[BC] Comparing the audio in the Big 50's

[Robert Meuser]

Neither the RCA nor the 317B had any iron to speak about. Nobody made 
critical audio measurements back in the day but the Continental B series 
ran out of power supply with heavy processing such as an Optimod. In the 
day, nobody measured square wave response but it would have been better 
than a plate mod of the same era.

  Amplifuzz issues are legendary and most know those stories.

The original 317C was an improvement over the B but had issues when 
compared to the C1, C2 and C3.

The MW 50 was primarily limited by the PDM filters when compared to a 
modified 317 c1 or later version Continental.

I worked with Joe Sainton incrementally modifying a 317 C1 as he was in 
the process of developing the C2 so we had almost everything in the C2 
except the 12 phase power supply.

I also modified an MW50 and with NRSC processors and the use of the Mw50 
bessel filter option it beat most 317s around. This would not have been 
the case with just a raw square wave evaluation.

None of the above can hold a candle to the current solid state units 
available today.

My personal evaluation is:

RCA forget about it.

Mw50 with mods and a 100KW PS could be the loudest on the dial and was 
easy for many CEs to understand.

Continental had great performance but did not quite have positive peak 
capability of the MW 50 (145% vs 165+%) and some were intimidated by the 
tuning although they should not have been.

Many stations had a 317 and an MW50 in their plants. The 317C 2 at WNBC 
had very few hours because at the time Imus went nuts if it was on the 
air during his show. He preferred the Mw50.

On 6/19/12 6:23 PM, Milton Holladay wrote:
> Not too long after the MW series came out, I heard their audio quality
> described as "cold".
> The 317C , I thought, sounded neutral and as clean as could be.
> The 317B and WWL's RCA both had a subtle lisping  quality that I took to
> mean that they had no trouble modulating higher frequencies due to lack
> of iron in the audio circuits................