel playback. (probably a 1/2 track 602) and JBL Paragon. It sounded so good I wanted to stay and listen to it rather than go in the see the movie which was the first showing of North By Northwest, MGM, Hitchcock, Saul Bass animated titles, and Vista-Vision, again! Ah, memories.


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  • RE: Stereo Introduction Impact - elektron 07/15/1018:53:51 07/15/10 (0)

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