European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 02, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday september 2,1977 the stars and stripes Page 19t hese Days the popularity of the portable radio is being challenged by that of the portable cassette recorder or More often the recorder radio combo. Just about anywhere you go from beaches in Spain to Mountain paths in the Alps you re Likely to see that is hear these Little recording machines. Even the most out of the Way Village in t immune to the blare of the owner s favorite pop tunes. But these Handy Little music makers Aren t Only being toted by tourists who find quietude deafening Many Are using them to record vacation sounds take Home an earful of an exotic or otherwise interesting trip. Once Back Home the traveler can regale friends not Only with pictures of the Downey but with the go with sounds a bit of gallic sounding Folk music from Brittany the babble of a near East Market place a Cockney sprinkled conversation from a London pub. Generally the sound collector takes along a number of tapes then once Home edits the selection Down to the Best for hearing on the Home cassette setup. According to Nancy Arcuri of the audio photo club in Mainz Kastel Germany most Don t edit by splicing tapes but just by re recording. Of course the first recording always gives you the Best sound she says but it s easier to edit by re recording. Some times people find it difficult to Stop the tape just where they wish to  in any Case cassette recording seemingly is As in As Ching. Both the audio clubs and cafes carry number of different models in the portable cassette recorder line. The problem for the beginner is jus which Model to buy. Salespeople generally won t clue you Inas to their favourites. Consumer we to Mary Neth Arcuri explains that in the audio shop recommending a certain Brand is strictly forbidden. This assures that the clerk Canin no Way be making Money on the Side by pushing the products of one firm or another. Arcuri however was very helpful when it came to discussion of qualities to look for in the portable cassettes. If you Are Purist she says you probably won t wish to Settle for anything less than More professional and also More expensive models in the $200-Price Range with Quarter Inch phone jacks. These can come close to or equal the non portable Stero cassette decks in that they offer much higher fre Quency or Range in sound. But if you just want the fun of pick ing up vacation memories or the like there s no need to get in that deep. Portables can be purchased for around $ 109 Down to $70 or so. Which to buy according to Arcuri the differences in the less expensive models Are minute. Most offer a frequency Range of Only about 50 to 11,000 he compared to the 30 to 18,000 he that can be found in the More expensive cassette deck or portable  trying to decide As to whether or not you wish a radio cassette combination or Cas Sette alone it s pretty much up to your personal needs but Arcuri does warn that often the combination just too much in a Small place can Cut Down on Overall Quality. That is a cassette by itself might offer better performance the same for a radio. She also notes that you should compare sound before buying. For example some times a portable Mono cassette recorder can offer better sound than one that s sup Posedly stereo. Because of the size limitations the Stero speakers can t be really separated in distance. Also it s possible that the Mono one speaker in about the same space As the Stero twosome can just be built  the portable cassettes come with built in condenser microphones and can be run on Standard or rechargeable batteries. The internal Mike however usually picks up background noise. For that reason Many people also buy a plug in external Mike for More critical recording. There Are other optional features offered too. You might find them worthwhile you might not. Some of the cassette radio combinations for example offer snooze settings. The radio or cassette can be set to turn off automatically after a certain length of time. Others offer a pause control that temporarily halts recording so you avoid tape waste and recording unnecessary sounds. Others allow you to turn Back to a cer Tain pre selected place in the tape and yet others even allow microphone mixing. You can interject your voice into that of a radio broadcast you Are recording. Once you be become a sound collector Buff you May want to invest in a cassette tape deck you can Hook up to your Home Stero speakers. At one time cassette tape decks were generally scorned by anyone who valued High Quality recordings but now Accord by Frank j. Prial new York times t in t necessary to be a wine enthusiast to know about the White wine explosion in the . There in t a bar in new York where White wine Sale shaven t approached or passed the Sale of Gin and Vodka. Hard bitten Martini drinkers by the score switch every Day to White wine and Many a hostess has saved a Fortune on her liquor Bills because so Man guests now ask for White wine rather than mixed drinks. But now Here is one of the most respected figures in the liquor Industry Louis Gomberg a California consultant to Tell us a different Story. According to him the fastest growing wine color in the United states is Pink Rose since the Early 1970s, according to Gomberg the growth rate of Rose wines has been half again As fast As that of White wines and twice As fast As that of red wines. Gomberg writing in the wine investor noted that if All wine products Are considered chances Are better than 50-50 that the predominant wine color today is Pink. What s More be said the trend