Hi everyone.
I am very interested in The Tape Project. I have been a music lover all my life (played clarinet through high school; fooled around on piano), and I have a decent stereo system (Magneplanar 1.6QR's driven by a Musical Fidelity A5 integrated amp). For many years (at least the last 20), my music listening has been exclusively via CD and now some SACD. The idea of having some reference-quality tapes to go along with my large CD/SACD collection is intriguing and the release lineup I see on the web site is right up my jazz/classical alley.
So, where do I start? I'm not ready to plunk down $5-6K for the complete Bottlehead RS1500, but If I'm serious about this, I need to acquire a tape deck, and I want something of high quality that one can still find parts and service for. When I was in college, I briefly owned a Revox A77, but that was a 4-track machine running at the standard 3.75 and 7.5 ips. I see that there are a couple of Studer 810's for sale on e-bay that seem to meet the requirements (half-track; 15ips; IEC equalization selection), along with a couple of Technics RS1500's and 1506's, but I'm a little wary of buying a "vintage" tape machine off e-bay unless I'm getting it from someone that offers some kind of return/warranty policy. Are there folks out there whom you trust that sell refurbed or good-condition used machines at reasonable prices (e.g., under $1500)?
Any thoughts from the group on this would be appreciated.
Thanks!
John Colombo
EDIT: After poking around the forums some, I see that my question essentially has been asked and answered before (mea culpa! Should have looked first). So . . . I'll leave things at "Hi" and post my specific machine questions in the Tape Machine forum.
I'll add, though, that I'm getting a bit excited about re-entering the analog world . . .
John C.