Serie Conozcamos el Audio Vintage (Capítulo 2) [ESP-ENG]

Amigos, el mejor resultado para un sonido de calidad, será conformar un conjunto, una columna o un setup, de la unión de diferentes equipos independientes donde cada uno aportará una función específica, pero al mismo tiempo, el mal rendimiento de uno de éstos, afectará el resultado final: ese sonido que escuchamos en las bocinas o speakers, y que son el eslabón final de la cadena de audio.

Es la misma analogía al cuerpo humano con sus órganos y sistemas. Tienen funciones independientes, pero todos trabajan siguiendo una sincronización perfecta, para mantener la salud. Fallo es un órgano aislado, afectará al todo. Así mismo pasa con todos los equipos que integran un setup de audio vintage.

El organigrama principal de toda cadena de audio, sigue éste orden de etapas:

• Fuentes sonoras y sus soportes
• Etapa de Ecualización o Pre-amplificación
• Etapa de Amplificación
• Salida a Bocinas o Speakers.

Acoplados cada uno por sus cables, conectores y sus salidas de línea.

Ahora que saben la conformación general principal de un equipamiento de audio, vamos a ir desglosando todo por partes, empezando por las fuentes, a lo largo de todos los capítulos de esta serie.

Las Fuentes de Audio son aquellos equipos que reproducen los registros sonoros grabados, pero no todas las fuentes tienen la capacidad de grabar.
Es la primera etapa que se debe adquirir. En la generalidad de los equipos fuentes, sin tener la etapa de potencia acoplada, puedes ir disfrutando de una buena música por la salida de audífonos, si es que la tiene. Con un amplificador, no puedes hacer nada.

¿Cuáles son los tipos principales de fuentes sonoras y sus soportes?

Fuentes Analógicas:

• Decks de cintas de carretes o reel to reel: usan los carretes abiertos de cintas magnética.
• Decks de cassettes compactos: usan los cassettes plásticos con cintas magnéticas en** su interior de 3,8 mm de ancho.
• Platos, platinas o turntables: usan los vinilos de acetato, grabados a distintas revoluciones por minuto.

Fuentes Digitales:

• Minidiscos: usan los discos compactos pequeños de 64 mm de diámetro, recubiertos en un plástico de protección de forma cuadrada.
• Reproductores de discos compactos: usan los CD de 12 cm de diámetro.
• El Digital Audio Tape o DAT, usa como soporte una cinta magnética para audio digital dentro de un protector plástico.

Cada uno de estos, reproducirán el sonido grabado en el soporte específico que usan. Este debe haber sido guardado a la mayor calidad posible. De nada sirve tener un deck de cintas de gama alta, si lo que que se grabó en la cinta fue con mala calidad.

Todos los que gustan de la tecnología, saben que hay ofertas de equipos para todos los bolsillos y por ello se fabrican gamas bajas, medias y altas, donde las marcas y modelos con gran historial han sabido posicionar y mantener a lo largo de los años su marca personal.

En el mercado hay cientos de marcas de fuentes de audio, y cada cual debe empezar a configurar su equipo, de acuerdo a lo que pueda disponer. Recomiendo no comprar un equipo de gama baja. Es preferible ahorrar e iniciar con un equipo de gama media, de una marca reconocida, e ir aprendiendo en la marcha.
A veces por circunstancias de la vida, necesitamos un dinero de pronto y vender un equipo de audio barato, tendrá menos salida o deberás abaratar su precio respecto a su costo inicial.

Las fuentes preferidas de todo audiófilo siempre han sido las fuentes analógicas, o al menos, estas no le pueden faltar. Siendo las principales, el deck de cintas o carretes, el de cassettes, el plato o tornamesa, y el tuner sobre todo a los que gustan de la frecuencia modulada o FM, o los amantes del Dexismo con el uso de otras bandas.
Dentro de las fuentes digitales, la más usada es el reproductor de discos compactos, y en menor grado el minidisco.
El DAT aún se sigue usando para masterizar en los estudios de grabación como soporte digital, al igual que los deck de cintas de carretes para los registros analógicos.

