Talk R2R: How to Describe the Sound of R2R?

Talk R2R: How to Describe the Sound of R2R?

As I had struggled to describe the sound of R2R, I was astonished by what Robin wrote in an email to me. More than waxing lyrics, its eloquence is so heart-felt! It encapsulates the perfect listening experience:

"...I was so happy to read your Yumcha Diary entry on our get-together last Saturday! I feel awed, but delighted of course, that you liked the new system so much. Since then, it's been getting noticeably better each day, as the new capacitors settle down and start singing their little hearts out whenever I put on a really good quality tape. Sadly, there are fewer of these than I thought: now that everything is so clear and well-defined, I can hear major tape dropout on quite a few of the tapes I'd previously felt were OK. (They've gone straight onto the "B" pile, for future recycling as empty reels.) Overall, I must revise my estimate of the wastage rate among the tapes I've bought so far, to at least 35 percent. Still, I'm gradually learning which ebay sellers are reliable and which aren't, so hopefully I'll be able to make wiser purchase choices in future. I've probably wasted around US $400 in all so far with bad tapes, but I'm just going to see it as my "tape culture 101 tuition fees"... No pain, no gain, etc...

As I have more and more of those special listening moments that you eloquently described in the case of the Shostakovich s.q. #8 on Saturday (isn't that tape something!), I'm starting to experience music in ways I never have before. I can only describe it as a kind of "synaesthesia": a merging of one's separate physical senses into one, single continuum of sensation. As Oliver Sacks writes, people who "suffer" from synaesthesia can see sounds, smell colours and hear paintings, etc. (In certain practical ways, this must be a problem; but on other levels it greatly enrich their lives.)...

What I've found lately, listening to music via magnetic tape - and as you point out, the big Yams also deserve a lot of the credit here - is that (for example) a particularly expressive line on the cello gets converted -- in some very basic part of my brain -- into a kind of "analog" of the sensation of brown/wood/earth. Or rather, the lines separating what I'm hearing, per se, and the numerous other sensations - visual and/or tactile - that the sound directly conjures up in my field of awareness, begin to blur, and it all becomes a delicious sensory amalgam...

Similarly, when Paolien and I went to the Botanical Gardens on Sunday afternoon, just after I'd been listening to a Bohm/Berlin Philharmonic tape of Mozart's symphony #33, and the sun was pouring down, I sat on a bench and looked at the trees / skies / flowers all around -- and I almost saw (or began to see) a symphony taking shape before my eyes! The tall trees were the cello section, the red flowers were the oboes, the green shrubs and bushes all around were the first and second violins --- sorry, I should stop all these fanciful ramblings!...

The time dimension is another area where I find magnetic tape brings very unexpected results. The special clarity and directness of the sound one gets can be attributed, perhaps, to four key factors: better dynamics, linearity, coherence, and texture. Subjectively, one outcome is that a piece of music seems to last much longer, on tape, than the same piece heard from a CD or LP. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that one simply stops paying attention to time while the tape is playing. The relentless ticking of clock time, which governs our lives in so many ways, known and unknown, these days, becomes irrelevant -- and instead one is simply "there", in the continuous moment as the music organically unfolds..."

Isn't that something!

Talk Vinyl: Restoration of Garrad 301 Part III

The Yumcha Diaries 飲茶後記: 29-01-11
Talk Vinyl: Restoration of Garrard 301 Part III
Talk R2R: Otari Restored!

Best Sound of 2011 (so soon?)!
No mincing of words here. Mark my words, what we heard on this day SHALL be the BEST SOUND OF 2011!. I know, it's just the start of the year, but this ain't no hyperbole. I simply don't expect to hear better sound in the next 11 months ! I'd love to be proven wrong, but I doubt I would be. Coming so soon after the best sound heard in 2010 these had been fruitful months, sonically.

