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Otari MX-5050 Review (Reel to Reel Tape Deck)

rdenney

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Sarum “who thinks rdenney needs a phone with larger storage” bear :)
See? I said you'd say that. My current personal phone has 256G, which when I bought it (3 years ago?) I though was just impossibly large. My work phone is a newer model, but only has 64G, because that's what accountants do.

But them puppies are expensive!

Rick "uses stuff until it no longer fulfills requirements, which this one does, because I know how to compress music and image files" Denney
 

c1ferrari

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Here is a view of the mixing console. I made this from scratch - the circuit design, etching the circuit boards, assembling the module chassis, the woodwork, cutting the front panels, and even silk screening the text to the front of those panels. Everything. It took me almost a year to construct, but I learned a hell of a lot in the process. :D

View attachment 156384
How gorgeous! I have a sorted Studer 962. ASR's review of the Neumann KH 310 A contributed significantly to its recent acquisition. I've been perusing the 962 and 310 manuals. Thomann will be delivering K&M monitor stands and bearing plates later today and Reverb should be delivering a Plixio stand which will be used for the 962, tomorrow. By the weekend, I should have everything connected. Now, I just need more room!
 

MakeMineVinyl

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How gorgeous! I have a sorted Studer 962. ASR's review of the Neumann KH 310 A contributed significantly to its recent acquisition. I've been perusing the 962 and 310 manuals. Thomann will be delivering K&M monitor stands and bearing plates later today and Reverb should be delivering a Plixio stand which will be used for the 962, tomorrow. By the weekend, I should have everything connected. Now, I just need more room!

Are you planning on building a studio? The Studer console looks like a great start.
 

c1ferrari

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Are you planning on building a studio? The Studer console looks like a great start.
I know it's crazy! Actually, when I got into it, I was most interested in direct-to-2 track, analog recording of acoustic performances, applying minimal mic techniques. See where it's lead me!! My friend and Studer tech extraordinaire, Charlie Bolois, encouraged me to be the next Wally Heider. Haha - I wish! ;)
 

MakeMineVinyl

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I know it's crazy! Actually, when I got into it, I was most interested in direct-to-2 track, analog recording of acoustic performances, applying minimal mic techniques. See where it's lead me!! My friend and Studer tech extraordinaire, Charlie Bolois, encouraged me to be the next Wally Heider. Haha - I wish! ;)
Good luck. Be warned though that it can be a money-suck, and you'll end up like this in no time. ;)

L-309486-1360919737-8810.jpeg.jpg


Heider remote truck. The tape machines are 3M M-56s.
 
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c1ferrari

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Ha! I have a very modest mic/capsule collection...got any M49's or M50's about? :D
 

MakeMineVinyl

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Ha! I have a very modest mic/capsule collection...got any M49's or M50's about? :D
I wish I had a few dozen of those, new, and still in their original boxes. :p
 

MakeMineVinyl

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Hehe. :) I suppose it'll have to be FLEA 49's, then!
If you have enough coin, you can get these freshly minted microphones. I'll take a couple of each, please. :cool:
 

c1ferrari

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If you have enough coin, you can get these freshly minted microphones. I'll take a couple of each, please. :cool:
AEA ribbons, nice - I think I have a mic pre that will work well with them.
This thread has evolved from ASR to Gas Alley for me...lol. :p
 

dfuller

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Clever design. Transformer amplification vs active amplification topology was behind the famous desk sound debate of Neve vs (early) SSL. Neve used transformer while SSL used a parallel transistor pair in front of the op amps. Neves were universally liked while SSLs were found to sound harsh.
To this day, I don't know anybody who actually likes SSL preamps. The EQs are another story, but the mic pres? None of them sound good.


As for mics... Give me U67s any day! Far and away my favorite mics.
 

krabapple

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Come on. it's just announced, no products support it. even AptX HD and LDAC is just a tiny fraction of the market... Wait a bit for "legacy" Now I do use lossless when I am connected to wifi and my transducers are linked to the source with a wire... But there is plenty of use cases where it is convenient not to, and honestly, the difference between lossless and a good compression algorithm at a decent bit rate is tiny at best, indiscernable for many. there is so much more important stuff in the chain to worry about, starting with the transducers... Compressed music can sound very good, when you stop looking at numbers and just enjoy. It isn't the bottle neck of any reproduction chain.

I do wish you guys would stop referring to 'compression' full stop when what (I think) you are referring to is lossy compression. Lossless compression exists too and is of course harmless to audio quality. I agree however that the perceived audible harm of lossy is hugely overstated by audiophiles. ( 'lossy' after all encompasses a range of codecs and degrees of compression, and thus a range of audibility)
 

krabapple

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Amir's R2R appears to be in need of some servicing.

I'm curious to know what the recording is that he refers to? The one he has a nice pre-mastering version of?
 

PeteL

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I do wish you guys would stop referring to 'compression' full stop when what (I think) you are referring to is lossy compression. Lossless compression exists too and is of course harmless to audio quality. I agree however that the perceived audible harm of lossy is hugely overstated by audiophiles. ( 'lossy' after all encompasses a range of codecs and degrees of compression, and thus a range of audibility)
Yes I was referring to lossy compression. I thought in the context it was implied, and clear, since I made an opposition to lossless, and it was replying to a comment about AptX Lossless (Lossless but not always since it's an adaptative CODEC.)
 

anmpr1

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Amir's R2R appears to be in need of some servicing.
At this late stage of the game, all open reel decks are in need of some servicing. Unless they have just been recently serviced, which few have. And even those need to be closely watched!
 

MakeMineVinyl

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At this late stage of the game, all open reel decks are in need of some servicing. Unless they have just been recently serviced, which few have. And even those need to be closely watched!
I would agree with that - more so since those with knowledge of how to service and maintain them (not to mention some of the specialized tools such as alignment tapes, head squares, demagnetizers, tension gauges.....) is thinning out every day. At this point in my life, you couldn't pay me enough to go through the hassle of servicing or repairing someone else's machine.
 
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krabapple

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At this late stage of the game, all open reel decks are in need of some servicing. Unless they have just been recently serviced, which few have. And even those need to be closely watched!

Well, I am 'attuned' to such remedies being feasible because a lot of my covid time has been spent watching videos of people restoring broken stuff. Including audio gear, including R2R, like this guy did.
 
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anmpr1

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Well, I am 'attuned' to such remedies being feasible because a lot of my covid time has been spent watching videos of people restoring broken stuff. Including audio gear, including R2R, like this guy did.
The big thing, here, is parts availability. And then finding someone who can use the parts the way they are supposed to be used. From the point of perfection, my guess is that most 'consumer' grade machines were always aligned on the 'close' side of 'accurate'. I don't recall any consumer open reel machines having azimuth and auto bias controls, like the better cassette decks had. Maybe some had them, but I don't remember.

This Otari? Unless one is just interested in having something cool to look at, it deserves top notch care. Otari is still in business; at least in Japan. Whether they offer parts? Their web site doesn't show anything looking like open reel support, but I don't read Japanese.

You can find outfits specializing in the refurb of high end decks like this one, Studer and Revox, et al. But generally you get what you pay for, and I'm sure these places don't give it away. However, if you're serious, then it makes sense. Otherwise, you just have something that looks cool, sitting in your rack. And no matter, it's true that there's not much in hi-fi land that looks as cool as an open reel deck.
 

krabapple

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What parts typically need replacing? belts? Available. Springs? Same. Caps/resistors? Same. Motors and pots? Can be reconditioned/cleaned. Pinch rollers? idler wheels?
 
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