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1970s Design Indulgence

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Graham Slee View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 9:32am
While writing these "line stage" pages I've also been doing unscientific "market research". It's called looking at the viewing counter - the (x Viewing) thing that pops up after each forum subject heading.

While writing about the RIAA EQ, there were a few takers, and I recall seeing it reach 5.

The line-level usage of this first preamp stage hit an incredible 13!

The tape head EQ postings managed 2, but most of the time it's 1, or no show.

I told Stu about it, and he was going to link to it on his Reel2Reel Facebook page, but perhaps he hasn't, and now he's told me he no longer has any tapes or machines, huh.

But peterb has so far been the champion of the tape head EQ dialogue! He sent me his old Sony reel to reel manual .pdf by email - all 5Mb of it - and that helped me understand that I may have got the tape head EQ right.

Prior to me working through this tape head EQ stage, I had a classical-music record producer emailing me on a related subject to do with remastering old tapes. That didn't get far either.

So I'm getting the feeling that tape head EQ is on a hiding to nowhere - is that right?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sylvain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 10:04am
We are talking of " Line-Amp " and Reel to Reel tape .....I saw them frequently at Ealing Studios, west London in late 70's but the realm of the few dedicated who would understand the complex technical mechanism but rarely had opportunity to listen but on Radio broadcast ....so Me is Cassette tape and as a machine with 3 capstan head of 1990 but still working in 2022.. with a clean of magnetic deposit head from time to time..
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 10:38am
Both Sylvain's and patientot's cassette machines are catered for by the tape-loop (rec out and "3rd head" in).

Comment: anything can be made no matter how complex, but only if it suits the narrative.

They've now got a one inch loudspeaker that can be driven by a microscopic class D amplifier, fed by algorithms that make it sound like a much larger speaker, and they gave it a name, to which it answers to, and talks back to you, and plays your Phil Collins'.

Orwell's telescreen is now in every modern home. The mark of the beast is on its way.

Old fashioned analogue isn't old fashioned, it simply doesn't work in the internet of things, it cannot tell big brother what you're doing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Sylvain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 11:01am
whilst not wishing to placed my irritation by those tiny " Speakers'' with a built in Class D rudimentary application software .....I had one developed skill in building Speakers over the last 20 years ...And a box with a measured volume and a resonant characteristic/properties material with an inductor and capacitor and resistor to regulate the sound .....to true acoustic reproduction of musical instruments .....those tiny plastic reinforced with a '' plug-in'' amp/tone makes for big time irritation and sadness to generation  who wants to discover/ experience  music ......much development of the person is lost ...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BackinBlack Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 11:44am
I haven't had or used a reel to reel machine in the last 50 years. I used to have both portable and rack cassette machines, which I and mostly my children used into the late 80s. Both failed at some time and never got repaired as we had all given up using them. I now can't justify owning either R2R or Cassette, as I have no need to make live recordings or use them as playback machines. What R2R source material I have, recordings of the last offshore Pirate radio broadcasts, are not really worth listening to, quality wise, assuming the tape is still playable. What few cassettes I have are of poor quality compared to the vinyl versions I have or are of music I wish I hadn't bought!
In that regard the tape playback and recording facilities are a matter of interest rather than need.
I can't speak for others, but tape is not a medium I can foresee being of use to me now.
Sorry if that dampens the enthusiam for tape.
Just my 2d worth.

Ian
Just listen, if it sounds good to you, enjoy it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mikeh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 12:02pm
Similar to Ian, above, I haven't used tape media for over 40 years. I had a Sony R2R back in the 70's, which I thought was the dog's what it's and was even seen in the backgrpund on a James Bond film. That was replaced by a Sony 'pro' cassette in the 80's, never to be used again once CD took over. I still fancy a R2R but today it would only be as a novelty piece of engineering.
However I have noticed recommendations to use a tape loop function for connection of additional tone control or DSP devices.  Maybe this is the marketer's approach to rename tape loop to 'sound processing'?
Mike

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 12:09pm
So, should we do as John C suggested yesterday, and make the switching modular?

So far we've got inputs for:

MM Cartridge
Various line-levels (for items with flat frequency responses)
Tape Head EQ

To which could easily be added:

Ceramic Cartridge EQ

...and what else?

I won't do microphones as there are so many. But then again, perhaps I should. OK, ask the audience...
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