Salute, Garrard 301!
On this day, after yumcha we went to Robin's place to listen to my Garrard he gave a second life to, and his almost fully restored Otari. I brought along the arm/cartridge that was on my Clearaudio Champion to be installed. Robin's system (previous listening report here) is largely unchanged from before, so we listened to:

My Turntable: Garrard 301 (grease)/Origin Live basic mod Rega 250/Ortofon MC15 Super II/simple plywood plinth
Robin's Turntable: Garrard 301 (oil)/Rega 250 with Michell counterweight and Incognito wiring/Ortofon Kontrapunkt B/complex slate plinth
Ree-to-Reel: Otari
Preamp: ARC SP-11
Amp: (vintage) McIntosh MC275
Loudspeakers: Yamaha FX-3

Remember the "rudimentary" plywood plinth for my (grease-bearing, see pic of belly) Garrard 301, which you were shown in Part II? As Robin said, he "...went ahead and stained the plinth a dark Indian Rosewood colour", and just as he said "...it looks rather sleek and sexy, alongside the grey metal turntable!..." We gasped at the beauty of the table. Robin used small pieces of hardwood for the legs and support, with blue-tac coupling between the support and plywood top. Robin has other ideas about the plinth but we were so smitten by its look that I am tempted to use it just as is.

I instantly felt it has a Yamamoto's "house" "sushi-table" (pic of Yamamoto A-08S here) look to it, and I love it! The occasion deserved celebration, and Robin promptly opened up a bottle of white wine!

Otari, the Vinyl Slayer!
After a few sips, the RB250 was swapped out for the arm I brought and ready for action, but not before listening to the Otari.

Between our last visit and this time Robin had put an untold number of man hours into its restoration, first meticulous alignment using oscilloscopes and other equipment acquired specifically for the purpose (now, THAT's dedication!), then (saintly patience!) replacing the hundreds of caps inside (almost finished).

At first, we played the acerbic Bartok 6th quartet. It was immediately evident that any instability previously heard had been completely vanquished. A quick comparison with the DG LP showed the R2R to be almost superior in all aspects, though a little over-bearing in its "studio-like" objectivity through the Yamaha. Robin attributed this to the so-so solid state Tape Head Preamp inside the tape deck. He has already ordered a Bottlehead Eros Tape Head Preamp which hopefully shall be built during the coming holidays.

(Detour) Talking about Bottlehead, I still have their simple and good sounding original Foreplay (now in its III version) and our friend Hoi the old Paramour monoblock parafeed 2A3 amps. Unfortunately, the Yamaha FX-3 I don't think would take to flea-powered amps, otherwise we could have an all-Bottlehead party soon!

As the tape ran we slowly realized the sound had become better and better. Like the cartridge, the tape head also needs warm-up time. By the time we reached the Fitzwilliam's rendition of Shostakovich's 8th quartet, we were literally TRANSFIXED by the life-like vista in front of us. Here were four musicians breathing life into music right in front of us, one of those rare occasions when every note feels right no matter how you analyze it, IF you want to analyze it that is. I paid attention to the bowel sounds and the leading edges of the strings and could find no fault. Utterly clear and fulsome bass, no overhang, nothing except music. The illusion of a live event was so strong it instantly challenged my conviction that a horn is the only thing that can convey this all-important feeling. In comparison with reel-to-reel, vinyl replay is inevitably a little colored in the many ways vinyl can be colored (and which many love to excess), say in tonality or portrayal of rhythm. But make no mistake, vinyl is still way better than anything digital in its conveyance of the performance, the most important parameter in reproduction and Achilles's heel of digital. The way I see it, a tube tape head amp shall perhaps improve things a little more, but I doubt it shall surpass the performance we heard in all parameters.

Family Feud
Certainly, this system's rendition of the truth is orders above what we usually hear. It is not all due to employment of R2R as source. Robin had fine-tuned his system, most importantly by propping up a bit the front of his FX-3, in other words giving them a little time alignment. This made a significant difference in coherence and more natural image size and height. If there is any limitation, it is that the space is still too small for large symphonic works, though smaller forces are reproduced to perfection.

