Tape recording

A "Throwback Thursday" memoir

I've been thinking about tape recording a lot this week. It's probably because of an article I read that mentioned that Monday was the 70th anniversary of the first public demonstration of tape recording in the US. A huge event—tape changed the audio industry forever. It was both good and bad—it gave flexibility to recording companies, but helped open the door for the overly processed recordings we all know and hate.

Tape also had a profound influence on home users, particularly the humble cassette tape. Indeed, cassette tape was a major format for teenagers when I was growing up in the 80s. Indeed, I imagine some teenagers then had a record collection of exactly zero, but had countless tapes. Teens of the 1980s could use cassette everywhere, unlike records. One could play tapes at top volume on the family stereo system when the parents were out. One could take tapes over to a friend's for that wild Friday night party. One could play a tape in the car while cruising around town. Or one could play a tape in class on a Sony Walkman in hopes of drowning out that boring teacher's lecture.

My cassette listening was limited to home. I didn't have my own car when I was in high school, and for some reason I think Walkman was prohibited at school. I don't even recall having any interest in having a Walkman.

For that matter, I wasn't much into prerecorded cassettes, unless there was no other option. Almost all the prerecorded cassettes I had back then were some sort of “low-fi” voice material. For example, there was a period I was interested in old time radio, and cassette was the common distribution format for old radio shows.

Most of my music tapes were recorded myself off of records I owned. Indeed, I was a good example of another trend of that era: the person who'd buy a record, but immediately record it onto tape. The tape was the daily driver format; the record was a seldom-used master format.

One vivid memory of that era was getting blank tapes. A local college's bookstore—where I shopped for mundane school supplies when I was in high school—had a huge barrel full of blank BASF Type 1 tapes. It seems to me they were cheaper than other tapes, plus these tapes served me well—I don't recall ever having a BASF tape fail on me. So I could go in and get a new notebook I had to have for dreary homework, and stock up on tapes. And, if I were really lucky that day, they might have a display of records on sale. (Records were not a routine item, but every now and then they'd have specials. I think they were routinely remaindered records.)

That college was also probably my introduction, indirectly, to tape in the first place. During the 1970s, my mother did some study there, and at some point she had to  get a tape player to handle some spoken word tapes. She got a cheap portable Panasonic, and I remember her surprising me with her purchase. She started playing a Neil Diamond tape (which she presumably bought with the recorder), and brought the player into the dining room. How cool! A little black box plays music! No stereo needed! Fortunately, I wasn't an audiophile then, so I didn't notice how bad the sound quality was!

As far as I can recall, I surprisingly never did much with mix tapes. Actually, it might be more accurate to say I did nothing. The closest I came was when I helped my mother tape some of her favorite records—she was sold on the idea of putting the wear on tapes. The tapes often had blank space at the end, so my mother's idea was fill up the space with a favorite song, which might come from a different record.

These home recorded tapes helped keep some music available for the period right  before I got my first good system. At that time, the only audio system I owned was an old mono console unit that was a conversation piece in my bedroom. I had an old tape deck lying around, too, that turned out to be electrically compatible with the console. It was probably not the best sound possible, but the alternative was no sound.

My interest in cassette tape ended about the time I got my first decent audio system. Indeed, I had half-known that would happen—I figured that once I had a good turntable, I'd be more interested in playing the record itself. And, as the local dealer pointed out, record wear was not a huge issue when one uses a good turntable. Indeed, I remember once asking the dealer about LAST record preservative. His response was along these lines: “I don't carry it. We carry turntables like the Linn, and when you have a Linn, you don't worry about record wear. Records don't wear out on a Linn.” Perhaps he'd overstated the case...but record wear definitely is less of an issue on any good turntable, be it a Linn LP12 or Rega RP1, than, say, a 1970s console stereo BSR. (Old joke: BSR stands for “Bound to Scratch Records.”)

So when I got a decent system, the cassettes were a casualty. I kept spoken word tapes. The music tapes I'd recorded from records a few years before went bye bye. I can't say I really ever regretted that decision, although it might be interesting to play one now just to hear how bad a tape recorded on the rack system I used in the 80s sounds to my audiophile ears of 2016!

Linn Axis turntable

A "Throwback Thursday" memoir

The Linn Axis is the single most important turntable I’ve encountered on my audiophile journey. Period.

