Childhood hifi setting up

Beyond this photography thing I have other interests one of which is music and over the years I have had various reproducers from portable stereo radio record players to hifi equipment and in th course of which I read a good number of magazines and inded still do

One I read in the late 1970's and early 1980's was Hifi For Pleasure and in November of 1981 as I was still in the sixth form I bought that months copy  and in it was a most useful freebee, a test record.

Test records and today test cds are designed to help you set up your stereo by providing signals designed to check various aspects of it such as getting the left and right channels correct, setting up tone arms to track records the best your cartridge can.

These were the printed instructions which are quite comprehensive setting what is on the disc and how you use each test (and what to adjust) although when it comes to the highest levels very few set ups can manage that and you're just trying to get it to do it the best it can.

I've found this 7 inch/ 18 cm disc very handy over the years.