United Home Audio Audiophile Quality Tape Decks
Awards for UHA tape decks
The Absolute Sound Magazine 40th Anniversary Edition
The Absolute Sound Magazine chooses THE UHA PHASE11 Tape Deck
as one of the top 100 most significant products of the last 40 years!
The July / August TAS magazine is the 40th Anniversary edition celebrating
fourty years of high end audio reporting. The magazine published a list of
the 100 of the most significant products of the last 40 years
and UHA is proud to be included in this most elite group.
The Absolute Sound Magazine
Issue 234
“Which audio products of the last 40 years or so have been the most significant, either by introducing
a technical innovation, influencing later designs, achieving great commercial success,
or establishing a new benchmark of performance? Below are the top 100 most significant products of the last
four – and – a – half decades as chosed by consensus of our writing team.”
Latest Awards:
UHA Phase12-OPS Tape Deck wins an Editors Choice Award for 2016!
The Absolute Sound Magazine March 2016, Issue 261
Given a truly high-quality tape, the UHA-HQ Phase12 is simply the highest-fidelity source component JV has heard: phenomenal bass, matchless dynamics, unrivaled resolution, astonishing transiet speed, and simply gorgeous tone color.
The UHA Phase12 wins
AVShowrooms.com
Product of the year award for 2015
The Part Time Audiophile
BEST OF 2015 AND PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Analog Tape:
Most Coveted Paul: I have next to nothing to play on a UHA deck, have no idea where I’d put it, and the price of quality blank 1/4” reel tape is scary by itself. But I still want one. Bad.
Scot: I got a few weeks to play with the entry-level UHA Phase tape deck and a handful of tapes, courtesy of tape evangelist Greg Beron. To be fair (to Greg), I’ve been arguing against the (apparent) absurdity of going back to tape for years. And for years, Greg has been wearing me down with demo after demo of his now-famous after-hours tape sessions at an audio show near you.
He was right; I was wrong.
With the right tapes, this is the best-sounding source available in high-end audio today. I may actually go get another job just to be able to save up for one of his magnificent machines.
New December 2014
The UHA Phase11 wins AV Showrooms Product of the Year for 2013
Award for ‘ANALOG SOURCES’ 2013 and 2012
“UHA’s Greg Beron is nothing if not persistent. Each year he further perfects his 15ips reel-to-reel tape player
(a highly modified Tascam unit), and each year his latest deck raises the bar on realism in stereo playback.
The most recent top-line version of the UHA-Q, the Phase9, is unquestionably Beron’s best yet. With the right sources
(i.e., select Tape Project tapes) it cannot be bettered by any other source, analog or digital.
The Absolute Sound March 2012 – Issue 221
Greg Beron of United Home Audio
wins the rare Harvey “Gizmo” Rosenberg award for 2012!
By David Robinson
December 2012
Greg, it is with great pleasure that I give you the Positive Feedback Online Gizmo Award for 2012!
This is a very rare award, only given to a single person per year. Our Gizmo Award is a memorial to our good friend and fellow audiomaniac, Harvey “Gizmo” Rosenberg. It is only given to a person whom I believe to have gone way about and beyond in their passionate pursuit of the audio arts. I adjudge that you have done so in your work with your Phasen series of RTR machines, and am therefore officially naming you as this year’s Gizmo Award winner!
For more on the Gizmo, see my comments 2012 GIZMO AWARD, all the way at the bottom of the page.
Note that I have not given this award at all since 2009, and missed some years before that. This is a unique award, and goes to you personally, not to your company or to a product.
This is for you.
Congratulations! This is a very rare recognition.
NEW! December 17, 2012
Positive Feedback Online
Issue 64
november / december 2012
My Brutus Awards for 2012
by David W. Robinson
Now here is a thing of beauty! Greg Beron’s superb United Home Audio Phase9 RTR machine paid me a visit for several months in 2012. Here you see it outfitted with another 2012 Brutus Award winner, the Reel-Tronix take-up reel (to the left above).
