Need opinion on copying Q8's to RR

[chevis]

I have an Akai unit for my quad tapes and wanting to go shopping for a good reel to reel.What is a good unit to do this with?I'm leaning towards Teac but the last time I ventured onto this,I tended not to buy but was going to go for the top of the line Akai that usually sells for around $600 or so on eBay,,,when you can find one anyway.

 

[JonUrban]

Either the TEAC or AKAI are the top choices, although there are some fine machines made by Dokoder and a few others.

The AKAI machines with the Glass Ferrite Heads are particularly sought after, the GX-630D-SS being the top of the line.

 

[chevis]

So you'd say the GX-630D-SS would be a good choice then?I see them sell off and on at our favorite auction site ePay

 

[mtgc]

I own four Teac units, the A2300SD which is two channel Dolby and which I use to transfer two channel masters to 4 channel sound via a Fisher CAV-875 audio processor, along with a 3340, a 3440 and a 2340R. I own three Akai units, a 1730-SS, a 1730D-SS and a 1800D-SS. All of my Teac machines have been worked over and renovated by the fine folks at Audio Alternatives. I am very satisfied with all my reel to reel units. I also own three Akai CR80D-SS 8 track record/playback units and a Dokorder MC70A playback only unit. All these 8-track units are 4 channel. And finally, I own a Lafayette RK-890A 8-track stereo tape unit.
I would venture an opinion that any Teac unit is worth investing in, again, if the price is right. My Akai units all have been redone, again by the fine folks at Audio Alternatives.
Good luck in your search. Once you get a good reel to reel unit, you also will be hooked.

MTGC (Michael)

 

[mtgc]

I have dubbed a lot of 8-track cartridges to reel to reel, both stereo 8 tracks to 4 channel sound via the Fisher CAV-875 and quad 8 tracks directly to one of my quad Teacs. I set the record speed on the Teac at 7 1/2 ips and feed the 8 tracks through a DBX noise reduction system then into the Teac reel to reel. I find this procedure to be fine, and the signal loss from the 8-tracks to the reel to reel tapes is, in most cases, unnoticeable.
I am trying to find a 4-channel dolby encoder, but so far have been unsuccesful. By the way, if any of the fine board members have any opinions about DBX versus Dolby, I am very interested in hearing said opinions.

Thanks again,

MTGC (Michael)

 

[Bill Brent]

my unit of choice it the top of the line AKAI (the GX-400-DSS) - I have a few teacs but the AKAI line remains my favorite. - expect to pay well over 1k for that particular model - but the gx280dss will do the job as well - and they're around 200

 

[GBster]

I used to back up my Q8s to my Akai GX-280D-SS but notice a dulling of the sound. Then I got a Zappa reel that I needed to back up but didn't want to get another reel to reel. So I pulled out my sony PCM-501 PCM processor hooked to a HIFI VCR and used the PCM video signal for the rears and the fronts on the HIFI sound tracks and the sound is much better than any reel copy. I now have multiple sony PCM-501/701s to back up all my Quad material from Q8s, Reel, and DTS, DVD audio. Now the HIFI sound track does not fully preserve the DVD audio discs, but it does for the Q8s and reels. Using the mixing features of the Akai sent to the PCM/HIFI deck I can make 2 or even 6 hour mix tapes of my favorite tracks. The sony units are cheap on ebay and I got two more for the price of a good 5.1 switch box. So I have three HIFI VCRs hooked to each of my quad sources, and I can back up Q8s/Reels while listening to other Quad sources. Sony models available are PCM-501, 601, and 701. I also got one for a freind so I can bring down some mix tapes to listen on his Quad garage setup. He has a combo VCR/DVD player so he can listen to my next step which is to buy a DVD recorder and use it's stereo sound track for the fronts, and recording the PCM rears on the DVD video. Oh, and recording/playback is much easier and cheaper than a reel. I've termed it "Quideo".

 

[SoNic]

I would say that one of the Lynx2 model A or M-Audio Delta44 or even E-MU 1820M (Creative) PC soundcards (all with minimum 4 line inputs) would be the best aproach.
By the way, what's the maximum bandwith of those Q8 tapes? Based on the speed I would guess something like 20kHz, so a 48kHz sampling rate wold be ok and 96kHz would do just fine.

 

[mtgc]

As I understand it, 8 track tapes, be they quad or stereo, pretty much have a top limit of around 14 to 15 khz maximum. I set my reel to reel on 71/2 ips and use DBX encoding for 8 track to reel to reel transfers.
Hope this helps,

MTGC (Michael)

 

[SoNic]

Yeah, the 7 1/2 speed is double as the one of Q8 so should be fine
I was thinking that the Q8 could do at least 18kHz based on the tape speed but I don't know exactly. You might be right.