Audio (magazine)
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''Audio'' magazine was a
periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...
published from 1947 to 2000, and was America's longest-running audio magazine. ''Audio'' published reviews of audio products and audio technology as well as informational articles on topics such as
acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
,
psychoacoustics Psychoacoustics is the branch of psychophysics involving the scientific study of sound perception and audiology—how humans perceive various sounds. More specifically, it is the branch of science studying the psychological responses associated wit ...
and the art of listening. ''Audio'' claimed to be the successor of ''Radio'' magazine which was established in 1917.


History

''Audio'' began life in
Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...
in 1947 as ''Audio Engineering'' for the purpose of publishing new developments in audio engineering. In 1948, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was established and in 1953 they began publishing their definitive, scholarly periodical, the ''Journal of the Audio Engineering Society''. ''Audio Engineering'' magazine dropped the word "engineering" in 1954 and shifted to a more consumer- and hobbyist-oriented focus while retaining a serious scientific viewpoint. In 1966, ''Audios headquarters were moved to Philadelphia and the periodical was printed by North American Publishing Company. In 1979,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
bought ''Audio'' from its Philadelphia publisher and moved operations to New York. CBS then bought a group of magazines from
Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...
, including sometime competitor ''
Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...
'', which soon found itself sharing office space (but not staff) with Audio. In October 1987,
Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (; born May 20, 1961) is a Greek-American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur best known for being founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University and coauthor of ' ...
led a management buyout of the CBS magazine division with 19 magazines with $650 million of financing from
Prudential Insurance Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers ...
. Diamandis Communications Inc. soon sold seven magazines for $243 million and in April 1988 sold ''Audio'' and the rest of the magazines to Hachette Filipacchi Médias for $712 million. "Mr. Diamandis and his management team will make about $95 million." Peter Diamandis remained in control of the magazine group and in 1989 bought competing audio magazine '' High Fidelity'' and merged its subscription and advertiser lists with those of ''Stereo Review'', firing ''High Fidelitys staff and shutting down its printing. ''Audios final appearance was the combined February/March issue in 2000.
Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc. (HFM U.S.), originally known as CBS Publications, was a subsidiary of Hachette Filipacchi Médias (one of the world's largest magazine publishers), and was based in New York City. History It was formed in 19 ...
group publisher Tony Catalano told reporters that trouble in the high-performance audio sector led to the cancellation of the magazine. '' Sound & Vision'', the successor to ''Stereo Review'', would become the publishing group's sole magazine containing reviews of home audio equipment.


Contributors and content

Eugene "Gene" Pitts III served for more than 22 years as ''Audios editor before being replaced in 1995 by Michael Riggs, executive editor of ''Stereo Review'' and former editor of ''High Fidelity'', who was then joined in 1999 by Corey Greenberg in an eleventh-hour attempt to revive sagging advertising revenues. Pitts went on to buy ''The Audiophile Voice'' in 1995 from The Audiophile Society, a club in the tri-state area around New York City. ''Audio'' magazine was known for its equipment reviews, which were unusual for their concentration on objective measurement and specifications rather than subjective opinion. ''Audio'''s contributors included respected
audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
s, many active in AES.
Harry F. Olson Harry Ferdinand Olson (December 28, 1901 – April 1, 1982) was a prominent engineer at RCA Victor and a pioneer in the field of 20th century acoustical engineering. Biography Harry F. Olson was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to Swedish immigrant ...
,
Howard A. Chinn Howard Allen Chinn was an American broadcasting engineer who pioneered techniques of analog audio recording as well as radio and television broadcasting practices. Chinn served as chief audio engineer at Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) beginn ...
, John K. Hilliard,
Harvey Fletcher Harvey Fletcher (September 11, 1884 – July 23, 1981) was an American physicist. Known as the "father of stereophonic sound", he is credited with the invention of the 2-A audiometer and an early electronic hearing aid. He was an investigator i ...
and
Hermon Hosmer Scott Hermon Hosmer Scott (March 28, 1909 – April 13, 1975, aged 66) was a pioneer in the Hi-Fi industry and founder of H.H. Scott, Inc. Scott graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fra ...
, all AES Gold Medal awardees, were among the pioneering audio experts who took their discoveries to ''Audio'''s pages. Richard Heyser, inventor of time delay spectrometry, wrote articles for ''Audio'' in the 1980s including his column ''Audio's Rosetta Stone''. He often reviewed
loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...
s during his short tenure.
Don Keele D. Broadus Keele Jr., also known simply as Don Keele or D. B. Keele Jr., is an American audio engineer and inventor who has helped shape and influence the professional and consumer loudspeaker industries since the early seventies. He is one of the ...
followed Heyser, using TEF analysis in his loudspeaker reviews. Don Davis, founder o
Syn-Aud-Con
wrote occasional articles and letters to the editor. Ken Pohlmann, digital audio author and educator, and David Clark, founder of th
David Clark company
and expert in unbiased double-blind test procedures and originator of the
ABX test An ABX test is a method of comparing two choices of sensory stimuli to identify detectable differences between them. A subject is presented with two known samples (sample , the first reference, and sample , the second reference) followed by one unkn ...
, wrote articles for ''Audio''.The Audio Critic. Issue No. 23. Winter 1995–1996 ''Audio'' magazine.
In 1972, Robert W. "Bob" Carver wrote an article about his 700 watt amplifier design, the
Phase Linear Phase Linear was an audio equipment manufacturer founded by Bob Carver and Steve Johnston in 1970. While primarily known as a power amplifier company it also produced several innovative preamplifiers, tuners and the Andromeda loudspeaker. Hist ...
PL-700. Thereafter, Carver products were often reviewed in the magazine. Bob Carver wrote an article about his development of
sonic holography Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain *Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities *Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...
, an experiment in psychoacoustics as applied to loudspeaker physics.''Audio'' and ''Audio Engineering'' magazine. Subject Index. May 1947 through December 1999
/ref> In 1984, a column called ''Auricles'' appeared, providing purely subjective equipment reviews that did not include performance measurements or emphasize specifications. New contributors who were not engineers were invited to review audio products. After a decade of ''Auricles'', at least one observer characterized the change in editorial content as an indulgence in "fantasy".


References

{{Lagardère 1947 establishments in New York (state) 2000 disestablishments in New York (state) Monthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1947 Magazines disestablished in 2000 Magazines published in New York (state) Magazines published in Philadelphia