Stereophile Show Update

[mstcraig]

Hello gang. We are now about 4.5 weeks out from the show. I'm wondering if there are any new and/or further details about which rooms you will be in? Will any of your machines be able to play back NAB 15 IPS reels? I would like to bring along some jazz masters and hear them on your gear. Craig

PS: I have my Tape Project Polo shirt. Looks nice!

[docb]

We have been asked to place tape machines in the TAD, Magico and On a Higher Note rooms. The machines will be able to play NAB eq'd tapes. However we are doing these demos by invitation from our generous hosts, and as such we don't really have any say in the playing of any tapes other than our own. Not saying you won't be able to play them, just saying that we won't be the ones to ask.

[mstcraig]

Thanks for the info Doc. I'm not looking to play an entire tape, mind you. Just one or two selections. In my experience, exhibitors are glad when people like me show up. They figure, "Hey, this guy must be serious to bring along open reel tapes to a hi-fi show"! If I cannot hear my work on state of the art gear, how will I know what direction to go to get better? Besides, I can't strike out in three rooms :) Looking forward to meeting you all, and having a great time too. Craig

[docb]

As of this morning I have two machine setups that are in the final stages of getting ready to ship to the Stereophile show tomorrow morning. They will be in the TAD room and the MAGICO room. These are RS1500s that have had the tape path mods, brake pad mods, new tension roller bearings and springs, and the IR remote jack mod. Studer/Revox style hub adapters from Darklab are used. They will be running with extended response heads. Both machines will be run into Bottlehead Tape Repro amps, and both will have Bottlehead Remote Possibility IR remote receivers attached for easy armchair cueing. They are each mounted in custom black walnut rack cabinets courtesy of Lew Hardy of Vivaldi Audio.

A zillion thanks to PJ and Ed Fallon who came over on Thursday, putting together the remote receivers and keeping the project on schedule.

I'm getting the equipment mounted in the rack rails today and running final checks. I'll get some pics later today. Tomorrow morning they go into custom made reusable shipping crates with 2" of honeycomb lining.

It's been a long week - tomorrow afternoon I begin a couple days of sleep!

[High and Outside]

We will be spinning reels at two rooms at the Stereophile Show (official name Home Entertainment 2007) in NYC May 11, 12 and 13. We'll be in with TAD in 1413, and with Magico in 1408.

Most of the time I'll be in one of the rooms, so please find me and introduce yourself.

[xcortes]

nt

[surfgod]

Met Paul ant I would say that the first day in the TAD room went wonderful. I saw a similar Technics deck but was unplayable because of what was believed to be a grounding problem. Back to the TAD room. The equiptment was breathtaking with a pair of 60K speakers to boot. But the two track, the sourse component stole the moment. The imaging, sence of realism is beyond what words could put in.
Perhaps the ultimate in analog playback.

[docb]

Wow, thanks for the kind words! Yes unfortunately there seems to have been some shipping damage to one of the machines in spite of custom crating. I'm told they used semi trained gorillas to load in the exhibitor gear this year. Luckily we had the foresight to ship a spare setup and Paul has it up and running today. So there is not only great tape sound in the TAD room today, but also in the Magico room. I heard the TAD prototype setup a few weeks before it went out to the show and it sounded the best I'd ever heard it. And of course Alon's Magicos are, well, magic. We are so lucky to be working with a couple of the best speakers in the world with TAD and Magico.