1/2 inch tape Nirvana---ahhhhh

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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my Studer A-820 1/2" RTR deck has been idle for a couple of years. it was fully functional, but there was a simple but involved, 'Ki' level fix needed, so I could comfortably use it. and yesterday Ki Choi rode in on his white horse and fixed it.

bravo Ki!!!

last night and this morning I've been luxuriating into my limited 1/2" tape selections. 1/2" Studer A-820 -> King Cello (or other master recorder/tape repro personal choices) is just on another level beyond any other source IMHO. recent big rig system tweaks have raised all source performances, as well as recently I've moved my Entreq Silver Tellus grounding + the 'upgraded to Infinity level' Atlantic Eartha (one each on KC circuits and power supply chassis) and Apollo Eartha (one each on 1/2" and 1/4" chassis) cables to the Studer-KC area. and also I added the Furutech NCF plugs to the power cord and outlets since then. so since 2+ years ago the context of 1/2" wonderfulness has moved forward in a number of ways. my brain knew it would be better, but my senses were not prepared for the reference to jump up.

I've had my blinders on for these last few years not thinking about 1/2" tape knowing at some point i'd have it back. and now it's here.

there is nothing like 1/2" 15ips tape. 1/2" 30ips is also wonderful, but offers sonic trade-offs with 15ips plus less time. and 1" 2-track is even better, but really a challenge to deal with on many levels as well as much more expensive. so the sweet spot beyond 1/4" is 1/2" 15ips. and having a library of 1/2" 15ips is a real world proposition. many tape sellers can produce 1/2" versions of their titles, and many use 1/2" as the source or working master.

i'm really happy getting back in touch with this, and i'm going to have to now look around to see what tapes are out there to expand my 1/2" 15ips library.
 
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dminches

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Oct 22, 2011
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I am glad that you and 1/2" tape have reunited! I am not surprised at your impressions. Nothing beats good tape.
 

astrotoy

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May 24, 2010
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Mike sounds great. Good that your have the Studer expert in your back yard. 1/2" tape is really fine. I actually like handling it better than 1/4". The pros I've talked to say when dubbing tapes, you lose much less by copying 1/4" to 1/2" than 1/4" to 1/4". The reel are heavier, but nothing like 1", which takes a weight lifter to move around. One reason I bought the big collection of 200+ safety master reels last year was that 50 of them were 1/2". Nice to have two machines to play both formats. One good feature of the ATR-102's is that you can change headblocks in about 1 minute, so I can go between 1/4" and 1/2" without much problem.

Enjoy,

Larry
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Congratulations, Mike (and Ki), on getting that machine running again!

How would you describe or quantify approximately the magnitude of improvement in sound quality going from 45 rpm vinyl to 1/4" 15ips, and then going from 1/4" 15ips to 1/2" 15ips?
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Congratulations, Mike (and Ki), on getting that machine running again!

How would you describe or quantify approximately the magnitude of improvement in sound quality going from 45 rpm vinyl to 1/4" 15ips, and then going from 1/4" 15ips to 1/2" 15ips?

generalizing is always problematic, as there are so many shades of vinyl playback as well as shades of levels of RTR performance and quality of transfers. so I can only refer to my particular system and it's specific performance. Studer A-820 + King-Cello tape repro is a high bar for RTR and not common. NVS + Durand Telos + GFS + dart phono is a high bar for vinyl but one quite a few have equivalent + or - a little. so very top level vinyl might be closer to just 'pretty good' RTR.

I would first equate better 33's especially original pressings = top level direct to disc = most 45 rpm pressings. all three of those are capable of bettering some ok 1/4" 15ips. 1/4" 15ips varies a lot. I've heard so many different qualities of tape transfers. some 7 and 1/2 ips 1/4" 2-track can be wonderful and at a high level too. one tape source brings me collections and we sit there for hours auditioning tapes against my vinyl. so this part is a crap shoot. one must just listen to any tape prior to assuming anything.

but if we look at very good to excellent 1/4" 15ips compared to those top level pressings with tape we get more solid soundstage, more weighty and complete tonality, more authority and ease in the bass, along with greater micro-detail. the best vinyl does have a bit of space (pressing artifact?) and immediacy which can be superior (or just a little different).....especially direct to disc in some cases. but overall better 1/4" 15ips is another step up and is that clear window. we relax into it and the world drops away. people always just go wow! ok. I get it. nothing like tape. give me more of that.

then we go to 1/2" 15ips, and we add a degree of power, heft, juicy solidity and dimensionality to all the attributes. like doubling down all the tape goodness. that get up, walk around, reach out and touch and feel the music. hints of things get more real. not a night and day difference, just more heartfelt. and even a 1/4" transferred to 1/2" a level of weight and robustness is added to the music. is the 1/2" effect real? who cares?

the best 1/2" either 15ips or 30ips is quite startlingly better than anything. so there are variances of 1/2" too. I've had 30ips 1/2" in my room and it's a wonder in the mids and highs, the low end better on the 15ips 1/2". which is why considering the 30ips compromise on the length of reels I consider 1/2" 15ips the sweet spot. 30ips needs a different EQ than 15ips too, and that's an issue with some even top level decks.
 
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ALF

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Mar 15, 2012
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Mike, about time :)...as my auntie was fond to say, “Try it, I like it!”

