Interesting posts all important points
1. sound
2. limited amount of titles
3. old decks
4. Maintenance
5. easy of use
6. cost of tapes
7.involving (soul)
I did like the used Ferrari comparison it rang true. Sorry but no matter how easy digital is to use it has no soul IMO. Good thread so far.
Garth,
I'm a little late to the party but here is my two cents.
First, you could ask the same question of our panel at Axpona in a couple of weeks!
Session Detail
Let me try and address your points one by one.
1. There is no doubt that real time duped 15 ips, 2-track tapes are in a league of their own (though I'll shortly be doing some comparisons of quad DSD vs. 15 ips tapes that might prove interesting). I don't know about others but I treasure sound as much as performance and am frustrated by why the two have to be mutually exclusive.
(Or I'd rather own one Armani suit than ten Bloomingdale's suits.) After all, the pursuit of the Holy Grail is getting the sound in one's home as close as is humanly possible to the live performance and tape is definitely in many people's minds a major step in that direction.
I also find tapes useful as a reference for my analog front end. Comparing the same recording on tape and LP really is revealing and educational as to how well a turntable, arm, cartridge or phono stages, perform. Especially when it comes to dynamics and their unfettered ease of presentation.
2. Titles. I saw Larry did a rough count of the total titles available. No question that jazz lovers are better served than say rock or classical lovers. But there are now around 18 companies issuing 15 ips tapes (in fact, a brand new company will be making their first appearance on our panel at Axpona!).
3. Old decks. Yes and no. You can go the route like I (or Mike) did and buy and old deck, have it refurbished and add new modern heads and outboard electronics. I do suggest if going this route to change the heads to get the most out of your investment. Two that are very good are either the Flux Magnetics Extended Response heads or the Pro Nortronics that I use in my machine. There's not a whole lot to go wrong with say the Technics decks save maybe adjustment of the tensioners. Those direct drive motors used in the deck are monsters and were also used in Technics top of the line turntables.
Or you can buy a turnkey approach like the decks that UHA (like Christian or The Prof bought) or Sonorus (that Yarlung Records uses for their analog recordings) sell. Both are for all intents and purpose "new" (really retaining little of the original deck save the case) and truly excellent decks and most of all, come with a warranty. Remember the pro decks like Studer and Ampex were built like tanks and built to last also.
4. Maintenance. Very little needed for say a Technics unless it's moved around. Azimuth is pretty much solid. Other than that, just cleaning the heads and pinch rollers. Pro decks have a steeper learning curve and it really does help to have someone like a Ki Choi around to help repair or align ones deck. (Or say Fred Thal, considered the world's foremost Studer authority, though he's very expensive).
5. Ease of use. No harder and even maybe in some way easier than a turntable.
6. Cost. Glad you brought that up. Yes the tapes are expensive but bear in mind that today's raw tape and reels cost (for one side of an album) $100 or more. Also remember that the non-real time duped 2-track tapes that contained only one side of the LP that were released in '57 or '58 cost $30 or more. Plug that number into the CPI and the result is that same tape today would cost ~$350. Not all that different than what most companies charge. There are some minor differences in that some like Opus 3 are true second generation while others might be 2-1/2 gens removed from the master tape. No worries because there's minimal loss if done well.
7. Involving. Once you've heard 15 ips-- or God forbid 30 ips or even as some (like for instance Mike Lavigne and a few others) have 1/2 inch tape--there's no going back.
Lastly, just to quick touch upon the The Tape Project as raised by a few individuals. Yes they have gone through some growing pains but they recently moved their operation and are now up and running. They are now almost half way through series 3 and many are outstanding (I'm just finishing up reviews of the Lee Morgan and John Lee Hoooker releases). Most importantly, one can also purchase some of the older Series 1 or 2 tapes (assume TTP still has license) at a discounted price of $350. Unfortunately, there's just no way of mass producing 15 ips tapes and also maintaining some semblance of Q/C. So yes, there is sometimes a wait time but it's worth it.
Some of the companies that I highly recommend:
Yarlung Records
The Tape Project
MPS (Oscar Peterson reissues)
Opus 3
International Phonograph Inc.
Hemolia Records
