Heideana

Are UPS viable options to consider for power filtering/conditioning? I'm not sure about spending thousands for a device that regenerates ac power, but it would seem using an uninterruptable power supply would be a step up from a power strip...does anyone know if this is true? Yet another "hifi for dummies" question...thanks!

I was just musing over the addition of a Merlin to my hifi rig and how much the little guy woke up my Rogue Tempest II up! I had been complaining about needing a bit higher powered amp a while back...now the Rogue sounds great and I don't need one and concentrate on developing another part of my rig. I also know why folks thought 90 watts of valve power was more then adequate for a pair of CWIII's in a small urban house...I just wasn't getting enough omphh...[] Are there any other Rogue amp owners on the forum? Merlin's a great match...[*]

My Merlin arrived yesterday and all I can say is another happy Merlin customer...my CWIII's have started to finally "breathe". Its' the easiest "roll your mouse over Paypal" upgrade around...[]

Hi all...can't contain my excitment...Angel just e-mailed me that he just completed his servicing of the Technics 1500 he's selling me and sent me pictures. I asked him to sit the high bias for Quantegy GP9 and the low for 456... I'm picking it up on Saturday...so I can start playing the 4-tracks I have and hopefully join the RTR tape share club. I had to post one of his photos of it...[H]

I've got a Rogue TII, which I think is the integrated version of what you heard... I've got plenty of bass driving my Cornwall III's...makes me suspect the lesion in the audio chain causing you're lack of bass response in rock music is the speakers? Err...I just checked the web and: EFFICIENCY: 86dB with 2.83 volts of pink noise input at 1 meter on axis...me thinks that's the problem, but I could be wrong...

What about those of us with boyfriends or husbands? Just a thought in terms of ensuring diversity, etc...[H]

Folks already know about this unit? http://www.audiosalon.co.uk/manleywave%20.html It looks great and is based on the PCM 1704 with tubes!

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for (I think)...I've also been worrying about power supplies as of late for digital devices....hmm...those little buggers need really clean juice!

So late last night, heady in the fumes of recording on RTR again (the first time in almost 20 years [] ) I was musing on how open the new Quantegy GP9 tape running on the Tascam 32 made a digital copy of Electric Ladyland sound. The machine was biased for Quantegy 456 and the GP9 was hotter, so I was sure I was having all kinds of eq issues, but I was hearing details I hadn't really heard before, just kinda dreamt where there, since I first heard this work in 9th grade...or maybe it was 8th...anyhow, I digressjust a sketch of my RTR mindset while I was reading another review of Juicy Music products with their transparency and ability to render an openness to recordings as my mouse ran over the buy with PayPal button and I pushed it! <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Just like that, I pushed the purchase button and made my decision to buy Merlin to add some magic to my Tascam, so to speak, for exploring the recording engineering classicsI couldnt help it, it was so easy and both my amp, with its passive volume control, and my CW IIIs whispered that Merlin was the next critical element.... Mark told me it should be here next week. I just have to remember no more toys for a while[A]Oh yeah right[6]

No body's mentioned "Electric Ladyland" or Led Zep II or IV...and there is Sgt. Pepper's...[] I hate to say it, but I'm getting to old to sit thru a DVD concert without getting distracted...

Daddy Dee -- I'm glad you're Merlin is on hold for WAF...on a whim last night I ordered a Merlin to add to my ever changing set-up. Got stop buying equipment, but it seemed the perfect thing to add to my reel-to-reel set-up and should really make my Rogue TII roar since its' internal pre-amp is passive...yes/no.? Maybe finally break in my CW III's? Anyhow, I'm with you wife...you really should keep the cute little guy....[8-|]

I talked with Angel tonight and he's going to finish tuning up a Technics RS-1500 and sell it to me to take care of my 1/4-track playback needs in a few weeks. He told me that he thought the Tascam I now had was a really good machine with easy upkeep....At some point, however I'm going to want to consider time coding to sync. up with digital recorder and may also want to look at a Fostex...