When we played the Bartok LP, my Garrard sounded a little more musical. Robin remarked that there is a smoothness to the grease bearing perhaps. With the lesser arm and humble MC15 cartridge it delivered music in a broader stroke. Switching to Robin's Garrard, the sound was more finely etched and detailed, but less warm. I am sure part of this was due to the difference in cartridges, as I had previously matched my MC15 against the similar Kontrapunkt C and got similar results.

Then we played the Miles Davis TuTu LP. Here, again, my Garrard was a little more emotive but lesser in detail and ambience than Robin's. The bit of coldness (comparatively) emanating from Robin's Garrard was actually quite suitable for this LP and the icy brilliance of Miles.

Although the arms and cartridges are form the same families, the structural differences are likely significant, and we did not bother to swap arms. The difference between the simple wooden plinth and the slate plinth probably was an even bigger factor in the difference in sound. As a result, we did not dwell on the "duel" too much but rather just admired the sound, wonderful to say the least. But I have to say neither quite attained the level of the R2R deck.

Did I tell you we didn't even listen to a single CD?

Yamaha FX-3, The Giant Killer!
The Yamaha FX-3 deserves the last word. This large studio monitor, like its smaller sibling NS-1000, is a woefully under-rated gem. Its stark neutrality and ability to deliver the presence of a live performance is nothing short of remarkable, up-to-date in every way, and likely superior to most of the over-rated larger speakers of today.

The Yumcha Diaries 飲茶後記: 04-09-10 and 28-08-10 and 21-08-10 (Yamaha, ESL)

The Yumcha Diaries 飲茶後記: 04-09-10 and 28-08-10 and 21-08-10 (Yamaha, ESL, Magnepan)
Talk R2R: Otari

Part I.
04-09-10 Return to Robin's Nest
About a year ago, my good friend Robin the hairy Scott visited me and got smitten by the Yamaha NS-1000 (my review here). He soon got a pair and never looked back (for our visit at that time, click here and read Part II). Now he has upped the ante and gone one step further, and got the big brother FX-3, which shares the same Beryllium tweeter and mid-range, but with a larger 15" woofer.

As Robin is a very busy (and important) man, it took several weeks to arrange the visit, but it was worth the wait, not least because he finally got his recently acquired expertly-restored Otari MX-5050-B2HD Reel-to-Reel machine working for us! The visit was not without mishaps. Two of our cars were not able to find parking around Seymour Road, so I arrived late as the tapes rolled. Finally, six of us cramped into Robin's nest.

REELity Check
What impressed me most was an old Duke Ellington tape, which gave a remarkable presence, a live feeling that rivaled with the best I have heard. Some of the tapes were quite old and had minor pitch instability (due to stretching of tape) and I would guess the machine would benefit from a little alignment, but a Mozart tape was pristinely rendered too (see video below). Perhaps tape quality varies.

The ARC SP-11 and McIntosh 275 formed the same invincible combo; I doubt Robin shall ever part with them, and he shouldn't. He continues his TT tweaking though. Robin's Garrard 301 with highly modified RB300 (Michell counterweight etc) is now mounted on a double-granite plinth with some kind of expensive cones between the layers providing shock absorption. The Ortofon Kontrapunkt B gave a hugely pleasant sweet and crystalline sound that was addicting, particularly on plucked acoustic guitar strings. Though I felt it veered off from neutrality, it was towards the pleasant side and I was left in no doubt as to why there are so many aficionados for this variant (my C version is more hifi, for sure).

Robin played quite a few obscure but great-sounding albums for us, and Nelson surprised us by taking out his iPhone. The SoundHound software correctly identified every one of those songs. If you have an iPhone (or Android etc) I'd think it would be a very worthwhile download! Click here for a youtube demonstration on how this software works. Marvelous! Too bad I don't have a 3-G phone. If I do, I'd use it quite often, not least in concert to identify those unannounced encores!

