Who produced the first stereophonic tape-recorder?
STEREOPHONIC TAPE RECORDER
The first, commercially produced, STEREOPHONIC TAPE RECORDER was the Magnecord, which was demonstrated at the US Audio Fair of 1949 by Magnecord Co of Chicago. It was developed in response to a request from General Motors for a binaural recorder suitable for analysing engine noise, monaural machines having failed to give the sound perspective required. The first home stereo outfit was produced by Livingston Electronics of New York in 1954 and the same company issued the first catalogue of prerecorded stereophonic tapes in May of the same year. The first of these Audiosphere recordings, No. BN701, was of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony together with Sibelius’s Finlandia end was issued on a 7 in reel at 0 10. Stereo tapes preceded stereo discs (see Sound Recording: Stereophonic) by nearly four years.
In Britain the first six stereophonic tapes were classical recordings issued by HMV at 3 guineas each on 4 October 1955. Tape 1000/1 was Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with soloist Paul Tortelier and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent.
