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  1. astrotoy

    Master Tapes - Genuine or Fake

    I am posting this on the basis of my experience as a collector and listener of 15ips 2 track tapes for the past 15 years. I am not a professional and appreciate additions, corrections, etc. from others, including several professionals, in this thread. First, what is a master tape? Typically it...
  2. astrotoy

    New Classical Tapes from Horch House

    I treated myself to several new tapes this Christmas. (I reviewed several of Ed Pong's new tapes in a separate thread). This post is about the tapes I bought from Volker Lange and Horch House. Volker is located in Austria and the tapes arrived quite promptly from across the pond, very well...
  3. astrotoy

    Audiophile Hearing Aids

    After having a decline in my hearing for the past several years (started about 6 years ago when I turned 70), I have tried to find hearing aids that were of audiophile quality. My first two sets, from Costco and then from Oticon, were better than no hearing aid, but were tuned for improving...
  4. astrotoy

    Bandcamp and Sound Liaison - What are they?

    Can someone edify me on what Bandcamp and Sound Liaison are? it looks like Bandcamp is more related to artists than regular companies. Are they a non-profit? What about Sound Liaison? They look like they are related to Bandcamp. I saw some albums on their websites that I may want to buy...
  5. astrotoy

    Townshend Piano Isolators

    I saw on a piano forum I belong to, that Townshend is also selling a piano isolator system that sits below the three feet of a grand piano. They have some very positive testimonials from some top flight classical pianists about the improvement in the sound of their pianos. This is a video of...
  6. astrotoy

    Found new open box KL Audio Record Cleaner on sale

    I saw this on the Music Direct website. Seems like quite a few people like this, particularly if you aren't a DIY type. Not cheap, but $1000 off retail for this discontinued machine. Larry...
  7. astrotoy

    Multi-Grammy Award winning Recording Engineer Michael Bishop Passes

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bishop_(sound_engineer) Michael Bishop died yesterday at the age of 69. He won 10 Grammy Awards. He began at Telarc in 1978, where he was chief engineer for 20 years until Telarc closed its doors in 2008. He then cofounded Five/Four Productions with...
  8. astrotoy

    Harmonices Mundi - Music of the Spheres - Really!

    https://www.space.com/perseverance-rover-first-mars-sounds-audio Kepler, who first determined that planets move in elliptical orbits, using the observations of the positions of Mars, also was an astrologer, whose book Harmonices Mundi explained the celestial music of the spheres from the...
  9. astrotoy

    Jupiter and Saturn in Conjunction Tonight

    A special treat in the sky tonight (Monday night December 21). Jupiter and Saturn will be in conjunction (something that happens every 20 years) but this one is super special. Jupiter and Saturn will be within 1/10th of a degree from each other (1/5th the diameter of the moon). This hasn't been...
  10. astrotoy

    Great Violinist Ida Haendel died on July 1, 2020

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/01/ida-haendel-obituary According to the obit, Haendel was born in 1923. Her bio listed her birth year as 1928, but like Beethoven, it is thought her birth year was changed to make her appear to be more of a prodigy than she actual was. Her first...
  11. astrotoy

    Yarlung Records Organ Recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Tape

    Bob Attiyeh, based in Los Angeles, is one of five producer/engineers of high quality commercial reel to reel tapes in North America, through his company Yarlung Records. Two are the big boys in the field - the granddaddy Tape Project and Chad Kassam's Ultra Tapes. Both of these license famous...
  12. astrotoy

    Phantom of the Opera - Stage Performance - Now until 11AM PST Sunday April 19

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmPjhKMaXNNeCr1FjuMvag Larry
  13. astrotoy

    Bolshoi Ballet on You Tube

    We watched Sleeping Beauty last night from the Bolshoi. They are doing several free ballets and operas per week. The current one stays available until the next one. Larry Broadcast Schedule: 7pm CET (Moscow Time) March 27– Swan Lake (2015), ballet in two acts...
  14. astrotoy

    Met in HD Live - One Free Opera a night - online for 20 hours

    https://www.metopera.org/ Starts tonight with Carmen - 7:30PM Eastern Daylight Time (US) and then available for the next 20 hours. First week of operas announced. Larry
  15. astrotoy

    Berlin Philharmonic Digital Hall Subscription Free for 30 days

    https://www.berliner-philharmoniker....-concert-hall/ Includes their back catalogue of 600 concerts online. Free subscription for 30 days, can sign up until March 30. Cancellation not required. Larry
  16. astrotoy

    Greg Kihn Band

    Interesting experience today. We had our carpets cleaned by a new company, Larry's Extreme Clean. They received excellent reviews for quality and price in the SF Bay Area. The owner Larry Lynch does all the work himself. When Larry was about finished he had seen my hifi system and record and...
  17. astrotoy

