speaking of tape: holy guacamole

mhardy6647

(or, if one prefers, wholly guacamole)

Happened to see this posted Someplace Else.
Looks like another unaffordable assault on the "tape market" -- I say that mostly enviously, I think.

http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/02/ballfinger-m-063-real-to-real-tape.html#more

"real to real"

pongshi

Wow....if you have to ask.....

stuwee

Woof!! When will folks learn, analog is just better...and what better way to start than with tape...

mhardy6647

Yeah but buying a used Studer or Otari is probably more cost-effective

[Deleted User]

The evolution of the tape deck hasn't, until recently, benefited from the availability of improved source material like the record playing turntable has. The reason for the availability of fine sounding turntables has been the reintroduction of high quality records to play on them. The same is beginning to happen with tape playback machines. Now there are a half dozen companies that are producing extremely high quality prerecorded tapes. There have always been the audiophiles who collect prized safety master copies and hard to find 2 track tapes, but now there are small companies that make well made live recordings and produce dubs of them that attract serious audiophile attention (and serious audiophile money).
If this had happened 20 years ago the tape deck would be as common in high end systems as the state of the art record player is now. There would have been developments in tape playback heads as there was in phono cartridges. Moving coil cartridges challenged moving iron and moving magnet cartridges to sound better. There would have been competition between high and low impedance heads to stimulate improvements. Vacuum tube playback amplifiers versus solid state would have prompted engineers to build better examples of both. Direct drive versus belt drive and now idler drive turntable were evolved to make the better sounding records live up to their potential. The same between heavy flywheel and servo controlled tape transports and careful tape tension advocates would have spurred engineers to investigate what makes a tape sound better.
Look at what happened to the lowly cassette deck. Originally intended as a way for secretaries to take dictation and newsmen to capture sound bites it became a viable choice for audio enthusiasts when in the hands of Nakamichi, Revox, Tandberg, Sony and other engineering wizards. Imagine what we could be listening to today if the master designers from Ferrograph, Berlant Concertone, Ampex and many others had continued making better and better sounding machines. Instead we're like archaeologists digging up the bones of Ampex 350s and trying to attach enough wires to get them to look and play like the original masterpieces.
While I'm glad to see there are some serious attempts to build tape machines that echo what was done in the past. What I hope happens is that there's some enterprising young engineers who are fresh from some engineering school, living in an old Victorian house, who wheel in one of these new machines and say that they could build one that sounds better that they could sell for half the price and start figuring out how to do it.
Sound familiar?

[Deleted User]

That depends on what you consider to be "modern music". You can find amazing tapes from Linda Ronstadt, The Band, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Canned Heat, Jerry Garcia, Dave Grisman, Little Hatch, Robert Cray, Dave Alvin, John Lee Hooker, Credence Clearwater Revival, Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Clifford Brown and even Jimmy Smith for jazz organ buffs from The Tape Project.

tonyb

Tape has always been my favorite medium, even above Vinyl, for sound quality. Unfortunately it just doesn't fit into todays lifestyles. While vinyl has rejoiced in a somewhat comeback as of late, I think both mediums will remain simply niche markets.....and that keeps costs high and out of the hands of a vast majority.

[Deleted User]

I'm old enough to remember when absolutely nobody had any part of their audio system that contained vacuum tubes. This was in the late 1960's and early 1970's and audio companies had completely adopted the transistor and, in fact, told you how many transistors and diodes they used to make your receiver or amplifier as a selling point. The vacuum tube was not only obsolete it was used, in a negative way, to sell newer better audio components. You were told that the tube was gone forever and good riddance to heavy transformers, expensive power supplies, money wasting low power tubes that needed to be replaced, all of it out the window.
I remember people giving me Fisher 500 receivers and Dynaco Stereo 70's just because they didn't want them any more. They were glad I would take them off their hands, I still have them.
There was nobody who thought there was any possible future for vacuum tubes except for a very small handful of guitar players who held onto their small low powered tube based guitar amps.
The only person who thought there might be some reason to continue making tube preamps and power amps was William Z. Johnson in the midwest. Of course his company evolved into Audio Research and the rest is history. Something that only a few years before was thought to be completely replaced by something that seemed better has now become a recognized alternative. If it was good sounding in 1957 it can still be good sounding in 2017. The same with horn loaded loudspeakers, condenser cartridges, magnetic tape, plastic records and most of the older technologies. It's easy to dismiss something as a fad if it doesn't seem to fit in with an acceptable range of convenience or selling price. Why would anybody pay over $500.00 for a jazz or classical record from The Electric Company? It doesn't have to be everybody, just enough people who want the sound experience enough to pay the fee.

