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You have not heard what your Magnepan can do if you have not played a reel-to- reel ....

70.181.162.138
Posted on November 3, 2021 at 17:14:31
trioderob
Audiophile

Posts: 753
Joined: May 15, 2015
 Pulled out an old Crown reel to reel player that was in storage,

Loaded in a 7 1/2 speed tape of Peter Paul and Mary

Mama Mia !

first of all the dynamic range is astounding on reel to reel tape

second you know how they talk about the more relaxed sound of Vinyl ? ,,,, tape takes that to a whole new level

third the detail level is off the chart with complex harmonics, sound stage clues , difficult timbers are accurate , highs are extended , transients are dramatic and startling

male vocals more than female are extremely different on the Maggies with tape having tremendous visceral energy also like a cello .

the bottom end is rounder with a solid foundation - but absolutely not "boomey " ... on my LRS the bass extended way beyond what I though possible .... I mean it does not turn into a JBL party house speaker ,, but it goes lowwwww

as a side note several years ago I took an extremely cheap reel to reel player - maybe 100 bucks - to a local audiophiles home who had a very high end turntable and tube phono stage
it must have cost 100x the tape player. After I demoed it the guy looked like he was going to start crying.

Anyway what is my point ? Maggies and Tape are a "killer" combo

 

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RE: You have not heard what your Magnepan can do if you have not played a reel-to- reel ...., posted on November 3, 2021 at 18:08:34
Green Lantern
Audiophile

Posts: 16952
Location: San Diego, Ca
Joined: November 12, 2002
Contributor
  Since: June 17, 2003
 Off topic but the Teac 1000r was the deck everyone wanted when I was stationed in Japan ('83). Digital counter, analog meters, dbx (and I was a HUGE fan of dbx); and when mounted on it's own custom stand and custom reel protectors it was a thing of beauty; but at $1,500 (about $4,000 in today's dollars) not many of us could afford it!

Wish I would've, someone's asking $5K for there's on ebay now.











 

R2R tape is by far the best, posted on November 3, 2021 at 18:48:08
Mike K
Audiophile

Posts: 13976
Location: 97701
Joined: September 23, 1999
 I once attended a demo put on by, I think, Paul Stubbelbine, who knows a
thing or 2 about mastering and different formats.

He played 30 seconds of a CD which he had recently mastered.
He then played 30 seconds of the same recording on SACD. It was an order
of magnitude better than the cd.
Lastly he played the same 30 seconds on a R2R tape. The tape positively
smoked the SACD, and it was only playing at 7.5 ips. I cannot imagine
15 ips.

The problem is, of course, the lack of material on R2R. Given better
availability of desirable product on R2R, I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

RE: R2R tape is by far the best, posted on November 3, 2021 at 18:55:51
trioderob
Audiophile

Posts: 753
Joined: May 15, 2015
 I was listening to a state of the art full blown MBL system with quarter of a million dollar speakers - 101 X-treme Omnidirectional Loudspeaker.

it was driven by a highly modified Teac reel to reel with a custom made triode tape head amp

playing Princes song "Pop Life "

anyone want to guess if it sounded good ?

anyway the president of MBL was the guy who turned me on to tape

want to hear the funny part ..... I got the Crown for 200 dollar

"The tape positively smoked the SACD " - Mike

 

Recapped my Crown and sent the electronics and headstack to , posted on November 4, 2021 at 08:28:52
kff
Audiophile

Posts: 1033
Location: SE PA
Joined: October 19, 2006
 Chuck Ziska, the Crown Doc and he set the machine up for me. With the heads looking like new, dialed in for the tape I use, this is an amazing machine, even if all I do is play back the tapes I recorded in the 80s with the Tandberg, another great sounding machine. Tape is the way to go.

 

Forget Maggies..., posted on November 4, 2021 at 12:27:25
Ozzie
Audiophile

Posts: 3817
Joined: August 1, 2002
 ... any speaker / system sounds best with reel to reel. Listening to the Home Audio unit is eye opening. Forget the CD vs LP debate, reel to reel smokes them both in every parameter. And those 200 to 400 dollar tapes are worth every damn dollar

 

RE: Forget Maggies..., posted on November 4, 2021 at 12:56:20
Utley1
Audiophile

Posts: 1609
Location: NYC
Joined: July 30, 2010
 Cannot agree with you more. I used record the Vienna, Lucerne and Holland festivals and the Milan Opera festivals 'live' on reel to reel, on Tandberg and Teac recorders from the 1970's broadcasted on WKCR in the middle of the night. They still are the very best recordings I have.I thought I was crazy but now fifty years later it is a thrill-once had transfer tape to make fresh copies.

 

This is all true.., posted on November 4, 2021 at 12:58:19
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 And the $450 tapes from Acoustic Sounds are utterly unbelievable.

 

the problem is that tape sounds almost too real , posted on November 4, 2021 at 13:03:19
trioderob
Audiophile

Posts: 753
Joined: May 15, 2015
 those tapes that you reference sound so real that they gave me the
" Heebie-jeebies "

its like the musicians are in the room with you

too bad they are so crazy expensive

 

Now we all know..., posted on November 4, 2021 at 13:14:47
Ozzie
Audiophile

Posts: 3817
Joined: August 1, 2002
 ... what to spend those multi million dollar lottery winnings on. Forget a 10 k square foot home, complete with the constant maintenance, go 25 ips.

 

RE: Now we all know..., posted on November 4, 2021 at 13:23:19
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 Also forget 25 ips. Ain't no such tape speed.

 

Yep, I fat fingeted the 1, posted on November 4, 2021 at 13:26:46
Ozzie
Audiophile

Posts: 3817
Joined: August 1, 2002
 15 ips

 

Let's see what else you fat-fingered, posted on November 4, 2021 at 14:03:55
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 The Acoustic Sounds tapes -- I currently have two of them, one borrowed -- are on RTM SM900 tape stock, which costs ME about $100 per. And you need two tapes/reels/boxes to accommodate each performance. They are dubbed from the master tapes on fully restored, ungodly expensive and nearly unobtanium Ampex tubed tape recorders from the 1960s. The packaging is unreal. Chad Kassem could have gotten away with a lot less expensive packages (you should see the MAILER) and I give him great credit for coming up with some 36 different tapes.

Now, do I recommend that everyone pop for these and other available 15 ips, 2-track, most of which cost a lot less than Chads?

No.

Open reel tape is the ultimate "hair shirt" medium. You can't quickly find any particular track on a 10.5" reel, once you've paid a bunch for a deck that will play them, that needs regular maintenance from the vanishing ranks of tape techs, most of whom are real old or dead. Just threading a reel is no piece of cake, and storing the things takes a lot of shelf space.

So why do I have so many? Sound quality. They wipe out EVERYTHING else.

 

RE: You have not heard what your Magnepan can do if you have not played a reel-to- reel ...., posted on November 5, 2021 at 14:51:14
Utley1
Audiophile

Posts: 1609
Location: NYC
Joined: July 30, 2010
 I still have my DBX box attached to my Teac 2 track Got mine in 1974 and still works almost perfectly-in tune-just oil and clean it. Had to order BASF reel to reel odd lot distributor in German 20 years ago but they held up in their plastic thick black boxes.

 

RE: R2R tape is by far the best, posted on November 11, 2021 at 13:24:30
josh358
Industry Professional

Posts: 12332
Joined: February 9, 2010
 David Smith of Sony Classical once said to me that when they switch the monitors from the live feed to the analog backup tape, the client's expression turns to one of dismay, and then when they switch it to the digital tape, their expression turns to one of horror.

 

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