Tape Project Forum

General Category => Prerecorded Tapes => Topic started by: astrotoy on September 28, 2012, 02:00:54 AM

Title: A Couple of New Sources for 15ips 2TR Prerecorded Tapes- mostly classical
Post by: astrotoy on September 28, 2012, 02:00:54 AM
Hi folks,

I have recently purchased several tapes from UltraAnalogue (ultraanaloguerecordings.com), based near Toronto. Ed Pong records young talented artists in his home studio with all tube equipment and sells copies of the master tapes. Ed shared with me pictures of his home and the area where he hosts concerts. Very nice. The releases are all classical chamber music all recorded within the past couple of years and so far, I have been very pleased with both the sonic and artistic quality. He prefers NAB EQ (but will do CCIR if you want)  and uses Studer recorders with tube electronics built by Tony Ma. Prices per reel ($200 or so) are somewhat more expensive than TP tapes and you get artists that Ed has found - mostly prize winners at international competitions. Ed copies the tapes to order, and was very fast with my initial order, less than a week. So far he has a set of the Bach Cello Suites by Winona Zelenka,  two violin recitals by Xiang Yu and three cello sonatas (Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninoff) and one cello recital by Seiste-Jan Weijenberg. So far I have 1 of the Bach Suites and all of the other albums except the Brahms which has just been released. I think the violin sound is the very best I have heard on a recording. The Meditation from Thais by Massenet is one of my favorite pieces and it is on both violin recital albums in different performances. The sound is as close to that which I heard when we had a professional violinist play it in our home for my 60th birthday. The violin sound is quite a bit better than the violin recital on Yarlung Recordings tape that I wrote about in another thread.  To be sure you are not getting the Decca and Reference Recordings superstars that are on the TP tapes.

The second source is from Opus3, a small Swedish company that has been releasing vinyl since the late seventies. I have more than 30 of their albums. A mix of classical, folk and jazz, the sonics are very fine and they have been an audiophile favorite for many years. One of their albums is on the Absolute Sound Super Disk List - "Maytan and Friends." It looks like Opus3 has always recorded in analogue, even though they have released CD and SACD in the past 15 or more years.  They have just begun to release 15ips 2Tr of about 50 of their albums, about 30% classical and 70% jazz and folk.  They have a sampler album available which I got a couple of weeks ago. I have gone ahead and ordered 11 of their titles, almost all classical. Mostly chamber, but one choral and a couple orchestral.  They are about 50% more expensive ($450 for 2 reel sets) than the TP tapes and are made to order in Sweden. They are also dubbed directly from the master tapes, so are limited to no more than 50 copies each. Recording is done with CCIR EQ like the TP using RGMI SM468 tape. A US agent, Kevin Berg ([email protected]), handles the orders. Kevin keeps an inventory of the sampler tape, so you can order it (at half price of the normal tapes) and he ships it to you within a few days. I'll post how long it takes to get the custom tapes from Sweden. The artists are not well known, except perhaps singer Eric Bibb.

As I mentioned before, I don't see either of these or Yarlung as competition with TP. In fact, by providing additional software, it should encourage some to take the plunge into high end R2R and increase the base of potential TP subscribers.

The price of the 15ips 2Tr prerecorded tapes will never be less than quite expensive compared to other media. But it is the best and a series subscription of TP is less than one highest end power cord or set of interconnects.

Larry
   

 

 
Title: Re: A Couple of New Sources for 15ips 2TR Prerecorded Tapes- mostly classical
Post by: Listens2tubes on September 28, 2012, 07:31:48 AM
Thanks Larry, more sources for master quality tapes is always welcome.
Title: Re: A Couple of New Sources for 15ips 2TR Prerecorded Tapes- mostly classical
Post by: ironbut on September 28, 2012, 12:51:47 PM
Thanks for the review Larry.
I agree. The lack of media has always been the main reason that folks have given me for not taking the plunge and getting into reel to reel.
The more the merrier!