Greetings from Seattle

[CRDM]

Technically not Seattle but most people know where that is. Actually, I live on the other side of Puget Sound from Seattle which is much less “techie” and a lot more rural.

I am retired now but in previous lifetimes I worked as a tech at an acoustics company, as a Manager for Tower Records (one was Kensington High Street) and as a computer tech on Macintoshes.

Oddly enough, I never liked records I was more of a tape fan. The first time I heard a Nakamichi 1000 I thought, “At last! Ease of use and really good sound!”. I still don’t have a 1000 but I do have 8 other Naks including a 682ZX which is much better than a 1000.

I used to have 5 Thorens turntables which I quit using so I sold 4.
Now I use Oppo DVD and Blue Ray players as CD and SACD players. No hassles, nice sound.

I use an Adcom GFP-345 preamp which basically is a hefty power supply, 2 fancy Op-Amps and an Alps volume control. Very simple.

I have a Nakamichi PA-5 power amp, a licensed Nelson Pass design. Actually I have another one which will be used in an upcoming bi-amp system. I also have a bunch of other amps.

Speakers. KEF Calinda’s, KEF Reference 102’s, Altec Valencia’s, Rectilinear III’s, KLH’s, etc.

I mostly listen to Jazz these days but as befits my time at Tower Records my collection has everything in it.

And yes, I have been to England twice. Loved it. Wanted to stay, they wouldn’t let me.

Chris

[hard1175]

Welcome to AOS Chris

[southall-1998_mk2]

Howdy! Welcome to AOS.

Have fun.

S.

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Chris.

Nice introduction.

The Nelson Pass designs for Nakamichi are very well regarded, as were the early cassette machines.

Interesting to read you prefer cassette tape over vinyl; is it a matter of convenience or of sound quality? I have a couple of the later BX machines, used to make tapes for the car, but they are not used now. Before then I dabbled with reel-to-reel tape machines, but became an instant convert to cassette (using a Sony machine) when I realised I could achieve just as good results in sound quality more conveniently.

What brand tapes did you use?

Enjoy the Forum
Barry

[CRDM]

@Barry

“is it a matter of convenience or of sound quality?”

For any playback medium, you can make a list of all the things that have to to work right to get “Hi-Fi”.
With vinyl that list is huge. With tape it’s much, much less. With CD it’s few and with pure digital it’s almost none.
In the early 80’s when Dolby prerecorded cassettes became widely available, it was all over for me. The consistency problems went away then it was just a matter of money. For a normal amount, I could a deck that performed day to day better than the vast majority of turntables. For Nakamichi money, I could get performance as good or better than the best turntables with zero hassles and superior consistency.
I guess the answer is “consistency AND sound quality”.

Another thing is the improvement in power transistors has made it so easy to design and build a really good amplifier so that it is almost true to say that “all amps sound alike”. Peter Walker said essentially that a long time ago and proved it as did Bob Carver. It’s much easier now. I can hook up virtually any speaker to my PA-5’s and know that they won’t affect the sound because of the goofy load I’ve attached.

All we’re left with is speakers as a major variable.


“What brand tapes did you use?”
The major brands were all good but I was a Maxell man when I had Advent and Sony decks. When I started getting Naks, I switched to TDK because that is what they came set for and by that time I was too lazy to reset them to Maxell.
I know, I know the fancy decks will do it themselves but mostly I was playing prerecorded anyway.

Thanks,
Chris