¿Por qué no usar un equipo que integre varias funciones en una misma unidad, ejemplo, grabadora de cassette, radio y hasta reproductor de CD?

Porque los equipos de más calidad se centran en una sola función, por eso se diseñan y se fabrican independientes, a su vez, se rompen menos, de ahí que son más costosos.
En los equipos combinados, en caso de alguna rotura de una de sus funciones, a pesar de que las restantes puedan funcionar bien, tienes que cargar con toda la unidad para su ingreso técnico.

Bueno amigo, nos veremos pronto en el Capítulo 3. Que tengan un bonito día de miércoles.

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Chapter 2

Audio Sources: Intro. Types and Classification. Flowchart of an audio setup

Intro:

Lovers of vintage audio or people who like to listen to music at its highest quality and are attracted to everything related to the old technology that supports this hobby, are encompassed with the term Audiophiles. Those who apart from liking old equipment, love to have them as collector's items, sometimes even non-functioning. This adds a unique spice to audiophilia.

Before landing on the main components that make up the most used sources in an audio chain, we must make a summary of the history of the emergence of the main technologies related to sound, according to their chronological creation in time.

• In 1857 the Frenchman Leon Scott patented his Phonoautograph, being its first recording to a visible medium in 1960, however it was not used to reproduce, only to record.

• The first audio medium was created by Thomas Alva Edison in 1877 and was the Phonograph, which had the ability to record as well as reproduce sound. Initially using cardboard cylinders coated with tin, passing to waxed cardboard, and finally to the solid wax cylinder.

• Then Emilio Berliner in 1888 invented the Gramophone, using the rubber disc with the record engraved on one side only.

• The Tocadisco was created around 1925, together with the first vacuum tube amplifiers, and in 1929 the speed of 33 revolutions per minute or RPM was incorporated, which, being lower, conferred more duration to the support. In addition, micro-recorders were created, which made possible a reproduction of more than 30 minutes of duration.

• In 1930 the wire magnetophone was created, the precursor of the magnetic tape on open reels or reel to reel. The K1 model made by the German Telefunken AEG and the BASF magnetic tape gave its public light 5 years later.

• In 1934, acetate discs appeared, allowing faster recording.

• In 1950, combined record players and radios were produced.
  The first stereo records were released in 1958. Before that, it was monaural sound as it was recorded by only one channel.

• Compact cassettes were introduced by Philips in Europe in 1963 and in USA in 1964, which had competition from 8-track cartridges. The famed Sony Walkman** or portable recorders, had their release in 1979 and 1980.

• The DAT or Digital Audio Tape, also led by the Japanese multinational Sony in 1980.
  The ProDigi, a digital multitrack format, up to 32 tracks, was released in the same year.

• DASH, another multitrack format, up to 48 tracks, appeared in 1982.

• The compact disc or CD came out in 1982 and 1983, using 12 cm optical-digital discs, with Sony and Philips being the first to release them in 1980.

• Again in 1992, Sony released the Minidisc, a digital format with compression.

I will not refer to the rest of the sources that were released later, as they are not used in Vintage Audio, e.g. mp3 compressed music, among others.

But let's stop, to talk about the first technology that really marked the era of acoustic mechanical recording, and I am referring to the Gramophone.

The external parts of a gramophone are:

Crank; paste plate that is placed on top of the metal turntable; soundboard; its metal registration plate where the details, model and series of authenticity of the equipment appear; brake and speed controller; arm and elbow; cornet or horn, if it is external output.

The principle of operation is purely mechanical, by turning the crank several times, an internal spring is recharged with potential energy. Once it releases its tension, it drives the motor coupled to the turntable, where the pasta disc with its grooves rests. It has its regulator for speed control and a brake. The proper speed is 78 RPM, faster than current standards.

The soundboard has its coupling for the metal pick, which looks like a headless nail. The box is extended with a hollow metal tube.
Once the needle travels along the grooves of the disc, it transfers the mechanical vibrations to the flexible membrane inside the hollow system, the sound finally coming out through the external horn or cornet, or internally through its wooden resonance box, either suitcase type or larger piece of furniture. The latter, with the advantage that we can manually regulate the volume, opening or closing the little door through which the sound comes out.

