There is no doubt that the absolute best “source” for reproduced music is analogue tape recorded on 10” reels at 15ips. The same analogue tape reel-to-reel recorders are also the absolute best way to record and capture music [concert recording].This is a fact not open for discussion and is responsible for the incredible resurgence in interest in Open Reel Analogue Tape Recorders.
The High End Audio industry has embraced and acknowledged this over the past 10 years.
Artist and Recording Engineer Kostas Metaxas has not only been aware of this since the mid 1980s, but in fact been using two portable heavily modified Swiss “Stellavox” portable tape recorders, manufactured in the mid 1980s to record over 300 concerts on analogue tape [www.metaxas.com/recordings.
“When I purchased my Stellavox SM8 and TD9 in 1986, they cost ~ $50K – the price of a suburban house in Melbourne, Australia. The same house today is ~ $1million. “Kostas’ work with Stellavox including some of his recordings on a DVD have been featured in a book on Stellavox by German writer Roland Schellin. Fueled by this recent interest, Kostas has decided to produce an entirely new tape machine based heavily on the portable Stellavox SM8 recorder which has even received the blessing of Stellavox founder Georges Quellet.
The Metaxas & Sins “T-RX” is a portable analogue tape machine designed for ultimate location recording and playback duties. Biased for either 468 or 911 1/4” analogue tape, it can operate only at 15ips [or switchable 30ips and 7.5ips] using 6 brushless DC motors using the absolute latest in hi-tech motor technology [Swiss Maxon] in partnership with the cutting edge in discrete single-ended circuits and NOS „Heads” from the 1960’s
In other words, it will be built like a large Swiss mechanical watch mechanism.The result is a “kinetic art object” which happens to record and play analogue tape. Mechanical beauty, harmony and musicality by Metaxas & Sins……totally hand made [Bespoke] in a very limited edition.
