1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you? So? I alluded to 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: this in the prologue to last week's rerun. Listener Ron 6 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,319 Speaker 1: McCallie reached out to the show on Twitter. Remember the 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: handle for the show is tech Stuff h s W 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: and asked that I do an episode about San Sui, 9 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: which is great because it's time for me to make 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: a confession. I don't believe I had ever heard of 11 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: this company. Now. I just felt all the audio files 12 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: out there switching off this show immediately, although who am 13 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: I kidding? Most of them probably can't stand the low 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: fidelity of the podcast medium. So I'm having a little 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: fun at the expense of audio files here. I'll have 16 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: more to say about audio files throughout this and it's 17 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: not it's not like um all sligging off on audio files. 18 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: I think that they take it very seriously, this idea 19 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:23,119 Speaker 1: of creating as perfect a sound playback system as they 20 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: possibly can. But there's a lot that goes into that, 21 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: and I might touch on that a little bit in 22 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: this podcast anyway. San Sui was past tense and electronics 23 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: company that has become particularly well known for audio and 24 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: to a lesser extent, video system components. Now, if you 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: do a search for san Sui, by the way, that's 26 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: spelled s A N s u I, you will find 27 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: numerous articles and videos that mentioned San Sui in the 28 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: company of other big name companies like Pioneer and Sony. 29 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: You all so be on the precipice of a huge 30 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: drop into the sometimes crazy world of hi fi or 31 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: high fidelity, and just know that if you do slip 32 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: over the edge, there's a chance that you will never 33 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: come back. Hi fi is one of those pursuits that 34 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: can consume you and more to the point your bank account. 35 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: We'll talk about that today too. And just know I'm 36 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: being a little flip in about all this, But what 37 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,239 Speaker 1: I mean is that there are a lot of people 38 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: out there who they are obsessed with finding that perfect 39 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: high fidelity experience, to the point that some of them 40 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: are are spending tens of thousands of dollars in the 41 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: pursuit of it. Uh and they may never achieve it. 42 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: So our story begins in the nineteen forties in Japan. 43 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: They're a man named Kosaku Kikuchi was employed in a 44 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: company that was a radio parts distributor. And you know, 45 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: the word district reader is one that I think isn't 46 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: clear for everyone. So let's get ready for our first 47 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: little buddy trail. Uh. And first let's start with the 48 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: idea of a supply chain. And let's say it's the 49 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and you want a new sound system so 50 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: you can listen to the transgressive glam rock sounds of 51 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: artists like David Bowie, Lou Reid and the New York Dolls. 52 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: Or heck, maybe it's you know, just a year or 53 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: two later in the decade, and you want a rocking 54 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: system so that you can listen to punk bands like 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: the Ramons, the void Oid's and the Heartbreakers. Or maybe 56 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: it's the late seventies and disco is king, so you 57 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: want to groove out to the b Gs or Casey 58 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: in the Sunshine Band or earth Wind and Fire. I'm 59 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: getting a bit of a nostalgic kick here, can you tell? Anyway? 60 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: You want to buy a stereo system, So you go 61 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: to your local electronics store and you take a look 62 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: at what's on display. Every single product you're looking at 63 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: can trace its history back through a chain of production. 64 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: So there are certain companies that mine the raw materials 65 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: that ultimately find their way into our tech. Some of 66 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: them might also process those raw materials and refine them, 67 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: or maybe they send the raw materials onto refineries that 68 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: are dedicated just to doing that. And then you've got 69 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,919 Speaker 1: fabricators that take raw or processed materials and then build 70 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: components with them. And then you've got factories that take 71 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: these components that are made by the various fabricators out 72 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: there and assemble them into larger products. And then you've 73 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: got distributors that take these finished products, which could be 74 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 1: just a component for an even more complicated product down 75 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: the line, and the distributors are in charge of getting 76 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: that finished thing, typically to a wholesaler, and wholesalers then 77 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: sell large lots of finished things to retailers, and then 78 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: the retailer sells it to you, the final customer, who 79 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: wants to buy the best stereos them. This, by the way, 80 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: is one of the reasons we see such challenges in 81 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: supply these days, because COVID really messed up the links 82 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: in the supply chain, and if just one link falls, well, 83 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: then everything that goes behind that that link has a delay, 84 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: and things get worse and worse as it goes along. 85 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: So a distributor, like I said, is a link between 86 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: manufacturers who might fabricate or simply a symbol stuff and 87 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: then the rest of the supply chain. And distributors sometimes 88 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: act as vendors as well, or they might supply products 89 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: to wholesalers and directly to retailers. Anyway, just in case 90 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: you ever want to know what a distributor was in 91 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: the sense of the supply chain, there you go. Uh. 92 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: It also means something totally different, and we're talking about 93 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: car engines. Those are different distributors, but that's another podcast. 