Cheers!
ALF
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,469
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Mike sounds great. Good that your have the Studer expert in your back yard. 1/2" tape is really fine. I actually like handling it better than 1/4". The pros I've talked to say when dubbing tapes, you lose much less by copying 1/4" to 1/2" than 1/4" to 1/4". The reel are heavier, but nothing like 1", which takes a weight lifter to move around. One reason I bought the big collection of 200+ safety master reels last year was that 50 of them were 1/2". Nice to have two machines to play both formats. One good feature of the ATR-102's is that you can change headblocks in about 1 minute, so I can go between 1/4" and 1/2" without much problem.

Enjoy,

Larry

thanks Larry, you are definitely the tape library guy. and agree on your 1/2" handling comments. it's a joy to use. and I've done the 1/4" to 1/2" dub a few times and overall slightly prefer the resulting 1/2" dub in the equation at least in the case of A-820 to A-820.

i'd love to add a third master recorder level deck (A-820 or ATR-102) with 2 sets of headblocks, guides and hubs to allow easy dubbing for both 1/4" and 1/2". like the ATR, you can switch headblocks, guides and hubs on the A-820 in a couple of minutes. I've done that between my 2 A-820's a few times. and both the ATR-102 and the A-820 automatically adjust the correct tension for either 1/4" or 1/2" with the change of the headblocks (which in other decks can require some delicate adjustments and particular tools).

so either deck would work as that third one for me. only the slight issue of the doh-ra-me.:rolleyes:
 

astrotoy

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May 24, 2010
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thanks Larry, you are definitely the tape library guy. and agree on your 1/2" handling comments. it's a joy to use. and I've done the 1/4" to 1/2" dub a few times and overall slightly prefer the resulting 1/2" dub in the equation at least in the case of A-820 to A-820.

i'd love to add a third master recorder level deck (A-820 or ATR-102) with 2 sets of headblocks, guides and hubs to allow easy dubbing for both 1/4" and 1/2". like the ATR, you can switch headblocks, guides and hubs on the A-820 in a couple of minutes. I've done that between my 2 A-820's a few times. and both the ATR-102 and the A-820 automatically adjust the correct tension for either 1/4" or 1/2" with the change of the headblocks (which in other decks can require some delicate adjustments and particular tools).

so either deck would work as that third one for me. only the slight issue of the doh-ra-me.:rolleyes:

Thanks, Mike. When I got my first ATR-102 early in 2016 it only came with a 1/4" head block. So I had the tech who was working on it to order a 1/2" head block and guides from ATR Services, so I could play and record both 1/4" and 1/2" tapes. He also modified both head blocks so I could play both sizes of tapes with my Doshi prepro. It was just only six months later that I got the opportunity buy the second machine at a bargain - coming out of a local music studio. It had been bought from ATR Services and redone by Mike Spitz about a decade ago. It had both sets of head blocks and is in very nice condition. I didn't have it modified for external playback and only use it for dubbing tapes. With both machines having two sets of head stacks, I can copy 1/4" to 1/4", 1/4" to 1/2", 1/2" to 1/4" and 1/2" to 1/2" and have done all combinations. Between them, they came with three sets of audio cards. Since I only use the first machine for playback through the Doshi, I don't need audio cards for it. So I have three sets of cards each biased and calibrated to a different tape type, so it makes it easy to switch cards and heads for whatever type of tape I want to record.

Larry
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,346
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
generalizing is always problematic, as there are so many shades of vinyl playback as well as shades of levels of RTR performance and quality of transfers. so I can only refer to my particular system and it's specific performance. Studer A-820 + King-Cello tape repro is a high bar for RTR and not common. NVS + Durand Telos + GFS + dart phono is a high bar for vinyl but one quite a few have equivalent + or - a little. so very top level vinyl might be closer to just 'pretty good' RTR.

I would first equate better 33's especially original pressings = top level direct to disc = most 45 rpm pressings. all three of those are capable of bettering some ok 1/4" 15ips. 1/4" 15ips varies a lot. I've heard so many different qualities of tape transfers. some 7 and 1/2 ips 1/4" 2-track can be wonderful and at a high level too. one tape source brings me collections and we sit there for hours auditioning tapes against my vinyl. so this part is a crap shoot. one must just listen to any tape prior to assuming anything.

but if we look at very good to excellent 1/4" 15ips compared to those top level pressings with tape we get more solid soundstage, more weighty and complete tonality, more authority and ease in the bass, along with greater micro-detail. the best vinyl does have a bit of space (pressing artifact?) and immediacy which can be superior (or just a little different).....especially direct to disc in some cases. but overall better 1/4" 15ips is another step up and is that clear window. we relax into it and the world drops away. people always just go wow! ok. I get it. nothing like tape. give me more of that.

then we go to 1/2" 15ips, and we add a degree of power, heft, juicy solidity and dimensionality to all the attributes. like doubling down all the tape goodness. that get up, walk around, reach out and touch and feel the music. hints of things get more real. not a night and day difference, just more heartfelt. and even a 1/4" transferred to 1/2" a level of weight and robustness is added to the music. is the 1/2" effect real? who cares?

the best 1/2" either 15ips or 30ips is quite startlingly better than anything. so there are variances of 1/2" too. I've had 30ips 1/2" in my room and it's a wonder in the mids and highs, the low end better on the 15ips 1/2". which is why considering the 30ips compromise on the length of reels I consider 1/2" 15ips the sweet spot. 30ips needs a different EQ than 15ips too, and that's an issue with some even top level decks.

This is a very thoughtful and interesting answer, Mike! Thank you for comparing for us these state-of-the-art media!
 

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