[acmn]

Hi Frank,

I just happened to look at some old articles written by you in Audio Basics back in 80's. Very good stuff
indeed. In March issue 1982 you gave the formula for optimizing RIAA amp input resistance to achieve
critically damped frequency response:

R_L = (-RLC + 2Lsqrt(LC))/(4LC - (RC)²)

R = Series resistance of cartridge coil
L = Inductance of cartridge coil
C = Cable capacitance.

You gave no info where to find the deduction of this formula and so I, as a mathematician,
wanted to deduce it by myself.  And so I did. The result is attached below. In fact, by using the
formula a² - b² = (a - b)(a + b), this formula can be simplified to the form:                   

R_L = L/(2sqrt(LC) + RC).

The strange language used in my paper is finnish. So I'm a finn, and that leads me to another
subject that is not technical. Here's a quote from you in June issue 1982:

Citation showed a ridiculous $7500.00 amplifier
with output connectors probably too big for Fulton
Gold wires. It is apparently designed by Otalla in
Finland (government subsidized) (buy your so-
cialized amplifier here!).

Oh, no! Finland has never been a socialistic or communistic country. In the world war II
we were allied with germans, but after the war we were not occupied by the russians like Baltic
countries, Poland, eastern Germany etc.. So we kept our independence and political system
which was and still is very similar to one in Sweden. (We were under swedish regime for hundreds
of years.) And we kept our economical system too. But no offence, your remark just gave us a big
laugh...
P.S. Matti Otala (not Otalla) is a finnish professor who was some sort of "TIM expert" in those days.