94 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: So it's the nineteen forties and Kikuchi is working for 95 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: this company, which obviously became a critical entity during World 96 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: War Two. Radio parts were, if you pardon the pun, 97 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: instrumental in the war effort. Cakuchie founded a radio part 98 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 1: manufacturing plant that he named the san Sui Electrical Plant 99 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen four And a quick word about that name. 100 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: From what I can tell, san Sui is not a 101 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: Japanese term. Rather, it actually comes from China, and it's 102 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: a style of painting, and in China it's called shan 103 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: Shui and it has the style has two key components 104 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: to it. Artists use brushes and ink instead of brushes 105 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: and paint, and they paint landscapes that those are the 106 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: two things that that identify Shanshui paintings. Shanshui translated literally 107 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: means mountain water and a lot of the landscapes that 108 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: are painted feature images of waterfalls and mountain streams and such. 109 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,720 Speaker 1: So San Sui the company its first products were transformers, 110 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: and again not the kind that are more than meets 111 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: the eye. We're talking about an electrical component that can 112 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: both transfer electric energy from one circuit to another, as 113 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: well as changed the voltage of the current running through 114 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: the second circuit or to increase it or decrease it. 115 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,679 Speaker 1: So audio transformers also get a bit more complicated because 116 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: they could be designed to do other stuff like split 117 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: audio signals apart or join them together, as well as 118 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: to block radio frequency interference, among other things. But this 119 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: gets super technical, and if I dive into that, we 120 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: won't have a chance to talk about San Sue at all, 121 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: So we're gonna save all that for some other episode. 122 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: So in Kikuchi was ready to launch a company that 123 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: would go beyond just manufacturing transformers. This would be the 124 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: sen Sui Electric Company, and his initial starting capital, like 125 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: the amount of money that was in the company was 126 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: on eight thousand yen. Now, I wish I could tell 127 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: you what that was worth today, but the inflation calculators 128 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: I found only dated back to the nineteen fifties. Uh. 129 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: I do know that in nineteen forty six, the occupation 130 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: forces that were in Japan after World War Two had 131 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: set the yen to dollar exchange rate at fifty yen 132 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: to a dollar. So using that conversion rate, thousand yen 133 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty seven would be equal to about three thousand, 134 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: six hundred bucks again in nineteen forty seven dollars. Now, 135 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 1: if we adjusted that in the US for US inflation, 136 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: you would get about forty five thousand dollars, which is 137 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: a pretty modest initial capital for a company. But I 138 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: also have to point out that you know, inflation and 139 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: exchange rates change so much over time that you can't 140 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: just say, like, oh, it had forty five thousand dollars 141 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: in capital back then, because that it's too simplistic of 142 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: you to be able to say that appreciation of one 143 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: currency against another changes things dramatically, and appreciation of currencies 144 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily reflect in let's say, inflation or deflation within 145 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: a country. So yeah, I just know that it was 146 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: a fairly modest starting capital for this company. Now, I 147 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: don't have very much information on what the company was 148 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: doing in its first few years. In fact, documentation about 149 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: San Suey in general is sparse. I looked at a 150 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: lot of different sites, many of them run by audio files, 151 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: and so a lot of the information I have is 152 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: second hand or third hand information, and I don't usually 153 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: like running with that, but I kind of didn't have 154 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: many other options for this particular episode. But the next 155 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: point of data that I could find on San Suey 156 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: actually comes in at nineteen fifty two, So this is 157 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: several years after the founding. The founding was in nine seven, 158 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: So in nineteen fifty two, and sue was producing voltage 159 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: stabilizers and a few dozen different kinds of transformers, and 160 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: at that point the company employed fifty two people. In 161 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: nine four, San Sui introduced the HPR one hundred and 162 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 1: electronic tube amplifier. Now, last week, again I reran an 163 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: episode that talked about how speakers and amplifiers work, so 164 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: we're not gonna go into deep detail again here, but 165 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: you should know an amplifier's job is to take a 166 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: weak incoming signal as an input and then send out 167 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:42,199 Speaker 1: a much stronger, but otherwise identical outgoing signal to other components, 168 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: typically things like speakers, and reproducing the quality of the 169 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: input signal is absolutely key with an amplifier. It's not 170 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: just enough to boost the signal. You want to make 171 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: sure that you are as true to that incoming signal 172 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: as you possibly can be. Otherwise the amplifier can become 173 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: an element that decreases the quality of that signal, and 174 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: it can introduce noise into the output, and that's a 175 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: big problem. So with audio gear, we're talking about actual noise, right, 176 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: like stuff that's coming out of the speakers that was 177 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: not part of the original recording. You do not want that. 178 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: In general, audio files absolutely do not want that. They 179 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: want to create a listening experience that is as faithful 180 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: to the original recording experience as is possible, So you 181 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: do not want to introduce noise. However, I should say 182 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: that noise also just means like unwanted signal, and it 183 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: applies across all of technology, not just in the audio world. 184 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 1: But you know, you don't want to introduce unwanted signal 185 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: because that means you're gonna get errors in whatever it 186 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: is you're doing. So amplifiers in general, you want to 187 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 1: be able to of good output, a strong outgoing signal 188 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: without introducing unwanted components, unwanted noise, and that is a 189 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: real challenge. Like that's why San Sui ended up getting 190 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,319 Speaker 1: such a great reputation in the sixties and early seventies 191 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,559 Speaker 1: because their products were known to produce a pretty powerful 192 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: output without introducing noise. So that was a great thing 193 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: for audio files. Uh Now, I might also add that 194 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: when I'm talking about noise, I am not making a 195 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: commentary on the quality of the music that someone might 196 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: be listening to. I mean, I personally think a lot 197 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: of so called music is noise, but that's because I'm 198 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: an rapidly aging glam punk rock new wave music lover. 