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Author Topic: Technics 1506  (Read 26655 times)

Offline xcortes

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #15 on: March 12, 2008, 07:56:46 PM »
You cannot mod the 1500 to IEC. What many here have done is to use the 1500 as a transport taking the signal out of the heads and use an external tape amp instead of the 1500 electronics. There's many options of external amps and some of them can do both NAB and IEC. I use a Bottlehead Seduction:

http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/Seduction/seduction.htm

If you can DIY it is a great bang for the buck and it sounds miles better than the 1500 electronics. But as I said, there's other options including the TP head amp which should be just fantastic.
Xavier Cortes

Offline Spirit84

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #16 on: March 12, 2008, 08:11:05 PM »
OK - I think I have got it straight -
I look for a Technics 1506.  The 1506 will allow me to play TP tapes and other presrecorded tapes from Vintage years.  I build/order a Seduction which will allow for swithching to the proper equalization required for either TP or Vintage tapes.  Right?
Now - assuming that is correct - what is the differnece between the variuos 1500 models?
How difficult is it to find replacement parts for these machines?
BTW - I appreciate all the info I am receiving from you guys - from the bottom of my audio heart!
Sam G.
Apogee Duetta Signatures, Odyssey Audio Monoblocks (4), Marchand XM44 Xover, Mapletree Audio Pre, Wright Sound Phono, Ariston RD11s TT with Origin Live DC Motor and Rega RB300 arm (Origin Live modded), Sumiko Bluepoint Special #2, Sony DVP9000es SACD (Vacuum State modded Level 6)

Offline High and Outside

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2008, 10:21:41 PM »
The 1500 came with two-track erase, record and play heads, plus the extra head was quarter track. The 1506 came with quarter track erase, record and play heads, plus the extra head was half-track. Thus if you are interested in playback only, one's as good as the other. This is true whether you intended to use the built-in electronics (crappy sound) or external electronics.

Then there was the 1700, which was quarter track all the way, but with auto-reverse (the extra head was quarter track for reverse play.)

And the 1800, which has collector value out of all proportion to its inherent value, so it need not concern us here.

And the 1520, which was like the 1500 above, plus it has balanced inputs and outputs, a built-in oscillator, and switchable IEC/NAB EQ. So on the surface it looks like a good candidate for Tape Project tapes. However, may I remind you that the sound quality of the stock electronics is really really crappy.

1500, 1506 and 1520 all make good transports to use with external electronics.
Paul Stubblebine
Managing Director, The TapeProject

Offline docb

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2008, 08:41:37 AM »
Re the stock electronics, I was reminded of just how lame they are compared to our outboard stuff yesterday. We had this little issue with the printing of the song order on TP-001 (cripes), and I went to double check the order yesterday before changing the liner notes, by playing my copy of TP-001 (serial number 002). The only machine I had handy was a stock RS1500. OK, that would be good enough for my purpose, so I threaded up the tape.

If you listen to an IEC tape on an NAB machine what you should hear is some additional treble, as the NAB playback curve adds in the treble boost a little bit lower than the IEC curve. And that is indeed what you hear if you switch the Tube Repro playback eq to NAB. So that was what I expected. But what I heard instead was dull and unresolved music. And this machine was in pristine stock condition with great looking heads. I had been listening to a fully modded RS1500 last week, and this experience reinforced just how much music you miss using the stock electronics.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline xcortes

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #19 on: March 13, 2008, 10:10:21 AM »
Doc,

of the difference, how much do you atribute to electronics and how much to the stock vs the modded transport?
Xavier Cortes

Offline docb

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #20 on: March 13, 2008, 02:51:34 PM »
The dull sound is the electronics, all the way. What the tape path mods do is lower friction which makes the tape run more smoothly and consistently with less scrape flutter. It's has a smoothing effect, taking away a wee bit of edge that scrape flutter can cause. This gets you a bit more of that sense of flow that tape has compared to other sources, that makes it sound more real. Speaking of the tape path mods, a new mod that we are doing is removing the tape counter drive belt from the reversing idler. If you look at most 1500s you will see a little "tic" in the strobe pattern - even if the counter mechanism has been cleaned and lubed. If you remove the counter drive belt that tic usually goes away and the tape runs more smoothly.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline xcortes

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #21 on: March 13, 2008, 04:55:24 PM »
Quote
If you look at most 1500s you will see a little "tic" in the strobe pattern

I really did not get that one! I will look at the strobe tonight to see what you mean
Xavier Cortes

Offline ironbut

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #22 on: March 13, 2008, 06:21:33 PM »
Yeah, I looked high and low for a replacement belt for mine (the one that it came with was stretched out and kind of hard) and finally found one. When I put it on, I knew right away that it was a bad idea. For one thing, I almost never look at the counter. For another, I could tell that the tension applied to the roller was counter productive (pun intended). I think that the tic that Doc mentioned is caused by a tiny bit of slack that is produced by uneven tension between the tape motion and the other belt that turns the counter. The tic is the release of that slack.
steve koto
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Offline corvigo2004

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #23 on: March 18, 2008, 04:29:39 PM »
Gentlemen:

Great forum.

