Mike,
I must disagree...
I have never found vinyl to eclipe RTR tape. It is the one bastion of "as close to master tape as you can get".
When RTR were/are mastered there was/is no concern to the low or high frequency rolloff of disc cutting heads and thus dynamics will always be better with RTR given similar work parts and mastering thoughtfulness. It makes no difference if you have a Rockport TT or a Walker... In my mind, tapes will always be more life like because of their greater frequency response.
I owned Lloyds best TT for 7 years and my RTR machines were far better in life-likeness. His table was close but just not "as there" as RTR. You know, it's that extra little bit that separates the sensation of real from reproduced. Otari, Technics 1520, many Revox decks and many-many Ampex 44s just blew away the turntable in this slight but important regard. I don't think vinyl is in the same league as RTR. I've been at it for years with over 4000 tapes (15,000 records now down to 10,000) and I would take the master tape like sound of RTR over the pops and ticks of my vinyl any day :)
You should try some dolby BC tapes (much controversy) with a Concord decoder. It's amazing!
Peter
I must disagree...
I have never found vinyl to eclipe RTR tape. It is the one bastion of "as close to master tape as you can get".
When RTR were/are mastered there was/is no concern to the low or high frequency rolloff of disc cutting heads and thus dynamics will always be better with RTR given similar work parts and mastering thoughtfulness. It makes no difference if you have a Rockport TT or a Walker... In my mind, tapes will always be more life like because of their greater frequency response.
I owned Lloyds best TT for 7 years and my RTR machines were far better in life-likeness. His table was close but just not "as there" as RTR. You know, it's that extra little bit that separates the sensation of real from reproduced. Otari, Technics 1520, many Revox decks and many-many Ampex 44s just blew away the turntable in this slight but important regard. I don't think vinyl is in the same league as RTR. I've been at it for years with over 4000 tapes (15,000 records now down to 10,000) and I would take the master tape like sound of RTR over the pops and ticks of my vinyl any day :)
You should try some dolby BC tapes (much controversy) with a Concord decoder. It's amazing!
Peter