199 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: So that's just you know, my prejudice and biases in 200 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,719 Speaker 1: that regard. But another quick note about amplifiers. When we're 201 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 1: talking about boosting an electrical signal that represents sound, we 202 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: have to remember that sound ranges across a pretty broad 203 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: range of frequencies. Sound when you boil it down is vibration, 204 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: and we can measure it in one way we can 205 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: measure it is how frequently is the stuff vibrating. The 206 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: faster it vibrates, the higher the pitch that we experience 207 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: in listening to it. Human hearing typically ranges from twenty 208 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: hurts or twenty vibrations or cycles per second on the 209 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: low end, those are the deepest pitches that we can 210 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: perceive with our with hearing, like you can feel lower frequencies, 211 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: but you can't hear them, and then it goes up 212 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: to twenty thousand hurts or twenty killer hurts on the 213 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: high end, so vibrating twenty thousand cycles per second. Those 214 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: are the highest pitches we can typically perceive, and that 215 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: that range decreases as we get older. Typically we we 216 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:05,079 Speaker 1: start to lose those higher pitches first, So as an adult, 217 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: you may not be able to hear stuff that's up 218 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: in that twenty thousand hurts range. It may be much lower. 219 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: This is also played into when various places like convenience 220 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: stores will play out sounds at higher pitches that young 221 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: people can hear, but older people can't. In order to 222 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: uh discourage young people from loitering fun times anyway, amplifiers 223 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: typically have a sweet spot and uh in a range 224 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: of frequencies that they can really boost effectively. So this 225 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: would be a range of electrical signals at which the 226 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: amplifier is most effective. That is the amplifiers bandwidth. That's 227 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: one of the things that affects an amplifiers quality. If 228 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: the bandwidth is really narrow, well, the amplifier might be 229 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: work great for a certain range of frequencies, but anything 230 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: outside that, you're not gonna get the same umph, which 231 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: means that you're listening experience is going to be ideal, right, 232 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: because those those signals aren't going to be amplified, You're 233 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: going to lose out on some of the range of 234 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: the sound as it's being played back. Okay, we're gonna 235 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: have some other stuff to chat about in a minute, 236 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: but before we get to that, I need to take 237 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay, before the break, I was talking 238 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: about the kind of sound that most people are capable 239 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: of hearing um and how that plays into amplifiers, and 240 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: that certain amplifiers might have a particular range that they're 241 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: very good at reproducing and others that they aren't. Often 242 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: with amplifiers, you'll have multiple amplification components, each with a 243 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: different sort of sweet spot range to try and reproduce 244 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: the whole of a recorded or broadcast audio signals quality, 245 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 1: because again, otherwise you would lose parts of it when 246 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: you were sending that signal along to the speakers. And 247 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 1: there's other stuff we could talk about. For example, the 248 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: way we contextualize how an amplifier can increase the amplitude 249 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: or volume of a signal. That's called gain. So if 250 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: you've ever heard people talk about needing to adjust the 251 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: gain on their microphones or their amplifiers, that's what they're 252 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: talking about. And I'll have to do a full episode 253 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: about gain and clipping and stuff like that in the 254 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: future because if I stick to it here, it will 255 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: take up the rest of this episode. But gain is 256 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: super important. Whether it's because you want to make sure 257 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: your voice sounds nice on a podcast well any clipping, 258 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: or maybe you want to purposefully introduce certain effects like 259 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: clipping or distortion in your output, like that's part of 260 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: your artistic expression. You might want to do that. Um, So, yeah, 261 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: it is important, but it goes beyond this episode. Well, 262 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: then we also have to talk about pre amplifiers, because 263 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: that's something that San Suey was getting into in this 264 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: time period. So pre amplifiers or pre amps are amplifiers 265 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: that take very weak signals, like say from a microphone, 266 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: which produces a very weak electrical signal, and then boosts 267 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: that into a stronger signal, but not super strong, like 268 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,719 Speaker 1: not strong enough to drive speakers. So pre amps signal 269 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: would then feed into an actual amplifier, and that would 270 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: take the pre amps boosted signal and then boosted even further. 271 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: But then you might wonder, well, why would you use 272 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: a preamp at all? I mean, couldn't an amplifier just 273 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: do the whole thing by itself. Well, pre amplifiers are 274 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: necessary to cut back on that noise thing I was 275 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,399 Speaker 1: just talking about, and to cut back on interference. The 276 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 1: pre amp typically boosts voltage gain, but not current gain. Remember, 277 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: voltage and current are two different things. Voltage is kind 278 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,199 Speaker 1: of like the pressure in electrical system. Current is like 279 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: the amount of electricity that's passing through a system. So 280 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: you're increasing the pressure with a pre amp, but not 281 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 1: the current um and this will then boost the gain 282 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 1: to what is called line level. That is, a signal 283 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: that's strong enough to send onto a power amplifier, which 284 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 1: will then boost the signal further, ideally without introducing noise 285 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: into it. And a power amplifier will boost voltage and current, 286 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: not just one or the other, and it will send 287 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: this boosted signal out to power speakers and monitors and stuff. 