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Re: Corrections and Additions

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Discwasher hosted a public exposition that showcased the findings, it was called CAS '80, and all the hi-fi magazine heavies were invited, Julian Hirsch, Len Feldman, Peter Moncrieff, etc. This was held in Kansas City MO, in the summer of 1980. There the finding regarding the effects of SoundGuard and Last were presented, along with various information on vinyl playback, and the ills of various things that were sometimes done with records.

For instance, wet play of a record actually damages the vinyl groove surface, as the heat and pressure cause a chemical reaction with the steam (formerly water) and the vinyl. The result is a groove surface that looked like a dried up mud puddle, all cracked and distorted. The only way to get some semblance of normal playback was to continue to play the record wet every time thereafter, and even then, it was never as clean and distortion free as when not played wet.

SEM (scanning electron microphotographs of the SoundGuard and the Last balled up in the groove corners, and other interesting items were also presented.

Two stories from the presentation:
There was a mockup of a giant stylus (to scale), and a giant section of a groove wall (the sides of the groove stood about 6 feet tall), that was also done to scale, showing the indentation of the stylus in the groove, it was mainly for dramatic impact, Well, the industrial artist that worked on the fiberglass model was down to the wire on the completion, and in order to finish the mockup in time for the presentation, it had to be painted the day of the affair. So if you happened to be driving down I-70 that day, you would have seen a giant Ryder truck with the rear door open, trailing a cloud of spray paint as it drove down the highway!

The second is priceless:
After a long series of presentations, there was a break scheduled for everyone to take care of business. Many headed for the restrooms, and while I was taking a nature break myself, I overheard Julian Hirsch tell Len Feldman, "I never measured the effects of the coatings after several plays, I just did it right after the application!" All this while they stood at a row of urinals!

Funny though, of all the data that was presented at the affair, only bits and smatterings made their way into the popular press magazines, neither Stereo Review or High Fidelity ever published any articles concerning the effects of the record coatings. So much for journalistic integrity!

Jon Risch


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