He lives in Fremont and RTR stuff is his hobby and has a day job. If you e-mail him, he responds pretty quickly and gave me his phone number so we could talk. He seems pretty knowledgable and I think Technics are his specialty. He told me this Tascam-32 is really knew, all things considered, and has a great frequency response...next step is to work into a Technics 1/2 track with 1/4 track playback, then we'll evaluate if I'm ready to start thinking about a machine with timecode to sync. up with Pro Tools...it feels like heaven...I really like RTR!

Another way to articulate this question is that I think I've been on a steady upgrade and pretty sure the DAC in my Squeezeboxes are better the the DAC in my old Sony CD player/Mini-disc recorder. Not sure where the DAC in my Digidesign Digi 002 or M-Audio Fast-Track Pro fall in this...it sounds like the DAC's in most HT pre-amps and receivers are probably pretty state of the art and a step above all these other DAC's for most practical situations. I'm quickly realizing that I need to be able to switch between various digital inputs and top with a Peach and/or Merlin....A loose thought (like a lot of my thoughts...), a Merlin would be a good addition to my studio rig to add some warmth to digital multi-tracking and analogue tape-mastering, etc....and the Peach is perfect front end for hifi set-up with decent DAC and I'm kinda set for the moment...[8-|] Sometimes I kinda slow....

His name is Angel Gentchev here in the bay area. His web address is: His website has some fun machines to look at and he's got a hot Studer A810 on e-bay right now.

Applied phenomenology...I sorted out how to reduce my photo sizes to web size and repost them I think....it was a bit disconcerting to have a large image of the Jefferson Airplane pop out at you...

I was just looking at some 1/4 track machines and both look great! On the other hand, from what I've been reading, I'm really intrigued with Studer machines....I'm thinking I want a B67 1/2 track machine and a 1/2 track machine that reads my 1/4 track tapes, but could be sold on a Studer 1/4 track machine if one exists.... Over the long haul, I'll probably want to make copies of my 1/4 track tapes onto 1/2 track tapes for everyday play...just like we used to do with albums in my youth. I read somewhere that the 1/4 track tapes were usually 3rd generation from master, while vinyl is more like 10 generations away. I'm trying to focus on 7 1/2 ips 1/4 track albums to get better high-end and decent bottom end...also not buying any tape other then new Quantegy 456 for recording. I think I also read that sometimes the 1/4 tape mixes are significantly different then CD mixes...it should keep me busy for awhile and take care of my vinyl/turntable envy...[] Apologies to all for big photos! I'm not sure how to down-size them and had a hard time figuring out how to attach them...nothing really in the help section that I could find, but I may have missed it...[:$]

Anyone know of any reel-to-reel specific forums? Thanks...

I think the real point is that is opens up the question. I didn't really pay attention to the guitar solo on the CW, but did on the RF-7's because the recording is "customized" to them as a specific home speaker. Michael and Duke are gettting at having a "neutral" monitor that can be used to mix for the "universal" speaker rather then customizing it for a specific speaker. Hence the differentiation between home hifi speaker and studio monitor.... I think all those crappy recordings are the result of everything that falls between the universal and specific...that is to say that technology can only go so far in developing a "universal" monitor that can be used to mix for the "universal" home speaker...then the question becomes, what's the characteristics of the "universal" home speaker and how close does the everyday home speaker approximate the universal speaker...must be the line of the flat frequency, eh??? It still makes me wonder about all the recordings made in studios that used various "heritage" Klipsch speakers early in recording history?

Thanks! I'm realizing the more I work with digital media that I'd better be paying some attention to the DAC's quality, just like I've been focusing on other links in my hifi chain. Call it an expanding worldview from just focusing on amps/speakers.

Thanks Mike! I wasn't dreaming then....[]

I might not be asking my question correctly. I was thinking of an external DAC that folks are hooking up to CD players to bypass the internal DAC and just using the CD player as a transport mechanism...

Well, at some point soon I'm going to have to think about getting an external decoder. Any thoughts/directions about which brand or chip is a good starter investment?

Well, as I was posting this, my first pre-recorded reel arrived...I might have to hurry up on the 1/4 track machine....[8-|]

And finally, heres the Tascam at home between my CWIIIs for the momentI think it'll end up in my little studio for mastering and I'll be working with Angel to get a Studer or Revox to play 1/4 tracks over my "hifi"