Audio Media Fact Files:
The Audio Media Formats...
| 1877 | Phonograph |
| 1888 | Gramophone |
| 1948 | Vinyl LP records |
| 1964 | Cassette Tape |
| 1965 | 8-Track Cassette |
| 1982 | Compact Disc |
| 1992 | Sony MiniDisc |
| 1992 | Philips DCC |
| 1998 | MP3 |
| 2000 | SACD Super Audio CD |
The early audio recordings had a very limited ability to reproduce sounds accurately, they had limited audio bandwidth with surface noise and high levels of distortion.
The Hi-Fi era sparked into life in 1948 when vinyl record were introduction and the subsequent improvements in turntables, magnetic pick-ups, amplifier and loud speaker technology. Certainly during the early 1960s true high fidelity was available to the enthusiast, many of whom made their own amplifiers and speaker enclosures.
In 1961 VHF FM radio arrived in the UK broadcasting high quality mono audio further fueling the audio enthusiast passion for fidelity. For the audio hobbyist having the equipment to reproduce as close as possible the original recordings was and still is a very powerful drive.
Another massive HI-FI step was taken in 1982 with the introduction of the digital compact disc resolving many of the issues still plaguing the media. This new CD totally eliminated surface noise issues and CDs were less likely to be damaged than the vinyl records that suffered from scratches, dust and flutter.
