Jan Didden's posting about Ed Dell's serious health issues promped me to start this reflection on him and his contribution to our hobby.
OK you old guys - think back over the years to where we could get information on what I'll call audio "technology". There have always been textbooks but those deal mainly with the theory. For we "practitioners", there were always some periodicals but up through WWII they were published with what I will call a "radio" focus, with some audio-related topic, maybe a speaker or amplifier construction article thrown in.
Then, in the US in the early 50's came Audio Magazine with a continuing emphasis on all facits of audio design AND construction. That emphasis seemed to wane during the 60's leaving us techies wanting more. For a brief period of time (3 years?) there was Audiocraft but that fell by the wayside. Then sometime around 1970 came The Audio Amateur, a publication started by Ed Dell and published out of the beautiful town of Peterborough, New Hampshire.
Audio Amateur inagurated what is now an UNINTERRUPTED, 40+ year period of of one, or more, print publications devoted SOLELY to us audio "techies". Let's see, first there was Audio Amateur; then Speaker Builder; then Glass Audio and finally (currently) AudioXpress. Ed also tried what may have been the first DIY computer magazine, Computersmythe (or somethiong like that) but that venture only lasted a couple of years.
This was of course, before the internet, which is proving to be the deathknell of print publications. Time moves on, and the internet has taken over for the better; with it's innumerable websites where every "techies" dreams can be fulfilled and immediate ______ feedback posted (insert your own qualifier here ____ ).
Ed Dell didn't start the audio "techie" publication medium BUT he sure kept it going - something to look forward to every month - until this "instantaneous" medium arrived.
THANK YOU ED
Charles
OK you old guys - think back over the years to where we could get information on what I'll call audio "technology". There have always been textbooks but those deal mainly with the theory. For we "practitioners", there were always some periodicals but up through WWII they were published with what I will call a "radio" focus, with some audio-related topic, maybe a speaker or amplifier construction article thrown in.
Then, in the US in the early 50's came Audio Magazine with a continuing emphasis on all facits of audio design AND construction. That emphasis seemed to wane during the 60's leaving us techies wanting more. For a brief period of time (3 years?) there was Audiocraft but that fell by the wayside. Then sometime around 1970 came The Audio Amateur, a publication started by Ed Dell and published out of the beautiful town of Peterborough, New Hampshire.
Audio Amateur inagurated what is now an UNINTERRUPTED, 40+ year period of of one, or more, print publications devoted SOLELY to us audio "techies". Let's see, first there was Audio Amateur; then Speaker Builder; then Glass Audio and finally (currently) AudioXpress. Ed also tried what may have been the first DIY computer magazine, Computersmythe (or somethiong like that) but that venture only lasted a couple of years.
This was of course, before the internet, which is proving to be the deathknell of print publications. Time moves on, and the internet has taken over for the better; with it's innumerable websites where every "techies" dreams can be fulfilled and immediate ______ feedback posted (insert your own qualifier here ____ ).
Ed Dell didn't start the audio "techie" publication medium BUT he sure kept it going - something to look forward to every month - until this "instantaneous" medium arrived.
THANK YOU ED
Charles