    Angela Hewitt's Fazioli Destroyed

    https://www.facebook.com/angela.hewi...66502216797870 We heard her play it in a recital at Wigmore Hall in London a few years ago. Marvelous instrument. Hewitt was an early proponent of the Fazioli piano. Larry
  18. astrotoy

    Tapes and the younger generation

    Had an interesting experience this morning. I was shipping back a bunch of tapes to a friend using Fedex and the clerk, a young man probably in his late 20's, asked me the contents of the package. I told him they were recording tapes. He replied - you mean VHS tapes. No, I said, audio...
  19. astrotoy

    Review of Two New UltraAnalogue Tapes

    Earlier today I received a big package from Canada with Ed Pong's seven latest tapes. Here are some comments about two of them that I listened to this evening. Three of the tapes were by violinist Angelo Xiang Yu accompanied by pianist Noreen Polera. The other four tapes are by pianist Vadym...
  20. astrotoy

    Update: Tape Spinning at California Audio Show July 26-28 Oakland Airport Hilton

    If you are going to be in the Bay Area this weekend, come and visit the California Audio Show at the Oakland Hilton Airport Hotel (Fri, Sat, Sun). I'll be spinning tapes at the show helping out in Tim Marutani's room (Boardroom 3). I'll be playing 1/2" 15 ips tapes dubbed from my safety...
  21. astrotoy

    Spinning Tapes at California Audio Show July 26-28, 2019

    I'll be helping out my friend Tim Marutani and spinning tapes at his room at the CAS in Oakland (Airport Hilton Hotel) June 26-28. The room (Board Room 3) will feature Martin-Logan speakers, Doshi electronics, and Scott Rust (512 Engineering/Marutani) cables and power supply. The main signal...
  22. astrotoy

    Now We're Talking about Real Money

    On our recent trip to London, we had the great opportunity to see and hear a private demonstration and recital at the famed violin and string store A and J Beare, which sits about a block behind Wigmore Hall. Beare has been around for a century or more and is now owned by two former violinists...
  23. astrotoy

    Lang Lang Marries in Paris

    https://www.classicfm.com/artists/lang-lang/gina-alice-redlinger-wedding/ Famed Chinese pianist Lang Lang married Gina-Alice Redlinger, a 24 year old pianist of Korean and German descent. They married in Paris recently with the reception at the Palace of Versailles. Lang Lang is 36 years old...
  24. astrotoy

    Violinist Alena Baeva with three tapeheads

    Ed Pong's UltraAnalogue Tape's recording artist violinist Alena Baeva was featured in a concert with the Oxford Philharmonic last Saturday (June 1, 2019), She played the rarely heard and virtuosic Schumann Violin Concerto with both passion and technical brilliance. Ed Pong and wife Amy went...
  25. astrotoy

    The Stage Design of the Spectacular shows of Pink Floyd, U2 etc.

    Ever wonder how Pink Floyd, Beyonce, U2, Rolling Stones, Madonna, Elton John, etc. and even some Cirque du Soleil shows are designed and staged and what to expect in the future? Here is a talk with lots of visuals on how it is done. The talk is given by our niece's husband who is a partner at...
  26. astrotoy

    Andre Previn Dead at 89 - February 28, 2019

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Previn Previn lived at least four, maybe five musicians lives. As a fine jazz pianist, a movie score composer, a classical composer, a classical pianist and a conductor, (and a fine narrator and explainer of classical music for television). We only...
  27. astrotoy

    The Digital Component with the most realistic sound!

    Here is a different format. Maybe the closest to the real performance of any format. I heard it last Monday. No speakers, amp, preamp, external DAC, reel to reel, turntable. Many of you are familiar or have heard of the Yamaha Disklavier which came out as the first popular computer based...
  28. astrotoy

    Anyone know of a DIY R2R Tape Recorder or Turntable?

    I see many electronic and speaker DIY projects, but I have never seen a DIY tape recorder (either cassette or R2R) or a DIY Turntable. I am not talking about modifying or restoring an existing unit, but a build from scratch, either fabricating parts or assembling from repurposed parts...
  29. astrotoy

    Neat Story - Especially for people approaching Steve's Age

    I have made a new friend over the last few months who is a hi-fi buff, but unfortunately only does digital. He also was trained as classical concert pianist, but found, after getting a PhD in musicology from Stanford, that he couldn't make a living at it. He went back for training in computer...
  30. astrotoy

    What Equipment in Your Rack not reviewed by TAS, Stereophile, etc?

    Back in the very old days, many of us bought our hi-fi equipment based on visiting B&M stores and getting recommendations from dealers. Then came the hi-fi magazines and their recommendations which guided many of us. Then the internet on-line magazines and the print magazines with formal...

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