7 1/2 ips quarter track stereo or 3 3/4 ips half track stereo for quality?

100LL

100LL

Member
What do you reckon makes a higher fidelity recording between 2 track stereo at 3.75 ips and 4 track stereo at 7.5 ips?

Just a matter of curiosity as I learn more about the mag tape medium. Since these two settings consume the same amount of 1/4” tape in theory, I wonder if one has the edge over the other and what would be the main differences on sound reproduction.
 
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Speed trumps area when it comes to tape I think. I suspect the amount of magnetic material isn't as important as the ability to record the bias properly, and rate past the head is more important there. Higher tape speed means lower effective signal change rate in the magnetic medium. Magnetic tape loses response at high frequencies.
 
yeah, the speed sounds better. My old Sony is a half track recorder but will play half or quarter track. I have a few things in 7.5 quarter track and I've made things in 3.75 half track. The 7.5 quarter sounds better. 7.5 half sounds even better than quarter track but its not as much of an improvement as the speed change. Mostly its a signal to noise level improvement, the frequency response doesn't change.
 
Another advantage of higher speeds-drop outs, if present, will last half as long. W/F will be lower as well.
 
100LL said:
saving me from the desire to hunt for a 2 track machine.
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Without a two track machine you won't be able to play those recent releases that sell for a few hundred for one tape. Must be part of the reason my machines are quarter track stereo machines. I could change the head block on the Crown for 2 track use, though if I had the block. But those are harder/
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Higher speeds, fewer dropouts. 1/2 track better S/N Ratio.
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+1 for @KentTeffeteller comments.

Then you will take another really nice jump when you go from 7.5 ips half track to 15 ips half track on 1/4 inch tape. So each track takes up a bit less than half the tape width.

15 ips half track on 1/2 inch tape is then next jump up. 30 ips has better top end frequency response but loses a bit in the bottom end.
 
yea I couldn’t stomach the tape costs on 1/2 track stereo at 7.5, but I am starting my open reel recording journey at 7.5 ips on the quarter track. Sounds great to me, but I don’t have much of an experience base to compare.
 
The ideal would be a machine that you could do half or quarter track on but I don't know if that exists. My Sony will play either format but it records only in half track.
 
I think most use tape for the fun factor?

The performance of tape at 7.5ips is much better than 3.75 but both are easily outperformed by recording digitally. Not to mention digital is much, much cheaper and a more stable medium. If you are going to go through the expense and hassle of capturing your tracks on tape I would use 15ips. This speed will give a digital capture a run for the money when it comes to accuracy yet also provide that analog tape playback quality some of us like. Yes, it is expensive but I would not waste my time with anything slower.

The -10db reference level on 7.5ips speed and below is not a minor reduction IMHO.
 
stoutblock said:
The performance of tape at 7.5ips is much better than 3.75 but both are easily outperformed by recording digitally. Not to mention digital is much, much cheaper and a more stable medium.
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I read the question as 7.5 ips 1/4 track vs. 3.75 ips 1/2 track. That's quite specific, and wholly concerned with analogue.
 
4 track stereo at 7.5 ips is better. There can be a bit crosstalk from other side, but with properly aligned (and good, like Revox) head it is minimal and better crosstalk than lack of highs at 3,75 ips. Satisfactory recording at 3,75 ips I got only with Otari MTR-15 with Dolby HX-Pro and modern tapes (like SM-911, LPR-35). Without HX-Pro at recording 3,75 ips is dead format for music. 7,5ips is OK even without HX-Pro, because you can get up to 20khz (+-1db) at -20db, depending on machine of course and in music recordings commonly there are no 16-20khz above -20db and 14-15khz above -10db.
 
100LL said:
What do you reckon makes a higher fidelity recording between 2 track stereo at 3.75 ips and 4 track stereo at 7.5 ips?

Just a matter of curiosity as I learn more about the mag tape medium. Since these two settings consume the same amount of 1/4” tape in theory, I wonder if one has the edge over the other and what would be the main differences on sound reproduction.
Click to expand...

7.5 ips. A very good deck has not too much problem with HF at 3.75, but W&F suffers quite a bit and there’s no way around it really. 2-track at 7.5ips is really sweet however, it’s worth owning a deck that can do this imo…
 
It all depends on the quality of the deck. But remember this at 7.5 ips specs are measured at -10 db to prevent tape saturation. at 3.75 ips the specs are measured at -20 db to prevent tape saturation. Now that said I found some decks did very well at 3.75 even at -10db with high quality Maxell UD and XL series back coated tapes. Tandberg machines did very well as did Revox A-77 MKIV with Dolby noise reduction. I always used 2 track machines but they were all 7.5/15 ips machines using either external Dolby B or DBX Decilinear noise reduction. Technics machines with the closed loop did well, too. Pioneer machines performing well didn't match up at all with the better machines. The secret is the tape you use. As I gave up on tape machines a long time ago I have no clue as to who makes great tape anymore. All my tapes have been mixed and dubbed to CD.
 
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