Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Kendall
My point was exactly that a magic eye is an excellent peak indicator - because there is no mass involved, you can define the characteristic as you wish - fast attack and slow decay, for instance, rather like a PPM. Undoubtedly it was an asset in exploiting the dynamic range of the available tapes, which is why Tandberg took the trouble to provide an HT supply in an otherwise fully semiconductor unit. Trouble was, by 1970 it was perceived as old-fashioned, so they fell into line with rest of the market in fitting nondescript meters. Peak LEDs were some way off at this time - the Revox A700 had peak lights in 1974, and some cassette machines at around the same time, but it still wasn't as elegant a tool as the magic eye...
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Then they brought in the fluorescent type VU meters, some were using LED meters, but there is something quite nice about the magic eye. I personally find it quite pleasant on the eye (no pun intended) especially the older EM34, EM80/81 etc