Vintage system in studio control room

jdandy

jdandy

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Apr 28, 2015
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North Central Florida
Today was a fun day. A member of AA gifted me his Sony DTC-59ES digital audio tape machine that he no longer had use for. It arrived today along with a box of 100 DAT tapes. What a great gift.

I already own and enjoy a Sony DTC-60ES DAT machine that I have installed in the living room system. Getting the DTC-59ES DAT machine as a gift is wonderful. I was pleased to discover the DAT machine was in very good condition both cosmetically and mechanically. It only took me a few minutes to get it installed in the vintage sound system set up in an alcove area of my recording studio control room. The vintage system includes the McIntosh MA230 integrated amp, a Tandberg 3011A tuner, an Olive 04HD music server/DAC, JBL 4312A speakers, and now includes the Sony DTC-59ES DAT machine.

I have already listened to two of the 100 DAT tapes Steve included, Tracy Chapman, and Houston Person. So nice. I connected the digital output from the DAT machine to the digital input of the DAC in the Olive 04HD music server, as well as the analog outputs of the DAT machine to the tape monitor inputs on the McIntosh MA230. This allows me to do direct A/B comparisons of the DTC-59ES DAC output and the Olive 04HD DAC output. So far the DAC in the Olive 04HD has the edge over the older DAC in the DAT machine but not by a wide margin. Both sound quite good but the 04HD DAC seems to have a bit more air around instruments and voices.

Like I said, this has been a fun day.
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A member on another forum made the comment that I should make sure the output tubes get plenty of fresh air. I think he was worried about the other gear stacked on top of the McIntosh MA230's case possibly restricting airflow. I have this under control with two SilenX 12 volt fans that are powered by a 6 volt transformer from one of the amp's switched outlets. This reduces the fan speed so they remain silent, but each fan still pulls enough cool air across the 7591 tubes to keep the top of the cabinet's metal vent cool to the touch. There is no issue with heat, not even with the gear stacked as I have it.


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Sean said:
Looks neat, Dan. Congrats on the cool score. Thank you for sharing.
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Sean.......It is kind of cool to have a 50+ year old integrated amplifier, McIntosh's first integrated amp as a matter of fact, playing with digital audio components, a technology that wasn't even dreamed of back in it's day. It is remarkable how good this vintage system sounds. Quite naturally, McIntosh and JBL have been paired for decades keeping lots of young and old audiophiles quite happy. That includes me.
 
How high is the resolution on a DAT tape. How fast is it moving? Are the tapes from masters with high resolution or copies of CD? New issue? Just curious questions.

Thanks
 
Kingrex said:
How high is the resolution on a DAT tape. How fast is it moving? Are the tapes from masters with high resolution or copies of CD? New issue? Just curious questions.
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Kingrex.......The Sony TCD-59ES records and plays back 16/44.1 and 16/48. The digital signal is recorded using a rotating head which implements a helical scan at a low tape speed. The process is similar to how VCR's record and playback video tape. The tapes I have are a combination of mixed music recordings done using both analog and digital sources, as well as DAT tapes I have recorded directly as masters of live performances in my recording studio. DAT recorded at 16/44.1 are the equal of CD's and sound excellent when the digital output of the DAT machine is fed to a quality DAC. There was a period in the recording industry where DAT was often used by singers and bands to record demo tapes for audition by record companies. Once recording to CD's came into being DAT audition tapes fell out of favor. CD's were easier to navigate.

I like DAT because I am a long time tape fan. The DAT format is just another example of how recording on tape can be done, and in particular at a very high quality and amazing signal to noise ratio. I enjoy recording on and playing back tapes. Brings back lots of great memories of my early days in audio both in the radio broadcasting business and the recording industry. Tape is cool.
 
Thanks Jim. I knew the first computers were tape, but never knew how they worked. I assume the same way. I liked cassette as a kid, but even with a decent kyocera could never get a dupe of a cd to sound as good as the CD. But I still made them for parties and my car. Plus it was fun. I did have a real to real 4 track tascam to record my band. It was a nice machine till it quit and I gave it away. Did not appreciate what I had. I wanted the 6 or 8 track anyways.
 
Kingrex said:
Thanks Jim. I knew the first computers were tape, but never knew how they worked. I assume the same way. I liked cassette as a kid, but even with a decent kyocera could never get a dupe of a cd to sound as good as the CD. But I still made them for parties and my car. Plus it was fun. I did have a real to real 4 track tascam to record my band. It was a nice machine till it quit and I gave it away. Did not appreciate what I had. I wanted the 6 or 8 track anyways.
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Kingrex.......It's Dan, not Jim, but that's okay. Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner. :)
 
jdandy said:
Kingrex.......It's Dan, not Jim, but that's okay. Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner. :)
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I knew that Dan, don't know where the Jim came from.

By the way, is that your dog? I don't see him on the Audionirvana,show us picks of your listening buddies. My dad had Germans. I have a poodle. He still hunts. Pretty good too.
 
Kingrex said:
I knew that Dan, don't know where the Jim came from.

By the way, is that your dog? I don't see him on the Audionirvana,show us picks of your listening buddies. My dad had Germans. I have a poodle. He still hunts. Pretty good too.
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Kingrex.......That is not my dog. I don't own a dog. My friend has a dog just like that avatar photo, and since I am getting to be an old dog myself I thought the photo made sense. That avatar is used on Audionirvana. I have no idea why you don't see it.
 
jdandy said:
Kingrex.......That is not my dog. I don't own a dog. My friend has a dog just like that avatar photo, and since I am getting to be an old dog myself I thought the photo made sense. That avatar is used on Audionirvana. I have no idea why you don't see it.
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Dan always loved pussy ... cats I mean! :exciting:
 
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