davidbowerkingwood

A Pleasant Surprise

Recently Word Press revised my statistics page to show the different countries where people have viewed my blog. I was surprised and excited to see that people from 33 countries all over the world have viewed my blog since February 25th of this year.

While that was interesting to me the thing that surprised me most was the countries that had the most viewers. It was no surprise that the United States was number one but the order of the next nine caught me by complete surprise.

Number 2 was Indonesia, 3 was Brazil, 4 was Canada, 5 was The Czech Republic, 6 was The Russian Federation, 7 was South Africa, 8 was Colombia, 9 was Japan, and 10 was Nigeria.

My sincere thanks to all of you including the 23 countries not listed.

Thank you!

What is the Primary Focus of Christian Responsibility? 

There are many forces at play today that request or even demand our attention. There are issues galore from sexual perversion or abortion to political corruption that scream out to the Christian for a response. The Christian must, however, carefully balance those demands with the primary focus that should occupy our attention where the unbelieving world is concerned.

The Christian’s message to the world is Jesus Christ and Him crucified; that is the answer the world needs and not either more or less of something else, whatever that may be. If we were somehow able to do the impossible and abolish all sinful acts would that provide salvation? The answer to that is no, it would not! The world needs salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior; there is no other answer!

Salvation is God’s remedy for mankind’s basic problem, spiritual death, and that needs a Redeemer in order to live again and be saved from the penalty of sin. Let us be careful not to muddy the water concerning salvation through Christ by introducing unrelated issues. Entirely too many Christians today are letting less vital issues determine their message to the world.

The Apostle Paul set a marvelous example in the New Testament. There was no shortage of issues that Paul might have addressed in Roman society; in addition to many we have today in our country, one can add slavery. Paul’s message was, nevertheless, always clearly focused on the big issue; what will you do with Christ?

The question then becomes, how does the Christian achieve a Biblically sound balance between important issues and the vital message of personal salvation in Jesus Christ? Let us consider the question of our responsibility for our government.

Christian Responsibility in Elections

The year 2012 could go down in history as the critical turning point for the United States. The election this November may well determine the direction this country will take for many years to come. 

The options have never been more clearly defined; Socialism, which is being vigorously pursued by the present administration and is asking for more time to fundamentally change America versus a return to a more capitalistic environment which had, in the past, served America well.

Forces on both sides are preparing for a serious battle for control and the lives of all of us depend on the outcome of this struggle. Those of us who are watching the national scene see the results every day of the encroachment of socialism and the efforts of the progressives to create a one-world government.

I have read for years that progressives viewed the economic health of the United States as the greatest single obstacle to world union. Before unity could even be started on this continent it would be necessary to destroy the economy of this country in order to make the people more agreeable to international union and the loss of national sovereignty.

Christians in a Republic

If all of the above is true then what is our responsibility as Christians in these turbulent times? The republic as it was created in the United States did not exist in New Testament times so it will be difficult to make a direct comparison between then and now.

At the time Paul wrote Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

We must be mindful of the nature of government under which Paul lived as he wrote those words. At that time Rome was ruled by Nero and I believe most of us are familiar with his reputation. We cannot say that Paul was living under a fair and benevolent government yet he writes those words in 13:1.

This principle was stated earlier in the Bible in Daniel 4:17 when Nebuchadnezzar discovers who’s really in charge, “The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” The Bible clearly teaches that leaders are placed in office by God regardless of the mechanics of the process; so the leaders of nations are God’s servants fulfilling His will for the nation.

There is one significant difference and that is our presidents are placed in office by the election process; Nero, on the other hand, was not the choice of the people. The opportunity for the people to express their preferences for president as well as the Congress and Senate is coming up again in November of this year and we, as Christians, have the obligation to vote for the candidates that we believe will most closely support Christian principles.

God is Sovereign in the Affairs of Men  

Based on the testimony of Scripture I believe I can safely say that whoever wins the election will be the one chosen by God to lead this country. God’s will is not going to be thwarted by the will of man; God’s chosen candidate will take the oath of office in January, 2013 just as he has taken the oath of office in every previous election.

The outcome of the next election is a spiritual matter, not a political matter regardless of what you may otherwise hear. This nation has turned its back on God and God has started a process of judgment against this nation. Whether we are yet to the point Israel reached when the Lord told Jeremiah in Chapter 15:1, “Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go!”

Have we as a nation spurned the Lord to the point He is regarding the United States this way? Is He going to “let us go?” I hope not but it is vital that we recognize God’s hand in all of our affairs and pray for His mercy and grace.

While this is not the Church’s land, our land is in heaven, we are a heavenly people but we are, nevertheless, here as ambassadors at this moment and its wellbeing directly affects our lives. It is important that we pray for God’s mercy and then vote in accordance with Biblical principles.

The next President of the United States will be the man God has chosen to either manifest his judgment or His grace. May God be praised!

A Tribute to God’s Unfailing Faithfulness

The Book of Ruth is the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel of Judges. I feel depressed after reading the Book of Judges; I’m saddened by Israel’s refusal to follow God’s directions for success and happiness. Although there are moments of return they always seem to quickly stray away on a path of their own and wind up getting into serious trouble.

Judges ends on a very sad verse, Judges 21:25 which tells us the bottom line of Israel’s plight, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” This sounds a lot like anarchy to me; a dictionary definition of anarchy is “a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority.”

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

 But then there is the Book of Ruth which to me is like a refreshing breath of pure air after emerging from a dark cellar filled with putrefaction and decay. What is of particular interest is the events in Ruth are actually taking place during the time frame of Judges.

What we are seeing is God’s faithfulness to His plan for mankind’s redeemer being carried forward in spite of the willful disobedience of his chosen people. The nation who was to bring blessing to the world may have seriously stumbled but God’s plan was faithfully preserved by a gracious God who would not be thwarted by Israel’s disobedience.

Although it is not precisely stated in the Book of Ruth it is believed that the story of Ruth took place during the time Gideon was Judge over Israel. Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Kilion left Israel because of a famine in the land and moved to Moab. Later Elimelech, Mahlon and Kilion all died in Moab and Naomi decided to return to Israel.

Ruth, a Remarkable Lady

Naomi’s sons had married Moabitess women named Orpah and Ruth and Naomi urged them to remain in Moab but Ruth insisted on accompanying Naomi back to Israel and made the statement which has come down through the centuries, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” Wow, talk about a powerful conviction Ruth surely had one!

In retrospect we can see the hand of God working in Ruth’s life, giving her a certainty that would not be denied that her future was in Israel with Naomi. Well what do you know, that turned out to be just the case for Ruth; God had a wonderful plan for her life that did require she move to what was for her, a foreign land.

As the book progresses we see her meeting and eventually marrying Boaz but it is to Boaz that I wish to devote the remainder of the blog. We will need to consider the law of the kinsman-redeemer first.

The Law of the Kinsman-redeemer 

In Leviticus 25:25-34 we read of the law of the kinsman-redeemer; in verse 25 we read, “If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.”

Boaz was Naomi’s nearest relative except for one kinsman who is never named. In the 4th chapter of Ruth we are told of Boaz’s confronting the kinsman who refuses to step forward because it would involve taking Ruth as his wife and raising children to the name of her dead husband. This opens the door for Boaz who agrees to serve as kinsman-redeemer to Naomi and marry Ruth.

Why is Boaz thought of as a type of Christ? This takes us back to Genesis where Adam sinned against a direct command of God causing him to die spiritually and also costing him the entire earth; Adam sold his birthright to earth for a piece of fruit. Satan is now master of the earth and has been since Adam’s sin.

God’s solution to this loss was to plan for a kinsman-redeemer for Adam and the entire human race. The problem was that there was no earthly man with the spiritual resources to redeem the earth from Satan. For such a man to exist he must be free of original sin and no man had ever been born who could qualify until the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ as Mankind’s Kinsman-redeemer

With Christ we now had a candidate for kinsman-redeemer who was fully qualified to redeem mankind’s inheritance from Satan; he was a kinsman and He had the resources to pay for the redemption. When Christ stepped up to die on the cross in our place He was dying for our fallen sinful nature and redeeming our inheritance as well from Satan.

Christ will return to reclaim mankind’s inheritance at the Second Advent; earth will be restored and Christ will reign on earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

As you probably know, Ruth became the daughter-in-law of Rahab, the harlot, the great grandmother of King David and in the direct line of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a fantastic account of God’s grace at a time when Israel was stumbling.

The Book of Ruth is encouraging to me as a reminder that God is always faithful and never fails to provide for His children and ensure His promises will be fulfilled exactly according to His plan.

Even today as we look about and see the discord and unrest all over the world we can be fully assured that God’s plan is being carried forward in full accordance with His will. God is faithfully preserving His plan and all who have received Christ as their Savior.

Digital Audio, the New Kid on the Block

The big advance in the LP came with the development of the stereo LP. This technology recorded one signal on the groove on one side and another signal on the groove of the opposite side. The difference in sound was immense due in no small part to the advances in cartridge design. The new stereo cartridges were a vast improvement over the older mono cartridges such as the GE cartridge on my Garrard changer and the spatial sound stage was very exciting indeed for those of us who had followed the industry.

Stereo sound had been available on stereo tape since the late 1950’s but stereo LP’s, although available as early as 1958, didn’t really catch on until the mid to late 1960’s.

After the excitement of stereo LP’s had started dying out there came a period of little or no real advancement in home audio technology. There were refinements here and there but not exciting enough to dispel the “ho-hum” attitude that seemed to infect the industry. Then the digital age arrived.

Video is Added to the Mix

The first laser equipment and hardware to surface that I know about was done by Magnavox/Phillips and was called DiscoVision. This was a 12 inch disc that was shiny and looked unlike anything we had seen before and provided both an audio and a video signal. An early commercial can be found here: DiscoVision

When I first started shopping around there were two competing formats; the laser DiscoVision and RCA’s Selectavision which used a stylus tracking a grooved record turning at a 450 RPM and offered video resolution only slightly better than VHS tape.

For me that was a no brainer, I saw the laser technology as the future and the stylus tracking a record groove as the past; I immediately preferred the newer laser technology and time has proven me right as demonstrated by the CD, DVD, and Blu-ray discs.

The laser technology offered one immediate advantage over the LP in that it didn’t have groves into which grit could insert itself. The snap, crackle, and pop associated with LP’s could be banished to outer darkness where it deserved to stay. The wear factor also disappeared as nothing touched the disc during playback but a beam of light.

The early Magnavox DiscoVision players were a huge challenge; the challenge was to keep them working and that was extremely frustrating. Pioneer came out with what they called a LaserDisc player which seemed to solve all of the mechanical problems Magnavox couldn’t resolve. More on my first DiscoVision player can be found here: MagnaVision by Leonard Nimoy.

The last time I took the Magnavox player in for service yet again I wound up telling the technician he could keep it for parts and walked out of the store feeling as if I had just been granted my freedom.

Digital Technology Hits its Stride

I then bought my first Pioneer LaserDisc player and used for it for several years; to the best of my knowledge it still works although I gave it to a family member. Shortly after that the CD hit the market using similar laser technology and the industry was on a roll once more.

The CD was followed by the DVD and it was clear that the audio scene had changed forever. As always happens with new technology there was a learning curve whether it’s in the design of the equipment or engineering the recordings that were to be played on the new equipment and this time around was to be no exception to that rule.

Some of the early CD’s had a rather strident upper frequency response which caused strings, especially massed violins, to sound somewhat harsh and unpleasant. The problems causing this were eventually resolved by refinements in the equipment and the recording techniques. Today good equipment can make even the old CD’s sound much better.

Recording technology branched out to dead ends a couple of time with the SACD and the DVD-Audio discs. Although both provided outstanding music reproduction their intense battle for dominance caused both of them to fail which to me is a sad story.

The Blu-ray Disc Opens New Doors

The advent of the Blu-ray disc opened up data storage possibilities that permitted the uncompressed recording of audio. This has resulted in new uncompressed formats such as DTS HD Master Audio, and Dolby True HD both of which offer special opportunities for high fidelity audio reproduction. As before the recording engineers are going through a learning curve which has produced some less than optimum recordings to date although many are real winners.

My Dream System is Started in 1996

During the 1990’s I had become excited once again by the progress and the equipment available for the home audio hobbyist. I knew I wanted to start work on my ultimate dream system and, true to my pipe organ focus, the first part of my dream system to be added in 1996 was a Velodyne F1500R subwoofer which I still have and still continues to amaze me.

(Update November 2016) The Velodyne finally stopped working and has since been replaced with a Hsu ULS 15 Mk2 which, if anything, is doing an even better job than the Velodyne did.

In February of 2000 I added five Infinity brand speakers because they sounded good and they were on sale. Infinity was closing out their old line and I had the opportunity to buy their formerly top-of-the-line speakers for a substantial discount. I went ahead and bought five matching speakers and still enjoy their sound today; along with the Velodyne (now the Hsu ULS 15 Mk2) they produce the full range of the pipe organ and have an almost perfect tonal balance.

I finally arrived at my present system configuration in December of 2010 and have found much pleasure in both movies and music as reproduced in my home. It almost appears that we have reached another temporary plateau in the development of new equipment which reminds me of that period between the development of the stereo LP and the development of the laser technology.

An Exciting Future?

We will reach the edge of this plateau sooner rather than later I suspect but I only have hints where the next big technological breakthroughs will lead us. They seem to be moving in the direction of combining personal computers and massive digital storage with the audio and video of the home theater. That in conjunction with streaming audio and video could eventually replace the individual disc recording and make the CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc’s all obsolete. Streaming audio and video is already starting to make significant inroads with the consumer and sales of CD’s have fallen dramatically.

When I received that recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 for Christmas one year, the 78 RPM record was the standard; they were heavy and offered very low fidelity. The fact we didn’t know any better helped to offset the poor quality being offered. The progress through the LP, the LaserDisc, the CD, the DVD, and now the Blu-ray has been a very exciting ride to a hobbyist I assure you. I feel privileged to have been a part of that ride although I was only a consumer, an end user. For those of us who love music this has been a marvelous time indeed!

Should the Lord tarry we may still be in for some more exciting rides in the field of video and audio high fidelity; by God’s grace I’ll be watching and waiting with great interest.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my recollections on almost 60 years of interest in audio; there are fewer and fewer of us alive who lived through that era and can tell the story first hand.

The Korean War Intervenes

The later events described in my last blog were taking place during the Korean War and unknown to me my number was about to come up for the draft. In retrospect I still have a hard time understanding how that came about. I was married, in college, in the Naval Reserve and a Naval Officer Candidate; how was it under those circumstances I could get drafted? That is just one of the mysteries of life to which I’ll never find the answer; my draft notice came in and I was shocked by it.

The first thing I did was contact the commander of my Naval Reserve unit and asked him what could be done. He told me once I had the draft notice there was nothing he could do; I had one choice I could make and that would be volunteering for active duty in the USN and that way I could avoid going into the Army or the Air Force. Since I was already a non-commissioned officer in the Navy I chose active duty in the Navy and spent the next two years on board ship. Enough of that sad phase.

A Civilian Again

Things moved rapidly in the field of high fidelity so by the time I was discharged from the USN progress had been made in the marketing of sound equipment. Somewhere along the line of my earlier equipment searches I had met a couple in Ft. Worth who owned a TV repair shop. By the time I got out of the Navy their business had shifted from TV repair to hi-fi sales and service.

They had a nice store and I liked to spend as much of my spare time there as I could listening to all of that great equipment they had for sale. I still had my first system which I really enjoyed and appreciated but I continued to read everything I could get my hands on and became fairly knowledgeable about high fidelity equipment.

Much to my surprise they offered me a sales job selling the equipment about which I was so enthusiastic. That turned out to be a match made in heaven; I had a ball being around the equipment and my enthusiasm and knowledge of the equipment helped turn me into their ace salesman.

One of the biggest differences between component high fidelity equipment and the standard Magnavox open back type console that had been the norm was the extended bass response offered by component high fidelity.

I Discover the Pipe Organ

In order to demonstrate that difference most effectively the audio industry started utilizing recorded pipe organ music to demonstrate the low base response their equipment offered to the buyer. As a result of that process I was being strongly influenced regarding pipe organ music; the pipe organ had the most extended bass range of any instrument and quickly became a favorite among “high fidelity” audio hobbyists to display the frequency response of their subwoofers.

In the process of displaying my subwoofer and hearing other enthusiasts display their subwoofers I actually fell in love with the instrument and its music. When I finally designed my dream system I made sure it could reproduce the full range of the pipe organ.

Fortunately for me I met a remarkable and patient man who was professor of pipe organ at TCU. Amazingly he took me under his wing and went out of his way to communicate his enthusiasm for the pipe organ to me. It worked to perfection because that enthusiasm has never gone away. It is my privilege to still call him my friend.

Later when we moved from Ft. Worth back to Houston, I easily found a job selling high fidelity equipment at a new hi-fi store in Houston and held that job until I graduated from the University of Houston.

It was ironic that after I graduated and started teaching full time in the Houston Public Schools that I had to take a pay cut to be a teacher; I was actually making more money selling sound equipment part time.

Next, the digital revolution