288 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,679 Speaker 1: And by monitors I mean a type of speaker, not 289 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: a display, you know, not a not a not a 290 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: computer monitor in other words, and amplifiers do this by 291 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: having power directed to them from outside sources. Now, I 292 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,159 Speaker 1: say this because I do not want to give you 293 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: the impression that somehow amplifiers magically create energy, because we 294 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: know from the law of conservation you cannot do that. Instead, 295 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,959 Speaker 1: amplifiers are taking an incoming signal and then boosting that 296 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: by taking advantage of electrical power from another source, like 297 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: say a wall outlet, and then pushes out this stronger 298 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 1: outgoing signal that's otherwise identical to the incoming one. Now, 299 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 1: the reason I even went into this is that preampts 300 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: and amplifier tubes would sort of open up the possibility 301 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: of a high fidelity industry, which is where San Sui 302 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,920 Speaker 1: would have its biggest impact, So it's good to have 303 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: a basic understanding of that technology. Now. Nineteen fifty four 304 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,399 Speaker 1: was also a year when a company called Harmon Cardon 305 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,360 Speaker 1: became the first to introduce a receiver. So you need 306 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,879 Speaker 1: to know what a receiver is and consider for a 307 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: moment the various components you might need. If you really 308 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,439 Speaker 1: loved audio in the nineteen fifties, well, you would need 309 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: a radio typically that would consist of at least, you know, 310 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: one antenna and a tuner that lets you tune into 311 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: specific radio frequencies. You would also need an amplifier or 312 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 1: more likely a couple of amplifiers, that would take the 313 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: incoming electrical signal from the radio broadcast and boost it 314 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 1: so that it can drive the radio's speakers. And then 315 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: you would also need speakers. Uh. The radio's way back 316 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: in the day were pretty big. They were reliant on 317 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: vacuum tubes to serve as amplifiers, so the old radios 318 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: were essentially pieces of furniture. By the nineteen fifties, they 319 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,360 Speaker 1: were slightly smaller than they had been in the thirties 320 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: and forties, but it wouldn't really be until the adoption 321 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: of the transistor that we would see them shrink down. 322 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: But as an audio file, you wouldn't just stop with 323 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: the radio. You would also need a record player, a 324 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: turntable or phonograph really in those days. Uh. This consists 325 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,239 Speaker 1: of the turntable itself, and if the turntable is not 326 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: an all in one unit with its own speaker, you 327 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,640 Speaker 1: would also need a separate amplifier and separate speakers so 328 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: that the weak electric signal that was coming from the 329 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: record player could be boosted enough to drive the speakers. 330 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,239 Speaker 1: All in one units had all the components built into them. Uh. 331 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: But those components are still all right there, and it's 332 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,399 Speaker 1: possible you might have some other audio sources as well. Uh, 333 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: and you would again need the amplifiers and speakers for 334 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: each of them. So your home is gonna get really 335 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: crammed with gear because you might want something that can 336 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: play back tape. For example, now in the nineteen fifties 337 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: we would be talking about real to real tape. A 338 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: lot of the tape players had their own speakers incorporated 339 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 1: into them in this form factor, but you would so 340 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: you could have a standalone player that would have everything, 341 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: But you could also have one that just have the 342 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 1: tape deck itself and would still need to go through 343 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: an amplifier and speakers before you could actually listen to it. 344 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: So you have all these independent components, each of their 345 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: own dedicated speaker systems and amplifiers, just so you can 346 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: enjoy your tunes. That ends up being way too much 347 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,440 Speaker 1: for most people. So then enter the receiver, and a 348 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: receiver collects a lot of these components into a single 349 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 1: piece of equipment that you can then use to switch 350 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: between different incoming audio signals. Nearly all receivers have a 351 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: radio tuner built into them. Some might not, but we 352 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: typically would call those amplifiers rather than receivers, so they've 353 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: got the radio tuner. They also typically have a full 354 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: amplifier inside them. Some might just have a preamp that 355 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: you then have to send out to an amplifier, but 356 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: a lot of receivers have the amplifier built into them 357 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: as well, and they can accept multiple audio inputs. The 358 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,920 Speaker 1: number and type depends upon the receiver, but it was 359 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: pretty common for them to accept incoming signals from a 360 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:48,640 Speaker 1: phonograph typically labeled phono on most receivers, as well as 361 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: tape decks. So now you can connect multiple audio devices 362 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 1: like a turntable, a tape deck. You've got your radio 363 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: tuner built in right there, all through this one device 364 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: and use a switch to go between them to feed 365 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: out to your speakers, so you don't need speakers for everything. 366 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: You've got one says speakers, and these all get directed 367 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: through the receiver which then sends that signal onto the speakers, 368 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: and you use dials, buttons, or switches to switch between 369 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: the different inputs. You also typically have controls to set 370 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: things like ranges of frequencies that you would prefer to emphasize. So, 371 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: for example, you may want the base notes to come 372 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: through more clearly, so you use a little knob that's 373 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: labeled base. That essentially means that the base signals will 374 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: get a bit more ooth when sent to the speakers 375 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: than other frequencies are. Um, you have the balance, which 376 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: can affect which speakers get more signal than the others. 377 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: So maybe you have left and right speakers, but the 378 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,160 Speaker 1: left speakers are further away from you than the right speakers. 379 00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: You might want to tweak the balance a bit so 380 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: that the left beakers get a little more umph, so 381 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: that you get a balanced output based upon where you're 382 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: actually experiencing the music and so on, and of course volume, 383 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,399 Speaker 1: right the amplitude, how loud do you want the stuff 384 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: to be. So the Harmon Cardon receiver in nineteen fifty 385 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: four cost a hundred eighty nine dollars and fifty cents, which, 386 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: if we were to adjust for inflation, would be just 387 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: under two thousand dollars today, And it wouldn't be long 388 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: before other companies, including san Sui, would get involved in 389 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: manufacturing receivers. But San sue wouldn't produce receivers right away. 390 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: In the late nineteen fifties it started producing tube pre 391 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,919 Speaker 1: amplifier and amplifiers. Now I can't get too specific with 392 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: years here because the various sources I find have conflicting 393 