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  1. astrotoy

    OJ Simpson dead at 76,

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Did_It:_Confessions_of_the_Killer Ghost written, supposedly with the cooperation of Simpson.
  2. astrotoy

    New Reel-to-Reel Titles - 4-Track?

    I just found this thread and my two cents worth is that one would need to have very significant volume of production, with the kind of very high speed duplication that Ampex used in the 1960's through early 1980's in producing 4 track stereo tapes to make any business sense. That certainly is...
  3. astrotoy

    New Reel-to-Reel Titles - 4-Track?

    My main experience with opposite direction cross talk has been with some of the Barclay-Crocker 4 track stereo tapes, which are almost all classical recordings. Those which have very loud passages on one side across from very quiet passages on the opposite side can be quite evident when...
  4. astrotoy

    Reel-To-Reel Panel Seminar

    Nice panel. Looking forward to seeing the video. Volker Lange (of Horch House) told me he is attending Axpona this year. Larry
  5. astrotoy

    Actual number of tapes??

    One late comment on this thread. I do have several tapes that were made from digital masters or analogue tapes made from digital masters. For the tapes I have, I believe that the digital masters were never released to the general public, only CD or other lower resolution digital versions...
  6. astrotoy

    Is this 'GOLD CD' of Bach Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould 1981) any better?

    I played my GG tape of the 1955 Goldberg Variations. Sonics are quite good for the 1955 mono recording, though definitely not at the modern standard like my other Goldberg Variations tape (Ito Ema's wonderful, though less dynamic and eccentric performance that Todd Garfinkle did on his MA...
  7. astrotoy

    Is this 'GOLD CD' of Bach Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould 1981) any better?

    I have a tape (actually 2 reels 15ips 2 track) of the 1955 Gould Goldberg Variations. It is a dub from a European engineer's copy of the CBS distribution master. Don't have his 1981 redo. Critics are mixed on which they prefer in terms of performance. I'll give the tapes a listen today...
  8. astrotoy

    What are you currently listening to (Classical)?

    I heard Ozawa conduct the Asterism by Takemitsu with Takahashi as pianist, with the San Francisco Symphony. It was before Ozawa became music director of the SFS, so probably in 1969 or early 1970. It was quite memorable, mostly because Ozawa and Takahashi had to stop somewhere in the middle of...
  9. astrotoy

    State-of-the-Art Recordings of Classical Works (SACDs)

    We heard Matsuev play the Prokofiev PC2 with the Mariinsky Orch and Gergiev back in 2017 in Berkeley when they were on tour in the US. Fabulous pianist. I think this is the first time we had heard the Mariinsky Orchestra under Gergiev. We had heard Gergiev many times conducting the LSO in...
  10. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    When I interviewed Grammy winning Decca recording engineer Mike Mailes for my Decca book a decade ago, he told me that the recording he was most proud of doing was with Wilhelm Backhaus playing the Brahms Piano Concerto 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the great Karl Boehm (on Decca...
  11. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    Back in 2019 when we first heard the Spirio R, I remember they had a piece played by Josef Hoffman, whose recordings date from 1920 to late 1930's. Larry
  12. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    The Spirio concert was this afternoon. I did take a video of about 1 minute of the concert, but it is 96MB in length and I don't quite know how to email it so I can link it here. There was a very large flat screen TV set up to the right of the piano (a Steinway B - 6'10" long) that was the...
  13. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    I somehow acquired (probably 20 years ago or so) a set of 8 commercial tapes (7" 7.5ips 4 track stereo) of recordings made with the Welte Vorsetzer, a device that sits over the keyboard of a piano and presses its 88 "fingers" plus 2 "feet" to play the piano. It was developed at the beginning of...
  14. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    The information from the pianist's piano (that is the key strike and pedal information) is being transmitted to the local piano in real time which is then is duplicating the pianist's piano. In addition a live video of the performance is being sent to the local locations, so the image of the...
  15. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    Just received an invitation from our local Steinway Store to attend a live Spiriocast from NYC with pianist Wei Luo playing a concert that will be played through the local Steinway Model D (9 foot grand) with Spirio and a large screen video showing her playing in NYC with a similar Model D...
  16. astrotoy

    Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

    We looked pretty seriously at a Spirio R which can both record (and edit) and playback.) At the time (around fall 2019) we saw and heard two Model B (not quite 7' grands). One was a NY Steinway and the other was a Hamburg Steinway. Price then was about $140K including the Spirio mechanism...
  17. astrotoy

    METAXAS Tourbillon T-RX

    We were in Europe (for the first time since we married in 1970) in the spring of 1985. At that time the US Dollar was the strongest in history compared to the GBP and I think most of the European currencies. The GBP dropped to a low of 1.06 USD in March, 1985. I believe that was the all time...
  18. astrotoy

    Newbie into R2R: Can you guys give me tips and pointers?

    I wouldn't. Larry
  19. astrotoy

    Cantate Domino 1 step 45 rpm

    I splurged in late '22 and bought JATP and Cantate Domino from Audio Nautes, copies from the original masters. Some of the best sounding tapes I have in my collection. (15ips 2 track 1/4" tapes). Guessing that the one-step vinyl is as close to that at a fraction of the price. Larry
  20. astrotoy

    He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable

    Nick Doshi introduced Ken to me in 2018. Nick said that Ken was a customer and interested in selling spare parts and one or more of his tape recorders. Being on opposite coasts all of our interactions were by telephone. We both had Ampex ATR-102's, I think Ken had 3 and I have two. I was...
  21. astrotoy

    R.I.P. Jim Winey

    Me, too. I bought a pair of 2167-F's which later morphed into the MGII's, way back in the late '70s. First pair of high end speakers. Three years later after our first child was born and about a year old, I heard a crash and she had pulled herself to stand up using one of the Maggies and it...
  22. astrotoy

    Anyone seriously audition a phono stage with selectable EQ Curves and decide against it? Anyone not using this feature in theirs?

    Bottlehead built a custom phono preamp for me with adjustable EQ settings. I used it for ripping 10,000 records. The controls are similar to the one that Bruce has. Other phono preamps with different EQ's only allow a choice among several predetermined EQs. Larry
  23. astrotoy

    Newbie into R2R: Can you guys give me tips and pointers?

    I currently have about 2100 reels of 15ips 2 track tapes. Not cheap. Larry
  24. astrotoy

    Newbie into R2R: Can you guys give me tips and pointers?

    Cost. Tape (15ips 2 track) is cheaper than a divorce, collecting Ferraris, expensive watches, yachts. Maybe similar to drugs (also can be as addictive). Music is pretty available, some commercially, some by back channels that can be accessed if you ask (in forums like this). Larry
  25. astrotoy

    Eva Cassidy

    Didn't know there was a 25th Anniversary remastering. Larry
  26. astrotoy

    7 1/2 IPS Tapes Sound Quality Thoughts and Beatles Sgt. Pepper

    Can you play 15ips 2 track tapes? PM me for some sources. Larry
  27. astrotoy

    Help! Vinyl Pressing Defect?

    My experience with the big three (MD, AS, ED) as well as Amazon is that returns are pretty easy, especially being a good customer who doesn't return everything. Overseas is more complex issue, since shipping can be more expensive than the return is worth. Good luck. Larry
  28. astrotoy

    Best Quality Cassette Tape?

    The vast majority of us on the WBF interested in tape really only do reel to reel and not cassette tape. I would suggest cassette section of Tapeheads.net forum for advice. Larry
  29. astrotoy

    Ballfinger vs Mataxas vs Analog Audio Design

    I searched the internet and got a price of 10K Euros for the Analogue Audio Design TR-1000 playback only, and 13K Euros for record/playback from an article in Dave Denyer's Reel to Reel Rambler from December, 2021. This appears to be a wholesale or initial retail price, so the price probably...
  30. astrotoy

    Metaxas Tape Machines Secure U.S. + Canada Distribution

    His sense of humor. Larry

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