As it was, I thought the vinyl setup more balanced, but the reel-to-reel surely had its allure. If I have any reservations, it would be about the height of the speakers. They were only a few inches off the floor, as it was sometimes in the studio, but I felt in the smallish LR sound was weighted down and most of the music was beneath the top of the speakers. I am used to much taller images and that caused me a little discomfort. Robin told me he had them higher earlier and balance was off. For these heavy beasts, it would take a while to provide the proper stands.

I eagerly look forward to our next visit. Robin is a handy man who gets literally to the bottom of everything. He is going to buy an oscilloscope and calibrate the tape machine. Now, THAT is an audiophile!

After the visit, we went for happy hour in Kennedy town, where we were joined by oozz. At his suggestion, we went to Saikung for French food. And then we all went back to my place to audition Nelson's B&W CM1. What a full and crazy day!

Reeling On
As Lascalawong could not make it for this return visit, I took a video clip for him to reciprocate his effort last time. Here is Robin introducing his prized Mozart reel. Enjoy!




Part II.
28-08-10 Small Panel, Big Sound
On this day I was in a hurry so I only stopped by icefox's loft briefly after yumcha, with a few others.

As soon as I was inside, I was surprised by the big and reasonably dynamic sound the Quad ESL57 produced in this large space, firing in the opposite direction as Spendor. This pair is actually daiwok's and it must be one of the most beautiful pairs I have seen. Look at those sexy legs! :-)

I believe icefox was drivng them with a pair of Manley 4xEL84 PP monoblocks. At less than 30 watts, the music was fluently rendered, once again proving that an EL84 amp is one of the best matches for Quad ESLs. The most surprising thing was that images were full and tall, the sound big. Once again this proves a large room sometimes works wonders. I have heard more "refined" Quads, but I prefer this big-hearted performance.

While I liked the performance, I cannot agree at all with those ESL freaks who say this panel performs better than icefox's Spendor SP-100. ESL, no matter how you work it, is not at all an all-rounded speaker. It does what it can very well, but is hopelessly bandwidth-limited and dynamically restricted. To call it the best transducer is not to know music in its full glory at all. My cohorts stayed for much longer and heard the SP-100 as well as 15" Tannoy Golds in corner York cabinets. They too reported that the Spendor SP-100, even the Tannoy, far-out-stripped the ESL in performance.

I'd use this space to briefly mention again icefox's Spendor setup. I have paid him several visits since my first visit, and his systems have steadily improved. The SP-100 now is mostly driven by legendary monster 200 wpc EAR 549 amps, and sometimes by Nagra VPA. These markedly outperform the previous Symphonic Line (of course). If you pay him a visit, ask him to play some Mahler!

When I have more time, I shall re-visit icefox and listen to the ESL57 in depth. Watch for more report on the amazingly rapid progress made by this young man. I call him 教父 now.

Part III.
21-08-10 Bigger Panel, Bigger Sound
Now, size matters. Our friend jules recently got a pair of Magnepan 3.5. We visited him while he still had the 1.6, and planned to compare them side by side.

As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, and BEFORE I stepped into the apartment, I knew there was no need to compare. Sound emanating from the room was instantly bigger than previously. Even if we did not listen to LP, as driven by Orpheus-Cello-ML, sound was pristine. Compared to the previous visit, there was more fullness. The big panel seemed just right for his not-big LR. Ry Cooder's Jazz was lightning fast and classical piano was thundering. It was so satisfying that our friend k.c., surely discriminating ears, instantly praised it and proclaimed it to be (+/- the word "among") the best Maggies he has heard. I agree. But I do have one reservation; none of the Maggies I have heard, including my own, goes deep enough, and I'd add a subwoofer.

jules' pair of 1.6 went to tubediyer, via welborne. More reports later I'm sure.