My Friend,
Thank you very much for this great information. In the old days we called these din cables/cords. At any rate, I will see what I can do regarding getting these cables over here in the Washington DC/Baltimore/New York/New Jersey area. If there is a major problem, I will certainly get back to you on this.
As a matter of fact, if you would, please see if you can find someone to do this for me and pass on the names and where to contact. That would be a great relief for me. "Ask and you shall recieve" is wonderful. Thank you again for your quick response and offer to assist me.
Bob Williams
I think Steve is correct. The Otari has what are known as XLR or "Canon" connectors for both output and input. You can fairly easily make up a set of adapter cables if you can solder. If not, you can get adapter cables from this place on the internet:
http://search.cablestogo.com/?qu=XLRHowever, if Steve is right and the Otari doesn't use the "standard" wiring, these cables may not work (note that my Revox PR99 is the same way: it is wired for pin 2 to "high," pin 3 to "low" and pin 1 to shield; to make an adapter cable, you connect pins 1 and 3 to the "ring" of the RCA connector, and pin 2 to the tip).
However, you should know that adapter cables aren't necessarily the full solution. When you connect "pro"-style gear like the Otari to consumer equipment, there are two problems. The first is that pro gear uses "balanced" audio inputs and outputs that have a much different electrical impedance from "unbalanced" RCA connections on consumer gear. The second problem is that pro-level gear is generally designed to output a maximum of 1.4 volts, and 0VU on pro tape machines is normally referenced to an input of 775 millivolts. Consumer gear, on the other hand, typically outputs about 320 millivolts (-10db referenced to 1 volt). That means that most consumer gear cannot generate enough output to drive the inputs of a professional tape recorder, and it also means that the outputs of the pro gear can easily overload the inputs of consumer gear (because the pro gear is outputting 1.4 volts into consumer gear expecting about 320 millivolts!). The output issue usually isn't a problem, because you can easily dial down the output level using knobs on the front of the recorder. The input level issue, however, is a major problem IF you want to do any recording from your consumer equipment, because you won't be able to raise the level enough on the recording inputs to get a decent recording. So if you're just going to play Tape Project tapes on your machine, an adapter cable is probably all you need (and if you're going to use the Bottlehead repro amp, you don't even need that, because you'll be connecting the play head output directly to the Seduction and bypassing your internal repro amp).
If you want to do recording, then you have a potential problem because of the level mis-match. On many pro tape decks, there is some way to adjust the line-level input sensitivity. So, one thing you can do is use a simple adapter cable, and adjust the recorder's input sensitivity to be more compatible with consumer gear. But if you do this, then the recorder will no longer be "in spec" for pro use (for example, you couldn't then hook the recorder to a pro mixing console, because it would overload your recording inputs). If you're just going to be using the thing to record from your stereo, then it probably doesn't matter, unless you have to turn up the gain on the recorder's input so far that you get excessive noise.
So . . . there is another solution for hooking pro gear to consumer gear. That solution is to get a "converter box" that does both impedance matching and level matching. These boxes have RCA inputs and outputs along with XLR (3-pin) inputs and outputs. Here is an example of one:
http://www.datavideo.us/fs/products/bac03_fs.htmThese boxes "upconvert" the level from consumer gear to pro level, and downconvert the level from pro gear to consumer levels. Don't know about their sound quality, though; on that front, your best bet probably is to bypass your Otari's repro amp completely, and use the Bottlehead repro amp provided by The Tape Project.
John Colombo