I've heard the RS1500 that Dan Meinwald (US rep for EAR) has with the
TdP mods. While it is worlds better than the stock electronics, I
have to give the nod to mine (a very biased opinion of course).
Actually, it uses the stock heads which is a minus I think. A guy I
know has a couple of TdP modded machines (ATR100 1", MM1200 1" with
MR70 amps) and those things are stunning! I could listen to Mary Had
A Little Lamb all day on those. I've never heard a de Paravicini
design that wasn't great. I'm a big fan of him also.
Steve
On Jan 23, 2008, at 4:14 PM, phillip holmes wrote:
> I think Tim de Paravicini has some special electronics coming out
> for the 1500 series. If so, that would be the cat's meow (and the
> bee's knees too). Tim is a first class engineer, not some copier
> of archaic Western Electric circuits (or the Radiotron Designer's
> Handbook). I would bet that the 1500, with Tim's electronics and
> custom heads, would blow the doors off of most stock professional
> machines.
> Phillip
>
> carlstephen koto wrote:
>> On Jan 22, 2008, at 2:16 PM, phillip holmes wrote:
>>
>>> The Technics (the one Tom mentions) is the way to go. For better
>>> sound, keep the Technics and use nicer/better electronics and
>>> maybe custom heads. That Technics transport is super gentle and
>>> it's got good looks. Also, the Technics turntables are still
>>> state-of-the-art when combined with a good plinth and tonearm.
>>> Matsushita put way more money/time/engineering into those
>>> products than any high-end audio garage outfit will be able to do
>>> (or Ampex for that matter). I'm not saying there aren't other
>>> great tape decks and turntables (or that Ampex engineers
>>> sucked). What I am saying is that if you want a great machine
>>> for your home, the Technics is the way to go.
>>
>> I've had a Technics RS1500US for a number of years. It's one of
>> several decks that I own and while I have very limited experience
>> with ATR 100s, MR70s, Studer A80-812-820s, it still doesn't
>> prevent me from lusting after one. That said, there's very little
>> that I haven't modified on my 1500. The major one has been wiring
>> the heads directly to output and using a custom, tube playback
>> amp..I have Greg Orton from Fux Magnetics, building a pair of
>> custom heads( 1/2 track 15ips and 1/4 track 7.5ips) that he'll be
>> installing in my headblock in a couple of weeks. Personally, I'd
>> love to get an A80 and give it this same sort of treatment. But
>> until I feel satisfied that I've wrung every last bit of
>> performance out of the Technics, I'll wait. The only way that I
>> can "know" that every adjustment or modification is "spot on" is
>> if I do it myself (it certainly helps that I enjoy this kind of
>> self torture). The combination of my deck and the Tape Projects
>> master dubs would be pretty hard to beat. I have a couple of
>> friends that have what would currently be considered among the
>> best sounding digital playback front-ends (EMM Labs transports/
>> Dac) and they are shocked how much better my tapes sound than
>> their SACDs. These comparisons are done with their systems.
>> BTW Bruce, I was glad to see your name here. I still miss your
>> newsletter.
>>
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