Books!

Great thanks to everyone thus far, lots to dig into!

My favourites include:

Sound Bites: 50 years of Hi-Fi News by Ken Kessler

Ken’s travelogue never fails to captivate each time I return to it.



A Pair of Wharfedales: The Story of Gilbert Briggs and His Loudspeakers by David Briggs

A great historical read. Plenty of good photographs and an even handed tone. G.A.B. himself would have been pleased.



Sound Reproduction by Gilbert Briggs

An almost ancient tome in 2021 but rarely, if ever, have the fundamentals of audio been written with such clarity.


Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms by Floyd Toole.

This one’s more educational, and I’ve only read the 2nd edition, but there’s a lifetime of knowledge in these pages.

In thee area of historical context I would recommend "Putting he Record Straght" the autobiography of John Culshaw.  For the younger generation, JC joined Decca Records in 1946 and served as it's foremost producers of classical music through 1967, when he left Decca and ended up at the BBC.  He was instrumental in assembling Deccas recording team for classical music as well as producing many of the greatest Decca recordings of that era.  His autobiography is not a technical account but does provide a fascinating look at the growth and development of the record industry from its infancy to becoming a multimillion dollar industry.  Topics include the birth of stereo recordings, personal recollections of artists of the time (HVK, Solti, Pavarotti, Neilson. Ansermet, Kubelik and others), and the economics and politics of producing recordings.  This book may be difficult to find but is definitely worth finding/reading if classical recordings are of interest to you.

In addition to books, consider studying the liner notes on the backs of your LPs and/or the inserts that come with your CDs. Lots to learn there.