[isw]

In article ,
"Phil Allison" wrote:

"isw"


Even if you find a 'table, you may still have some difficulties. If the
disk(s) were intended for radio play, they may be vertical recordings
(needle goes up and down instead of back and forth),


** Err - so modern stereo PUs cannot move vertically?

Surely you jest.

Not at all. A "modern" pickup stylus is not the right size to get the
best results from older "non-microgroove" recordings. And, a modern
"stereo" cartridge will pick up lateral rumble and other noises just
fine, although they contribute nothing good to the playback.

And may play "inside out",


** The PU will not care about that either.

If you don't know it, you won't be able to play the disk, though. And
playing them on a changer will be difficult at best.

which was actually a smart way to do things, since the
best frequency response and dynamic range were available at the end of
the piece, instead of the beginning.


** ********.

Sounds like you're not familiar with "radial equalization" as used in
disk cutting? The whole purpose of it is to (attempt to) compensate for
exactly that problem. One revolution of the disk takes the same amount
of time, no matter the groove diameter. The outside grooves are around
three times as long as the inside ones (more on a sixteen inch disk), so
the waveform is stretched out by that factor -- the "wiggles" have more
room to wiggle, so high frequency response is much better, any loud
passages don't overcut anywhere near as bad. Since for much music, the
loudest (and most complex) part occurs near the end, having more groove
length to use per unit time makes for better quality. It's well known in
the recording industry.

Isaac