wmartin (10/21/82)
I am soliciting comments and suggestions regarding add-on tape switching units, to be used with a Hafler preamp. Though I have been looking at literature on such devices for some years now, I have never bought one. My reasons have been: 1) Unsure if a particular product will perform the functions I want. 2) Wariness about the internal quality, both the sonic effects of the switches used and the reliability over years of use. 3) Cost considerations; my total cost will not only be the cost of the unit, but the added cost of at least one more set of high-quality cables to connect it (I use a mix of Fultons, Audio-Technica 620's, and a few other brands). What I want to do is hook up two reel-to-reel decks and two cassette decks, so that I can dub between any of these, or play a tape on any to be listened to via the Hafler. That part is simple; many units would do that. My problem is that I have an add-on Dolby unit (Teac AN-180) which I want to use with either of the reel-to-reel decks without reconfiguring cabling. Both cassette decks have built-in Dolby; I do not want their signals processed by the Dolby unit. I only want the Dolby box inserted into the signal path (both ways) for which ever reel-to-reel unit I choose at the moment. The only thing I ever saw advertised which might do what I want was a switching matrix device made by (I think) a company called "Niles" (my info is at home, sorry). Anybody ever have one of these, or anything else which would do what I want? I solicit reviews or evaluations, especially in regard to sonic quality and reliability. I did have the Hafler's tape switch bank replaced (under warranty, luckily) after it failed mechanically. I accept its level of sonic effect, but, after investing in fancy cables, hesitate to introduce low-quality switching to interconnect all the expensive cabling. It may be that I cannot find a switch box which will do what I want with the single Dolby unit. I would consider buying a second Dolby box for the other reel-to-reel machine. I would be even more interested in a signal-processing box which would have Dolby AND dbx processing in the same unit, so that I can use it to play existing Dolbyized tapes or make new ones, and also begin making and playing dbx-encoded tapes (if it decoded dbx discs, that would be an added benefit, but that isn't important, as I have no dbx-encoded discs now). However, I know of no such combination unit. Add-on signal-processing for tape is pretty sparse now, with the relative decline of open-reel and ascendancy of cassette machines, which have all the processing built-in. There is a lot of professional processing gear, but consumer-level devices are few and far between. Used gear is a possibility, but raises issues of repair and calibration I'd avoid unless absolutely necessary. Anyhow, comments and discussions encouraged on these and related topics. Regards, Will Martin USENET = ...!decvax!brl-bmd!wmartin ARPANET = WMartin@Office-8