Topics

1

General Discussion / Been away for a while

« on: March 17, 2010, 01:28:09 PM »

It's been 2 months since I read or posted here. I became quite ill in mid January and spent over a month in the hospital. during that time, two tapes arrived (Linda and Burrell/Coultrane), so I have lots of catching up to do. At any rate, it's good to be back, and getting caught up on the goings on here.

2

General Discussion / Seasons Greetings to all

« on: December 21, 2009, 01:00:23 PM »

Happy Holidays to everyone at The Tape Project!!

3

General Discussion / Tape Project thread on AudiogoN

« on: November 18, 2009, 10:53:02 AM »

New thread just started on AudiogoN. No responses yet. Maybe someone from the group here wants to jump in on it.....

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?gmusi&1258528706&read&3&zzlApachef1&&

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Tape Project Albums - general / Favorite TP tape to play for audiophiles and guests

« on: May 29, 2009, 09:04:53 AM »

OK all you subscribers, we've had the tapes in our listening rooms long enough to begin to formulate some very definite opinions. I am interested in your favorite tape to play for visiting audiophiles and non-audiophile guests. That tape that shows just how special this project is (I know, they are all special). But each of you must have an opinion about which of them really lets the medium and your system shine.

My choice: TP-007 "Exotic Dances from the Opera" The dynamics, soundstage and performance even get to the most hard-core vinylphile. If I haven't said it yet on these forums: Doc, Romo, and Paul, this one is an out-of-the-park grand slam. Thank you!!

5

General Discussion / Tape fairy strikes again

« on: March 23, 2009, 01:54:28 PM »

For those of you who read about the acquisition of the Mercury tapes in another thread, I am happy to report that today the TF (Tape Fairy) left a brown bag at my office with a selection of RCA/Reiner/Chicago
recordings. I have not yet had a chance to inventory what's in there, but I think there just might be some real goodies...

6

General Discussion / Mercury 7.5 in acquisition

« on: March 19, 2009, 05:19:09 PM »

Today I came into possession of 11 reels of Mercury recordings. They appeared in my office in a plastic shopping bag. They are:

Albeniz "Iberia" Dorati/Minneapolis
Borodin "Polvetsian Dances", Tchaikovsky "Cappriccio Italian" Dorati/Minneapolis
Anderson "Music of Leroy Anderson" Fennell/Eastman-Rochester Pops
Grieg "Piano Concerto" Farrell/Weldon/Halle Orchestra
Strauss "Der Rosenkavalier" Dorati/Minneapolis
Chausson "Symphony" Paray/Detroit
Bizet  "Carmen Suite", "L'Arisienne Suite" Paray/Detroit
Wagner "Dawn", Siegfried's Rhine Journey", "Siegfried's Idyll" Paray/Detroit
Brahms "Haydn Variations" Dorati/LSO
Debussy "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun", "Iberia" Paray/Detroit
Suppe "Suppe Overtures" Barbirolli/Halle Orchestra

The tape fairy has been very good to me this week between the arrival of TP009 and this stash of Mercs that fell into my hands. One of the tapes is actually a dupe distributed by Bel Canto, the subject of another thread.

7

Blackjack David / Revisiting Blackjack David

« on: March 18, 2009, 12:58:22 PM »

I have not sat down with this tape since shortly after receiving it. It arrived shortly after my deck and pre. Now that we have a lot more time on the deck and the right cable synergy, all can say is: Wow! This is a really fine tape. it has a delta blues/California folk feel to it, despite the fact that the lyrics are kind of dark and sad. Excellent soundstage and instrument spread, and like TP009, the vocals are locked dead center. Now that we're 9 tapes into Series 1, perhaps more of you are like me: you haven't been listening to this one as much as in the early days when we only had a couple of tapes. do yourself a favor and mount these reels on your deck, turn the lights down low, and enjoy...

