Ask a designer

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

We need to create some interest as reel to reel is at the same stage as TT were beginning of the 2000's, they were dirt cheap and largely being scrapped.

This is not for history or engineering sake though that does come into it. These machines play exceptional music. My preferences are the two companies that had different names for their pro gear to their domestic gear Teac / Tascam - Revox / Studer. For really cheap but effective machines then Akai and Tandberg, though Sony and Pioneer made good ones as well. Uher made excellent sounding portable ones if you want to take up your own recording (excellent hobby).

[Lindsayt]

Ampex and Otari machines would also be worth checking out.

I think with any tape machine, if it's properly working, it should sound really good compared to vinyl and CD's.

In a way I don't want more enthusiasts buying tape machines as then there will be more people chasing tapes as they come onto market - which are hugely expensive already compared to vinyl and CD's. But then it would also be nice if there was a large tape revival with more companies producing new master tape copies a la Tape Project.

Vintage tapes are very hit and miss with a lot of the Ampex ones putting a horrible brown smudge on your tape heads and rollers. Tapes can be baked, but I don't know how permanent a solution this is?

Reel to reel seems to have been a bigger thing in America than it was in the UK.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

In the late 50's early 60's in the UK it was the biggest part of the hi-fi hobby.

[Lindsayt]

There are currently 60 reel to reel tapes for sale on UK ebay and 8122 for sale on US ebay.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

My father had a Truvox in the early 60's so that was my first experience of using one. He recorded himself on the piano doing old pub standards and sold the tapes. He called the company Piano Player Tapes, he made a small living from it when he retired from the bank.

http://brenelltape.co.uk/id9.html

[spacejay]

should signal wire be twisted? i ask because i have built this


http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae18 ... ternal.jpg



and was asking about the orientation of the main board and received this reply: ' whatever you do, keep the signal wiring twisted together, as it is, you have a very good aerial that is radiating and receiving noise from just about every square inch of the chassis. the loop area is huge.'


i may have it wrong but i seem to remember that twisting wires was a no-no. should i twist or not?

[Daniel Quinn]

Spacejay , the TT [ especially parralell tracking arm and what I presume is a phono stage , are just the sort of thing that fuel my DIY dreams as I struggle to Juggle 3.5[ or is 3.6 this week ?] kids a demanding partner and a job . Why no forum thread

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

If you put two wires in close proximity then they talk to each other and you create a capacitor that means that v high frequency information bleeds between then. So if L and R channel signal then you lose seperation, if + and - of the same leg then you lose some of the v high frequency information of the music as the cable is acting as a filter. If you then twist the cable you put the cable in even closer proximity which increases capacitance again and also introduces a small inductive element into the load.

I see no logic in their statement as all they can be referring to is stray RF which it will remove along with some of the musical content.

Try both ways and do what your ears tell you.

[Sovereign]

I have a question for you RD, the BPS I'm using is 1.5kva
How do I know how much equipment I can use with this size BPS in place? Could I run three pairs of A80's for example?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It is the usual complete lack of understanding per usual, people trot out *names* like VA as though they know what they are talking about, but they don't - it is pure ignorance created by bullshit. AND I DON'T MEAN YOU!!

Lets look at this from an amplifier point of view, an A80 (current version) has two transformers 160va and 120va so a total of 280va if you have three of them that is 840va per channel 1680va in total. So what does that mean. It means that in the unlikely (impossible) scenario of the amps drawing that much current from the mains the transformers would begin to get hot. In electrical terms THAT IS ALL IT MEANS. That never will and cannot ever happen, the output stage of the amp would fail due to overheating before it ever got anywhere near to that level. So electrically about 50va per amp would do the job, but it doesn't sound as good. So now we forget about electrical factors and start looking at what music needs, which is why proper hi-fi is so different to normal electronics, where specs actually mean something. The excessive VA is for one purpose only and that is to reduce the source impedance of the mains supply, which has a genuine and positive effect on the amps ability to produce good music.

So in electrical terms you could run that tri-amped system off a 500va balun unless you were using that system for a disco or PA, and I seriously would not recommend doing that with NVA amplifiers. You need the 1500va because it will make better music, if they had a 3000va that would be better again. BUT as you go up in VA so the transformers are bigger, the windings looser, the mechanical noise greater.

So you don't *need* the VA you should *want* the VA.