Gentlemen...

Is it not true that all tape guidance is "forced" to some extent? The 
most elegant system I have seen is that on the old Philips Pro51, where 
the roller guides are convex and the tape runs to the point of maximum 
pressure, without touching the flanges. That said, I reckon the A80 to 
be about the best general purpose transport there is - in my experience, 
it has never done violence to a tape. The only major drawback is that it 
deals about a well as any single capstan transport with severely warped 
or cupped tape - which is not very well at all. The Telefunken M10 is 
better here, as it has a trailing capstan, and I suppose a reworked 
A80QC might do a good job...


On 28/03/2014 17:13, Fred Thal wrote:
> Hello again Tom Fine,
>
>> First of all, what is "the machine in question"?
>> you need to name names
> Please let me dodge these questions. Try to understand that I have to
> sell into this industry in order to survive. To some, my long-time
> outspokenness on these matters has been seen only as antagonism. I
> guess I am very bad at marketing. (I think you have agreed with this
> assessment before.) If you want to research the cited example for
> yourself, the incident was first reported in The Boston Globe.
>
>> I also prefer "pointier" heads
> One of the things we did with our SHRO headblock design was to make
> the wrap adjustable, which relates to contact area. With that,
> together with introducing a wide range of running tension
> adjustability, you gain a lot of new control.
>
> Surface condition on the head is absolutely critical too. Your friend
> John French (and his company JRF) do an outstanding job of head
> re-contouring and final polishing. We use their services for this, and
> it makes a huge difference in the dynamic behavior of the tape passing
> over the head face.
>
>> view the contents of these tapes as artworks
> I do hope you are right. I do hope this attitude is finally emerging
> at the labels. I find it very curious that the record label people
> have been so ignorant and disrespectful about caring for and
> transferring their old master tapes.
>
> Fred Thal
> ataestuder.com
>