SH Spotlight Bob Furmanek's research leading up to the first year of stereo records. It is fantastic reading..

I have that and never played it. Not even sure how I ended up with it. Gunna check it out.

 

Listening to mono sometimes can bring a similar response. "I am Silly! Listening to this punchy monolithic sound!"

 

THANK YOU so much for your exhaustive research.
Signed Andrea (Frey) Bass, daughter of Sid Frey, founder of Audio Fidelity Records.

 

Andrea, thank you so much for your comment.

Your father was a legend and a true visionary. His importance to the mass production and acceptance of stereo vinyl beginning in March 1958 cannot be overstated!

Do the Audio Fidelity master tapes survive? If so, I would love to spearhead a CD reissue of those landmark first stereo albums.

 

Those pictures are great. I have that "Railroad Sounds" LP.....Great job by Bob, thanks for starting up this thread again.
Looking at those prices...$6.95 at little pricey for 1958 right.

 

February 24, 1958 - Fairchild begins production of the first stereo cartridge.

Adjusted for inflation, $79.50 in 1958 is equal to $703.28 in 2019.

 

Thanks for these additional pix. In storage, I have lots of A/F records, tapes, publicity materials, and awards. I'm looking for a way to make them available to the public in a positive way as I was able to do with a film my dad had made of Louis Armstrong in the recording studio. Ricky Riccardi, the curator of the Louis Armstrong Museum made that happen.

Only known film of Louis Armstrong in studio discovered in storage facility

I will be in contact with museums and libraries that can protect and share this legacy. The renewed interest in vinyl is such a positive thing. I only saw your compilation yesterday. Thanks again for your efforts. I posted a link on the Audio Fidelity Facebook page.

Audio Fidelity Records

 

Upthread someone asked @anderonia about the AF masters.

The Guardian article linked in the previous post offers this tidbit:

Bass said that after their mother died in 2005, her sister placed the Audio Fidelity tapes, films, albums and personal family items in a storage facility – unbeknownst to her.

“People were always asking me where the masters were,” said Bass, a former marketing director. “I went on one of these message boards about Audio Fidelity and someone said: ‘I have the masters.’” It turned out to be a person who buys the contents of abandoned storage facilities.

Bass said she was unable at that time to purchase the Louis Armstrong material, but the man contacted her again six months ago, and this time they struck a deal.

It must be heartbreaking to learn that your father's legacy was essentially abandoned by a family member. Of course, it's understandable that, at a certain point in time, before their historical context became apparent, the importance of recordings of steam trains and Johnny Puleo & His Harmonica Gang might have been underestimated.

 

Big issues. Not every theater had magnetic sound equipment, nor multichannel sound equipment. Only a select few upper end cinemas did. It cost considerable money to install and maintain. And as said, many cinemas which had it it got into disrepair by sometime into the 1960's. Academy mono optical was how most people heard their movies. Until Dolby Stereo optical was born, and "Star Wars" got it established in the 1977 time frame.

 

By January 1954, there were at least 1000 theatres equipped for magnetic stereo in the US alone.

There’s more information here.

First Year of Stereophonic Motion Pictures - 3dfilmarchive

 

Widescreen Documentation - 3dfilmarchive

 

Andrea, please get in touch via this address. Contact Us - 3dfilmarchive

 

Best wishes to all but I do want to emphasize that I have no family or other connection to Ms Andrea Bass.

 

Andrea,

I appreciate you seeking us out here and participating in the discussion! I tried to send you a private message after seeing your post above, but it seems I’m blocked from initiating a conversation with you here, perhaps due to the relative age of your account. Anyhow, I happen to run a record label myself, Aural Pleasure Records - a somewhat fresh startup dedicated to audiophile-grade licensed reissues and new releases, both on vinyl and hi-res digital.

I am incredibly interested in what you may have on your hands there, specifically regarding any extant tapes/masters related to your father’s label. As someone who owns a number of original Audio Fidelity releases myself, I can only imagine the treasure trove of recordings there that might have not been made available in years. I feel they deserve to be continually appreciated and presented as best as they possibly can!

If this is something you may be interested in, I’d love to discuss this with you further and determine what may be within the realm of possibility. Since it seems the forum’s messaging function isn’t, erm... functioning, is there an email address or phone number where I would be able to reach you?