My earliest experience with audio was with RTR decks. In fact, my first stereo system was wrapped around my Sony TC-630, purchased as a junior in high school after working an evening job for nearly a year. I own two RTR decks now, and have two other loaners here at the moment…one a Mike Spitz ATR 102, while the other isn’t. So I have a real fondness for open reel. This means that when Greg Beron was willing to send a review sample of his Phase9 machine, I immediately jumped on the opportunity.
The Phase9 is based upon a radical re-working of the Tascam BR-20, a RTR machine with very good availability of parts…a major consideration with RTR decks… and with a number of proprietary (and expensive!) improvements or complete redesigns made to the underlying frame. Fiendish attention is paid to the quality of the parts used…especially capacitors…the circuitry and wiring, and the Unity9 preamp. This last has been advanced towards direct coupling by simplifying and purifying the circuitry of the preamp, allowing a more transparent transmission of the music on tape. Greg claims to have sunk a small fortune into product development and the testing of expensive components, which he has exhaustively tested by ear. He is circumspect about the parts used, but let’s just say that with the Phase9, you ain’t in Kansas (or Tascamland) anymore, Toto. (For a list of improvements in the Phase9, see the appropriate section.)
The sonic dividends are spectacular. I can cut to the chase right now and say that listening to the Phase9 was outstanding in every way. All tape functions worked smoothly, without a glitch. Using some sample tapes from The Tape Project (thanks Dan and Paul!), Yarlung Records (ditto Bob!), and Opus3 (you too, Jan-Eric!), I got a chance to hear 15ips half-track sound the way that it can and should. Excellent transparency, loads of detail, low noise floor, a tremendous sense of ease, dynamic punch when needed, and gobs of natural musicality.
So… what’s not to like? I really hated to pack this up and send it back to Greg… I grieved… but then again, he’s already working on the Phase11 for early 2013! I expect to see it sometime next year for a follow-up evaluation.
Exceptional stuff, and a 2012 Brutus Award winner, for sure.
UHA Phase11 Tape Deck with MBL
T.H.E. Show Newport 2013
MBL 111F Speakers and the new Corona preamp and monoblocks.
POSITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE AWARD!
Impressions: My Audio Oasis! Awards for THE Show Newport Beach, 2013
by David W. Robinson
No surprise here; once again MBL’s Jeremy Bryan hits a home room in his demo room. The setting was subdued… quite dark, in fact…
but it set the mood for the impressive system that I heard.
The United Home Audio Phase11 reel-to-reel deck with the very fine Reel-Tronix take-up reel in the MBL room… glorious to see and to hear!
Open reel playback was provided by the United Home Audio Phase11x RTR, which provided brilliant reproduction from
the selection of open reel tapes that were in play. I sat for quite a while, just soaking in the open reels.
The MBL Corona line acquitted itself very well, indeed! I found it hard to leave the room… always the sign that an Audio Oasis! Award was needed.
Done!
POSITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE
T.H.E Show – Newport 2013 – Part 2 (I through Z)
by Steve Lefkowicz
Sporting some of their “budget” equipment, MBL’s system came in just about $80,000. Some people’s idea of budget is certainly different from others. But don’t let the price fool you. This system is all MBL, and definitely sounds it. Once again playing a variety of music requested by the visitors to the room (and from reel to reel tape), this was easily one of the handful of rooms that could be considered among the best of the show.
Confessions of a Part Time Audiophile
by Scot Hull
RMAF12: United Home Audio brings the +5 Tape Deck of Awesomeness
Posted on October 22, 2012
I’ve had this argument before with United Home Audio‘s Greg Beron. Why “tape” — isn’t this just a pointless throwback? Totally redundant to good vinyl? I mean, seriously, why another analog source — isn’t everyone going to digital anyway? These are all great questions in large part because I was doing the asking, but Greg is like Buddha. He just gives me this serene little smile and puts on one of his one-off “back channel” master tapes of, say, The Who’s Tommy (played to a packed room Friday night), and all I’m left with is a steamy cup of STFU. Yes! Because — here’s the bottom line for you. Tape rules. Assuming you can get good tape, of course, which is the rub.