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: information about that, but certainly before the end of the 394 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, San Suey was producing tube receivers, pre amplifiers, 395 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: and amplifiers. So in some cases these amplifiers were full 396 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: units that you would buy, you would bring home, and 397 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: you would connect to your sound system. They just wouldn't 398 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: have a radio built into them, but they had all 399 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 1: the other amplification elements as part of them. And Kikuchi 400 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: also began to explore the possibility of exporting his products 401 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,959 Speaker 1: to overseas markets, and by nineteen fifty nine the company 402 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,919 Speaker 1: had grown to five seven employees. It was nineteen sixty 403 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,360 Speaker 1: one when san Sui would be listed on the Tokyo 404 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,199 Speaker 1: Stock Exchange, and that's also the year that the company 405 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: registered its name in the United States. In nineteen sixty four, 406 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: the company released its first receiver. This was the SACKS 407 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,479 Speaker 1: one D the s A X one. This was a 408 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: stereo receiver with FM and A M radio tuners, and 409 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: it had vacuum tubes for everything but the preamp. The 410 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: preample solid state, but everything else was vacuum tubes. There 411 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: were knobs to adjust the trouble and base referring to 412 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: the higher and lower sound frequencies respectively. There was an 413 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: for the balance again the comparative signal strength for the 414 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: left versus the right speakers, and there was a volume 415 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: knob as well, plus some other switches and dials to 416 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: select things like input signal and mode of operation. Uh. 417 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: I guess we should remind ourselves that stereo is referencing 418 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,919 Speaker 1: the fact that you could send different audio signals to 419 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: two different speakers or sets of speakers if you preferred 420 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: so that you would have a left channel and a 421 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 1: right channel. This opened up a lot of new ways 422 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:33,199 Speaker 1: to experiment with sound. Mono, by comparison, sends the same 423 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: audio signal out to every speaker, so with mono output, 424 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: you get the exact same sounds at the same volume 425 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: on the left and right speakers unless you change the balance, 426 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: in which case you would still get the same signal, 427 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: but one speaker would get more a stronger signal than 428 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: the other, so you would have more volume coming from 429 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: one side versus the other side. Stereo change and change 430 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: that entirely. Though it would take a while for stereo 431 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: to really take off, not everyone embraced it. There's a 432 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:07,000 Speaker 1: pretty famous anecdote that the Beatles band that was really 433 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: an international for phenomenon by they were really hands on 434 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,959 Speaker 1: during the album mixing phase, but only for the mono 435 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,360 Speaker 1: releases of their albums, so they really wanted to make 436 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 1: sure that their vocals, their instrumentation, any effects that they 437 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: were adding, we're all mixed just right for the mono 438 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,400 Speaker 1: release of their albums. When it came to their stereo releases, 439 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: they just left that to the audio engineers. You might 440 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 1: wonder why why wouldn't they take the same care well, 441 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: their fan base consisted mostly of young people who had 442 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: record players with a mono speaker on them, so they 443 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: were just concerned with crafting music that was going to 444 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: sound good to the majority of the people who were 445 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: buying their albums. Stereo was not that right most of 446 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: their most of their audience didn't have stereo systems. However, 447 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: stereo was the way of the future. In nineteen sixty six, 448 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: San Suey established a corporate presence here in the United States, 449 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: founding the San Sui Electronics Company, Limited here in the States, 450 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: and the following year ninety seven was when the company 451 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: would release a solid state pre amplifier called the a 452 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: U seven seven seven using transistors. So I've talked about 453 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: transistors a lot in other episodes, but the transistor is 454 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: an electronic component that can operate either as a switch, 455 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: so in other words, that can allow current to flow 456 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: through or prevent it from passing, or it can also 457 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: work as an amplifier, and transistors would have a massive 458 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: impact on the audio landscape as a transistor could potentially 459 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: replace a vacuum tube. This was important because vacuum tubes 460 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: are relatively large they are fragile, they're made out of glass, 461 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: and they can they do heat up when an operation 462 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: like they can get really hot. Uh. They can also 463 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: so eventually burn out, which means you eventually will have 464 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: to replace vacuum tubes. It might take decades, but you 465 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: will eventually have to do it. Transistors would also allow 466 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: for mentorization. In fact, the development of the transistor is 467 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: why we're able to have things like smartphones and modern computers. 468 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: But in the audio world, there's a pretty deep divide 469 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: over whether tube based amplifiers produce a better result or 470 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: if solid state or transistor based amplifiers are the best. 471 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: And you'll hear audio files swap terms like warmth or 472 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: brittle or a round. These are descriptors that don't immediately 473 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: seem to apply to sound, right like, when you're talking 474 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: about sounds something you're hearing, it's kind of odd to 475 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: think of calling it warm or brittle or round like. 476 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,640 Speaker 1: These are descriptors that we would use for other stuff 477 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: that we sense through other ways. But that's kind of 478 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: the language that the audio world has adopted, and it's 479 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: difficult to to contextualize or to understand unless you actually 480 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: experience what people mean when they say that. When you 481 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: hear it and you say, oh, that's what warm means 482 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 1: or that's what round means, you kind of get it, 483 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: but it's very hard to to conceptualize without that experience. Anyway, 484 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: there's a whole discussion we could have on solid state 485 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: versus two amplifiers and whether one is superior to another. 