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510 Nanowebermeters (Read 2074 times)
Steve Deckert
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If the 1st watt
sucks why continue?

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510 Nanowebermeters
02/16/19 at 05:43:16
 
Having an interesting experience this evening with a French master tape 1-to-1 copy of AIR - Moon Safari.

What makes it interesting is two fold, first is that the tape is LPR35 /3608FT and this is the first time I've listened to this tape formulation.  Second is that the tape was printed at 510 nWb/m, IEC / 15 IPS.

Up until now, I would have guessed that 396 nWb/m was about as dense as you could print a tape... I mean 320 is considered really high, and many master tape copies are printed at 250 nWb/m which is kind of an industry standard.

The worries of printing too high are saturation and print-through, where the magnetic field is so strong it prints through to the next layer of tape and or distorts.

I'm just not hearing it.  The LPR35 tape seems to sound great... as in makes you wonder why waste money on thicker tape where it takes two reels for an album instead on one reel...

The density is over the top.  It is like every cubic inch of air in the listening room before me from floor to ceiling is filled with energy.  In fact, even the silence has density and weight.  Never experienced this before until tonight.  Of course believe it or not, I am using a SE84UFO25 for the playback amplifier connected directly to the back of the tape machine.  Holy crap!  That's all I can say.  

Well... it's not all I can say... in fact, after listening to this tape you hear how good the album actually sounded in the studio (as if you were sitting there while they did it), and you measure what you're hearing against what you've heard in the past (the album, the CD's... the MP3's...) and it actually really pisses you off... the distance between the real thing and the crap everyone gets to buy that vaguely resembles the real thing. Best analogy is the difference between a cast plastic part and a precision machined titanium part with a highly polished finish.

I also have to laugh when I consider the dynamic range on this tape and the fact that the SE84UFO25 is somehow miraculously handling it without clipping is a true testament to the instantaneous peak power of vacuum tubes and high quality transformers!  If watts were really watts, then I could order a 2 watt solid state amplifier board from parts-express.com and power it with a wall-wart and with it's lower rated harmonic distortion it should actually sound better right?   Ha Ha Ha Ha Roll Eyes

God Bless this hobby and especially music.  With it and the people who create it the world would be a very 2 dimensional place.

-Steve
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Brian
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Re: 510 Nanowebermeters
Reply #1 - 02/17/19 at 20:47:30
 
Beautiful! I would love to someday hear what you hear.
I really need to get a high fidelity system & room.
When you said: "even the silence has density and weight", I imagine this was a rather magical ingredient to the whole experience. I think it would create a sort of haunting presence to the performance.  

What a fun hobby!


Brian
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