The rare Klipsch Demo Reel to Reel Tape

[LarryC]

With all due respect to PWK, Irish was awful tape.

Yeah, when I used Irish, I had to clean my heads after every play.

[Mallette]

With all due respect to PWK, Irish was awful tape.

Yeah, when I used Irish, I had to clean my heads after every play.

I had to wash my HANDS after opening a box...[]

Dave

[Travis In Austin]

There was a bit of promo history between Klipsch and Orr Industries/Irish Recording Tape

With all due respect to PWK, Irish was awful tape.

Dave

It depends which Irish. 3M had them beat by about 3 years before Irish started making tape (1950), but 3M was only using Acetate or paperbacked. Orr, offered acetate and a "plastic backed" (mylar). They then came up with a better oxide formula, ferro-sheen and they really took off. Ampex bought a 26 percent stake in the company in 1959 or so and eventually bought the whole company. After the started branding things "Ampex Tape" in 1960, they branded Irish tape as there B stock (No 021 or 031 I believe) which was anything they had laying around the warehouse in Alabama and so that stuff would be hit or miss. But there top grade stuff in 53 to '59 was on the forefront, and used in many studios. After that, I think you fellas are right, it was hit or miss.

That Klipsch demo tape is the Irish Shamrock 300, their best stuff at the time, Pro quality, but unfortuantely it is Acetate, and it has a very limited life if not stored properly because it will leach acetic acid, become dry and brittle and fall to pieces. If it is stored at room temp. it starts to deteroiate at 20 to 30 years. If stored at 40 degrees they think it will last hundreds of years. They know all of that because of film preservation and restoration, which was also made out of acetate. That was mightly lucky find on Ebay for that tape, and in playable condition no less. It is good he lived on NW Coast, because humid climates are what is good for acetate. To play very old ones instead of bakeing them, you humidify them.

I should see if Amy will let me come up and make backup/Safetys of those 7 tapes she has so it is not an issue.

Travis

[Mallette]

That Klipsch demo tape is the Irish Shamrock 300, their best stuff at the time, Pro quality, but unfortuantely it is Acetate, and it has a very limited life if not stored properly because it will leach acetic acid, become dry and brittle and fall to pieces.

Yep. I still have a few Scotch 150's, and they are very brittle indeed.

I should see if Amy will let me come up and make backup/Safetys of those 7 tapes she has so it is not an issue.

Can't think of a better person to handle this. Hope they go for it.

All the acetate tapes I ever used sounded very good indeed, but they were quite noisy. In the early 70's I was engineering at a company that produced educational cassettes. I tested almost everything on the market and settled on Ampex 450 for mastering and TDK SA for general purpose use. There was a bargain brand called DAK that, if you stretched it slightly, ALL the oxide would simply fall off and it would be clear. Real bargain, that.

Dave

[omodo]

As you can see in one of the photos, I also dubed on to a A810 using RMG911 tape and also as a DSD 5.6 file.

Very cool! is there any chance of getting a copy of the DSD file, or making it available for forum members?

[Mallette]

As you can see in one of the photos, I also dubed on to a A810 using RMG911 tape and also as a DSD 5.6 file.

Very cool! is there any chance of getting a copy of the DSD file, or making it available for forum members?

Yes, yes, yes!

Dave

[Ki Choi]

Hi Guys:

It would be good to share the historic recording with the forum members who would appreciate the context and content. However, I am not sure about the copy rights, and if it is allowable from Klipsch Company's point of view to distribute the material without their consent. Although we have no commercial interests in distributing the recording, I would like to hear some guidelines.

As mentioned, the file is in raw DSD5.6. It can be downsampled to lower resolution formats such as DSD2.8, 24/96 or 16/44, etc. While we wait for answers on if we can share the recording, please send me an email with your format preferences.

[Travis In Austin]

It would be good to share the historic recording with the forum members who would appreciate the context and content. However, I am not sure about the copy rights, and if it is allowable from Klipsch Company's point of view to distribute the material without their consent. Although we have no commercial interests in distributing the recording, I would like to hear some guidelines.

Ki,

Can you tell me who the artists/performers are on the tape and the songs? That will help me answer your question.

Travis

[Ki Choi]

Hi Travis:

Here it is:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww38/KiChoi/Audio/Tape%20Club%20of%20the%20Northwest/John_Eargle.jpg

Ki

[boom3]

John Eargle was one of the great recording engineers and worked for many years with Delos. His Engineer's Choice CDs are real gems. I'm hoping the rights can be cleared and copies of this performance can be made available.