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Comparing James McBride's search for James Brown with the quest depicted in the classic John Ford film The Searchers reveals some dramatic changes in American racial attitudes over the years, along with some consistencies. Ford's film begins in post–Civil War Texas; its white protagonist, a former Confederate soldier named Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), spends most of the film hunting for the…

Description: Moving-magnet phono cartridge with an elliptical stylus. Stylus radii: 0.2 mil by 0.7 mil. Frequency range: 20Hz–20k Hz. Output: 5.7mV. Separation: >25dB at 1kHz. Recommended load: 47k ohms. Inductance: 720 mH. Recommended tracking force: ¾ to 1½ gm.
Weight: 6 gm.
Price: $39 (1968); no longer available (2017).
Manufacturer: Shure Bros. Inc., Evanston, IL 60204 (1968). Shure Inc., 5800 W. Touhy Avenue, Niles, IL 60714-4608. Tel: (800) 257-4873, (847) 600-2000. Fax: (847) 600-1212. Web: www.shure.com/americas.

Description: Frequency response: 5Hz–19kHz ±0.5dB. Output level: 640mV RMS. S/N ratio: 90dB relative to 640mV output level.
Dimensions: 11.25" (288mm) D by 17.125" (435mm) W by 3.75" (95mm) H. Weight: 12 lbs (5.5kg).
Price: $895 (1992); no longer available (2017). Approximate number of dealers: 100.
Manufacturer: Conrad-Johnson Design Inc., 2800R Dorr Avenue, Fairfax, VA 22031. Tel: (703) 698-8581. Fax: (703) 560-5360. Web: conradjohnson.com.

The player was broken-in for roughly a month before I sat down to listen. I fed it CDs, set it for infinite repeat, and hooked the fixed outputs to a 10k load (you can make this by soldering a 10k resistor between the signal and ground of an RCA plug, or alternately, you can just hook the player up to an input on your preamp, turned all the way down), which ensured that signal would flow through the audio circuitry, output coupling caps, wire, etc. If you leave the output jacks unterminated there's no signal flow, and all you accomplish is a ha'pen'orth's…

The SD-22's frequency response (fig.1) is flat over most of the range, though its definite high-frequency rolloff beginning about 6kHz would likely translate into some softness in the upper octaves. The ripples in the top two audio octaves are typical of the Philips digital filter used. In fig.2, the SD-22's de-emphasized response tracks the HF rolloff of the player as a whole. The squarewave response in fig.3 is typical of the players in this group—a good rise-time combined with the moderate ripple indicating a linear-phase digital filter, though more overshoot…

It was awful. In particular, it was impossible to toast just right: it was too thick, too doughy, just plain too big. I had learned a valuable lesson: Talking myself into wanting something isn't a good enough reason to actually…

ah but gee!
In the years since buying those records that had once belonged to John Alan Hunt I've bought literally thousands more used LPs, and in doing so have made some other discoveries. The names of a few other collectors have appeared on multiple titles purchased in the same…

In the 1980s through mid-'90s, Murray was omnipresent: leading a big band at the Knitting Factory every Monday night; heading ensembles of various sorts…

At CES this past January, one of the more controversial issues was actually CES itself—whether the high-end segment would continue, whether it would be the last CES, whether this reflected the state of the industry, and so on. But at AXPONA, the show itself…