First, let me say that there are ever more places to buy these master-quality tapes (check some of those links to “argument”, above) and ever more vendors exploring the possibility of releasing some or all of their old catalogs this way. Of course, some of these things might mean shelling out $300 or more per album, but if you’re an ultraphile, there really isn’t an option that can touch them. These aren’t mixed or remastered — these are the masters. For the vast majority of music released before, what, 1980-ish, it’s all tape — and here, you’re listening to a copy of that very tape. It simply doesn’t get better than this in terms of playback — better is “live”. So, that’s what Greg’s little machine is bringing you — the ultimate source material played back on a beautifully worked as-new machine.
Tape has several advantages, apparently, and one obvious one is cost. The ultimate in vinyl playback puts $45 LPs on a $100,000+ turntable, arm, cartridge combo that you still need a phono preamplifier for. Here, Greg’s top-of-the-line tape machine, the UHA-HQ Phase 11PB deck, will drop your $300 analog tape onto a $22,000 machine — and it will sound better than that $100k+ vinyl rig. That’s the freakin’ definition of value, folks.
I’m not sure what’s holding me back, other than the fact that I’m nearly broke. Yeah. Hmm. Well, besides that, the only hangup for me is music — I want more. Greg smiles at me, again, as if to say “patience is rewarded”. Soon, grasshopper ….
Audio Matters
Saturday October 20, 2012
Lots of reel-to-reel players on display and in use throughout the weekend. if you think LP’s take effort to play, try loading tapes and selecting tracks in hurry. I did spend a really fun evening in the United Audio Room late on Friday listening to the complete three-tape presentation of The Who’s Tommy, played through impressive Von Schweikert VR44s and a prototype Jolida tube monoblocks that were eye-catching in white finish with blue lights. The ample supply of beer and wine clearly helped proceedings with a lively audience and air guitar flourishes, shouts of ‘yeah’ and various jerky body movements accompanied the Moon-driven rhythms and Townsend riffs. Late stayers were treated to a similar run through a tape of Sgt Pepper too. Not sure how late everyone stayed but I would love to have heard some of the music on hand that I know better but I never got to hear their tape of Kind of Blue. The sonics here suggested to me that with tape you hear enough into the recording to recognize the limits of The Who’s playing abilities back then – the rawness was all there. Good fun.
AUDIOPHILIA
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012
October 25, 2012
in Audiophilia Visits/Show Reports
by Anthony Kershaw
Von Schweikert VR 44 loudspeakers ($25K) with Jolida Luxor mono amplifiers ($8K) and UHA tape deck ($22K).
As usual, Mr. Schweikert was fastidious in his equipment matching. And the tape deck looked and sounded wonderful.
Picture by David Robinson
Eureka, all over again!
This was a combination that I had encountered at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2011. It had surprised me there…an audio ambush!
Not Von Schweikert Research, of course. I’ve had tons of experience with the VSR line since the days of the breakthrough VR-4 and VR-4 Silver back in the ’90s. I have personally reviewed them, owned some of them, and have heard most of the rest at shows for many years now.
Greg Beron of United Home Audio with his brilliant UHA RTR machine, outfitted with Reel-Tronix take-up (left reel).
No, what had surprised me was the combination of the VSR-44 speakers (a re-visiting of the classic VR-4) with the reasonably-priced over-performing Jolida tubed electronics, being fed by a United Home Audio reel-to-reel machine, spinning a pile of nice titles from The Tape Project, Opus3, and others.
Bruce Brown of Puget Sound Studios and Greg Beron of United Home Audio
I don’t have a complete system list for this room; this is what I do have.
System list:
Von Schweikert Research VR-44 loudspeakers, $22,000/pair passive; $25,000/active
Jolida Fusion preamplifier, $1099
Jolida JD 1000CRC Integrated Vacuum Tube Stereo Amplifier, 100 WPC, no price given
United Home Audio UHA-Q RTR machine; no information given on the model number; contact UHA for more information (audio@unitedhomeproducts.com).
Just like last October at RMAF 2011, the sound in this room was arresting: superior RTR recordings from The Tape Project, Opus3, and others. ¼” half-track tapes in abundance… unmistakable reference-grade elegance on the source side, of a certainty! Once you’ve spent some time with open reel tapes, you’re not easily fooled by so many of the digital standards that claim to be exceptional (all PCM, by the way), but are not.
