Okay, here is the gist of the essay.  The writer suggests that the original
purpose of reproduced sound was to recreate the sounds of nature.  Later,
with the advent of the phonograph, it was to recreate the sound as heard
in a concert.  Early in the development of the phonograph, singers would
perform in concert with a phonograph on the stage.  At times they would
stop sining and have the audience listen to just the reocrd.  People
maintained that they could not tell the difference.  (What must the
acousitcs have been like then?) Well, the increasing development of the
stereo system was originally designed to make the system disappear and
have the sound as true to the original as possilbe.  However, home and car
listening have changed our perception of reality.  Now concert halls are
being designed to make the live experience sound like listening in your
living room.  While they did not cite him in the article, Stokowski once
maintained that someday we would make recordings that sounded better than
live.  Has the stereo system changed our perception of what music "should"
sound like? {Peace, bob stumpf

Robert Stumpf <[log in to unmask]>