New member - looking for parts and advice, lots of advice

[Colday0]

I agree Dave, my 14yo daughter has a couple of albums on vinyl that she has played once on my deck, but has displayed for the album art.

Also, not sure where 'Mike' came from, but, I'll answer to anything.

Col.

[MostlyHarmless]

I have a few of those modern Pink Floyd Vinyl Pressings(the 180 gram ones!) and they are really very very good quality presses, you can get them for under £25 on eBay if you shop around and I'm glad i have them as i use a Garrard SP25 Mk.III to play mine with a brand new stylus and I've put some horrible scratches on them by being clumsy and careless with a new sharp stylus, that would have ruined very valuable originals if I played them. Collectors Items gain their silly prices by being Mint in box(so to speak) and using them makes them lose their value very quickly, better to listen to new copies

btw CobaltBlue is correct my username is an homage to Douglas Adams, i don't have my Ham license yet so i was going to go with MostlyHamless!

MH

Originally Posted by Colday0

I have an original pressing of The Wall (and all other Pink Floyd albums) on vinyl. Was in a record shop last week looking at new pressings of these albums which are c£30-50, but they had an original of Piper at the gates of dawn on the shelf, in worse condition than mine which was up for £300! Has made me re-evaluate playing the vinyl now.

Either way, not sure what to do with them as if I'm not going to play them, what's the point of having them? I have them all on CD anyway.

[julie_m]

I always used to buy an album on LP, make a cassette on the first playing; and that would be my "general use" copy, with the actual LP being played only occasionally so as to minimise the chance of scratching it (especially since the demise of the autochanger and FASP. The widespread adoption of belt drive was a great step backward).

Most single-disc LPs were short enough to fit on one side of a C-90, though there were a few that needed both sides of a C-60.

[Analogue man]

Originally Posted by julie_m

I always used to buy an album on LP, make a cassette on the first playing; and that would be my "general use" copy, with the actual LP being played only occasionally so as to minimise the chance of scratching it (especially since the demise of the autochanger and FASP. The widespread adoption of belt drive was a great step backward).

Most single-disc LPs were short enough to fit on one side of a C-90, though there were a few that needed both sides of a C-60.

I copy all my valuable LP's on to reel to reel using a Revox A700. Certainly all of my direct cut discs have been copied along with Dark Side of the Moon.

[dave walsh]

Snap! Julie m. I did exactly the same thing on cassette transfer from vinyl [as with the Floyd on reel to reel] for many years [from about 1982] in my archive. I found a source of apparently white/cheap C90's etc and they have never let me down Audio tape either on Reel To Reel or cassete has a proven history over at least 60 years now. In the eighties/nineties companies stored data on 2" Video tape in underground chambers! That sounds ancient doesn't it?

Dave

[knobtwiddler]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

The adjustment is made for minimum distortion.

With a 2-head tape machine, you have to record a section, wind back and replay into your distortion meter and keep repeating until you achieve a satisfactory result.

Here's where 3-head tape machines pay back their extra cost! You can record and play simultaneously and so watch close to real time distortion readings, twiddle the bias slaightly and about a second later as the tape moves between the heads, you see the change in distortion come through.


David

As an addendum: it's worth noting that there is a trade-off involved when you apply more bias: distortion improves, but high-frequency extension will drop off as a result. The optimum bias point involves juggling the two demands, whereby you get the quoted distortion for the tape at a given flux level, whilst keeping HF extension relatively flat. As you say, a 3-head machine enables you to look at what's happening in real time. Some audio analysers will let you see real time FR, whereupon the 'equalising' effect of bias can be seen, looking like a shelving EQ on the top end as you turn the bias knob each way. The R+S machines give you an idea of distortion while looking at FR. They are real workhorses.

[Station X]

One off topic post moved to a new thread here:-

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=224293