With the sophistication and refinement of electronic devices an on-going process throughout the last half of this century, our relationship to these devices is experiencing a subtle but crucial change. At the moment using an electronic component is a 50/50 process. We must use a certain amount of energy and initiative to make the component perform the function for which it was designed: drop the cassette into the slot and push the play button; put the record on the turntable and adjust the volume controls of the amplifier; tune and then fine tune to get a particular radio or television broadcast. Not only must we have a desire for a certain series of events to take place, we must also participate physically and mechanically to see that those events take place.

The electronic equipment of the future is going to eliminate much of the action involved in the process of using electronics. Components already in the design and production stages require only a request on our part to perform their preordained functions. We will only have to ask and* we shall receive, as the electro-mechanical devices available today are replaced by totally electrical devices.

Two FM stereo tuners, one developed by Heathkit, the other by Sony, serve to illustrate the change I’m talking about. Until recently a radio frequency tuner had a dial and a control knob for that dial. To receive a particular radio station you were required to turn the dial until the tuner reached the band of that station. Then you probably had to move the knob back and forth slightly to zero-in perfectly on that broadcast. After that it might also have been necessary to lock-in the broadcast (if it was FM) with another control and perhaps adjust the tuner for stereo. Heathkit’s AJ-1510 ($539.95 in kit form) does all this busy work for you. The Heath AJ-1510 has a little computer inside of it. On the front panel are a set of buttons numbered from one to nine, plus a zero. If you want to listen to WQQQ at 106.7 on your FM dial, you punch-up one, zero, six, seven on the buttons and there’s your station! A digital readout (like the digits on electric calculators) lights up above the buttons to tell you, sure enough, you’re listening to 106.7. There is also a button for auto-sweep;

. push it and the tuner moves across the FM dial, stopping at all stations in your area. And, if you have a few favorite stations, you can pre-program them into the tuner through the use of plastic cards and then push the pre-program buttons to get the stations. There are no moving (mechanical parts) in this unit. It takes about eight evenings of soldering and wiring to build.

From Sony comes their ST-5555 (cost about $1000) which is a variation on the Heathkit. The Sony has 100 illuminated push-buttons — one for each of the FM stations on the FM broadcast band. You can simply punch-up the station you want to listen to by pushing the appropriate button or you can preprogram it to sweep across the broadcast band and each time a station is detected that is listenable (not too much background noise to the station’s signal) the corresponding button will light up.

-Again, no mechanics, just a computer inside doing all the work for you.

From the future or maybe from the Fifties comes a new speaker system from Empire, their Jupiter 6500 ($139.95 each), which looks like a giant Dixie cup. Designed for either indoor or outdoor use, the Jupiter 6500 is made of what Empire calls “a new indestructible space age acoustic material called ‘Uniroyal Rubicast’ ”. Plastic isn’t the recommended material for speakers because it does not have the resonance of wood, but I have a feeling that we’re going to see more and more hybrid materials such as rubicast (whatever the hell that is) used as speaker housings simply because they’re cheaper and more reliable as mass production items. The Jupiter 6500 is waterproof, weatherproof and all that, meaning you can use it indoors and out, wherever you want to put it it will survive.

Inside of the Jupiter are a woofer, mid-range radiator, and tweeter with the associated cross-over electronics. Empire is a pioneer in the field of down-facing woofers — that’s the bass frequency speaker being positioned so that it points towards the floor, thus radiating bass in all directions and giving more bottom sound than other systems simply because the floor itself is used to carry the bass boom. The Jupiter has a 12 inch woofer facing down, while the mid-range and high end speakers face out of the speaker through two grill cloth covered holes.

For the price, the Jupiter 6500 is a heavy duty speaker, handling up to 75 watts per speaker. This should be more than enough to fill the backyard with sound and get the neighbors really crazy. The Jupiter weighs 40 pounds (none too light) and is 25 inches high. If you want to get an outdoor speaker system with hi-fi quality, a weird look, and a case that will withstand your guests throwing up all over it, the Jupiter 6500 is recommended.

Our final item this column is a dandy little unit being marketed by Radio Shack. It’s an AM/FM radio, travel clock, and alarm, all built into one neat package with a hinged cover. At $30, this is a really good idea if you do any travelling. It weighs less than two pounds and is compact. My only criticism is that the clock and alarm don’t run on batteries — they’re spring wound, which means that they probably aren’t as dependable as they might be if they were totally electronic. Reminds me of another unit that was being sold a couple of years ago — that one included a record player, cassette machine, and AM/FM radio all built together into a small attache case and ready to takes with you wherever you wanted to go.