Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Tape Trail ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Re: Noob questions: NR & dB? (+ more)

Posted by X-2000R (A) on February 20, 2007 at 18:18:37

In Reply to: Noob questions: NR & dB? (+ more) posted by krenzler on February 20, 2007 at 17:42:02:

I'll answer your questions in order.

1. Depends on the tape. The better quality the tape, the better the theshold of distortion. That's the short answer. The long answer lies in two other variables, namely the bias settings and the scale of your deck in relation to others. 0dB on one deck can and will register a different (higher or lower) reading on other decks in many instances. And the lower the bias current, the lower you can push "into the red" before you have audible distortion.

2. Noise reduction has less to do with how hot you can run the tape and more to do with eliminating inherent background hiss, although they do correlate to a degree. This is just one reason why it's important to keep your heads cleaned and demagged regularly. I've never heard of "Super-ANRS", so maybe someone else familiar with that system can provide more information.

3. Tape....any tape....will only accept so much signal input before saturating. The presence or absence of Noise Reduction will only make minimal impact here. At least based on my experience. Again, NR is meant to reduce "background hiss" and other anomalies. Again, what makes the most difference in the manner you are thinking of is the BIAS. More bias means a flatter, duller sound, but you can run hotter. Reduced bias will result in more emphasis on high's but at the expense of a lower threshold of distortion.

4. Optimum head alignment is certainly desirable. But it's really only most critical when interchanging with tapes made on other machines. If every tape you record and playback on are all with the same machine, any azimuth (heads being askew) will be perpetuated and will not make much impact. You will only notice the difference if you play a tape made on another machine. Or try and play your tape on another. So unless the head are so far outr of whack that part of it physically misses the tape (where getting even recording and playback is not possible), and you plan to keep that deck for awhile, I would not immediately concern myself with it.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---