[Saturday Review, Nov. 1969] 'Four-Channel Is Here, Sort Of'

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Long story, but my grandma had a subscription to Saturday Review in the late 60's.
Mostly books, classical music, but once in a while a cover like this:


SaturdayRev-1969nov29.jpg


Here's a one-page article from that issue, November 1969, that I remember reading as a high-school junior.
Interesting history, and the more things change the more they stay the same.

Four-Channel Sound Is Here, Sort of
Four-Channel Sound Is Here, Sort of, by Ivan Berger, THE SATURDAY REVIEW

...But there are problems to be faced before four-channel stereo reaches maturity. One, of course,is cost.
A four-channel stereo system today will probably cost you less than twice as much as much as a comparable two-channel system— but only negligibly less.
It will probably be quite a while before a four-channel system (not counting speakers) will be available for as little as half again the cost of a comparable two-channel system.
And many listeners, faced with the doubled speaker requirements, may compromise on four mediocre speakers rather than two good ones...
 
I don't think I read that particular article but I remember reading similar ones in other, related magazines. It was an extraordinarily exciting time for me.

Doug
 
Me to. Probably the best year of my life.

1969 was a great year to be a teenager. The music, the moon, the Mets! ;) We did still have the draft and Vietnam and social issues were abundant, but most of us got along and we were pretty safe traveling and flying was WAY easier. "The Old Days" always seem better, but yeah, 1969. That was a good year for me.

I am sure, however, that for some it was not. So be it.
 
1969 was a great year to be a teenager. The music, the moon, the Mets! ;) We did still have the draft and Vietnam and social issues were abundant, but most of us got along and we were pretty safe traveling and flying was WAY easier. "The Old Days" always seem better, but yeah, 1969. That was a good year for me.

I am sure, however, that for some it was not. So be it.
Don't forget Woodstock.
 
Don't forget Woodstock.

Two of my friends and I were going to travel from Minnesota to Woodstock in my 1950 Ford pickup (well, my dad actually owned it :D) but our parents soon put the kibosh to that. We were 16.

Oh yeah, Zep. The same two friends and I were at Duane's house (his family had the best sounding console) playing records and another friend called and said, "You guys HAVE to come over and hear this new band!" He insisted so we drove over (in my 1950 Ford pickup). Arnie had a stereo with home-made speakers (I did too) and he put that record on and we were all gobsmacked. It was Led Zeppelin I. "In the days of my youth..."

Doug
 
1969 was a great year to be a teenager. The music, the moon, the Mets! ;) We did still have the draft and Vietnam and social issues were abundant, but most of us got along and we were pretty safe traveling and flying was WAY easier. "The Old Days" always seem better, but yeah, 1969. That was a good year for me.

I am sure, however, that for some it was not. So be it.

I just became a teenager in 1969, I remember that the music was all so good back then. I almost stopped watching TV and just spent my time listening to the radio. Just check out some of the old Hit Parade top 30/40 charts from that time period and it's hard to find a bad song listed! Music is nothing like that today!
I don't think that I read the article "Four-Channel Is Here, Sort Of" before but I know that some of the statements were echoed in other latter articles. Some statements like the cost would be double that of a similar stereo system are just common sense. Fitting multiple speakers into a typical living space was cited as a major problem and still is today, impossible for many. In hind sight prehaps four-channel sound was invented too soon, many people had just started to embrace stereo, most listening back then was still in mono.
 
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