486 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: There are some people who say the solid state ones 487 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: create a much more faithful reproduction of sound. There are 488 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: others who say that, you know, the vacuum tubes create 489 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 1: a lot more character and depth of sound, which is 490 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: more satisfying to listen to. There are camps on either 491 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: side that are passionate about their perspective. And I'm going 492 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: to leave it there for now. Us again, we're talking 493 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: about Sun Sue or at least I'm trying to. In fact, 494 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break and I will refocus on 495 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: Sound Sue when we return. Okay, before the break, we 496 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: were getting into the late sixties. I do need to 497 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,719 Speaker 1: backtrack a little bit because in n Sun Suey had 498 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: introduced the AU one one one amplifier. This was a 499 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: piece of audio equipment that to this day is highly 500 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: revered and sought after. And it looks awesome. Uh. It 501 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: is an amplifier and all in one amplifier, so it's 502 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: not a receiver. It doesn't have a radio tuner in it, 503 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: but otherwise behaves the way a receiver would and that 504 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: you feed your different audio components into this. It amplifies 505 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: the incoming signal and then puts that out to speakers 506 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: or headphones or whatever. It has a black front panel 507 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: on this set top type device, and the panel has 508 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: these silver and black controls on it, so you've got 509 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 1: knobs and dials that are all silver and then a 510 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: few switches and buttons that are in black. So black 511 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,479 Speaker 1: on black it's very spinal tap. Uh. This was a 512 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: stereo system amplifier, so again part of a high end 513 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 1: audio system. And I've read a lot of reviews about 514 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: the a U one eleven from various audio files, and 515 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: it it almost comes across like the recruiting literature used 516 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: by cult members. No offense audio files, We y'all could 517 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,280 Speaker 1: come on a little strong anyway, The a U one 518 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: eleven to this day remains a coveted piece of gear. 519 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: Typically you're looking at spending a couple of thousand dollars 520 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: and that's on one that needs you know, some some 521 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: tender love and care, some tweaks and some uh, some 522 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: maintenance to make it work at the way it's supposed to. 523 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: If you're looking for one that's in really like like 524 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: good performance condition, you're talking maybe four grand, sometimes maybe more, 525 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: depends on really the market you're looking at um. And also, 526 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: you know, I gotta keep in mind there's a limited 527 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: number of these. They're not making new ones, the ones 528 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: that exist, that's it. But they are highly valued, largely 529 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: because they are known to have an excellent ability to 530 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: boost the signal to a pretty strong one while still 531 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: maintaining a very low noise ceiling, and has the added 532 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: benefit of all these different controls that you can tweak 533 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: and work your specific audio set up so that you 534 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: can produce the most accurate replication of sound or the 535 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: best experience of sound that you can possibly manage. In 536 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, San Sui got into the speaker business. 537 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: It released the spe SP two models of speakers. Now 538 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 1: audio files seem to mostly dismiss Sue's speakers, so the 539 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: company was really well known for the quality of its 540 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: receivers and its amplifiers, but as for other stuff, it produced, 541 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 1: such as speakers and turntables and much later things like 542 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: CD players. Most of those get a resounding me from 543 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,839 Speaker 1: the audio loving crowd out there. In nineteen sixty seven, 544 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: that's when we got the a U seven seven seven. 545 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 1: That again was the first solid state integrated amplifier. So 546 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: again a U one eleven used vacuum tubes, the a 547 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 1: U seven seven seven used transistors. Following the seven seven seven, 548 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,239 Speaker 1: we got the a U five five and the a 549 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,879 Speaker 1: U n and then a whole bunch of different amplifier 550 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,919 Speaker 1: and receiver variants up. To go into all of them 551 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:53,399 Speaker 1: would kind of be pointless. UH. They're all different amplifiers 552 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: and receivers with different UH specs to them, and the 553 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: specs start to get meaningless unless you're looking for a 554 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: particular piece of equipment in your vintage audio set up. 555 00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,239 Speaker 1: So I'm not going to go into all of that. 556 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: It really wouldn't be any benefit to anyone. It would 557 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,520 Speaker 1: be like I was reciting numbers and figures out of 558 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: a catalog. But in the early nine seventies, San Sui 559 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,880 Speaker 1: began to produce quadraphonic sound amplifiers, so stereo sound sends 560 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: separate channels to the left and right speakers, you have 561 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:31,839 Speaker 1: two channels. Stereo Quadraphonic, as the name suggests, was meant 562 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:33,959 Speaker 1: to do a very similar thing, except now you're talking 563 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:39,800 Speaker 1: about four channels of audio, so four separate speakers left front, 564 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: right front, left rear, and right rear. So you could 565 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: argue really that this was an approach to surround sound. 566 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,600 Speaker 1: That's kind of what it was. Now. To achieve that, 567 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: you had to follow special processes and use special electronics 568 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 1: to generate records, word and handle or play back the 569 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: signals in order to get this sort of effect right. 570 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: You couldn't just plug and play like you had to 571 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: specifically engineer all this in order to take advantage of it, 572 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,759 Speaker 1: just as you had to do with stereo. So the 573 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies saw a whole lot of experimentation in this realm. 