A Question About Recording Media

[goodman]

Overall, I am very pleased with most of the SACDs I have purchased so far. The fine older performances that are successfully reproduced on SACD come from open-reel master tapes. Also, I sneak a peek at The Absolute Sound now and then, and even they, being the vinyl lovers that they are, say that open reel analog tape is the best reproduction medium. If this is so, why is it that the high-end market sells 45 and 78 rpm vinyl recordings for $30 a platter, but doesn't make open-reel analog tape recordings available?

 

[Unregistered]

Probably because there is no market for them. Very few people would have a reel to reel player to play them.

 

[Unregistered]

Overall, I am very pleased with most of the SACDs I have purchased so far. The fine older performances that are successfully reproduced on SACD come from open-reel master tapes. Also, I sneak a peek at The Absolute Sound now and then, and even they, being the vinyl lovers that they are, say that open reel analog tape is the best reproduction medium. If this is so, why is it that the high-end market sells 45 and 78 rpm vinyl recordings for $30 a platter, but doesn't make open-reel analog tape recordings available?

I have always considered open reel tapes to be superior to LPs. If indeed analog were superior to digital, it would have to be open reels. That should be obvious. Open reels are what recording studios used to capture a stuido or live performance the first time around. They are then transcribed to LP or CD etc. I've seen open reels products advertised for digital recording as well. Check out the TEAC or TASCAM websites.

Unfortunately, open reels are the most difficult and most cumbersome to handle for home playback purposes. And because of that, they went the way of the dinosours for home use. Cassettes were supposed to overcome that, but even those metal cassette tapes and their Dolby NR varieties couldn't match the sonic fidelity of open reels with their 1" tape formats and high speed recording even without any NR. (If you've tried using those VHS tapes for stereo recording, you'd know the advantage of wider tape size and speed.)

And yes, the open reel tape drives are hard to source these days. I've seen some being offered online but they are quite expensive. And the tapes, whether blank or pre-recorded, are also few and expensive.

AV_PHILE

 

[djoxygen]

Back in the '60s and early '70s open-reels were among the audiophile formats of choice. As pointed out, though, the market was small and the tapes and machines were too difficult for most people to operate and maintain. Those formats still didn't compare to what is used in a recording studio as the source for many recordings. I think the best consumer open-reel format was 1/4" 2-track. Another format called quarter-track ran 2 tracks in each direction (like cassette) on a 1/4" tape, reducing the quality but adding to convenience.

Some will use 1/4", but high-end recording studios can, and will, use 1/2" ir 1" 2-track for mastering, even if the source recordings are digital. However, once the material is finished, it is unlikely that duplication to analog tape for distribution would preserve any more of the original quality than studio-quality digital duplication. (Keep in mind that I fall into the camp of accuracy in home audio reproduction - I want to hear what the artists/engineers/producers wanted me to hear when they made the recording.)

 

[JoeE SP9]

I've got a TEAC 3340 1/4" 2 track it only runs at 71/2 and 15 ips but it sounds really sweet. I don't use it much anymore but it sure looks impressive on the rack. Maybe I'll bring it out of the closet.

 

[Unregistered]

Back in the '60s and early '70s open-reels were among the audiophile formats of choice. As pointed out, though, the market was small and the tapes and machines were too difficult for most people to operate and maintain. Those formats still didn't compare to what is used in a recording studio as the source for many recordings. I think the best consumer open-reel format was 1/4" 2-track. Another format called quarter-track ran 2 tracks in each direction (like cassette) on a 1/4" tape, reducing the quality but adding to convenience.

Some will use 1/4", but high-end recording studios can, and will, use 1/2" ir 1" 2-track for mastering, even if the source recordings are digital. However, once the material is finished, it is unlikely that duplication to analog tape for distribution would preserve any more of the original quality than studio-quality digital duplication. (Keep in mind that I fall into the camp of accuracy in home audio reproduction - I want to hear what the artists/engineers/producers wanted me to hear when they made the recording.)

I could have sworn there were half-inch Ampex and Memorex tapes for consumers. And those Tandberg machines could go 4-tracks one way. But I was just a kid in those days watching my father splice together different tapes. (I also go for accuracy and transparency. And while I think the analog sources had great sonics, there were simply too many problems and deficiencies in the medium for them to be consistent and reliable at all times. Digital made excellent promises that are only now being realized with the higher resolution formats. )

 

[djoxygen]

If there were 1/2" consumer formats, I'd sure have loved to hear something originally released that way.

At Berklee we all had to learn to splice tape on the 1/4" Teac/Tascam models before we ever got to touch Pro Tools. A lot of fun, but you gotta be sure you're getting it right the 1st time.

 

[Mr.T]

Hey Goodman, check this unit out, it's still available from Djtronix for $ 2.669.00 and it's a fantastic professional great sounding machine.
http://store.yahoo.com/djtronix/tabr2troprer.html

Mr.T

 

[WmAx]

Overall, I am very pleased with most of the SACDs I have purchased so far. The fine older performances that are successfully reproduced on SACD come from open-reel master tapes. Also, I sneak a peek at The Absolute Sound now and then, and even they, being the vinyl lovers that they are, say that open reel analog tape is the best reproduction medium. If this is so, why is it that the high-end market sells 45 and 78 rpm vinyl recordings for $30 a platter, but doesn't make open-reel analog tape recordings available?

Standard 1/2" open reel in inferior to CD in SNR(1/2" may approach 90dB(half the range of the best 16 bit systems which are approx. 95-96db SNR) SNR if used with a high qualty NR technology, but also THD rapidly increased to single digit values when you approach the peak values with tape. FR linearity is also inferior. 2" used in 2 channel mode can exceed the SNR of CD with appropriate NR technology. However, the cost of the blank tape and equipment to use 2" is considerable. DVD-A at 96/24 far exceeds(technically) the best analog tape performance in SNR, THD and linearity. Please note that possible performance of 44.1/16 PCM can surpasses the established requirements for transparency for musical playback. In the best cases, standard 1/2" with appropriat NR should also be transparent as long as the peak amplitudes do not cause noticable distortion.

-Chris