Running 'Old Faithful' through the ATS-1 ...
- Thread starter BlazeES
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
- Messages
- 74,890
- Location
- Gillette, Wyo.
- Tagline
- Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
Dave Denyer to Audiophile.ONLINE
7 hrs ·
Tape operating level aka ‘reference fluxivity’: what’s it all about (and why should you care)?
I actually started looking into this several months ago but it’s taken me until now to get my thoughts into enough of a semblance of order to write something vaguely coherent!
Why? Well, it turns out that reference fluxivity is a veritable curate’s egg, a can of worms… a seemingly simple concept and yet the more you research it, the more variables, differing terms, different units of measurement and contrasting yet strongly held beliefs you find.
And, as I eventually worked out, some of these beliefs are simply wrong.
Others, meanwhile, are just different opinions and preferences.
Some people consider tape operating levels to be all-important while others take little notice of them. Of those in the former camp, some support a view of ‘the higher the level, the better’ whereas others stick resolutely to decades-old standards.
As for me, my starting point was when Ed Pong of UltraAnalogue Records brought it to my attention, and so off I went exploring (as ramblers tend to).
If you're feeling brave, do please read the full article:
https://thereeltoreelrambler.com/…/tape-operating-level-ak…/
3
The flux density of the operating level is the standard your deck is set up for and you can not use the wrong one. Teac uses a Dolby MTT150 tape that is 200nWb/M flux density and on VU meters it is +3Vu and on Peak meters it is 0 dB. People that go and use random levels and I have caught some so called well known Technicians doing as they please making calibration a total mess. This guy is in BC and I just heard from another buyer of a 48 that sold that did not even work right- be careful when buying machines as a pretty face on a FB page might be all that you actually get.
Why should you care about Flux Density on a tape deck? Well you don't have to the Technician who sets up your deck needs to care. Once you have a well adjusted machine back from a shop it should be ready to use. The sad fact is that even some places that charge a lot to work on a machine do a sloppy job as I am finding out from E mails from their customers. This one is in NY.
You can read articles by people who only write to read their own garbage but the Technician knows why they use 200nWb/M flux rather than 250 or higher levels. The fact that the sweep of the recording of a deck is not done by some or even the frequency limits tested tell me that these 250nWb/M guys never see what they are doing to the overall bandwidth of a deck as they do not test it. I find that to be hack work if not just downright irresponsible.
Just for those that do not know, there is a company in Florida called Marlin P Jones and associates. They sell many adapters and I buy some from them as well as many other products like heat shrink and so on. https://www.mpja.com/
BNC to RCA are adapters I must have ordered 40 or so-
https://www.mpja.com/BNC-Type-Connector-Female-to-RCA-Male-Adapter/productinfo/20548+RC/
Since I make my own test set cables using RG6 the Digital TV cable good for 3GHz, I terminate them with F connector the weather resistant ones and in that case I use these that work very well-
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=4130
BNC to RCA are adapters I must have ordered 40 or so-
https://www.mpja.com/BNC-Type-Connector-Female-to-RCA-Male-Adapter/productinfo/20548+RC/
Since I make my own test set cables using RG6 the Digital TV cable good for 3GHz, I terminate them with F connector the weather resistant ones and in that case I use these that work very well-
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=4130