arsclist RE: Technics SP-15 Turntables

[Graham Newton <gn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Csontos
Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx wrote to the ARSC list:

gn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> >  "acetates" is a misnomer... 

> I find this very confusing.  Most people in the audio field do not have
> degrees in chemistry.


Hello Mike and all other readers...

They don't need one to be correct about the terminology, and if you don't 
believe me, ask Mike Biel who wrote his PhD thesis incorporating the subject.

> For nearly fifty years, the term "acetate" was used to refer to 
> instantaneous recordings intended for direct playback, while
> "lacquer" referred to masters for plating and production of stampers.

If you spent as much time as I have in both the broadcast and recording 
industry, perhaps you would realize your remark is incorrect.

> You do not want to play a lacquer.  It will make it unsuitable for plating.
This IS essentially correct... you generally would not want to play a 
lacquer and then process it for pressing due to a variety of potential 
problems that it could bring to the manufacturing process and the finished
product.  With the advent of lightweight arms and compliant cartridges in 
the 60's, it WAS periodically done by others and accepted under duress,
although RCA would NEVER have done this... a second lacquer would have been
cut for playback and other tests, but this did NOT make it an acetate.

I spent a few years as a lacquer mastering engineer with RCA Victor and cut
thousands of master lacquers for RCA's product distribution, as well as 
private contracts, in addition to being Chief Engineer (and related 
positions) of major market radio stations at a time when broadcasters were
still cutting what they referred to as "acetates" which I also cut, 
particularly at CFCF in Montreal.  Broadcasters knew the correct term, but
the word acetate had stuck and was still passed on, even to new hires.   

> Suppressing the term "acetate" as applied to discs cut on a lathe results
> in a loss in the richness of the language.
It corrects a long standing error, that no one seems to have a clear 
understanding of how it originated.  

Mike, do some reasearch before you jump on this bandwagon... your responses
are usually a little more accurate than this one was.  



... Graham Newton

-- 
Audio Restoration by Graham Newton, http://www.audio-restoration.com
World class professional services applied to phonograph and tape
recordings for consumers and re-releases, featuring CEDAR processes.
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