A sound, which at that time was the best sonic advance, but that nowadays is perceived as very metallic, strident, and not at all detailed. Pure mechanical friction of a pick that with force furrows the record. For that reason, gramophones have several picks in their metallic container, which must be changed to minimize the physical wear that affects its tip and that attempts against its better sonorous performance.

Friends, the best result for a quality sound, will be to form a set, a column or a setup, from the union of different independent equipment where each one will provide a specific function, but at the same time, the poor performance of one of these, will affect the final result: the sound we hear in the speakers, which are the final link in the audio chain.

It is the same analogy to the human body with its organs and systems. They have independent functions, but they all work in perfect synchronization to maintain health. Failure is an isolated organ, will affect the whole. The same is true for all the equipment that makes up a vintage audio setup.

The main flowchart of any audio chain follows this order of stages:

• Sound sources and their supports
• Equalization or Pre-amplification stage.
• Amplification stage
• Output to loudspeakers or speakers.

Coupled each one by their cables, connectors and their line outputs.

Now that you know the main general conformation of an audio equipment, we are going to break everything down by parts, starting with the sources, throughout all the chapters of this series.

Audio sources are those devices that reproduce the recorded sound recordings, but not all sources have the ability to record.
It is the first stage that must be acquired. In most source equipment, without having the power amplifier attached, you can enjoy good music through the headphone output, if it has one. With an amplifier, you can't do anything.

What are the main types of sound sources and their supports?

Analog sources:

• Reel to reel tape decks***: use open reels of magnetic tape.
• Compact cassette decks: use plastic cassettes with 3.8 mm wide magnetic tapes inside them.
• Plates, decks or turntables: use acetate vinyl, recorded at different revolutions per minute.

Digital sources:

• Minidiscs: use small compact discs of 64 mm in diameter, covered in a square-shaped protective plastic.
• Compact disc players: use the 12 cm diameter CDs.
• The Digital Audio Tape or DAT, uses a magnetic tape for digital audio inside a plastic protector.

Each of these will play the sound recorded on the specific media they use. This must have been stored at the highest possible quality. It is useless to have a high-end tape deck if what was recorded on the tape was of poor quality.

All those who like technology, know that there are offers of equipment for all budgets and therefore low, medium and high ranges are manufactured, where brands and models with great history have managed to position and maintain over the years their personal brand.

In the market there are hundreds of brands of audio sources, and everyone should start configuring their equipment, according to what is available. I recommend not to buy a low-end equipment. It is preferable to save and start with a mid-range equipment, of a recognized brand, and learn as you go.
Sometimes for circumstances of life, we need money suddenly and sell a cheap audio equipment, will have less output or you must lower its price compared to its initial cost.

The preferred sources of every audiophile have always been the analog sources, or at least, these can not be missing. Being the main ones, the tape deck or reels, the cassette deck, the turntable or turntable, and the tuner, especially for those who like FM, or Dex lovers with the use of other bands.
Within the digital sources, the most used is the compact disc player, and to a lesser degree the minidisc.
The DAT is still used for mastering in recording studios as digital support, as well as reel-to-reel tape decks for analog records.

Why not use equipment that integrates several functions in the same unit, e.g. cassette recorder, radio and even CD player?

Because the higher quality equipment focuses on a single function, that is why they are designed and manufactured independently, in turn, they break less, hence they are more expensive.
In the combined equipment, in case of any breakage of one of its functions, even though the remaining ones may work well, you have to carry the whole unit for technical entry.

Well friend, see you soon in Chapter 3. Have a nice Wednesday.

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Gracias por leer/Thank you for reading
Bienvenidos sus comentarios/Welcome your comments
¡Saludos infinitos!/Infinite greetings!

Fuente revisada de la parte de la cronología histórica/Revised source of the historical chronology part.

Capítulo anterior/Previous chapter

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Andrés Antonio Brunet Mikuskiewicz

Hive: @abrunet