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Old 14th Apr 2017, 4:26 am   #1
paolo
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Default 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Not sure where this post really belongs but thought I would share this with you. The BBC Archive Twitter feed often throws up some gems and this is one of them!

https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcarchiv...28571120381954

Paul
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 6:47 am   #2
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Fabulous!
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 7:28 am   #3
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

It was rather patronising in a sort of Ooooh! Look at the funny animals sort of way. But then much TV programming still revolves around people doing silly things. The intensity of those people's interest in a trivial pursuit is no less intense or silly than Tennis, Golf, Competitive cookery, competitive dance, motor racing, show jumping, snooker........

Audiophilia was coined by an American psychiatrist? I'd long suspected

Stereo was the greatest advance in sound since Barnum and Bailey? I'd suspected the involvement of Barnum's spirit in audiophilia generally.

Thanks for the pointer

David
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 9:40 am   #4
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Looking forward to watching this. "Ah, there's your problem, mate. It's your woofers..."
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 9:40 am   #5
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

I remember being caught up in the High Fidelity craze and, living in London & near Tottenham Court Road (HI-FI/Stereo "Geeksville" !) in the late 60's to the mid 70's, it fed my fevered passion.

Having got my first Stereo Hi-Fi set up in my bedroom and itching to demonstrate it, I called my Mum to come & have a listen. I tried to explain the difference between Mono & Stereo to her and, although I got the sympathetic smile from her, she didn't understand.

So I initially set up the system to mono and plonked a pair of Koss headphones on her head and let her listen for a minute or two, then whilst she was listening to that, switched to stereo.

A few minutes after, I asked her if she could tell the difference, to which she replied: "Yes dear, the second one was louder"

I kept my geeky passion to myself after that appraisal !
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 9:45 am   #6
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Oh I love that, it was my era, I recognise a lot of that equipment - and the cars.

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Old 14th Apr 2017, 9:52 am   #7
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Just to add, if you ever shopped or browsed in any of the Tottenham Court Road -London Hi-Fi stores back in the 70's, the following video sums up the disdain you got in many of the stores & from their assistants:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvswW6M7bMo
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 10:06 am   #8
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Interesting little film, revealing as much about the attitudes of the film maker as it does about the hi-fi buffs of the era. One thing is clear: as Chas Miller might say,
'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.'
That is, the more things change, the more it stays the same. Well, that's an approximate translation, but one that today's extreme audiophiles might profit from learning.
It certainly brings back memories.
Tony
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 11:06 am   #9
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

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Originally Posted by camtechman View Post
A few minutes after, I asked her if she could tell the difference, to which she replied: "Yes dear, the second one was louder"

I kept my geeky passion to myself after that appraisal !
My wife is like that, and gave exactly the same response when comparing mono with stereo. She's also tone-deaf and often cannot tell the difference between a 'real' sound and a sound effect on TV. She thinks the doorbell has rung when it's just on the telly!
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 2:26 pm   #10
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

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She thinks the doorbell has rung when it's just on the telly!
With a decent telly and the same make/model of doorbell, it can happen to the best of us though.

I can remember when I got my parents' Hacker VHF Herald to work again, we were constantly having similar misunderstandings. It never happened with the plasticy Taiwanese Ferguson.
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 4:00 pm   #11
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Thanks for a lovely old film. Good to hear dear old Robert Robinson narrating.
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 4:19 pm   #12
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

To be fair to those of us who were budding audiophiles in the 1950s, there was a great deal of progress to get enthusiastic about.

At the start of the decade, we could only listen to 'standard' 78s with HF range limited (mostly) to 8kHz. Even this range wasn't worth reproducing because then the surface noise would become intolerable.

By the end of the 1950s however, progress had been such that it's arguable that the quality of the best sources and high quality stereo systems was by then fully comparable with today's audio.

This spectacularly rapid progress was the result of real engineering improvements in all aspects of the audio chain and required no imaginary 'audiophoolery' on the part of the listener.

Martin
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Old 14th Apr 2017, 4:27 pm   #13
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Great film, people buying a real upgrade, no silly posh wires. And in the intervening years good and excellent, hi-fi has become a lot cheaper, especially the source material CDs etc..
 
Old 15th Apr 2017, 4:47 pm   #14
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Quote:
Originally Posted by camtechman View Post
if you ever shopped or browsed in any of the Tottenham Court Road -London Hi-Fi stores back in the 70's, the following video sums up the disdain you got
I remember trying to buy some resistors in Z&I once. Not only did I want an uncommon value but I dared to ask for carbon film. I got a real mouth full from the shop assistant. By chance the boss heard him and let me have a good discount. After that I went a bit further to Edgeware road but they weren't much better there. The problem there wasn't so much disdain, more an almost total inability to speak English.
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Old 15th Apr 2017, 8:10 pm   #15
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

The music for the early scenes sounds suspiciously like the work of Delia Derbyshire, but is just too early for her official Radiophonic Workshop appointment. I wonder...
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Old 16th Apr 2017, 9:20 am   #16
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Quote:
Originally Posted by nebogipfel View Post
Thanks for a lovely old film. Good to hear dear old Robert Robinson narrating.
Ah it's him, is it? I couldn't really decide who it was, but I thought it may be Derek Hart. Listening again, you are quite right.
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Old 16th Apr 2017, 5:17 pm   #17
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Couldn't get anything to play. Is there a knack?
Graham
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Old 16th Apr 2017, 9:00 pm   #18
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

Hello,

I could view it using Facebook
Link below

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/...3278384378531/

Did I notice a Mullard 5-10 on the shop counter?

Regards
Terry
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Old 16th Apr 2017, 10:07 pm   #19
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Default Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

How times change !
In the old equipment discarded outside the front door you can see the amp chassis from a DECOLA c/w the PX25s.
I can't imagine anyone putting that out for the bin men now !!
( one can always hope...)


A.
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Old 16th Apr 2017, 11:03 pm   #20
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Unhappy Re: 1959 BBC Film on Audiophilia

When I click on the given link in the first post, I receive the following message:

Sorry, Twitter is taking too long to load.

So I am unable to view this video.

Al.
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