How to Listen To... New Dimensions in Sound (1957)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] all listening to great music such as jakovsky Romeo and Juliet is always a thrilling experience and through the remarkable achievements of modern electronic recording a performance like this may be enjoyed in our homes whenever we [Music] please it's true of course that listening to music at home is a matter of personal preference and taste now here's a man named Smith he's the relax and drinking the beauty of it all type of listener what have we here another Smith he's of the look Ma I'm a conductor to school of listening H looks like fun and a third Smith yes this Smith is one of those did you hear that English horn over the viola tremolo type of listeners now all these Smiths simply go to prove two things one different Smiths enjoy listening to music differently two almost every Home music lover is in search of the same thing the truest most life like reproduction of the original music possible or perfect Fidelity or High Fidelity or highi but what what is high five and what's the difference between a high fidelity record player and any good ordinary record player so let's ask Smith he should know excuse me uh could you tell [Music] us oh yes pardon me you're listening aren't [Music] you well all right they just so happens I know A Smith or two who also know a high-fi when they hear [Music] it t no that's not the HiFi that's Smith H what' you say I said you're Smith and could you tell us what hii is that's what I thought you said high five why sure you bet certainly I can can tell you what Hi-Fi is what is it Hi-Fi is sound reproduction from an instrument that has been especially designed and constructed to give you sound that will be as nearly as possible the same sound you would hear in the original playing what you get in a high-fi set is best described as presence a feeling of life and nearness in the music once you've heard High Fidelity reproduction you'll be hard to satisfy with anything less say you really did no didn't you now can you tell us how does one get high fidelity reproduction I can you know of course that most people hear sounds within a frequency range of 20 to 15,000 Cycles I do no I don't well you know that the phenomenon called sound is a wave in the air pulsing at a certain speed now these waves hit the eardrum and are turned into vibrations which the brain translates into what we call sound now the waves pulsing slower than 20 times per second and faster than 15,000 times per second are mostly missed by the human ear now these pulsations are referred to as cycles and are counted so many per second thus the number of cycles per second in a given sound are described as its frequency are you with me not exactly with you but somewhere nearby oh well you you can see the high and low frequency cycles of sound in that Motion Picture film you're showing now watch while I sing a low note La that was a low frequency sound as you can see now a high frequency sound as you saw that one pulsated much faster of course most high-fi enthusiasts insist that a high-fi set must be able to reproduce all all frequencies up to 15,000 cycles per second of course when I build them yes well what would you say it takes to be a do-it-yourself high-fi Enthusiast like yourself oh doesn't take much Only Money a thorough knowledge of electronics lot of spare time your wife threatens to leave you but if you want real highi well and that's one Smith speaking the there are others this Smith for instance another do-it-yourself highi Enthusiast oh no no no not me I'm a component parts man of course stupid of me what do you mean I simply mean that I assemble my high-fi set from preassembled component units speaker and um amplifier record player and do you think you can tell us what Hi-Fi is oh yes yes of course you know that sound waves I know I know we're up to where the sound comes out of the record all well as the record plays the needle wiggles at the right number of cycles per second which have been recorded now this creates electrical impulses which are then boosted by this amplifier and then pushed out through that speaker in the form of sound wav then I suppose that the bigger and better the speaker the higher the F so to speak if you don't mind a bad pun oh I don't mind a pun but you have to be careful with statements like that I said something wrong well I just don't want you to get the idea that merely by adding a big speaker to an ordinary record player or radio you get high fidelity all the components of a real Hi-Fi system have to be of the same high quality and properly balanced I see what you mean and I'll watch that from now on and tell me do you have to be an electronic genius with nothing but spare time for this kind of Hi-Fi oh no don't no I simply buy the components build and finish a cabinet for each and hook them together none of that messy do-it-yourself stuff for me and there's still another Smith's opinion on the subject of high-fi are there more at least one there's this Smith who seems to be enjoying all the advantages of true high-fi the easy way would you call yourself a component parts man a doit yourselfer or what no I'm strictly an enjoy it myself highi Enthusiast I see you like it the easy way and yet every component of this set is the finest Hi-Fi equipment made I get perfect High Fidelity still my work is confined to stacking records or loading tape flicking a switch and listening and what listening for manora listening it just can't be beat I beg your pardon for what kind of oral listening monoral that's what I've been listening to music from One Sound Source like a record or a radio then there stereophonic sound perhaps I better let you hear the difference that would be just dandy [Applause] now this is a stereo tape player the sound here has been recorded on the tape magnetic plate but mind you this stereophonic tape player is not just ordinary Hi-Fi it isn't no sir this is high five plus this is a new dimension in sound this is this is what I want to hear already okay but when I push the button on the tape you'll have to turn off the projector have you got that when I see you turn on the tape I turn off the projector right now hey that was great Sensational terrific what is it I told you stereophonic sound a new dimension and sound stop saying that and tell me what how well it's fairly simple I've heard that before too well you know that natural sound is received through our two ears from all directions so when you sit in a concert hall you hear the music not only from directly ahead but from both sides overhead and Below but because one ear is usually a little farther from any one sound than the other you don't quite hear the same sound at the same time in both ear thus you can determine Direction and that's what happens with the two speaker system yes but be careful don't get the idea that two speakers on an ordinary high-fi set will give you stereophonic sound they won't you see stereophonic sound for the home is recorded on two separate tracks each one giving special emphasis to certain sections of the orchestra as heard from those positions now when played back simultaneously on two separate systems the sounds are Blended together to achieve a new dimension in sound impossible to obtain in a monoral recording but I'm able to use the speaker on my regular Hi-Fi because the manufacturer has made provision for this sound of the the future do you get the idea oh yes I've got it but I wish you'd explain it to me it's really very simple now let's not start that again you remember when these were standard equipment in every parlor sure a stereoscope hey array of light stereoscope stereophonic right that's where the name comes from because the visual principle involved here has been applied to sound the only difference between these two pictures is that they were photographed by cameras set slightly apart about as far apart as the distance between one's two eyes and when seen through the viewer the two blend together to create an illusion of depth and width you see what I mean oh yes I've got it now in stereophonic recording the same principle is used two separate groups of microphones are placed from 8 to 2 20 ft apart and each group records on a separate track I'm with you now the separate soundtracks play over separate speaker systems correct and when the listeners are centrally located in front of the two speaker systems they get the illusion of sound coming from a wide area as if a full Orchestra were in the room sounds great but who can afford a full Orchestra in the living room or even a reasonable simile you can nearly everyone can they're amazing ly inexpensive and new and more exciting stereophonic tapes are being put on the market every day would you like to hear a sample I'm with you all right let's try FY gret's Grand Canyon Suite as recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra with Arthur fedler conducting it'll make you feel as if you're really in the Grand Canyon wait a minute I can do a few tricks too you know you let me hear the Grand Canyon and I'll let you see it it's a deal are you ready Let Her Go for for for for for for for