574 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,720 Speaker 1: For home theater use, quadrophonic sound had actually been around 575 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: since the fifties in studios, but for home setups it 576 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,359 Speaker 1: was a new thing in the seventies and we might 577 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 1: as well address it here. Quadrophonics didn't really succeed, largely 578 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,800 Speaker 1: because there were tons of technical issues that made recording, broadcasting, 579 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 1: and playing quadrophonic recordings difficult. Plus there were competing formats 580 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 1: in encoding and decoding quadrophonic signals. Now that's not to 581 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,360 Speaker 1: say that there weren't examples of quadrophonic systems. There were, 582 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,760 Speaker 1: but on the whole, quadrophonic systems only saw modest success, 583 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: And that's typically gonna happen when you have lots of 584 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: different formats. Some hardware might support format number one but 585 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,800 Speaker 1: not format number two. Some media might only be available 586 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,799 Speaker 1: on format number two, not format number one. So you 587 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,879 Speaker 1: could have a quadraphonic system, get a quadraphonic recording and 588 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: find out, oh, these are using two different encoding decoding formats, 589 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,759 Speaker 1: so I can't actually get the quadraphonic experience on my 590 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: system because they aren't compatible. So the lack of a 591 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: universal standard was a real problem, and ultimately the the 592 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: the music industry as a whole moved away from quadraphonic sound. Now, 593 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 1: one neat thing that San Sui did was create a 594 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,160 Speaker 1: quadraphonic synthesizer which could take a two channel audio source 595 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:51,080 Speaker 1: a stereo audio source and simulate a four channel signal. 596 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: And I kind of think of this as sort of 597 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: the modern ultra high definition television UH trend we see 598 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: where like ultra high definition like four KSE sets and 599 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:06,600 Speaker 1: stuff up scales images from lower resolutions so that they 600 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 1: look better on an ultra high res screen. We're kind 601 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: of talking about the same kind of process back in 602 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 1: the day with san Sui, except obviously it's a different medium, right, 603 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:21,160 Speaker 1: We're not talking about visuals like a high resolution screen. 604 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: We're talking about audio. But yeah, it's kind of the 605 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: same idea. We take this stereo input and we produce 606 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:31,719 Speaker 1: a quadraphonic output that just thinks. I think it's kind 607 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: of cool. I don't know what it sounded like or 608 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,920 Speaker 1: how effective it was because I've never experienced it, but 609 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 1: I think it's a neat idea. So in nineteen seventy four, Kikuchi, 610 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: the founder of san Sui, retired. Kinzo Fujiwara became the 611 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: new president of the company, and while Kikuchi oversaw san 612 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 1: Sui during its early days, it's expansion, the development of 613 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,240 Speaker 1: the AU one eleven, and kind of cementing san Sui 614 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:03,919 Speaker 1: as a go to in high fidelity audio equipment. Fujiwara 615 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: would lead during a tumultuous era in which various audio 616 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: companies were really competing in the high fi space, and 617 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,799 Speaker 1: then things took a dramatic turn for the company. So 618 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: one thing San Suey did was it introduced a whole 619 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: bunch of different circuit designs that it patented in the 620 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 1: late seventies and early eighties, all really in an effort 621 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:30,279 Speaker 1: to create more powerful and more accurate amplifiers and receivers. 622 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: So the idea was the circuit designs would allow for 623 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:39,360 Speaker 1: even less noise to come through while you're boosting the signal. 624 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,719 Speaker 1: That really was the goal. So there's no need to 625 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: go into each of those because uh, you know, they 626 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,960 Speaker 1: were all meant to do generally the same thing. They 627 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,080 Speaker 1: just did it in different ways. But one really big 628 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: change that hits San Suey came in nine eight The 629 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:58,879 Speaker 1: company had been producing its own transformers up to that 630 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,919 Speaker 1: point for the most part, anyway, and many felt that 631 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:08,279 Speaker 1: the transformers San Sui was making were contributing a great 632 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,360 Speaker 1: deal to the quality of the San Sui audio products, 633 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: the finished you know, amplifiers and receivers. But in nineteen 634 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 1: San Sui sold off its transformer technology and its transformer 635 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:26,319 Speaker 1: business to a company called Hashimoto Electric, and a lot 636 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:31,279 Speaker 1: of prominent San Sui engineers moved from san Sui to Hashimoto. 637 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 1: So arguably this was a step towards San Sui's a 638 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,719 Speaker 1: ventual failure, although it's ultimate failure, like the complete disappearance 639 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: of San Sui, wouldn't happen until two thousand fourteen, but 640 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 1: the company itself was kind of a non player well 641 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,440 Speaker 1: before the two thousand's. So let's give a quick rundown 642 00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:57,280 Speaker 1: of how things generally played out, because finding actual details 643 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,799 Speaker 1: at this point became almost impossible. Bowl I found a 644 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:06,319 Speaker 1: lot of assertions but very little hard data to be 645 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: able to explain exactly what happened with San Sui. But 646 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: I've got a big picture. So one big thing was 647 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:19,239 Speaker 1: a global economic trend that San Sui was, you know, 648 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,800 Speaker 1: affected by, and that was that the Japanese yen began 649 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: to appreciate in value against other currencies. That made the 650 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 1: export business in Japan a lot more difficult, particularly for 651 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,399 Speaker 1: like high end luxury stuff like the equipment that San 652 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: Sui was making, because the the cost in Japan for 653 00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:48,400 Speaker 1: building this stuff was largely uh stable, so your cost 654 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,720 Speaker 1: to make something ends up being about the same. However, 655 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:56,919 Speaker 1: because of the appreciation of the Japanese yen against other currencies, 656 00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: it meant that if you were exporting stuff the amount 657 00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:03,759 Speaker 1: of money you were getting back from these exports once 658 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: it converted into Japanese end, it was less because the 659 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 1: end's value had appreciated. So you're getting less money back 660 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,920 Speaker 1: from your sales once it gets back to you because 661 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,879 Speaker 1: of these these changes in the value of the end 662 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 1: versus other currencies. So you have you have very few options. 663 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,400 Speaker 1: You could try to increase the cost the final sales 664 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 1: price of your of your items and your export business, 665 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,120 Speaker 1: but then you might price yourself out of the market. 