New Points For Listeners and Dealers--

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 36, 23 March 1928, Page 2

New Points For Listeners and Dealers--

By

Meter

_ The aim of this section is to give listeners and sets on the local market. It is free of advertising intent or influence and to the best of our ability will convey only absolutely reliable_statements, Names, prices and sources of supply are mentioned for the benefit of readers and to save individual nquiry, information of new and interesting

5, UH SYDNEY Wireless Weekly" has issued a warning to the radio public that good tone cannot be expected from "cheap" receiving equipment, atid urges that all obsolete gear should . be scrapped, Broadcast stations and vocalists are blamed by some listeners for faulty performances while the true cause lies in the antiquated or trashy equipment some listeners possess. ‘Worldfamous singers do not sound much better than the street variety on cheap receiving sets, and it takes the finest ; ‘instrument to faithfully record the tritls of a good soprano. This also helds true in the reproduction. of leading orchestras, now playing nightly for the invisible millions {says the ‘Wireless Weekly’’). "Obsolete sets, make-shift contraptions, or ‘bargains from the auction safes,..ajl too common in the cities, are inadequate to meet present broadcasting conditions. Their presence ae a strike by the foremost talent. "Certainly, it is not fair to judge the artistic merit of a programme ‘when received in so unfaithful and faulty a style, as the primary contradiction; but even much more im--portant, from the standpoint of the jistener, is the constant tinny and Dlurring effects trying both ears and patience-that follows the installation ef cheap receiving apparatus. "Modern receivers, with their per-_ fected amplification, bring in the De ‘Euxe entertainments with fidelity, | making radio a source of keenest. enjoyment-as it is meant to bhe---should be--and is-among the dis-. cerning. "There has been a great amount of criticism, openly expressed, and presumably much more privately circu--dated, regarding the merits of some of the Austratian artists who have appeared on our programmes. In the eases which have come under special ‘notice, investigation reveals that anci-_ ent equipment, with rattling speakers ¢‘squeakers’? would be more like it), — giving a blaring and distorted cffect, was. being relicd upon, constituting am insult, virtually, to the performers. **Because reproduction of song and‘ music was not all that it ought tobe’ in the experimental days, many brilliant artists refused to appear before a microphone. ‘This is no longer the case. ‘They are aware of theyastly improved methods of transmission; they realise that there are re- | eeivers which bring them to the famify fireside in a manner adding to their fame, and glorifying their art "Yet a survey reveals that replacement of unsatisfactory receivers has not been as speedy as most artists imagined. That is why they have

reasonable cause for complaint over ensuing damage to their reputations. "It is true that many thousands tune in to the important Opera presentations, for example, on receivers that are unable to meet the proper standards. Laulty amplification is the worst evil. Overloading the last stage is ruimous, but that has been obyiated by the new receivers-with their finer transformers and _ utilisation of power valves. "Modern receivers are essential for fullest enjoyment. ‘Their superiority over the old type of set is more remarkable than has generally been emphasised. Advance in radio design has been noteworthy, aud the same holds true of loudspeakers "There is another consideration. Oldtime sets did not possess the selectivity required by present conditions, with so many stations clamouring for recognition, in most eases on higher power than in the past. Unless tuning is sharp, chaotic conditions arise. Those who believe that broad tuning sets are sufficient for local reception with which they profess to be satisfied, find themselyes hopelessly coping with the heterodyning, cross talk, and whistles-all nerve shattering, duc to the many listeners tuning in, and to close proximity of wavelengths. "That there should be necessity for | calling attention to these aspects of broadcast reception seems rather strange, in view of the knowledge ac--quired by hundreds of thousands of people to whom radio was only a> dream a decade ago; but from infor--mation gleaned from various centres, appears to he considerable ground for justifying conclusions of this char-_ acter. "Feature events from interstate and eyen foreign stations are becoming popular with listeners who are enabled to hear them through the local station. This has bronght about a feeling that the ‘old sets will do just as well.’ "Were the persons who hold _ this theory able to hear these programmes on 1928 sets and loud speakers, they would feel as if they were leaving barnyard noises to hear echoes from a cathedral." While at times high-class equipment is sokl at special low prites to clear stock there is "cheap" and inferior stuff often sold which is quite undesirable for those who seek efficiency REMARKABLE MULTI-VALVE SETS MSY. people have an aversion to going to the expense and bother of erecting an outdoor acrial, and some city residents have not got the space in their own sections to give a snffi- | cient length of aerial for good results. The most efficient method of overcoming this disability is to purchase a receiving set which by the addition of. valyes renders it possible to recvive =