The Linn Axis was released about 30 years ago. (Typing this makes me feel old: I remember when it was a “newly released” turntable!) At that time, Linn’s claim to fame was the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable. While they were making other products, such as speakers, the LP12 was probably the first thing people thought of when they thought of Linn. And the buyers of Linn speakers almost certainly had an LP12.

There was one small problem with the LP12. Or maybe I should say big problem: the price, which was out of the reach of many people. And so the Linn Axis was born to bring Linn turntable engineering to a new, lower price point.

The Axis was sold with a Linn tonearm—a couple of versions of the Linn Basik, and then finally the Linn Akito. It was also supposedly available without arm—at least at one point—although I have never seen any Axis that had anything but a Linn arm. Likewise, I’d guess the majority of Linn Axis buyers also bought a Linn cartridge, such as the Linn K9.

The Linn Axis got good reviews, and it seemed like many buyers were happy.

As I said earlier, the Linn Axis was the most important turntable on my audiophile journey. The reason is simply because it was the first good turntable I ever heard. I frankly heard it on somewhat of a lark. A local dealer advertised Linn turntables, and even the Linn Axis cost as much as what I thought one might spend on an entire system. Could a turntable actually be worth that much? There was only one way to find out: audition it. Although, privately, I was guessing it wouldn’t offer enough to really justify the price for “normal” people. It would be suitable only for those with a Mercedes 560 SEL, top of the line Royal Doulton for daily dishes, and so on.

So I found some records. (Somehow, I’d heard one should take one’s own records.) At the time, I was still in high school, so I dragged my mother to the dealer. I figured she’d be taken more seriously than a teenager. Plus she was even half considering buying a new audio system, so we might as well start with hearing a Linn turntable system.

At the store, the demo system ended up being a Linn Axis/NAD Monitor Series amplifier system/Linn Index speakers. The sales person dropped the first record on, and within seconds of it starting, I understood the value of this system. It wasn’t just for the mansion-dwelling crowd. It simply sounded better—at lot better—than any system I’d ever heard.

The turntable demonstrated two things. First, a good turntable gets more music off the record.  Secondly, it demonstrated that LPs were still viable sources for audio systems, even in the CD era.

After hearing that system with the Linn Axis, I set two basic goals. First, I started aspiring to have a good audio system. Secondly, I decided it would be based around a turntable like the Linn Axis.

More than 25 years later, I am a much different person in many ways. But it’s interesting to note that I still strongly value quality audio. It is simply more enjoyable to listen to a good system, and one uses it more often and for more serious listening. It’s also interesting to note that my preferred source still remains the vinyl LP.

I now wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t heard the Linn Axis that day. Would I have ever discovered quality audio? Would I have become the vinyl die-hard I am? Would I even have any records today?

Unanswerable questions... All I know is that I’m glad I did hear that system with the Linn Axis all those years back.

8-track Adventures

Note: this was written for April Fools' Day, 2016. Thus, it is not to be taken seriously!

Recently, while poking about a dusty thrift store in Seattle, I came across an old Radio Shack 8-track player. It was pure 1970s—down to the simulated walnut veneer on the case. It was only $4.95, including a stack of 8-track tapes. I bought it. I figured that it would make an interesting conversation piece in my listening room.

Of course, I couldn’t resist trying it out in my audio system. The sound was—as I expected—appallingly bad. It was so bad, in fact, that I could not bear to listen long enough to form any opinions past “this is horrible!” Although, the one problem I did note was speed instability—long notes, for example, had a tendency of noticeably wavering. Even my neighbor—who can’t hear the difference between cassette tape and CD—could hear how bad it was.

And then...the thought hit. It wasn’t surprising that it was appalling, 8-track player or not. Anything would likely sound that bad under the same circumstances. It was powered from cold after who knows how many years of storage? I’d made no effort to clean it. I was even using the supplied, well-aged interconnects! If you are going to condemn 8-track like a good audiophile, I thought, you should at least start by giving it a fair shot.

So...I cleaned the RCA connectors. Cleaned the heads. Replaced the belt. And then ran it for 24 hours straight to warm up. (An 8-track player, unlike a phono cartridge on a high end turntable, is easily run in. Just shove in the cartridge, and it will keep running forever...) I dropped it back into the system, using a pair of Nordost interconnects.

And wow! The sound improved at least 100%! Musical notes were far more stable now (probably due to the new belt). Indeed, it was impressively stable. Bass was now impressively solid.