Firstly, I like to thank Spirit84 for getting me back into this "reel" thing.  As an avid Analogue lover for many years, and having been exposed to many a fine components, I realize just how much I have missed Analogue tape.  I had a long listening session to a colleague's fully upgraded unit...Revox PR99.

As such, I have just acquired a Technics RS-1506 machine.  Now before I go completely nuts regarding upgrades, I thought I would get reacquainted with this unit again.

Regarding upgrades, what would be next logical steps...The Bottlehead external unit sounds enticing...

Any guidance and advise would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

MKOM

John C.
MKOM is a fully integrated Audio Systems Retailer representing components which combine the pinnacle of Audio Engineering Excellence with in-house knowledge and experience.
Visit: http://www.mykindofmusic.com

Offline Danny Kaey

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #24 on: March 18, 2008, 04:56:37 PM »
of course there's another option not mentioned yet - it all depends on outside influencing factors, so it could still take time to develop...

my Technics is courtesy of Tim d.P. - he replaced the entire playback & record electronics with his solid state design and as a result the deck has the following specs:

NAB + IEC/CCIR + Tim EQ
5-40k (+1/-4db) [5-36k +1/-3db] @ 15ips, 80db S/N relative to full output / Tim EQ...
5-20k (+1/-2db) @ 3-3/4ips

all this w/ stock heads no less...

1/4 track & 1/2 track play as usual...

best of all, you now truly hear what some of the better pre-recorded tapes are capable of sounding, never mind Quinton or TP...

and not to mention recording... that's a whole different ball game...

cheers,

Danny

« Last Edit: March 18, 2008, 05:29:43 PM by Danny Kaey »
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Offline classicrecordings

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #25 on: March 18, 2008, 05:14:26 PM »
Are Tim's electronics tube or solid state?

David
David Stangret
HK Citation 1 Pre-amp, Thorens TD-124, Ortofon 309S arm, SPU cartridges, mono block tube amps, Ars Acoustica LaDiva speakers, and I'm still trying to decide what machine to go with.
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Offline Danny Kaey

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #26 on: March 18, 2008, 05:21:29 PM »
Are Tim's electronics tube or solid state?

David

Howdy - they are solid state...
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Offline ironbut

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #27 on: March 18, 2008, 07:22:19 PM »
Glad to hear you got your Technics. Getting rid of that (or bypassing in my case) awful 70's mid-fi electronics is huge. It really makes the whole thing work. It's been over a year now since I bypassed mine and I find it remarkable that people are still enjoying their tape collections listening through that stuff. IEC,..NAB? How could you tell! (end of rant)
Well, congrats on the new addition to your family Danny. You should get your headblock painted black and have a gold TdP screened on it!
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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Offline corvigo2004

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #28 on: March 19, 2008, 08:04:59 AM »
Thank You Danny...

OK....Upgrades aside for a moment.....Spoke to a client who has worked in broadcasting for the past 30 some odd years.  He mentioned that the machine of choice is the Studer A810.  No upgrades required ???

I am open to any suggestions from the members.

Thank you in advance,

MKOM
« Last Edit: March 19, 2008, 08:15:00 AM by corvigo2004 »
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Offline docb

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Re: Technics 1506
« Reply #29 on: March 19, 2008, 08:39:19 AM »
Quote
Spoke to a client who has worked in broadcasting for the past 30 some odd years.  He mentioned that the machine of choice is the Studer A810.  No upgrades required ???

The A810 was the machine of choice for radio stations, but not for recording studios. For a playback machine it could be a very good choice. The usual caveats about pro machines being rode hard and put away wet apply, so if you acquire one be sure to have it serviced by a competent tech. Paul has cooked up a little article about machine choices that we hope to get posted soon. In it he notes that any tape machine can be improved with better playback electronics, even the Studers and Ampexes. That said, you can enjoy Tape Project albums on a stock machine that meets the requirements too.
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project