View Full Version : A reconstituted audiophile
Hello and greetings to all the Art of Sound forum members. I guess you could call me a reconstituted audiophile, because at an earlier time in my working life and in another land, I was the manager of a Philips vinyl pressing plant and musicassette factory. In those days my personal home kit consisted of 15” Tannoy’s driven by Quad amps and a JVC QL-7 turntable with a Decca London Gold cartridge, a Philips N2552 cassette deck, a Revox B77 two track, 1/4 inch reel-2-reel and living room space was unlimited. My career path then diverted me into broadcast TV and motion picture equipment, and into photography as an aside.
Now my best beloved and I live in the UK and the Tannoys are long gone, as are the Quad amps. For the past five years I have been running a simple NAD 326BEE driving Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers from a NAD C515BEE CD player.
At present I am resurrecting the QL-7 turntable, which hasn’t been powered up for the last 20 years. A Shure M97Ve has just arrived which should match the NAD and the Wharfedales nicely. (I still have an Ortophon SL-15 and a JVC Z1s, both uninspiring.) Once that is done, I will set about examining the condition of my vinyl collection.
SO, I guess the principles remain the same but technology advances at quite a rate. I know the fundamentals of audio recording and reproduction and heritage gear. The rest, I will rely on you all to teach me. I hope I won’t bore you.
GrahamS
Hi Graham, from the kit I have had in the past which included a pair of the original Diamonds (I think I still have them somewhere?), I suspect that what you have got sounds very acceptable. What happened to the Tannoy's?
Are you intending to stick with vinyl or go in another direction?
hifinutt
02-08-2017, 18:47
great to have you graham . what do you think of the supposed cassette revival ?
Hi Graham, welcome to the forum.
Maybe you can settle the age old argument about whether 'mould release agent' is real or imaginary?
Tech might have moved on in some ways but big Tannoy DC are still highly rated and used by a lot of members here so if you are thinking about maybe going back to them you are in the right place for advice.
I'm quite happy with the Diamonds, Puffin, considering the space and room volume restrictions of a British end-of-terrace house, which is the very reason I sold the Tannoys when I moved in here.
great to have you graham . what do you think of the supposed cassette revival ?
I think it's just an excuse to use some of the musicassette equipment that is languishing in lofts and basements. I would love to have a "legitimate" excuse to own a Philips N2552 again, but who would I be kidding?
Are you intending to stick with vinyl or go in another direction?
What other direction is there? Reel-2-reel? My 1/4 inch 15 ips master tapes have deteriorated to the point of self-destruction. For convenience, nothing beats CD. Vinyl is a PITA in comparison, but is oh so satisfying.
Hi Graham, welcome to the forum.
Maybe you can settle the age old argument about whether 'mould release agent' is real or imaginary?
Tech might have moved on in some ways but big Tannoy DC are still highly rated and used by a lot of members here so if you are thinking about maybe going back to them you are in the right place for advice.
Thanks Martin. AS for release agent, there was no such thing used in my plant, which used steam-heated hydraulic presses fed with pre-plasticised poly-vinyl chip patties. The first couple of pressings from a new stamper side may have suffered from cleaning residue from the nickel-forming process, but there was no "release agent" used in the press. I don't know whether such an agent may have been used in the presses that produced "high quality, limited run, manually pressed, certified defect free" (delete whichever is not applicable) records in "boutique" pressing plants, but the application of such an agent would certainly not have allowed for maximum efficient production output in a high capacity plant.
PS Puffin: The kit I now have sounds very "British" (very smooth, quite warm and definitely not harsh) and suits me well. I learned long ago that every country or culture has it's own preferential "sound character." Some are very similar, most are not. This is what matching components is all about
walpurgis
02-08-2017, 22:07
Hi Graham. Welcome from me too.
Please feel free to contribute to any of the disussion going on, or start your own threads.
Shame you sold the big Tannoys years ago. They do take up some room I know, but they sound glorious :).
Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.
Spectral Morn
03-08-2017, 12:23
Welcome to AoS Graham
Haselsh1
03-08-2017, 12:39
Graham, a very warm welcome to AOS.
Welcome to AoS Graham,
Nice to have a new member join who was once involved in record pressing - if only to dispel or correct misapprehensions we might have about record production. Can you tell me what percentage of a pressing run was rejected? I've heard it could be quite high.
You find both the Ortofon SL15 (E?) and JVC Z1 uninspiring? Strange, as the Z1 is based on the JVC X-1, a cartridge which is far from sounding anodyne!
Shame you sold off your Tannoy and Quad gear, but pleased to read you are happy with your current system.
Enjoy the Forum
Barry
Welcome to AoS Graham,
Nice to have a new member join who was once involved in record pressing - if only to dispel or correct misapprehensions we might have about record production. Can you tell me what percentage of a pressing run was rejected? I've heard it could be quite high.
You find both the Ortofon SL15 (E?) and JVC Z1 uninspiring? Strange, as the Z1 is based on the JVC X-1, a cartridge which is far from sounding anodyne!
Shame you sold off your Tannoy and Quad gear, but pleased to read you are happy with your current system.
Enjoy the Forum
Barry
Thanks for the welcome Barry. In my opinion, the Ortophon SL-15 is suited to orchestral music and lacks the presence necessary for contemporary music. The JVC Z1 sounds "thin" to my ear and lifts the high end somewhat. However, all this may change depending on the downstream equipment. I have never heard any of my vinyl gear with my present setup. Watch this space.
Pressing reject percentages depend on the particular plant. There are many many factors that influence quality, and individual plants have particular QC control parameters and methodology. Most European plants adhere to the DIN control specifications and procedures, which are pretty stringent. Some plants, such as one I visited in Canada, only sample one in 1000 pressings and adopted a policy of "refund or exchange no questions asked" in collaboration with their distributors and customers. The plant I worked in had a reject ratio of 1:1000 due mainly to stamper damage and air pollution in the pressing plant caused by poorly maintained PVC delivery systems. Audio quality was never a problem. Philips had a reject rate of 1:10,000 in the DGG plant and some plants in "other" countries were not permitted to press the DGG label. There was a plant in Lusaka that had no QC to speak of at all, but then one has to take that particular market into consideration.
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