Too close for comfort

[jdza]

For the first time in weeks I fired up the turntable.,let it play for 30minutes,matched levels with a voltmeter ,put on the same tape and lp and prepared to be depressed by the mediocrity of vinyl.......Err well no.I swear I saw the turntable sticking out its tongue to its neigbour from just across the Swiss border!

The tape was better but it was way too close for comfort. I can buy 10 LPs for every tape and there are lots of them . So what now?. I know..Tweak the tape recorders!

 

[JackD201]

There's a rare bird! She's a beauty!

 

[mep]

For the first time in weeks I fired up the turntable.,let it play for 30minutes,matched levels with a voltmeter ,put on the same tape and lp and prepared to be depressed by the mediocrity of vinyl.......Err well no.I swear I saw the turntable sticking out its tongue to its neigbour from just across the Swiss border!

The tape was better but it was way too close for comfort. I can buy 10 LPs for every tape and there are lots of them . So what now?. I know..Tweak the tape recorders!

I took some heat for telling people exactly what you just said. Even if they get steamed up about it, it's still true though. What's also scary is to record an LP on your Swiss machine and compare that to the tape you have my friend.

 

[John Brooks]

Scary? Nada. Musically, it is wonderful to have vinyl and tape be close. And not quite a level playing field for comparison. The Thorens Reference was $10K in 1980, a Studer about $3K. So the vinyl setup (cartridge/arm/TT/phono preamp) would be a $100K playback system today vs. a stock tape machine. Rebuild a Studer with Cardas or Purist wire, extra shielding, bronze flywheels, Stillpoints inside, an audiophile-level tape head amp and the results would likely be a little different.

PS - here are a couple fun links: http://www.thefunkyway.com/gearmus/djgear/decks/ and http://www.aca.gr/turntable_e.htm

 

[Steve williams]

Nice links John

 

[jdza]

Scary? Nada. Musically, it is wonderful to have vinyl and tape be close. And not quite a level playing field for comparison. The Thorens Reference was $10K in 1980, a Studer about $3K. So the vinyl setup (cartridge/arm/TT/phono preamp) would be a $100K playback system today vs. a stock tape machine. Rebuild a Studer with Cardas or Purist wire, extra shielding, bronze flywheels, Stillpoints inside, an audiophile-level tape head amp and the results would likely be a little different.

PS - here are a couple fun links: http://www.thefunkyway.com/gearmus/djgear/decks/ and http://www.aca.gr/turntable_e.htm

I am not saying the vinyl is as good as a first generation copy of the master tape.What I am saying is that considering all the processes vinyl has to go through from the master tape to finally be transcribed by a piece of diamond wiggling in a slab of muck,it is surprising how close it gets to a supposedly first generation copy of that same mastertape.

Yes ,even 30 years on the Thorens Reference remains remarkable. The one currently on Audiogon is worth every cent of its $50k asking price.Listening to the A80 and the Thorens side by side, I am pretty sure I know what the Thorens engineers used as their reference.