Reel to reel
Uberwaltz, 15 IPS is reserved for special LP's only, I record at 7.5 most of the time; especially with brand new tape. When you record and playback on your machine, even if it's a little bit off, you will still get good results because your record and playback speed are the same. However, if you buy prerecorded tapes, your machine has to be perfect. As long as you're having fun, what you got sounds good to me. |
I hope that I'm not acting the wet noodle here, but I am confused by claims that an LP recorded to tape and then played back has MORE fidelity than the original album. How is that possible? I'm not coming from nowhere with this question. Years ago (80s-90s) I owned several reel-to-reel decks, including some that are considered the best of the lot today. I transferred many LPs to RTR and on a good day I was happy if the tape copy fidelity was close to the LP. There is always a loss when copying from one analog source to another. So how does loss = better fidelity? I understand that tape media is (or is purported to be) better today. I also understand that LP playback gear and tape preamps (if you are employing a dedicated external tape pre) are better. Great. So you have minimized the loss. Where does the extra signal bandwidth come from? Just curious... |
If you are looking for new tape, Full Compass Systems is were I get mine. https://www.fullcompass.com/ Not saying they stock it; I had to wait a month to get some reels of 1" tape. I suspect they have the 1/2" and 1/4" in stock but I've not checked. |
Tape recorded off vinyl will not sound better in every respect. Tape recording has better flow coherence and 'sound saturation '. It might also have a better drive and some differences in sound that are hard to put into words. Certain things will be lost in the process of the recording, no doubt, but minimally if your deck and cables are really good. Think of the recording to tape as a kind of re-mastering. When recording digital to tape the difference is more, I always prefer tape. |
