Re: [ARSCLIST] Ampex ATR-102 opinion (was MD5 Hash Generators

[Nigel Barrett <nigelinseychelles@xxxxxxxxx>]

Anyone out there got mp3 copies of THE BIG BROADCAST-R.Conaty's show ? I
have some superb British Dance Band 20's and 30's cd's to swop with you
,featuring many American musicians.
Cheers
Alfred B.

On Jan 20, 2008 10:00 AM, Richard L. Hess <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hello, Mr. Fritz,
>
> An ATR-102, especially one refurbished my ATR Services in York,
> PA,  is held in high esteem by many. There are some who are concerned
> about its use on sticky archival tapes, but it is my understanding it
> can be properly set up for those tapes and sticky tapes should be
> rendered temporarily non-sticky prior to playing by baking.
>
> I got into this business slowly and began adopting a variety of tape
> machines that appeared to meet my needs.
>
> It is my goal to do an excellent job with as few different platforms
> as possible. My current mainstay in reel-to-reel machines are the
> Studer A80 and the Sony APR-5000.
>
> ATR-102s are very expensive in good condition and while they are
> superb, I have been able to find refurbishable A80s and excellent
> condition APRs at much lower prices. My goal is to minimize expenses so
>    (a) I can keep more of the money to run my household
>    (b) keep my pricing competitive and reasonably affordable
>    (c) have some money to feed my location recording, photography,
> and travel hobbies
>
> The APRs are my machine of choice for most formats as they adapt to
> different formats much easier than most machines. The A80s are my
> machine of choice for NAB and DIN (Euro) stereo and full-track mono
> formats of high-quality material as they sound slightly better than
> the APRs. They are more difficult to change formats on. In fact, I
> keep one dedicated as NAB playback and a second switches between
> full-track mono and DIN playback, as needed. I am in the process of
> transforming a third machine into a 15/30 machine to handle the few
> 30 in/s masters I'm currently seeing.
>
> At the very high end, I think the choice of AVAILABLE and
> MAINTAINABLE machines comes down to: Ampex ATR-100, Studer A80RC,
> Studer A820/2CH in alpha-numeric order. Each machine has its
> proponents. I do not lust after the other two as I'm not sure what
> owning them will provide that the A80RC doesn't. The A80 is perhaps
> the most maintainable longest term as it is a relatively simple
> machine and all but one of its 31 bearings are stock, standard metric
> ball bearings.
>
> There are several more esoteric machines, including the Nagra
> T-Audio, Stellavox, and perhaps some other German (Telefunken?)
> machines that are not commonly available in North America. The Nagra
> would be probably the most common of these.
>
> While the difference between the APR and the A80 RC is noticeable,
> I'm not sure any potential further improvement that MIGHT be made by
> the A820/2CH, the ATR-100, and the others is worth it or could be
> justified by my client base.
>
> I do find the Studer A810 close to the APR, but in a single blind
> test that I've run by several people the end result repeatedly is
> A80, APR-5000, A810 from best to good. I do have specific tasks that
> I continue to use A810s for as they do certain "stupid tape recorder
> tricks" better (at least as I have them accessorized) than the APRs.
> The A80s are not accessorized for many "tricks". I am planning on
> having varispeed available for them.
>
> I handle half-inch tapes on both the APR-5000s and the APR-16. Some
> 1/4-inch tapes (specifically 8-channel ones) may be handled in the
> future by a "FrankenSony" combination of an APR-5000 transport and
> the APR-16 electronics. Four-channel 1/4-inch tapes are handled by
> two "FrankenSony" pairs of APR-5000s. 1-inch tapes are handled on the
> APR-16. I do not handle 2-inch tapes.
>
> As I said, having a "stable" of different machines is not the
> mainstay of my equipment strategy. I would rather have one of the
> best models supported in depth than one each of the three best. I
> have enough indecision in my life. For 0.150-inch tape, my mainstay
> is the Nakamichi Dragon, of which I have six, all currently up and
> running in the studio to do 6x ingest. I also have one each Tascam
> 234 and 238 machines to handle 4- and 8-track cassettes and other
> oddball formats.
>
> While I have a specially configured A807 for tape prep, it's
> infrequently used today, and I happily traded my A807 MK II for an
> A80RC. Despite the photos on my website, the current reel-to-reel
> machines in the studio are the APR-16, five APR-5000s, two A80RCs,
> and a Racal Store 4DS and please read all the notes about that
> machine in my blog before purchasing one.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> At 09:20 PM 2008-01-19, Ken Fritz wrote:
> >    Mr. Hess,
> >
> >     Being an  audiophile, who is  contributing as  much as possible
> > $ $$ to the music industry, I have one question I'm sure you can
> address.
> >
> >   I've  navigated your web site with particular attention to your
> >stable of RTR machines. I realize that you need a variety of machines
> >to accommodate the variety of material supplied to you for
> >restoration. I've not seen an Ampex ATR machine. It is apparent to me
> >that  you need more than a  "machine for all seasons"  and that may
> >be why the ATR isn't in your studio, if it is that.  May I have your
> >opinion on that machine.
> >
> >   Regards, Ken Fritz --- an audiophile addict.
>
> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>