Ron’s New System

[Johan K]

Nice and pleasing sound!

After being back to my home in Washington State, I recorded same song.

I got the feeling that as good as Baltic is, Horizon will give more details with transparent soundstage.

Dear thomask,

Sorry for being a bit comfused here… I’m not familiar with the speaker brands, sorry.

Which speakers did you play on in the video? The two infront i the middle, the two towers infront left and right, or the horns in the back?

-Or all speakers at once, haha? (just kidding). Your rooms is packed with toys - impressive !

All the best

/ Jk

 

[thomask]

Dear thomask,

Sorry for being a bit comfused here… I’m not familiar with the speaker brands, sorry.

Which speakers did you play on in the video? The two infront i the middle, the two towers infront left and right, or the horns in the back?

-Or all speakers at once, haha? (just kidding). Your rooms is packed with toys - impressive !

All the best

/ Jk

Scaena 3.2 main towers 180 hz up driven by Line Magnetic 508 fitted with vintage tubes.

Then Altec basshorn 180 hz down using Pap C1 active crossover.

Altec treblehorn is not being played right now, but may be played with Silbatone 300b SET in the future.

Two Scaena 3.2 18 inch subwoofers added 56 hz and down.

Lansche 4.1 is not being played right now.

After testing it with Silbatone 300b SET, it will be going back to the third floor.

I had better clean up my room.

It is too complicated with too many things.

 

[Ron Resnick]

A large enough fraction of my favorite titles are on tape that I'm questioning whether I even need vinyl.

When a tape soundly beats the vinyl, I can't even listen to the vinyl anymore.

It seems to be in the nature of tape that it sounds more relaxed and wider and more spacious. Instruments and singers are more separated. Everything seems a little bit more spread out.

Of course, the Denon is not a fair match for the Studer.

 

[Argonaut]

I'm questioning whether I even need vinyl.

When a tape soundly beats the vinyl, I can't even listen to the vinyl anymore.

$150K buys you an awful lot of tape recordings

 

[bonzo75]

$150K buys you an awful lot of tape recordings

he doesn’t need an awful lot, just 15 or so, with some multiple versions of each

 

[Johan K]

Scaena 3.2 main towers 180 hz up driven by Line Magnetic 508 fitted with vintage tubes.

Then Altec basshorn 180 hz down using Pap C1 active crossover.

Altec treblehorn is not being played right now, but may be played with Silbatone 300b SET in the future.

Two Scaena 3.2 18 inch subwoofers added 56 hz and down.

Lansche 4.1 is not being played right now.

After testing it with Silbatone 300b SET, it will be going back to the third floor.

I had better clean up my room.

It is too complicated with too many things.

Thank you thomask !

/ Jk

 

[morricab]

A large enough fraction of my favorite titles are on tape that I'm questioning whether I even need vinyl.

When a tape soundly beats the vinyl, I can't even listen to the vinyl anymore.

It seems to be in the nature of tape that it sounds more relaxed and wider and more spacious. Instruments and singers are more separated. Everything seems a little bit more spread out.

Of course, the Denon is not a fair match for the Studer.

It is a somewhat strange and absolutist mentality to say tape is better than vinyl or digital so I will only listen to tape. I find my vinyl superior to my digital but I still happily listen to digital more often.

 

[andromedaaudio]

$150K buys you an awful lot of tape recordings

I ve been saying this all along dollar for music wise tape is hard to beat .
Finding real good tapes becomes more of an issue.
The real advantage is that there is no more fiddling needed , tape is sooooo easy .

 

[thomask]

During Pacific Audiofest 2022 and Seoul Audio show 2023, I found that vinyl sounds more natural than digital.

I do not have any opinion on tapes.

Also I found my tube amp sounds more musical than any SS amp including some class D amp.

But after getting Aurender N 30, I enjoy the sound out of streaming which may not be as same quality as vinyl but close enough for casual enjoyment.

With more listeing time, I consider using class D amp than tube amp for casual listeing.

