Home Tape Trail

Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

A subject full of Caveats/Minefields

141.149.84.124

In my experience, VERY few "audiophiles" are into tape. Even before we go there, how does one wish to define audiophile - by the amount of money in their (his?) equipment? By their supposed aural acquity? By the type of music they listen to? You tell me - but I suggest you give me some "background" to acquaint me with your perception/definition of "audiophile" before we continue, so I can determine if you are a poseur.

That said, I use tube amplification and listen through Quad ESL-63's (with a homemade '63 center channel subwoofer). I listen primarily to classical and jazz. "Imaging" is big on my list of requirements so that eliminates most recordings done after 1965 - mltitrack CAN'T do depth.

Your post mentions cassette tape which I have found can sound very good on the best of decks (Nakamichi/Tandberg) but is always bettered by reel-to-reel.

In that arena I've had the opportunity to listen to MANY tape decks, but the majority of these experiences were separated by LOTS of time and eons of opportunity to "forget"; have had/taken little opportunity to do "shootouts". In the reel category, most later tubed decks - Ampex/Crown/Revox sound very nice but handle tape dreadfully. Later Tandberg and certain Japanese consumer decks sound good - as many other respondants to this post will attest. Pro machines (MCI/SOny, Otari) typically excel in tape handling but do compromize the sound.

In my book, tape reproducers consist of three elements, the mechanics, the heads and the electronics. The "old" mechanics effectively had "sewing machine" motors, and if you look at them sideways when fast forwarding or rewinding, you'll break a tape (especially acetate) - not to mention the two miles that spill all over the floor before the reels finally stop. DON'T try to shuttle tape on these machines - play it through/rewind only. Later generations, especially the pro machines developed some form of constant-tension tape handling, which associated with various methods of motion sension, made tape breakage almost impossible - technology I continually seem to be able to defeat however.

Then there's the tape heads - If you look into this you'll find that few tape recorder manufacturers made their own heads - Ampex and Revox spring to mind. The vast majority used heads from some supplier - Bogen and Wolke in Germany, Nortronics in the USA, and I don't know which companies in Japan. Most German heads I've heard sound superior, along with the professional Nortronics series. I'd rate most Japanese heads as OK.

Then there's the electronics. Most tubed electronics sound very good - that's why Ampex 350 record/playback electronics are commanding stratospheric prices on Ebay. Most consumer transistorized electronics are dreadful - severely compromized primarily by nickle-apiece coupling capacitors (the same situation with the audio sections in many otherwise very good FM tuners).

I've found a hybrid to be the best compromize. Get a deck with good tape handling and good stock heads and re-wire the heads out to outboard electronics. This is why Doc Bottlehead is having such success (in the audiophile community???) with his Seduction NAB tubed preamp kit coupled with an otherwize good deck like the Technics 1500 series. Hey you can do the same with a Marantz 7 or MAC C22 - for a LOT more money). I'm experimenting right now with an MCI pro deck which has exemplary tape handling, Wolke heads and not bad electronics - but we can fix that.

Best sounding stock machine I've come across - Stellavox SP series - but then I'm biased (at about 120Khz).

Then there's the issue of correct head/EQ alignment and prefered EQ - vide' Docs upcoming issues of master dubs with IEC EQ. Whole nuther thaanng.

Mix some acetate in with the mistletoe; give your honey a big kiss and nestle in with your favorite reel and some mulled cider and forget all this hardware shit. It's here (hear) to serve the music - RIGHT.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Charles



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