Reel to reel

I'll give the SPL meter test a try.  Found one on feebay cheap and it's in good working order.  

The enhancement of music is never a waste for the music lover. These 15 IPS reels that were down-loaded to the computer hard-drive, are quite revealing on lesser systems; the subtle nuances are more apparent on the bedroom system for example.

Music for me is as close to a 24 hour a day thing as I can make it, and of course every day. Where as many evaluate everything from a technical point of view, I evaluate the emotional impact of the music; do I experience "instant recall" in regard to very personal music that I enjoyed at a certain time. Can I travel back to that time?

When the music is reproduced to the the highest level possible, it functions as a time machine, that allows me to sit in my listening chair and travel back to long forgotten events and experience them vividly.

May have to consider a dedicated tube tape pre after all.

As a cheap experiment I purchased a simple tube buffer with 15db of gain max.
I put this inline between Revox and Ayre and besides a healthy boost to signal level ( now pretty much level with CD input level) it have a nice " tube" type of warmth and space feel to the music.

Well worth $28 as an experiment.

Plus you can roll NOS tubes and get more monies worth than you paid. Notice, I stated NOS tubes because they last longer and sound better, you wont regret it.

Have fun.