My favorite vintage audio format youtuber, Techmoan is at it again, this time with a nice introduction of Reel to Reel format.
I had a Brenell 510 years ago, (this was the rare 10.5" version of the normal Series 5) and after a few hours of running, the motors would start to give out that lovely melting varnish smell, and the reels would warm up and the tape itself had an odour. Mind you, much less than the smell of hot Bodine motor on an Ampex 360 after a day in the studio.My B77 isn't smelling too good Serge . I played a tape the other day, went through to eat after rewinding the tape and when I came back the room smelt a bit "hot pcb" which i traced back to the Revox.
Tim de Paravincini offered to rebuild it for me over the holidays but I need to check how much that will cost since I use it once in a blue moon so may do it myself!
I am slightly bemused by the "resurgence" of tape.
I am firmly of the opinion that mastering trumps format, so whether we listen to CD, LP, streaming or R2R tape the sound quality is dominated by whether it is actually a good recording we are listening to, and any benefit there may be to R2R is down to the extreme care used in making the tapes.
It is a bit like the "lost recordings" LPs which are all made from a digital file created from the master tape by a Devialet amplifier. At its very best the LP can't be any better than the digital file, though there may be some pleasant artefacts added.T
These tapes are truly spectacularly expensive as is the kit used to play them.
I would wager that the digital file used to these recordings would sound at least as good.
I am slightly bemused by the "resurgence" of tape.
I am firmly of the opinion that mastering trumps format, so whether we listen to CD, LP, streaming or R2R tape the sound quality is dominated by whether it is actually a good recording we are listening to, and any benefit there may be to R2R is down to the extreme care used in making the tapes.
It is a bit like the "lost recordings" LPs which are all made from a digital file created from the master tape by a Devialet amplifier. At its very best the LP can't be any better than the digital file, though there may be some pleasant artefacts added.
These tapes are truly spectacularly expensive as is the kit used to play them.
I would wager that the digital file used to these recordings would sound at least as good.
It would be nice to see you Charlie and I don't doubt the tapes you have sound lovely but I still don't think they are worth the money myselfFrank, we must find time for you either to come round or I can bring a machine over to Wantage with some tapes
For sure. Majority of users of R2R are diehard analog fans. They think it sounds good because it is analog.
I think reel to reel sounds good because it's more fun to watch than digital.
Does it work? The original, which I have, stopped working. I think the battery went flat and the EPROM lost its programme. Later the design was taken over by Sonosax who made quite a few changes and were not interested in trying to get mine to work againWe got a Stellavox sitting in the office @@
Lovely if someone can tell me about it's story
We got a Stellavox sitting in the office @@
Lovely if someone can tell me about it's story