dromunds

Yeah, it's funny to remember, but when I was a getting into audio in the early 70's it was just that, tubes were dead as dead can be. Nobody I knew would even dream of buying a tube audio component, it was completely abandoned. Never in a million years would I have anticipated that today I would be listening to 1950's tube monoblocks with NOS tubes from the 1940's and 50's. However, those mono blocks have what some consider among the best transformers ever made. You see the same thing with motorcycles, guitars and other items. Impeccability and intent are not time dependent, and aficionados tend to find what they like regardless of outside factors. Just this weekend I was looking through some of my father's effects and found a small box of Amperex Holland and Telefunken tubes dating from 1951 etc. I don't know why he kept them but now I'm glad he did. Lol.

[Deleted User]

Maybe this happened?

pongshi

I certainly love the fact that a "new" reel to reel is being produced...kinda like the new Technics SL-1200 turntable....with new price tags....for new audiophiles for which money is no object. Like many like minded vintage guys, I would rather see the old beauties restored and appreciated. Unfortunately for the vintage game, this is a finite situation of components, parts, and restorers, so it is a good thing to see new stuff. BTW, that R2R looks magnificent

pitdogg2

Back when i was 10-12 they were cleaning out a warehouse near my house. IF I knew then what I know now I might not of thrown those hundreds and hundreds of tubes against that brick wall to hear them go BOOM. It was a TV and audio repair warehouse and they were making room for all the then new transistor goodies.

Sometimes I wish I had a way back machine...

[Deleted User]

There are a few cottage industries around that make kits for replacing the capacitors, trim potentiometers motor bearings as well as new faceplates for most of the Revox tape decks. You can add transport logic and wireless remote control if you want. A lot of DIY seems to be happening for both classic reel to reels and cassette decks.

voltz

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/462?&banner_id=317

zappafan2

I would love to have a nice reel to reel in my room, but $450 for a new tape that's just crazy talk.

mrbigbluelight

Back in the day, between us 4 room mates, we had some pretty nice gear. Among our "stuff" was a (if I remember correctly) a Teac 3340 R2R.
At 15 ips, ....... wow. Simply ..... wow.
And, being younger and SINGLE, we could afford to buy blanks and transfer our vinyl at that speed.
No plastic reels, either. It was either metal or .... go home.

At first, reading Mr. Hardy's post, I thought "What ? Is it April 1st already ?". I mean, the name alone caused some suspicion, so I spent some time doing some looking on the interwebs.
I don't speak/read German, but the English sites showed .... wow. Simply wow.

Checking Accessories 4 Less and Newegg, I see they don't carry the M-103.
So .... dang .... it might take me a while to save up $25K.
That's going on the bucket list of things to get when I hit the Powerball.

mrbigbluelight

Ooops, that should have read "M-063".

BTW, came across this pic of the Ballfinger M-063. Doesn't the dood (that's the one on the right) look like the character in "No Country For Old Men" ?

mhardy6647

When I see a photo of that beast (which is absolutely gorgeous - but, then again, so is a Studer A80), I keep hearing Shirley Bassey's voice in my head, singing "Ballfinger"...

mhardy6647

For posterity, here's the Ballfinger thumbnail (ballthumbnail?) from a couple of posts previous:

Msabot1

tonyb wrote: »

Tape has always been my favorite medium, even above Vinyl, for sound quality. Unfortunately it just doesn't fit into todays lifestyles. While vinyl has rejoiced in a somewhat comeback as of late, I think both mediums will remain simply niche markets.....and that keeps costs high and out of the hands of a vast majority.

Nice things cost money....grin!...

[Deleted User]

For those who are familiar with the fantastic sounding Opus 3 records, the company is now offering tape versions (as well as SACD):
http://www.opus3records.com/am_list.html