Beyond this, it was now involving. I listened to the stack of 8-track tapes that had come with the player. With each new tape, I intended to take detailed notes. But I quickly lost myself in all the supplied musical gems, whether it was Greatest Rock Hits of 1978, or Bach.

My favorite tape was one featuring an accordion. There was so much emotion to the performance! One song touched me so deeply that I thought tears would get squeezed out of my eyes with each squeeze of the accordion.

Somehow, the 8-track player served the music. It got out of the way of the performance. The only reminder it was there would be the occasional click as the 8-tracker player changed channels.

All this—with just a cleaning and new cables! What more could I do? I got to work. New Shunyata power cord. Spikes under the 8-track player. Damping compound in the 8-track player case. The sound quality improved with each step.

In the end, the sound was staggering. Impressively stable. Deep bass. Good treble. Palpable midrange. Transparent sound. Explosive dynamics.

I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. A second opinion was in order. So I hauled the 8-track player to a local dealer, and compared it to turntables. The best turntables, of course, out performed the 8-track player. But we both agreed the 8-track player totally slaughtered every turntable in the $500 and under price range. It made them all sound like Fisher-Price. We had to go to go to a Rega RP6/Denon DL110 to get a turntable/cartridge combination that could compete.

Perhaps 8-track was a lot better than we’ve been giving it credit for all these years. Understandable, as I think of it, because 8-track was never heard at its best years back. Audiophiles used LPs or open reel tape. 8-track was mostly used with cheap, junky systems. Those systems restricted the performance—just like you wouldn't hear LPs at their best when played through such a system.

Or perhaps all that I said above can be explained by the fact that I'm posting this on the first of April...

Edited 4/2/16 to add note at start.

Denon DP-300F

"How much does a turntable cost these days?"

Someone (who is not an audiophile) recently asked me that question. And, like usual, it was a struggle answering it, because of all the variables involved. Are we talking new? Used? (If used, how old?) What are the quality expectations? And so on.

In this case, I mumbled something along the lines of "about $450, for a Rega RP-1." For whatever reason, the RP-1 came to mind first, although there are a lot of selling points. It has decent sound, seems to be well made (and might last 20+ years like older Rega Planar 2 turntables), but has a price that's not too horrifying for the non-audiophile.

But...perhaps I went too high. Maybe the right answer is $330 for a Denon DP-300F.

Indeed, the $330 Denon has two huge selling points for the first time buyer. (These are the people most likely to ask "how much?") It's $330 vs. $450. One thing I've noticed with people in the real world: they like their audio equipment cheap. For example, many audiophiles will see a $2,000 phono cartridge, and light up like a Christmas tree. "Wow! I bet that would sound great playing my audiophile 45 RPM records!!!!" Meanwhile, a "normal person" will shudder. "$2,000? For a needle? I bought my last system for 10% of that!!!!"

The Denon also has the selling point of convenience. It has full automation.  Hit a button and it starts playing. Hit a button and it stops. It also stops when it reaches the end of the record. Just like a CD player, except the discs are bigger. Convenience is always a selling point for non-audiophiles.

The convenience has even interested some audiophiles. I've read of many people who've bought one as a second turntable. Perhaps a bedroom system, where the auto-shutoff is handy if one falls asleep while listening to the gentle sawing of strings. But the Denon is always a second turntable. The main turntable remains the Linn LP12/VPI/whatever.

The Denon also has an advantage of some upgradibilty. The cartridge can be replaced. The built-in phono stage can be bypassed to use an external phono amp. Thus one can get started for $330, and, as funds allow, make upgrades.

I had sort of assumed the Denon might "only" be good as a second turntable. But recently, I've had a chance to hear the Denon, and even hear it some good systems. (It was one source used with Quad ESL-57 speakers that I heard a while back.) And I've been impressed. It's hard to gauge exact sound quality - I've only heard it in "other" systems, and with unfamiliar LPs. That said, what I hear suggests that many will find this turntable perfectly fine. It certainly would suit many first time buyers, and be revelation to those using a junky "plastic deck" turntable.

I also think more seasoned audiophiles might be happy. Someone who mostly uses digital, but still has a few old LPs, might be perfectly happy. And I think I could use this turntable as my primary turntable, and live to tell the tale.

