@dogberry great and hilarious post… long live the obligatory christmas card ritual
The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape
It feels like I re-entered the world of tape knowing full well of all the downsides, yet I did it anyway. I spent much of my youth glued to my dad's decks, making recordings. As cassette and digital came of age, I always appreciated the sound of tape.
Whether this adventure is worth it is a subjective exercise. For folks who plop down $500-$1k on cables or those who swap gear often, tape is really not that expensive, relatively speaking. Titles are limited though.
The sound quality and experience is quite something. Before jumping back into R2R, I had 4 versions of Muddy Waters' Folksinger. Hearing Chad Kasem's firm's work on it in 15ips it's just something else. Body, size, and presence are just different than very good vinyl and digital. And this is with the stock reproduce board from a Revox PR99 MKIII. I can only imagine what's going to happen when I rebuild that card, put in a modern one, or run directly from the head out to a preamp.
Maybe I'll see some of you in R2R Rehab, where I'll try to get sober from tape.
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I can only tell you that, in general, my tapes sounded better than the source vinyl albums - especially those recorded 15 ips. Back in the day, I also used a dbx 3bx to tweak the dynamic range a little bit during playback. The sound was a little fuller with a tad more bass. I still have the 3bx, but I no longer use it.
I use XLR cables between my Stellar phono pre and the BHK. I may give the RCA cables with splitter idea a try. That would be a lot cheaper than buying a new preamp or integrared amp 😂! |
"....what's old is new, yet again..." *S* @thom_oz ...as one who's just beginning to play w/XLRs', that 'splitter' routine is still a SOP 'round here...*G* @oldschool1948 ...dust off the dbx while you're at it.... ;) Nothing like a 'spoonful of sugar' that made magic happen before.... |
When I went off to college in the early 90s my dad decided to update his hi-fi system and gave me his rack of "separates" which included an Onkyo receiver, graphic EQ, tape deck, technics turntable, and Sony 5 CD changer, and a Sony R2R. I lived with 4 other guys with eclectic musical tastes so I would make a 3 hr mix tape on the R2R and then we would just let that thing run. No one at college was very familiar with R2R so it was like a vintage UFO landing in the living room for some people. The SQ was great and I loved everything about it but finding blank tape reels was (despite cassette tapes being big at the time) a challenge so I reused my minuscule stash for the 4 years of college party mixes and eventually the Sony R2R was traded in with the rest of those separates to a shop in Boulder, CO called Second Sound when I opted to upgrade after graduating. Sometimes I think about getting a new-to-me R2R but I'm not sure I would get much use out of it these days other than as hi-fi shelf candy and conversation starter for visitors. |
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