to Ros started in the late 1940s and continues today despite the popularity of White wine in the past several years. Among the reasons he gives ease of service. Evermore so than White wine Rose goes with everything. It bypasses All the off putting rules of wine service. Also itis Best chilled. Researchers Long ago discovered that the majority of american drinkers prefer their wine  apparently is More attractive to the Eye than both White and red and finally it has an uncomplicated often Sweet taste that newcomers to wine prefer. White wines frequently Are too acid for an uninitiated palate. Actually there still is a huge Market for Ros wines in the . As Well As Europe. Ros is a major product of the vineyards in the South of France and although sales have been dropping in recent years americans continue to consume millions in Gallons of portuguese Rose each year. In addition to its highly popular Pink Chablis the huge e. And j. Gallo winery offers a Vin Rose a separate Rose in its varietal wine group and most recently its new red Rose. All the Large american producers such As italian Swiss Colony and Almaden offer roses. In the East the Taylor wine co. Does Well with its Pink Catawba. Richard Peterson president of the Monterey winery in California has another View to add. For the first time in California wine history he wrote recently Rose wines Are being produced at Quality Levels which equal the red and White wines. Wineries now take Rose seriously something that did t often happen in past years. We see some very knowledgeable Consumers opting for varietal ros6s More and  if you Are one of those who abandoned ros6 Long ago and Are inclined to look Down on Rose drinkers you May be in for a Surprise. Varietal Rose wines Are made from Premium red wine grapes such As the cabernet Sauvignon pinot noir Petite sirah and Zinfandel. In Europe most ros6 is made from the grenache grape. The grenache is also used in califor Nia. But the bulk of Rose wine the cheap stuff both in the . And in Europe is a blend of reds and Whites sweetened to hide any defects. Some wineries have made ros6 from Premium grape for years. Others have experimented in recent years be cause of the surplus of red wine grapes in California. I people were not drinking red wine the theory went let s make a Pink wine with the same grapes and see if that Sells. Ing to Phil Dezarn at the Darmstadt Ger Many cafes sight and sound Center such advances have been made that Cas settes tapes can do better than the less carefully constructed open reel decks and just As Well As some of the better models. A cassette tape deck is in reality a miniature version of the open reel deck. All the ingredients Are the same except that in the cassette the tape and reels Are enclosed in a Small package with the tape Only half the Width of the open reel Type. The tape in the cassette also runs at a much lower Speed. The big advantage of course in buying a cassette tape deck is ease i operation. Though open reel tapes have become easier and easier to operate if you Are one if you Are Cue who acc of cassette system who is All thumbs the cassette system can t be beat. All you do is just flip in that cassette nothing to it. The latest cassette tape decks by the Way Are usually front not top loaders. The new design allows you to stack the deck or to place it on a narrow shelf. If you decide to invest in one of the new cassette tape decks Check out both the audio clubs and cafes before buying. Both carry Many of the same brands like Technics Akai Panasonic Aida but never the same models. The clubs Aren t allowed to compete with the Exchange system therefore if cafes decides to Stock a certain piece of equipment the clubs can no longer sell it. Dezarn was very helpful in giving tips on qualities to look for in a Cas Sette tape deck before counting out those dollars. And what does he rate As important items to Check out before buying frequency Heads his list. Frequency no need to get too technical but this is a term used in measuring human hearing sound Waves audible to the human ear. The Range of frequencies audible to the ear is approximately 16 to 20,000 he. The Hertz he named after the Man who set up the rating system is cycles per second. The higher the frequency the higher the pitch or tone of the sound. High audio frequencies about 3,000 he and above can be considered treble tone. Low audio frequencies about 300 he and below provide Bass tone. Besides a Good frequency Range you will want a Model with a Low signal to noise ratio. Around 52db or Over recommends Dezarn. A Model with a dolby system also would be a must in Dezarn s Book. He explains that with this process the Low level signals Are raised prior to recording and lowered at playback time. This eliminates tape Hiss  not essential but also Nice to have according to Dezarn is a Max filter which when recording from the radio eliminates the hum put out by pm stations and a deck that will adjust to accept different types of tapes such As the Low noise chromium dioxide or new Ferri Chrome tapes. Some decks also have meters that clue you in that you May be getting distortion in a recording. At the cafes Darmstadt store the cassette decks in Stock ranged in Price from about $151 to $350. At the Mainz Kastel audio club prices ran from $112 to $369. Dezarn advises would be cassette tape deck owners to do some Reading of specifications and comparing of models before buying. He notes that the higher priced machines within a certain category Aren t always the Best ones. But he adds the buyer Here really can t lose our prices Are about 45 per cent less than the retail prices being asked Back in the