What are you all using for tape stage?

[flez007]

I actually had my switch built last year and it's fully functional.

I did have the good pleasure of having Nick Doshi over to my house yesterday to evaluate my Studer and he says it is good to go. My unit hopefully shows up mid June. Nick BTW provided me some excellent suggestions yesterday in dealing with a room issue so this is my homework for today as he was the first person other than my family to hear my new room.

...and how are you liking it Steve?, considering your previous benchmark at your last room setup?

 

[Steve Williams]

It's better

Fathoms arrived yesterday and will be set up today. Finally I will blog my experiences in the build out

 

[Asamel]

I have a Technics 1500 with both on board and outboard capability. The internal amps are modern upgrades and I have a King Cello amp which sounds great to my ears. I will have access to a Doshi unit shortly pending delivery.

We plan to do a good listening test in a good room with great equipment. Let the fun begin!

Bruce in PA

 

[Steve Williams]

I have a Technics 1500 with both on board and outboard capability. The internal amps are modern upgrades and I have a King Cello amp which sounds great to my ears. I will have access to a Doshi unit shortly pending delivery.

We plan to do a good listening test in a good room with great equipment. Let the fun begin!

Bruce in PA

Heck Bruce, you better not get yours before I get mine

 

[flez007]

Not sure if the DaHavilland preamp has been mentioned, but it sounds good as well.

 

[Bruce B]

Not sure if the DaHavilland preamp has been mentioned, but it sounds good as well.

I tried the deHavilland about a year ago and even showed it at the Pacific NW Audio Society.

deHavilland Model 222

 

[MylesBAstor]

Charlie, as per my request, had recently changed out the Mundorf for the Dueland VSF Black caps in my King-Cello unit. The Dueland caps as per Frederik and Alan's instructions were broken in for a week straight on The Cable Cooker before Charlie installed them into my tape preamp. Initially, I wasn't blown away by the change and thought more lateral than vertical.

That was until a week ago. I was listening to a very familiar tape and was suddenly startled by amount of air being being moved in the low end along with far greater sense of space. A few more tapes, such as the new Patricia Barber, etc. and it was obvious that something special was going on. Then I remembered that even after breaking in with the Cable Cooker, cables take about 24 hours of playing to settle-in [not even counting for the soldering to break-in]--and the same seems to hold true with capacitors too. The end result is that Charlie's unit equipped with the Dueland caps is far better than I even thought!

 

[gamve]

Hi Myles,
The dueland caps really come into their own once they have 2-300 hours on them. If your there already you already know, if not there is more in store for you.
Cheers
Graham

Charlie, as per my request, had recently changed out the Mundorf for the Dueland VSF Black caps in my King-Cello unit. The Dueland caps as per Frederik and Alan's instructions were broken in for a week straight on The Cable Cooker before Charlie installed them into my tape preamp. Initially, I wasn't blown away by the change and thought more lateral than vertical.

That was until a week ago. I was listening to a very familiar tape and was suddenly startled by amount of air being being moved in the low end along with far greater sense of space. A few more tapes, such as the new Patricia Barber, etc. and it was obvious that something special was going on. Then I remembered that even after breaking in with the Cable Cooker, cables take about 24 hours of playing to settle-in [not even counting for the soldering to break-in]--and the same seems to hold true with capacitors too. The end result is that Charlie's unit equipped with the Dueland caps is far better than I even thought!

 

[MylesBAstor]

Hi Myles,
The dueland caps really come into their own once they have 2-300 hours on them. If your there already you already know, if not there is more in store for you.
Cheers
Graham

Thanks Graham! So it appears

Frederik had indicated around 150 hours but I was skeptical They had 168 hrs on The Cable Cooker when installed. Probably now up to a little over 200 hrs.

 

[flez007]

Charlie, as per my request, had recently changed out the Mundorf for the Dueland VSF Black caps in my King-Cello unit. The Dueland caps as per Frederik and Alan's instructions were broken in for a week straight on The Cable Cooker before Charlie installed them into my tape preamp. Initially, I wasn't blown away by the change and thought more lateral than vertical.

That was until a week ago. I was listening to a very familiar tape and was suddenly startled by amount of air being being moved in the low end along with far greater sense of space. A few more tapes, such as the new Patricia Barber, etc. and it was obvious that something special was going on. Then I remembered that even after breaking in with the Cable Cooker, cables take about 24 hours of playing to settle-in [not even counting for the soldering to break-in]--and the same seems to hold true with capacitors too. The end result is that Charlie's unit equipped with the Dueland caps is far better than I even thought!

Dammit! I ordered mine with Mundorf caps following your decision on having them in your KC!!!

 

[Jazzbo]

Just thought I would make an addition here and mention I am using the Amina HD-4 tube tape head pre amp. This inexpensive, but great sounding pre amp comes with a separate power supply. This pre amp gets better every time I turn it on. I am sure improvements can be made once I decide to do some tube rolling and substituting better capacitors. There seems to be 2 caps in the signal chain. While the unit sounds good already, I am sure it can sound better with some changes. i am just enjoying it in it's present state. I am loving what I am hearing so far. Thanks for all the assistance I've got from the great team/forum members here. I am pleased to be a part of this great organization.

 

[jcmusic]

I am using the BH Tube Repro on my Otari and the Dehavilland 222 on my Studer. Premium tubes in both and I am loving what I hear from both!!! One more thing of importance I am using a special Mogami cable for the wiring to the tape pre's that has excellent shielding to just kill any noise that could be picked up!!!