666 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: Right if if a two thousand dollars set is now 667 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: a ten thousand dollars set, how many people are actually 668 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,160 Speaker 1: going to go out there and buy it? You know, 669 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:45,240 Speaker 1: you are already marketing to a pretty limited customer base. 670 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,360 Speaker 1: How do you manage that? So this was a big 671 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:54,120 Speaker 1: blow to companies like san Sui. Also, there were other 672 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,879 Speaker 1: companies that were competing in the space that We're doing 673 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:02,799 Speaker 1: really well, companies like Pioneers and Sony. So that was 674 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,120 Speaker 1: a big issue for San Suy was that it was 675 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,239 Speaker 1: facing some pretty stiff competition from other brands. Some of 676 00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:11,400 Speaker 1: these were also dealing with the same issues. Sony in particular, 677 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 1: dealing with the same issue of the appreciation of the 678 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:20,680 Speaker 1: end versus other currencies. They responded by trying to reduce 679 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:25,840 Speaker 1: the cost of production, which meant going with cheaper components, 680 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,000 Speaker 1: and this resulted in San Suy trying to produce what 681 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:32,399 Speaker 1: some people in the audio file world referred to as 682 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:38,080 Speaker 1: bpcs or black pieces of crap. In other words, you 683 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,920 Speaker 1: they were putting out these sort of black plastic audio 684 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:47,919 Speaker 1: components that had cheaper things in them, cheaper pieces in them, 685 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:54,360 Speaker 1: cheaper transformers, cheaper amplifiers, cheaper transistors, and so the output, 686 00:43:54,560 --> 00:44:00,120 Speaker 1: the actual performance of these components was suffering. Sansu His 687 00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,920 Speaker 1: reputation took a hit and people began to kind of 688 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 1: migrate away from current San Sui products. They would still 689 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,560 Speaker 1: go after the vintage stuff because that was still performing 690 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,880 Speaker 1: really well, but the vintage stuff was that was like 691 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,520 Speaker 1: an aftermarket, right, that was resell market. San Suey wasn't 692 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,800 Speaker 1: making profits off of selling these things because they weren't 693 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,200 Speaker 1: making them anymore. They weren't making those older models anymore, 694 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,440 Speaker 1: so that was a real issue for the company. Eventually, 695 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,799 Speaker 1: it got to a point where the company made the 696 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,800 Speaker 1: decision to cut ties with exports because it just couldn't 697 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,000 Speaker 1: make money in that market. Anymore, and they really focused 698 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:44,600 Speaker 1: on trying to cater to the Japanese market. However, by 699 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 1: this point, in the late nineteen eighties and into the 700 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,840 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, we were starting to see a shift away 701 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,839 Speaker 1: from high fidelity. People were starting to move off of that. 702 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: They were moving to world of convenience as opposed to fidelity. 703 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,120 Speaker 1: So with the City, you're talking about these big systems 704 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,280 Speaker 1: that have lots of different components, all designed to create 705 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,719 Speaker 1: this ideal listening experience. But convenience is saying, you know, 706 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,160 Speaker 1: listening experience is important, but wouldn't it be nice if 707 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:15,640 Speaker 1: you could take your music with you? And that was 708 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,040 Speaker 1: where we see the birth of things like cassettes and 709 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:23,160 Speaker 1: the Sony Walkman, which really revolutionized the audio industry to 710 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,360 Speaker 1: a point where audio files felt it like a stab 711 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:30,080 Speaker 1: in the back because, yeah, you could now take your 712 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,120 Speaker 1: music with you, which was convenient, you could listen to 713 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,279 Speaker 1: it in ways that you never could before, but it 714 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:38,120 Speaker 1: was had a much lower quality than what you would 715 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:42,120 Speaker 1: get with one of these, you know, kitted out audio 716 00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:44,840 Speaker 1: systems that you would have at home. But for a 717 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,759 Speaker 1: lot of people, convenience was more important and also was 718 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:54,920 Speaker 1: considerably cheaper, and so Because of this shift in values 719 00:45:55,320 --> 00:46:00,080 Speaker 1: of what you know, the music buying public want it. 720 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,480 Speaker 1: You started to see a decrease in interest in the 721 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:07,239 Speaker 1: high fidelity audio component world, and as a result, San 722 00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: Sui Star faded even more. It tried to get into 723 00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:13,919 Speaker 1: things like producing CD players and turntables and stuff, but 724 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,479 Speaker 1: often it was very late to the game and it 725 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: was not marketed very effectively. At some point, and I 726 00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:26,440 Speaker 1: could not find a definitive answer as to win, the 727 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:32,400 Speaker 1: company ended up selling it's it's brand name to other entities. 728 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: I believe currently a Chinese company owns the right to 729 00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:41,359 Speaker 1: brand stuff as san Sui. The stuff that comes out 730 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:44,840 Speaker 1: branded as san Sui has no other connection to the 731 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:48,319 Speaker 1: actual San Sui company that we've been talking about. It 732 00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:51,360 Speaker 1: just is a brand name that has been assigned to 733 00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:56,000 Speaker 1: a product. So there was some point where that happened. 734 00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:59,600 Speaker 1: Exactly when I cannot tell you, because again I could 735 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:04,200 Speaker 1: not find any definitive documentation, but it happened between the 736 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:09,440 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties and two thousand fourteen. Sometime in that twenty 737 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:15,960 Speaker 1: years span, it happened, and I don't it's very sad 738 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,120 Speaker 1: for people who were fans of the San Sui brand 739 00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:21,640 Speaker 1: that this happened UH, and a lot of it. I 740 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:23,960 Speaker 1: would argue, like, I think a lot of people could 741 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:29,320 Speaker 1: point to Cokuchie resigning like like retiring, as being the turn. 742 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:33,720 Speaker 1: But honestly, I think that that economic issue, the fact 743 00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:39,239 Speaker 1: that the yen's value appreciated, that was probably one of 744 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,719 Speaker 1: the big big blows, and the other one being this 745 00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:48,239 Speaker 1: shift towards UH preferring convenience over to fidelity. That's a 746 00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:51,600 Speaker 1: shift that we've seen over and over again. By the way, 747 00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:55,960 Speaker 1: like the whole adoption of m P three's audio files 748 00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,279 Speaker 1: early in the MP three days, we're not super happy 749 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:02,799 Speaker 1: about MP thres because the quality of the MP three 750 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,080 Speaker 1: could be much lower than what you would get on 751 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:10,840 Speaker 1: say a vinyl album that was taken from a really 752 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:16,719 Speaker 1: pristine master recording. You could say, well, this is far 753 00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:19,000 Speaker 1: superior to what you get with an MP three, but 754 00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:23,279 Speaker 1: again MP three's far more convenient. Anyway. That is the 755 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,279 Speaker 1: rise and Fall of San SUI hope you enjoyed it. 756 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,520 Speaker 1: If you have suggestions for topics I should cover in 757 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,520 Speaker 1: future episodes of tech Stuff, reach out to me on 758 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:35,200 Speaker 1: the Twitter handle text stuff h s W and I'll 759 00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:44,080 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an 760 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:47,800 Speaker 1: I heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 761 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:51,280 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 762 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:52,880 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.