A grand system: Jolida Fusion System Preamp and Fusion 200 WPC Monoblock Amps, Jolida Fusion 200 DAC Transport prototype,
Von Schweikert Audio VR-5 Anniversary loudspeakers, and United Home Audio UHA Phase 9 tape deck.
I have been following the Von Schweikert line for a very long time now. As a matter of fact, I’ve owned several of the VR speakers over the years (VR-4, VR-4 Silver, VR-6),
and have evaluated/reviewed several others (the very fine VR-9’s, and the VR-5’s).
Albert had the VR-5 Anniversary Edition on display; I was familiar with them, but I had not heard them with Jolida electronics before.
The results with the United Home Audio UHA Phase9 open reel tape deck and the Jolida Fusion preamp and monoblocks were really impressive.
There is always something very special about open reel tapes… this is where I started in audio, while still in high school…
and the overall effect was smooth, richly harmonic, dynamic, and commendably transparent.
(I have to admit that I am completely unfamiliar with this company and this tape deck, and had no time to dig in on it while at RMAF 2011.)
I sat there for a while, just soaking in the music. It was so good that I forgot to check the titles of the classical recordings that we were listening to!
The VR-5 AE’s were providing rich, involving sound, with little to fault in terms of musical values. Reasonably compact speakers…
but full-range performance! This is the real thing, amigos…Albert Von Schweikert and company have produced a real marvel here.
I’m going to have to look into Jolida… that’s a lot of bang for the audio buck!
And I guess that I really should see if United Home Audio is interested in a review of their Phase9 sometime, eh?
Jolida Fusion preamp: $1099
Jolida Fusion monoblock amps: $6000/pair
Von Schweikert Research VR-5 Anniversary Edition loudspeakers: $27,000
United Home Audio UHA Phase9 tape deck: $17,000
Anything that gives me such a an exceptionally pleasant, relaxing audio experience at RMAF rates an Audio Oasis! Award in my book…done!
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2011
United Home Audio new Phase9 tape deck
Jolida’s new Fusion 211 tube monoblocks and Fusion Preamp
Von Schweikert VR-5 Anniversary MK2 speakers
Celtic Silver Pendragon Cables
(Photo from TAS web site taken by Jonathan Valin)
If you would like to see more and larger photographs of many of the loudspeakers reviewed, go to:
http://jlvalin.zenfolio.com/p980229970.
The VTL room included mastering engineer Piper Payne playing some of the Tape Project’s reels,
which, more often than not, sounded dynamic and translucent via Luke Manley and Bea Lam’s imposing Siegfried II monoblocks,
which are priced at $65,000 a pair, along with the $20,000 7.5 Series III preamplifier.Tape was also featured at Alon Wolf’s Magico Q1 demo.
The Nagra tape machine fed the $25,000 Q1, which sounded smashing—exceedingly nimble and transparent.
But the most memorable cut for me was listening to Lee Morgan’s “The Sidewinder” at United Home Audio’s room
on a $17,000 Phase9 Tascam machine, which boasts, among other things, capacitors with silk as the dielectric.
It sounded amazing.
The “Sidewinder” recording, which Morgan cut for Blue Note, was a surprise bestseller in 1964 and features some of his
most sizzling playing. I was quite smitten with the $6000 200-watt Fusion monoblocks that Michael Allen,
head of Jolida, Inc., has developed and based on the venerable 211 power output tube.
Posted by: Jonathan Valin at 2:02 pm, October 19th, 2011
Jonathan Valins RMAF 2011 report
From MBL I went down to the second floor and heard the $30k Von Schweikert VR5 Anniversary multiway floorstanders,
driven by Jolida electronics and sourced by Greg Beron’s UHA Phase 9 reel-to-reel 15ips tape deck.
The sound was excellent.
Tonality, spaciousness, dynamics—all first-rate. Of course, in a way this room was unfair.
Greg was playing back Tape Project mastertapes, including a freshly minted Beethoven Ninth,
and when they’re good those tapes are hard to beat.