audio frequency. The Preiss "Straight much as it has two stages of tuned with as great a volume and from as great a distance on a small indoor lonp aerial as is obtained with an ordinary set attached to an outdoor aerial. At Waterworths, I saw two fine Preiss 8 and 9 valve reteiving sets which render both an ontdoor aerial and earth comnection qnite unnecessary. The Preiss "Straight Nine’ has three stages of tuned radio-frequency, | three neutralised stages of radio-fre-quency, a detector and two stages of Bight" differs from its comrade inasradio frequency instead of three stages. Both models have one-dial tuning control, are completely shielded, and have handsomely finished cabinets. Together with the necessary loop aerial and full complement of 201A valves these sets are selling at the surprisingly low figure of £23 for the "Straight Bight" and £23 10s. for the "Straight Nine." A.C. VALVES. (PHE new wonder of radio, the broadcast receiving sct which operates without any batteries at all, but is connected only to the house-lighting electric circuit, has "arrived," and will shortly be found in many New Zealand homes. Mr. P. Billing the other day showed me the Sonatron A.C, valves for these all-electric receiving sets. The Sonatron A.C. valve requires no batteries, but is operated by the household lighting cireuit. It is of the separate heater type, with a fiveprong base, the cathode connection being rivht in the base for the heater element. ‘The Y-227 A.C. valve is designed for both detector and amplifier purposes. The Sonatron is a high-class valye, finished in good workmanlike style, and it is credited with excelling in great sensitivity, volume, and tone. The Sonatron 225A is designed similarly for A.C operation as a radio frequency amplifier, detector, audio-fre-queney ainplifier and oscillator. The charactéristics of these A.C. valves are as follow :---¥227, heater voltage, 2.5; heater amperage, 1.75: plate voltage (max.), 180 1D.C,; 225A, heater voltage, 3; heater amperage, 1.05; plate voltage, 12 to 135; € battery voltage, 3 to 9. DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOUD: SPEAKER. (PHE original phonographs were equipped with ‘tin’ horns, which in some eases were helled at their outer ends with handsomely grained wooden pieces, which (says an American authority), were supposed to partially cut down the sympathetic vibrations and improve the | quality. Then came the wooden horn, and with it a further improvement. With | the advent of radio, the race started all over again, and the carly radio horns were almost universally made of metal. ' )

Fibre and even Bakelite horns came into some yogue, but horn manufacturers, believing that they had the entire radio industry just where it should be, were slow to make improvements. Fur‘thermore, radio broadcasters and ampli.fiers used in the audio circuits, were far from perfect, and the sum _ total could hardly be called music. ‘Then came the cone speaker, and with it a vast improvement all down the line. The broadcast stations found it necessary to check up on their modutation, and the amplifying circuit was improved in every way possible. For -a year or so, the humble horn was -almost completely extinct. However, though many of the horn | manufacturers of old have given up, there remain a few who have continued to ent and try and experiment, until at the present time we have come to the stage where a good horn of proper size, and actuated with a good electromagnetic unit, will put the average priced con completely in the shade, and in many cases, when connected to a good amplifier, and a set which is tuned ta a broadeast station of correct modulation, the horn will bring in music and human voice in a way which was considered absolutely impossible a year or so ago. However, the horn is not what it used to be. It is quite as different in ontward appearance as it is in performance, and it has the very distinct advantage that it is capable of being placed inside ihe average console without detracting a single particle of this quality. In regard to actual work in design it seems appropriate to let G. S. Holly, chief engineer of Newcombe-Hawley, St. Charles, Illinois, tell the tale in his own words. "We have been manufacturing the air-column type of horn for several years, and we have maintained a sound measurenient and experimental laboratory during this time where we have conducted numerous experiments for the improvement of these horns and reproducers, ‘Investigations and experiments on horn wall material have heen particularly interesting, and our findings have led us to the following methods of construction; the inner surface of the horn wall is made of just sufficient hardness and smoothness to allow the sound waves from the reproducer diaphragm to pass through the horn uninterruntedly. The outer wall is also made hard. but the intermediate or centre scction of the horn is made semi-porous and acts as a sort of acoustical sponge. in absorbing the vibrations set up m1 the inner wall. The horn, as a whole, cannot sustain any vibrations and cause its own resonance 10 comline with the sound wave passing through the neck and bell of the horn without resulting distortion, eEeeEeEeEeaeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEe-e_e_eeeeeeeeeeeee eee eeEeEeeeeeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeaeEaEaEaEeaaaaEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEe>e=eEeEeEe_ eee OE eee ee_-3Oeee__V_-_ Tee eR eee

AIM FOR HIGHEST STANDARD. "THE dealer who wishes to establish himself in his community as the outstanding dealer, and grow with the industry, attracting to his store an ever-increasing volume of sales, must establish and maintain public confidence in himself. ‘he surest and most lasting means of creating goodwill and confidence (says a prominent American radio trader) is by setting a high standard of quality and service right at the every start, and striving carnestly to maintain that high stanard, The average purchaser of a receiving set has fittle technical knowledge of radio, nor does he care to acquire it. Once the set is placed in his home and properly set up and equipped, all he wants to know is what switch he must turn on so that he may tour the air and enjoy the goed things that are being broadcast from coast to coast every night of the year. ‘The average purchaser leaves the matter of proper equipment very largely up to the dealer. It is not enough that the dealer sell him a GOOD radio, byt also proper equipment-equipment that will give him satisfactory service for the longest possible period of time. My own experience has been that it pays to fit out all sets with the very best equipment, even at the risk of losing a sale now and then. It is a simple matter to explain to the prospect where the difference in price comes in. If you equip your sets with heavy duty ‘‘B" batteries, a heavy "A" battery, standard, nationally advertised tubes of best quality, -ete., your retail price of that set is going to be somewhat higher than the same set equipped with cheaper equrpment, and not infrequently the prospect will tell you that another dealer has offered him the same make and model at a somewhat lower price, but when you show him ‘ why" this difference in price, you strengthen his confidence in you, and nine times out of ten you can sell him your outfit at the higher price. Manv dealers live im mortal fear of beine underpriced by their competitors. ‘Thev do not seem to realise that the public appreciates a better product, and that it is ready and willing to pay for it, so long as its quality is convincingly demonstrated. Usnally when something can be hought for a lower price elsewhere, the prospect suspects that something has been skimned somewhere to account for it. When this is the case he will readily accept a true explanation. The rule that you cannot get something for nothing is too well understood and too widely accepted to require much high power salesmanship to support it,