Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009 NEWS:
Jonathan Valin from
The Absolute Sound gives
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009
“Best Source Component Award”
to
The UHA-HQ Reel to Reel Deck!
Jonathan Valin’s
Best Sound of Show:
Vandersteen Model 7, with the Nola Baby Grand Reference, the MBL 111F,
The Nordic Tone, the Lotus Group Granada,
the Anat Reference II (Parish room only), and the GamuT S-9 runners-up
Best Introduction (or Speaker I Hadn’t Heard or Don’t Remember Hearing Before):
Lotus Group Granada, The Nordic Tone, the Haniwa HSP2H07 (tie)
Best Source Component:
The UHA-HQ 15ips 2-track tape deck from United Home Audio ($10k)
and Tape Project tapes in the Nola room.
Best Bargain:
Well…in my neck of the woods a bargain ain’t exactly a bargain,
but I did hear Odyssey Khartagos sounding mighty damn sweet in somebody’s room
Biggest Improvement Over Previous Shows:
Focal Grande Utopia and Vivid G1 Giya (tie)
Biggest Improvement During the Show:
Wilson Sasha W/P
_________________________________________
TAS, avguide.com web site forum postings:
_______________________________
Rex (not verified) — Tue, 10/06/2009 – 17:40
Jonathan,
How did the Nola Baby Grands perform when fed by your personal CDs?
Did they even have a CD player set up?
Regards,
Rex
____________________________________
Jonathan Valin — Wed, 10/07/2009 – 01:27
Rex,
To tell you the truth I was so entranced by the sound
of the tapes I don’t know if Carl had a CD player.
Jon
Jonathan Valin’s blog on The Absolute Sound web site.
The Ultimate Source Component?
Well, now, looky here what Jonny’s got!
Yup. The very item I (and a lot of other folks) called the best source component at RMAF
(and would’ve named the best source component at CES, if we’d given an award for best source component at CES)–
United Home Audio’s cherry-red UHA-HQ Tascam 15 ips, two-track, analog tape deck–
is now sitting right next to the best source component
I’ve (yet) heard in my system, the Walker Proscenium Black Diamond Mk II record player.
It’s been a long, long, long time since TAS reviewed a reel-to-reel tape deck, and I’m not sure we’ve ever reviewed 15 ips, two-track, first-generation dubs of gen-u-ine mastertapes. But thanks to Greg Beron of United Home Audio, Carl Marchisotta of Nola Speakers, and Paul Stubblebine of The Tape Project that is about to change.
You can read about UHA’s fabulous tape machines at www.unitedhomeproducts.com/reel_to_reel_hq_tape_decks.htm. (The one I’ve got is a “Level 5” deck, I think.) And you can read all about The Tape Project’s fabulous catalog of 15 ips. two-track, reel-to-reel first-generation dubs of mastertapes–which includes little numbers like Bill Evans’ Waltz for Debby, Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus, Thelonius Monk’s Brilliant Corners, Linda Rondstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel, The Band’s Stage Fright, David Oistrakh (with Horenstein and the LSO) performing the Hindemith Violin Concerto, and Reference Recordings’ Nojima Plays Lizst, among other heavyweights–at www.tapeproject.com/catalog/catalog.htm.
It’s almost too much for a poor boy to handle!
Greg will be arriving this Friday to give me a refresher course on tape recorders and tape recordings. Several of The Tape Project tapes should arrive on Thursday, with more slated for the coming months. As soon as I can I will post a picture of the Tascam lit up and in action. And as soon as I am able I’ll begin to blog in detail about the Tascam, how to use it, and how it sounds. Until then, I’ll just be sitting in front of it, drooling.
We all like talking about the sound of mastertapes–and guessing about how closer our systems take us via records and CDs and SACDs to their sound. Now, finally, after forty years of guessing, I will be in a position to actually tell you (and tell myself) if Turntable A or CD Player B is, indeed, coming closer to the sound of the mastertape! What an extraordinary treat!
Another blog on The Absolute Sound web site.
“and fed by the best sources I’ve heard—the Walker Proscenium Black Diamond Mk II record
player with Da Vinci Reference Grandezza Mk II cartridge and the
“Level 5” United Home Audio TASCAM 15ips, two-track tape deck playing back fabulous
second-generation mastertapes from The Tape Project.”
Picture Jonathan took in his house.
