Tape Project Tapes

Sorry i'm late to the party here; i am a Charter subscriber to 'The Tape Project'......and have 6 of their releases so far.

i am a format junkie; i had always heard that however much i thought vinyl was the best format that master tapes could go to another level. up till now; there had been no way for one to 'legally' aquire top level 15ips master dubs. finally; 'The Tape Project' offered top level RTR software......which then motivated me to finally jump in.

back in High School; my first 'stereo' was a Wollensack RTR machine.....which i very much enjoyed. i think RTR machines are very cool, however they sound.

i've now purchased 4 RTR machines; i possess 2 of them; a completely refurbished ATR-102 which is stock; and a Technics RS-1500; which is very good condition but still stock.

i also own a Studer A-820; which has been fully gone thru by Studer guru Fred Thal; Fred is installing some custom output electronics on this and 'hopefully' he will deliver it to me and set it up in my room 'shortly'. i have never seen this deck.

i intended to have Doc B. rework the stock RS-1500 and add his Bottlehead repro electroinics. then a couple of weeks ago i was offered a Tim deParavincini modified RS-1500; so i purchased it. it is in route from the U.K. now. i still want Doc B. to do the work on my stock RS-1500; but i blew my budget with the dPv deck; so i am in negotialtions with SWMBO.

the Tape Project tapes are very very good. played thru the stock RS-1500 they are on a performance level likely slightly below my tt; maybe equal to a good tt. played thru the stock ATR-102 they are a few levels better; now they are different but more similar to my tt. they don't have the dynamics or do space as well; but the world class rock solid transport of the ATR does yeild a rock solid base to the music which approaches the Rockport if not quite as good. RTR tape has a continuousness which is very special; and no clicks or tics. overall; the Rockport is better......but then the Rockport pretty much kills most other tt's too.

i own about 100 7 1/2ips commercially recorded RTR tapes, of which 10 or so are 2-track, and another 10--3 and 3/4 ips tapes. a few of the 7 and 1/2 ips tapes are pretty good; but none approach the Rockport tt level of performance. personally; i would have zero interest in any 7 and 1/2 ips tapes as they can't reach 'very good' vinyl performance and would cost more with far fewer software choices. the 15ips tapes have the potential to be as good as there is. not to say that others may not desire 7 and 1/2ips.

i must qualify my RTR perceptions by saying that stock output electronics on these RTR decks is a serious drawback compared to what is used by my vinyl. i plan on upgrading the ATR and RS-1500 output electronics; and the Studer and dPv will both have top level output electronics; so until i have those units and the other's upgraded my take on the performance comparisons is preliminary.

my agenda is to eventually choose which of my 4 RTR decks i prefer and then likely sell the others; i want tape in my system permanently but there will never be enough top level software. hopefully; 'The Tape Project' will continue for 4 or 5 years and i will end up with 40 or 50 wonderful 15ips tapes.....but i have 4000 shiney digital discs and 8000 Lps.

I have to echo a lot of what Mike has just said. I did have Doc B modify my RS1500 (which had the cosmetics and transport fully restored by Jeff Jacobs at J-Corder). I use the Bottlehead Seduction tape head pre too.

I was a late charter subscriber to the Tape Project so to date have only got the first two releases. I am still in the break-in period on the Seduction at about 25 hours, so have a way to go.

Like Mike, my perceptions of what I am hearing on the TP tapes is somewhat skewed by the fact that I am trying to compare what I am hearing based on what I hear from "that other" world class turntable, my Walker Proscenium.
I think the Walker has the edge in my system.

The tapes are a different listening experience all together. They sound nothing like digital, yet they sound unlike my tt. It is analog for sure, very quiet, but lacking the sense of air and space around the instruments that the Walker does so well. The music on TP001 and TP002 were unfamiliar to me prior to getting them, and is not really my cup of tea so it's hard to make any hard and fast comments.

I expect to be getting the next four tapes within a week or so and may be able to comment further.

Like Mike, I am an analog format freak, and hope that the Tape Project continues to release 15ips tapes for sometime to come.

admittedly, the other people here have better sources than i do by light years, but i still think it would be a serious kick to try to dub an LP onto a tape running at 7 or 15, quarter or half track, just to see if the results are enjoyable. that's what i used to do with my teac, and i was really pleasantly surprised. but... i was using a thorens turntable with an at-0C9 cartridge.
see, the problem is, if you DOWNGRADE to a real-world "record-player", you will start to appreciate analog tape all the more.
there is one other solution, but i hate to bring it up (sorry Mike!) you should have gotten the studer-a-80 with levinson electronics, the same machine my (grumpy but impeccable-reputation buddy Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio)
used back in the old days. he has engineered some recordings on Harmonia Mundi as well as his own label (Audiofon), with results that compete with the best.
i don't know if you can get him to talk about his work in the recording industry, but if ANYONE knows what makes a decent recording, he would. OTOH, the last machine he favored was the Nagra D-2 as far as i know.

Mike,

I must disagree...

I have never found vinyl to eclipe RTR tape. It is the one bastion of "as close to master tape as you can get".

When RTR were/are mastered there was/is no concern to the low or high frequency rolloff of disc cutting heads and thus dynamics will always be better with RTR given similar work parts and mastering thoughtfulness. It makes no difference if you have a Rockport TT or a Walker... In my mind, tapes will always be more life like because of their greater frequency response.

I owned Lloyds best TT for 7 years and my RTR machines were far better in life-likeness. His table was close but just not "as there" as RTR. You know, it's that extra little bit that separates the sensation of real from reproduced. Otari, Technics 1520, many Revox decks and many-many Ampex 44s just blew away the turntable in this slight but important regard. I don't think vinyl is in the same league as RTR. I've been at it for years with over 4000 tapes (15,000 records now down to 10,000) and I would take the master tape like sound of RTR over the pops and ticks of my vinyl any day :)

You should try some dolby BC tapes (much controversy) with a Concord decoder. It's amazing!

Peter

well along with how things are dubbed etc., tape machines take a lot of set up to work properly. You have align your machine to get the best sound out of it and if you want to aling it properly, you'd need distortion measruing equipment which alm ost nobody has at home.

are there reference tones on the tape project tapes?