Of course, the Denon has its limits. I think the Rega RP-1 would be a huge step up. But that comes at a cost of more than $100 extra, and the loss of the automation. The Denon also has a "plastic" feel, and between that, and the added complexity of the automation, I would doubt the Denon would be a 20+ year investment. (Unless used lightly.) But, while there are limits, it's worth remembering that this is a $330 turntable.

I was talking to someone recently about the Denon. He actually owns one. Like me, he has heard a lot of good turntables the last year or so. He can hear the difference between the Denon and a $2,000 Rega. And yet, he's happy with the Denon. Happy enough that when I saw him he was looking for used records to buy. Which shows the turntable is doing something right. In the end, what matters is not the detail, bass, or even suppressing surface noise as much as possible. What matters is doing a good enough job of playing music that you will actually use the turntable to play records.



Edited 1/23/18 to remove dead link.

Christmas gift cartridge

It is Christmas Day, and one thing that wasn't under my tree this morning was a phono cartridge. It would admittedly be hard for there to be a phono cartridge under my tree, because there is no tree. This year is one of those "Why bother? Bah humbug!" years. But I digress.

I had given serious thought to getting a cartridge as a  "to me, from me" Christmas gift. Part of this, I suppose, was just to give myself something other than my usual box of nothing. Beyond that, though, a part of me keeps thinking it would be nice to have a new cartridge. A budget cartridge, of course. I am The Mobile Home Audiophile, after all, not The Stately European Castle Audiophile.

Indeed, I had a vision of going really budget: $50 or less. I have never had such a cheap cartridge. But I've been intrigued by forum talk about cheap cartridges that perform much, much better than they have any right to. For example, a lot of virtual ink has been spilled on forums praising the Audio-Technica AT95e.

Past that, a cheap cartridge has some practical value. You can play it for hours for less critical listening and not care about the stylus getting worn. You can use it on questionable records, too, without worry. The stylus gets destroyed, well, it's not as heartbreaking as it would be if a Koetsu were killed. And some cheap cartridges said to work well for playing severely worn records - some people keep a cheap conical stylus cartridge around just for that reason alone.

So I decided to get a cheap cartridge. Visions of fun budget cartridges danced in my head...until practical reality set in.

The main practical reality is that a lot of the budget choices are only available by mail order. Local dealers tend to limit the ranges - it's not possible to carry everything. Furthermore, some dealers wouldn't touch a $50 cartridge even with a 10 foot tonearm.

Furthermore, some of the more interesting cartridges that get discussed are mail order, period. LP Gear, for example, has some interesting cartridges based around the AT95e. They seem to use the AT95e body, but improved, custom styli. Nagaoka gets lots of praise, but appears to be only available by mail in the US. And so on.

Mail order is not necessarily a deal breaker. I prefer shopping locally. But I'm also a realist, and realize that there are times this isn't viable. A local dealer probably does not have the sales to support sourcing custom styli for cheap cartridges. A local dealer also probably doesn't have the resources to stock every available cartridge. It makes far more sense to have a selection that the dealer knows well, and that will work fine for most buyers.

But mail order brings two problems. First, one has to rely 100% on Internet talk for making a decision. Even with that talk, there is a real risk of not liking the cartridge. One can sell it, but let's face it: a used budget cartridge is about as salable as a used toothbrush. While I guess losing $50 isn't the end of the world, I am frugal and hate buying anything that disappoints.

Problem #2: I don't like installing cartridges. No, actually I hate it. How much I hate it depends on the cartridge design. I am not particularly good, and I don't have the top tools. I have only the Technics overhang gauge, and a paper protractor. This protractor is one of those where you align the cantilever (ideally) or cartridge body (less ideal, but easier) so it's parallel to the lines printed at Point A. Then, you move to Point B. And possibly keep going between Point A and Point B until either the cartridge is spot-on, or you ready to move yourself to Point C: the booby hatch.

It is very tempting to just have this hypothetical cartridge installed by someone else. My local dealer could do it, and do a better job than I could. Of course, there would be a service charge. And so suddenly the cheap cartridge isn't so cheap anymore. It might run, say, $100 between purchase and installation charges. This raises the question if it wouldn't be better to buy a more expensive cartridge locally that would include free installation.

Yes. It would appear the more expensive cartridge would be a better. And so...the dreams of that $50 or less cartridge fell faster than a BSR record changer tossed out a 5th story window.