 

[Alrainbow]

the best of the best can be either tape or vinyl I feel. tape is far less challenging to get great sound then vinyl
I also think MC is further away from tape then MM where it has more body and slam like tape.
sound smith moving mass carts to me are close to tape in body and density
I’m far from a pro on vinyl setup guy and it is a rabbit hole
I have the 33 /45 and tape all analog productions of Hugh live hope albums
to me 33 is best and tape and 45 close to reach other

 

[Kcin]

Tape is as variable to the quality of the source material as vinyl or digital. I don't necessarily find tape trumps vinyl every time. In my system , mostly quite the contrary - as I have spent the most time and money there. However, with the right piece of software tape can mop the floor. I have recently installed a very good digital system and it is very very good to listen to. It's not vinyl or tape though.

 

[PeterA]

A large enough fraction of my favorite titles are on tape that I'm questioning whether I even need vinyl.

When a tape soundly beats the vinyl, I can't even listen to the vinyl anymore.

It seems to be in the nature of tape that it sounds more relaxed and wider and more spacious. Instruments and singers are more separated. Everything seems a little bit more spread out.

Of course, the Denon is not a fair match for the Studer.

Ron, you need a better turntable to compete with your tapes. And it needs to be well set up. You can compare Denon to Studer, but you are right, it is not fair.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

A large enough fraction of my favorite titles are on tape that I'm questioning whether I even need vinyl.

When a tape soundly beats the vinyl, I can't even listen to the vinyl anymore.

It seems to be in the nature of tape that it sounds more relaxed and wider and more spacious. Instruments and singers are more separated. Everything seems a little bit more spread out.

Of course, the Denon is not a fair match for the Studer.

i certainly love my tape. and with the AK ATR-102/MR 70 "now", i love it even more. i could see how you can feel that way (questioning the need for 'very serious' vinyl, that is). and my very best tapes do surpass vinyl. but my best pressings are also superb......and dramatically more diverse. and i have thousands of Lp's across a wide musical spectrum that fall into that category. i'm emotionally connected to lots of Lp's.....and expect that number to expand. if i just think about my LZ 45rpm box set, and my dtd pressings.....i got to have vinyl. and....there is so much more.....

but Ron, your musical needs and mine are different at this point, so if your tape collection satisfies your over-the-top music itch, then i respect that. you are not camping in front of your system, in a separate isolated room, for 30+ hours a week singularly listening. you have a life.

so it's a lifestyle choice to decide how many a$$ets need to be assigned to vinyl.

 

[Ron Resnick]

$150K buys you an awful lot of tape recordings

Questioning is only questioning . . . not giving up . . . vinyl.

 

[Ron Resnick]

It is a somewhat strange and absolutist mentality to say tape is better than vinyl or digital so I will only listen to tape.

I agree. But I didn't write this. This mischaracterizes what I wrote.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I find my vinyl superior to my digital but I still happily listen to digital more often.

Do you listen to your sonically inferior digital as casual background music?

Purely for convenience on a cost/benefit analysis?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Tape is as variable to the quality of the source material as vinyl or digital. I don't necessarily find tape trumps vinyl every time.

I completely agree. I feel like I post almost constantly that "just because it's tape tells you literally nothing about the sound quality."

Where did I ever claim otherwise?

 

[Argonaut]

Questioning is only questioning . . . not giving up . . . vinyl.

Relieved to hear that Ron … Let me re phrase then … $100K buys an awful lot of tape recordings and vinyl

 

[PeterA]

you have very good ears and also very honest a tough combo in these forums
has god or any of his disciples visited you yet

Al, who is God and who are his disciples? Like you, I’m curious to know if they have visited.

 

[msimanyi]

I attribute the dryness to the digital recording process and to the digital playback process, and not to the studio.

I found this article last year that touches on a unique “test” I found quite interesting, and carries into a well-framed discussion on analog v digital. Based on the details, I suspect the digital dryness you hear is due to mastering technique more than non-analog processes, though both likely play a role. (Note that the article was published before public disclosure of certain digital processes in well-known, claimed non-digital vinyl releases.)

I enjoy that the results described - in a best-case scenario for each format - leave room for the reader to draw their own conclusions, as the author himself does in the article.

Vinyl versus Digital - Grimm Audio

The Dutch online magazine Alpha Audio did an unusual live stream on Sunday Feb 27th. In collaboration with Artone Studio in Haarlem, a live recording was made of singer songwriter Tim Knol, running both a completely analog (vinyl!) recording chain and a completely digital recording chain in...

www.grimmaudio.com