Reel to reel

First,I want to offer my sincere condolences for your loss, it's a numbing experience we have all been through.

I enjoyed reading your post, it tracked with my own experiences, minus the master dupe tapes (too rich for my blood). I also concur with 7.5 IPS for recording records.

Always a joy to read about another R2R enthusiast's happy experiences.

Thank you for your kind words Orpehius.  It was my mom and she is missed. She did not suffer and we are thankful for that.

Glad you enjoyed my detailed post.  Perhaps a bit too detailed for most.

Well, here is part 2.  And unfortunately, it doesn't go well...

I played the B side of the Wham tape last night.  Side A has the better songs, with the exception of Careless Whisper, the highest rated song on the album.  It's also the last song on the B side.

About 2 minutes into the song, I heard an abrupt bump in the left channel, then, a brief drop out, then a return to normal fidelity.  5 seconds later, a repeat of the same occurrence, but less severe.  The rest of the song was artifact free.  Such a disappointing discovery after what was a wonderful experience up to this point.

I have reached out to the vendor.  I will make a video recording of the defect and forward to them.  I am quite sure the noise does not occur in the LP or Cd, but I will do a comparison tonight to be sure.  I am only speculating as I am far from being an expert, but I would guess there is a defect in the tape where the artifacts occur.  The rest of the recording, both A and B tapes, are stellar.  Pity.... How the vendor handles this will determine the longevity of my interest in this format.

Stay tuned.
Happy listening.
g

I reached out to the vendor and they promptly responded, offering to replace the defective Side B tape.  They are a husband/wife team and she assured me her Husband listened to the master tape and confirmed the master is perfect, so the audio artifacts occurred during the duplication.  They are sending me a replacement without proof of the defect.  She did ask if I wanted it shipped now or with my next order.  I deferred the order as I want to see if the replacement tape is perfect as it should be before ordering more.  My next order, when funds allow, will be a 5 tape order which provides a 20% discount, but I am a long way from placing it.  As I mentioned earlier, the $1000 can be better spend towards a dual tonearm TT at this time.

Note:  Since it's the holiday weekend and I didn't have to worry about sleeping late today, I took the time to compare the LP and Tape's B side.
As a result, I would change my rating a bit and rate the LP at 90% in sonic quality compared to the tape.  I noticed the signal was not as strong as Side A was, referencing the VU meters on my Yamaha A-S2100.  This may be due to Side B of the album was not as good as side A, which may have been an early indicator that the Side B dupe was defective.  The lacking signal strength of Side B would be less noticeable when played side by side with the LP.  However, the comparo disproved this, sounding pretty darn good, comparable to the Side A comparo I did almost a month ago before traveling for work

The one thing I did differently this time was I matched (as closely as possible) the signal strength of the Phono Preamp (Avid Pulsus) to the Otari using the VU meters on the Yammie.  However the same could be accomplished using the VU meters on the Otari, switching from "source" to "tape".  Even though the two signals were very close, the Tape STILL provided better sonics AND a higher signal level... amazing what that little tape can do.  I remain impressed, and although I previously stated I would pursue increasing my LP collection settling only for high-quality pressings in both stereo and mono, as well as be on the lookout for a dual tonearm stereo/mono capable TT, I was reminded how good 15ips tape really is!  As funds allow, I may pursue adding to my collection of master tape dupes, but as Orpheus10 stated, that he only records on tape his most select LP's, I would only purchase a very select number of Master Tape dupes, and those would be very special albums. 

One thing I should mention about LP's on my system... the VPI Classic 3 with the Avid Pulsus phono preamp is a formidable combo.  I cite as an example:  I am a big fan of the Rick and Morty cartoon series.  Granted, it is a bit vulgar at times, but any cartoon fan can appreciate the imagination that goes into this series.  One thing fans of the show have come to appreciate, is the music soundtrack of the first two seasons i quite good... in fact, audiophile good!  As a birthday present, my daughters gave me the Collectors edition of the series soundtrack.  I decided to play LP #1 of 2 after the Wham tape.  Well, I was absolutely stunned at the sounds that emanated from the Goldenear Triton 1's...  Every song was crisp and clear, with the bass thumping in my chest like a second heartbeat during the more techno numbers.  Sub-bass slides were smooth and effortless for the VPI TT.  I had it in my mind that LP's were somewhat restricted in bass reproduction due to limits in the groove to be able to accommodate the shape of the bass frequencies in the groove structure.  ???  Well, this LP recording proves to me that is a bunch of hooey.  I would assume (probably shouldn't do that) that this LP was recorded digitally by the contemporary groups the contributed to this album and that the digital version was cut into a lacquer, skipping the master tape step. If the LP is so limited, how could such wonderful sounds come out of that lowly piece of vinyl?  In this situation, IF there was a Master Tape of this LP, it is beyond me to imagine how much better a tape version of this LP could be any better.  As I stated before, an LP properly mixed and mastered, pressed on quality vinyl by a quality lacquer is hard to beat, being trumped only by the Master/Safety Master of the original recording.  Perhaps the next test should be a side by side comparo of the Rick and Morty LP to the included MP3 download?  Nah, we already know MP3's are a lossy format, far too inferior to even the LP, let alone a Master Tape.  Besides, this is the reel to reel forum... please forgive my digression.

The bottom line, referring to the OP's initial inquiry:  The Otari MX5050Bii2 is a worthy deck to play Master Tape duplications and is certainly worth the cost of admission if you can find one that has been refurbed properly and has not been abused.  If you are in the market for one, let me know and I will put you in touch with my Otari guy.  

happy listening,
gusser

Gusser, I owned an Otari before, but it was 4 channel; if it had been two track I would still have it; they're the most impressive deck for the money; approaching the Studer in many ways.

In regard to clean bass in speakers, that's a lot dependent on crossover design and the quality of capacitors in the crossover; evidently your speakers have both.