8

General Discussion / Made some system changes

« on: March 14, 2009, 08:00:00 PM »

I have moved to a full suite (interconnects, power and speaker cables) to Silent Source Music reference. This includes 2 pair of Interconnects, 1 from the Technics to the Seduction, and 1 from the Seduction to the line stage. I have found myself listening all day to TP001-008 again, and not wanting each reel to end. It's like listening to them for the first time. I am finally getting the system gestalt into a place that can realize the magic that really lies on the tape. TP003 "Arnold Overtures" really put it over the top. Even my dogs (who were in another part of the house) thought we were having a thunderstorm with some of the percussion heavy passages. The B reel of TP004 "False Accusations" really impressed me with the sharp pick on the strings playing, with Cray's voice set solidly in the middle of the soundstage. One big leap in the resolution and inner detail, even a lower listening levels, is largely due to the SS Music Reference speaker cable. At the same time I changed all the cables, I put a new generation Walker Audio Velocitor on my amps. I am using a pair of Consonance Cyber 800 tube amps (78 watts), as opposed to the big Wolcotts. I still have the Wolcotts, but really like what these Cyber 800s are doing. This was a crazy expensive experiment, but I don't see these cables leaving the system now (much to my wife's chagrin).

9

Tape Project Machines / Tube rolling in the Seduction tape head pre

« on: July 14, 2008, 06:51:43 PM »

Has anyone experimented with the tubes in their Seductions? A friend gave me a closely matched pair of Toshiba 6DJ8 from Textronics that I dropped in over the weekend, replacing the stock EH 6922.

I have noticed a subtle but noticeable shift in the noise floor, adding a bit more sparkle to the HF and a bit more gain, causing me to back off the volume pot to achieve the same loudness levels.

10

Tape Project Albums - general / Six Moons and the Tape Project

« on: June 25, 2008, 02:19:19 PM »

Michael Lavorgna of Six Moons was at my place for a listening session on the 23rd. it was primarily focused on vinyl playback as I only have the first 2 tapes thus far, but after dinner we did play both TP001 and 002.

He took lots of pics of the system, the deck and the reels and packaging. I'm hoping we'll see something at Six Moons' website sometime in early July.

Michael is a great guy and a lot of fun to hang out with. This is actually his second visit with me in my listening room. The Seduction pre is still breaking in, and has not reached it's full potential yet, but it was really beginning to open up while the second reel of Dave Alvin was spinning..

11

Suggestion Box / American Beauty

« on: June 09, 2008, 02:06:42 PM »

I humbly suggest we consider Grateful Dead's landmark "American Beauty". This fall 1970 release on the Warner label made a very fine showing of itself on the MoFi vinyl reissue.

Perhaps licensing rights could be directly obtained from Grateful Dead Productions to consider bringing "Blues For Allah" into the Tape Project fold. This was released on GD Records and IMHO is an often overlooked masterpiece (in addition to having my favorite rock album cover of all time)

12

The Number White / UPS says two on the way!

« on: May 09, 2008, 02:43:46 PM »

Just got two, count-em, two UPS shipping notifications that 6 lb packages from the Tape Project are headed my way!! Let the fun begin.....

13

Suggestion Box / Water Lily Acoustics

« on: April 06, 2008, 02:35:59 PM »

Almost anything from this label. Sonics are above reproach, music is eclectic, but always very interesting. It seems as though Kavi Alexander is willing to license the masters, given the fact that APO just reissued Ry Cooder/V.M. Bhatt "Meeting by the River" on 45 rpm vinyl.

Alexander is a perfectionist when it comes to the recording chain and mastering process. Using custom built tube mics, decks, mastering. In addition, he uses a minimalist approach to microphone placement, relying a stereo pair to capture the moment.

Those of you with vinyl playback, I strongly recommend giving "Meeting by the River" a listen.

14

Suggestion Box / Titles from the Mercury label and others

« on: March 24, 2008, 08:13:04 PM »

Stravinsky  - "Firebird" Dorati/LSO
Respighi - "Ancient Airs and Dances"
Shuller - "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee"

From RCA
Rimsky-Korsakov "Scheherazade" Reiner/CSO
Mussorgsky "Pictures At A Exhibition" Reiner/CSO

Reference Recordings
Respighi "Church Windows"

Dead Can Dance "Into The Labyrinth"
Janis Ian "Breaking silence"
Roger Waters "Amused To Death"
Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"
Pink Floyd "Ummagumma'
David Crosby "If Only I Could Remember My Name"
Allman Brothers "Eat A Peach"

Soundtrack from "Emerald Forest"

15

Tape Project Machines / RS1500 and Seduction on their way!

« on: March 24, 2008, 07:01:36 PM »

Just got an email from Eileen. The Seduction was shipped today, and Doc is putting the finishing touches on the RS1500 which will be shipped tomorrow! When I told my wife, she looked at our daughter and said: "take a good look at your father now before he barricades himself in the listening room".

WooHooo!!