Jonathan Valin’s Best in Show
Best Sound (over $40k)
Vandersteen 7 (with ARC Ref 250 amp)
Runners-up:
Lansche 5.1, Cessaro Affascinate I SE,
YG Acoustic Kipod II Signature (with Esoteric electronics),
Vandersteen 7 (with Aesthetix electronics)
Best Sound (under $40k)?
Audio Physic Avanteras
Runners-Up:
Magico Q1 (on Sunday),
Wilson Audio Sashas (with D’Agostino Momentum amp and McGrath tapes),
Coincident Speaker Technology Pure Reference Extremes,
Von Schweikert VR5 Anniversary (with The Tape Project tapes),
Schimmel Voxativ Ampeggio
Greatest Bargains
Trigon Elektronik “Energy” integrated amp, Synergistic Research “The Music Cable”
Most Significant Product Introduction?
Audio Research Reference 250,
Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement moving-coil cartridge
Runners-Up:
Schimmel Voxativ Ampeggio loudspeaker,
Synergistic Research “The Music Cable” and Enigma II power supply,
Clearaudio Master Innovation turntable,
UHA-Q Phase 9 reel-to-reel tape deck.
A grand system: Jolida Fusion System Preamp and Fusion 200 WPC Monoblock Amps, Jolida Fusion 200 DAC Transport prototype,
Von Schweikert Audio VR-5 Anniversary loudspeakers, and United Home Audio UHA Phase 9 tape deck.
I have been following the Von Schweikert line for a very long time now. As a matter of fact, I’ve owned several of the VR speakers over the years (VR-4, VR-4 Silver, VR-6),
and have evaluated/reviewed several others (the very fine VR-9’s, and the VR-5’s).
Albert had the VR-5 Anniversary Edition on display; I was familiar with them, but I had not heard them with Jolida electronics before.
The results with the United Home Audio UHA Phase9 open reel tape deck and the Jolida Fusion preamp and monoblocks were really impressive.
There is always something very special about open reel tapes… this is where I started in audio, while still in high school…
and the overall effect was smooth, richly harmonic, dynamic, and commendably transparent.
(I have to admit that I am completely unfamiliar with this company and this tape deck, and had no time to dig in on it while at RMAF 2011.)
I sat there for a while, just soaking in the music. It was so good that I forgot to check the titles of the classical recordings that we were listening to!
The VR-5 AE’s were providing rich, involving sound, with little to fault in terms of musical values. Reasonably compact speakers…
but full-range performance! This is the real thing, amigos…Albert Von Schweikert and company have produced a real marvel here.
I’m going to have to look into Jolida… that’s a lot of bang for the audio buck!
And I guess that I really should see if United Home Audio is interested in a review of their Phase9 sometime, eh?
Jolida Fusion preamp: $1099
Jolida Fusion monoblock amps: $6000/pair
Von Schweikert Research VR-5 Anniversary Edition loudspeakers: $27,000
United Home Audio UHA Phase9 tape deck: $17,000
Anything that gives me such a an exceptionally pleasant, relaxing audio experience at RMAF rates an Audio Oasis! Award in my book…done!
The Absolute Sound’s Golden Ear Awards
is the annual feature in which
our staff and freelance writers choose those components that stand
out from the competition. Some of these components are long-time
references that have withstood the test of time. Others are newfound
favorites that are destined to become classics. In either case, the
products selected for a Golden Ear Award are special, indeed.
Unlike our Editors’ Choice Awards—a compendium of every product we
recommend, chosen by consensus of the senior editorial staff—Golden
Ear Awards allow each writer to express his individual views on which
components he thinks are truly great, and why. The diversity of products
selected here reflects not just the industry at large, but also each writer’s
quest for the absolute sound. —Robert Harley
You’ve been reading quite a bit about the UHA-HQ decks:
1.) You’ve read The Absolute Sound Magazine review.
2.) Heard about The Tape Project Seminar by Paul Stubblebine at UHA.
3.) Seen the Golden Ear Award in The Absolute Sound Magazine.
4.) Read about the “Best Source Component of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009”.
Now it’s time for an audition!
We provide the ability to listen to our decks 6 days a week at UHA.
Buy with confidence, at UHA we actually invite you to listen before you buy.
Read the customer feedback!
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United Home Audio Audiophile Quality Tape Decks
