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Better Sound from your Phonograph: How come? How-to!
NEGATIVE REVIEWS OF THE 1ST EDITION HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED IN THE 2ND EDITION, SO MAY NO LONGER APPLY. What better gift for your vinyl lover than “Better Sound from your Phonograph” (turntable, record player), 2nd edition, the authoritative reference for the science of “vinyl” applicable to any turntable, tonearm, cartridge, and preamp. Knowing the “How come?” shared by every make & model. Beginning with the most critical part – the stylus. Its “profile” (shape) determines vinyl’s distortion, whether reducing it for “cleanest” sound, or preferring its added coloration. Then “How to” achieve proper alignment, optimal resonance, cartridge loading for best timbre (tone color), channel balance for best stereo “soundstage” (imaging) and artifact cancellation in mono, and skating compensation for lowest wear of both the stylus and your record collection. If you wish, “How to” make your own high-performing RIAA preamp, or a low-distortion transcription-length tonearm. In short, how to enjoy your music and play 140yr of recorded history “better.”
Many wonder how come records sound better than over-processed digital? It gaslights shoppers to mistake louder as better, when you could simply turn up the volume, and retain natural dynamics and harmonic relationships (tone color) that have been lost. If played at concert sound level, processing artifacts are irritating, causing complaints of “It’s too loud!” For others, if not deafening, the distortion becomes habituated, their new normal, though false – not real high fidelity! Yet since the 1950s, well-recorded AND well played back analog vinyl still qualifies as high-fidelity.
In this totally rewritten and expanded 2nd edition, “Better Sound from your Phonograph” the point still is enjoying recorded music, speech, and other sounds. Whether analog or digital, cylinders or cassettes, shellacs or LPs. Within this pantheon or audio reproduction, the so-called “vinyl” LP coincided with some of the best music ever composed and performed, ranging from classical to American Songbook jazz to choral. And with development of high performing microphones, recording methods (especially digital), and amplifiers, although loudspeakers and listening acoustics have a way to go. The book and its online Updates have hundreds of illustrations of the mechanics of grooved media distortion, stylus micro-photos for selecting replacements, and charts for component performance. Vinyl’s best quality is baked in the groove – it’s up to users and installers to render it. With help of an understandable and compelling guide.
Many wonder how come records sound better than over-processed digital? It gaslights shoppers to mistake louder as better, when you could simply turn up the volume, and retain natural dynamics and harmonic relationships (tone color) that have been lost. If played at concert sound level, processing artifacts are irritating, causing complaints of “It’s too loud!” For others, if not deafening, the distortion becomes habituated, their new normal, though false – not real high fidelity! Yet since the 1950s, well-recorded AND well played back analog vinyl still qualifies as high-fidelity.
In this totally rewritten and expanded 2nd edition, “Better Sound from your Phonograph” the point still is enjoying recorded music, speech, and other sounds. Whether analog or digital, cylinders or cassettes, shellacs or LPs. Within this pantheon or audio reproduction, the so-called “vinyl” LP coincided with some of the best music ever composed and performed, ranging from classical to American Songbook jazz to choral. And with development of high performing microphones, recording methods (especially digital), and amplifiers, although loudspeakers and listening acoustics have a way to go. The book and its online Updates have hundreds of illustrations of the mechanics of grooved media distortion, stylus micro-photos for selecting replacements, and charts for component performance. Vinyl’s best quality is baked in the groove – it’s up to users and installers to render it. With help of an understandable and compelling guide.
145 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2022
About the author
Robin Miller
3 booksRobin Miller is a pianist-composer-bandleader, on-air personality, Peabody-winning filmmaker, and audio engineer & sound conservator with more than 55 years in audio recording and mixing films and television specials. With Filmaker Technology he is a patent-holder (full-sphere 3D reproduction) who designs, integrates, & publishes about Ambiophonics and other audio innovations. His highly rated books are "American Radio Then & Now: Stories of Local Radio from The Golden Age" (history\memoir) and "The Better Sound of the Phonograph: How come? How-to!" (technology\music).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 15, 2022
Self-published, incomplete and cheesy. No index. Largely concerned with MM and MI phonograph cartridges and styli, a DIY tonearm and DIY customized RIAA preamplifier. No discussion of turntable performance. So, the book is not by any stretch comprehensive. BTAIM, it contains practical information that I have not seen elsewhere and it is in its way refreshing after reading audiophile BS.
December 22, 2018
The turntable Bible
I have really enjoyed reading this very expensive kindle book on both my kindle paper white and my iPad Pro especially to be able to view the photographs in close up and in colour,I intend to build both projects outlined in the book preamp and tonearm.
I did try and find updates from the authors website but it will not appear on my iPad Pro.
All in all a very thoughtful book on the the turntable and it’s background science,would recommend it to anyone with the faintest interest.
I have really enjoyed reading this very expensive kindle book on both my kindle paper white and my iPad Pro especially to be able to view the photographs in close up and in colour,I intend to build both projects outlined in the book preamp and tonearm.
I did try and find updates from the authors website but it will not appear on my iPad Pro.
All in all a very thoughtful book on the the turntable and it’s background science,would recommend it to anyone with the faintest interest.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews