Audio Quiz
April 1955 Popular Electronics

April 1955 Popular Electronics

April 1955 Popular Electronics Cover - RF CafeTable of Contents

Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

There are a lot of audiophiles in the RF Cafe audience, so this 10-question Audio Quiz from Popular Electronics should prove useful. It covers not just the physical aspects but also some simple electronics concepts, like decibels of gain, crossover networks, push-pull amplifiers, etc. High fidelity (hi-fi) stereophonic equipment was all the rage in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a way for people to enjoy live concert quality music in their homes since the quality of radio transmissions was not reliable, and stereo broadcasting was not a common feature until the 1960s. Many articles were published educating beginners and veterans on ways to optimize both equipment - receivers, turntables, speakers, equalizers, etc. - and environmental parameters. Similarly, many stereo-themed comics (and here) appeared in Popular Electronics and other magazines. Enjoy.

Audio Quiz

1. Negative feedback added to an amplifier will:

(a) increase the gain

(b) decrease the gain

(c) not change the gain

 

2. An amplifier which provides more gain for high-level signals and less gain for low-level signals is known as:

(a) a volume expander

(b) a volume compressor

 

3. When two separate loudspeakers are used, one for the high frequencies and the other for the low frequencies, the high frequency speaker is known as:

(a) woofer

(b) flutter

(c) tweeter

 

4. One of the main advantages of a push-pull amplifier is that it cancels:

(a) even harmonic distortion

(b) odd harmonic distortion

(c) both even and odd harmonic distortion

 

5. The purpose of a bass boost circuit is:

(a) to increase low frequency response

(b) to increase high frequency response

(c) to increase both low and high frequency response

 

6. A type of distortion resulting from operating tubes beyond the straight-line portion of their characteristic curves is:

(a) frequency distortion

(b) phase distortion

(c) harmonic distortion

 

7. Which of the following types of pick-ups is piezo-electric?

(a) strain gauge

(b) dynamic

(c) crystal

 

8. The dB gain of an amplifier whose voltage gain is 100 is:

(a) 2 dB

(b) 40 dB

(c) 100 dB

 

9. The purpose of a crossover network is to:

(a) permit switching from radio to phono without causing a click in the loudspeaker

(b) permit playing of both 78 and 45 RPM records on the same turntable without changing turntable speed

(c) channel signal frequencies to the proper loudspeaker in a system using more than one speaker

 

10. The audio frequency range extends, approximately, from:

(a) 20 to 2000 cycles per second

(b) 2000 to 20,000 cycles per second

(c) 20 to 20,000 cycles per second

 

 

See answers below.


Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

RF Cafe Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

Vintage Electronics Magazine Quizzes

 

Audio Quiz Answers:

   1. b

   2. a

   3. c

   4. a

   5. a

   6. c

   7. c

   8. b

   9. c

10. c

 

 

Posted January 13, 2021
(updated from original post on 10/11/2013)