A big thank you to Mike Lavigne

[docb]

Mike was kind enough to invite the Pacific Northwest Audio Society to his lovely home and stunning listening room last Thursday. He was also kind enough to allow me to demo a couple of Tape Project tracks. We got to do a side by side comparison of the same Nat Cole track on his 1/4" A820 and his 1/2" A820. I won't do a big sales pitch for the 1/2" tapes here, suffice it to say that Mike will be getting his Series Three tapes in 1/2".

Mike is the consummate host and master of ceremonies, making sure that everyone got some food and everyone got to listen to the software that they brought while keeping the pace rolling along nicely. Thanks Mike!

[c1ferrari]

Agreed...Mike is a terrific host :-)
Guess I should start saving for 1/2", too :-)
Doc, will TP make a 1/2" calibration tape for subscribers?
One other query...if a master arrives to TP in 1/4" -- will it sound better in 1/2"?

Thanks,

Sam

[docb]

Agreed...Mike is a terrific host :-)
Guess I should start saving for 1/2", too :-)
Doc, will TP make a 1/2" calibration tape for subscribers?
One other query...if a master arrives to TP in 1/4" -- will it sound better in 1/2"?

Thanks,

Sam

Yes, Paul makes 1/2" alignment tapes. I need to reiterate that 1/2" is a product for those with patience. We can only fit in a 1/2" duping session a few times each year and there can be quite a wait for your tapes.

To address your second question, yes, a 1/2" copy should sound a little better than 1/4" regardless of the width of the original master. The issue is of generational loss, and with all else equal the wider the format you dupe to the higher the fidelity to the original source. That's why we use 1" running masters - more iron particles are imprinted with signal on the wider tracks and S/N ratio is better. In theory a 1" subscription will be even better in terms of retaining the info from the original master than 1/2". If anyone has the budget, the machine and the inclination we could do a subscription in 1".

[mikel]

Mike was kind enough to invite the Pacific Northwest Audio Society to his lovely home and stunning listening room last Thursday. He was also kind enough to allow me to demo a couple of Tape Project tracks. We got to do a side by side comparison of the same Nat Cole track on his 1/4" A820 and his 1/2" A820. I won't do a big sales pitch for the 1/2" tapes here, suffice it to say that Mike will be getting his Series Three tapes in 1/2".

Mike is the consummate host and master of ceremonies, making sure that everyone got some food and everyone got to listen to the software that they brought while keeping the pace rolling along nicely. Thanks Mike!

Dan,

thanks for the kind words. it was great that you and Eileen were able to attend the meeting. i know we've been trying to get you over to my room for awhile. thanks also for bringing the 1/2" and 1/4" Series 3 demo reels. the club enjoyed being able to hear them back to back to get a feel for the differences. even though i was sitting far to one side of the room, it was easily apparent the additional 'meat' of the 1/2" format. it's one thing to listen to a 1/2" tape. it's another thing to hear a 1/2" tape from a 1" working master where the 1/2" can really show what it can do.

after hearing about one minute of the 1/2" right after hearing the 1/4", i turned to Dan and told him i wanted to upgrade my series 3 to 1/2". he smiled at me and said "you should hear the 1 inch." Bastard! :^) now i have to explain that to my wife.

i'm excited to look forward to the Series 3 in 1/2".

[c1ferrari]

Yes, Paul makes 1/2" alignment tapes. I need to reiterate that 1/2" is a product for those with patience. We can only fit in a 1/2" duping session a few times each year and there can be quite a wait for your tapes.

To address your second question, yes, a 1/2" copy should sound a little better than 1/4" regardless of the width of the original master. The issue is of generational loss, and with all else equal the wider the format you dupe to the higher the fidelity to the original source. That's why we use 1" running masters - more iron particles are imprinted with signal on the wider tracks and S/N ratio is better. In theory a 1" subscription will be even better in terms of retaining the info from the original master than 1/2". If anyone has the budget, the machine and the inclination we could do a subscription in 1".

Thanks for the illumination, Doc :-)