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In Reply to: RE: 45 rpm to 15 ips 2 track .. Anyone? posted by vinnie2 on January 18, 2014 at 05:17:23
"Those ignorant of history are forced to repeat it".
Already so much knowledge is being lost. Things that were known to a previous generation of audiophiles are gone, or almost gone. Good thing I'm still around -).
OK, here's the deal. Many open reel tape machines add a layer of IM distortion. The decent ones don't add a lot, just a fine amount. It sounds very pleasing to many ears, since it mimics natural processes. An ideal example is a choir. That's right: a bunch of people singing together. What occurs is that as the voices mix and "beat" against each other, they generate IM, which is how the choir sound gets created in the first place.
Some tape decks do something similar [but not cassette decks]. I've heard the effect with my own ears, repeatedly, back when I worked in the audio industry. Teac A-2300 and A-3300 [I beleive] was really good at "enriching" sound.
If you like the effect, then by all means, enjoy. But, no, you're not improving the original; you're just adding something else to it.
Follow Ups:
IS that anything like the third order harmonics that tubes have that gives them a more pleasing sound than SS?
No.
Firstly, tubes are credited with generating second harmonic distortion, and even order harmonics following the second harmonic. Those are more consonant with the sound of musical instruments, and less offensive to the ear.
Odd order harmonics are more dissonant. Transistors are credited with generating those.
In reality, both tubes and transistors produce both types of harmonic distortion, but some tubes do generate more of the second harmonic type. The lower the order, the less offesive. Still, to trained ears, all distortion is grating, inaccurate, fatiguing, and offensive.
Harmonic distorsion occurs when a device [a tube, a transitor, a microphone, a loudspeaker, etc.] generate harmonics in addition to the signal.
IM, or intermodulation distortion's more complex. Not only does is generate harmonics, but it creates tones that aren't even there in the signal at all...and it creates 2 types of those. One is tones which are the sum of several frequencies in the signal; the other is a difference tone between two frequencies in the signal. So, IM is really spitting out lot's and lot's of crap. While it's doing all of that, it's also causing phase anamolies.
With musical instruments and voices, the effect is a pleasing "filling" in of texture. You may demonstrate the effect yourself if you happen to know and/or be in the company of several people. It's easiest to hear with female voices. If you can get 3 or more [more is better] to sing the same thing, you'll hear the effect of natural IM. But, you're chickies have to sing on key. You can even hear the effect with spoken voice. Note the distinctive sound of lot's of people talking at a party, or when getting numbingly drunk in a bar.
But, when audio equipment generates it's own IM, it's not accurate. It's putting in something that isn't there in the thing it's supposed to reproduce [not produce]. Still, tiny amounts of IM, of the type generated by some tape decks, sounds pleasing to some people. Note that not all IM is the same, and different devices produce different types and amounts.
Thanks for the explanation Mike, most interesting.
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