XPost: rec.audio.pro, comp.dsp   
   From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   Dick Pierce   wrote:   
   >glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:   
   >> On the other hand, the improvements in cassette tapes, especially   
   >> high bias and metal, I believe were consumer side driven.   
   >> Pros could afford to run the tape fast enough, consumers needed   
   >> high quality at low speed and narrow tracks.   
   >   
   >Well, I would disagree strongly. The consumers did not perceive   
   >ANY "need" for high-bias and metal tapes until AFTER the   
   >products were introduced to the market. And the research that   
   >went into the tape formulations themselves was not at all   
   >driven by the consumer market, it wasn't even driven by the   
   >audio market: it was driven by the requirements of high-speed   
   >data recording for computer and scientific use.   
      
   Note also that the CrO2 and metal formulations that were popular in the   
   consumer market never really made it into the professional market.  This   
   was because the poorer linearity was a big deal, and the lower noise really   
   wasn't.   
      
   >I would go so far as to say that for the last 40 years, many   
   >audio "innovations" were not driven by either pro or consumer   
   >audio "needs," but were, in fact, hand-me-downs from other   
   >disciplines.   
      
   This is sadly true.  Serious fundamental research on audio, though, can be   
   found in the BSTJ well into the 1950s.   
   --scott   
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)