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RS-1500 Tape Deck

The Tape Project was founded to bring “master tape sound”  right into the living room. Each available release is recorded onto 1/4″ half track analog reel-to-reel tape at 15 inches per second. The Tape Project claims, “You just aren’t going to get any closer to the original master, short of buying a record label or two.” The process begins by creating a 1″ duplication master from the original analog master tape, which is then dubbed to a bank of finely tweaked Ampex ATR-100 decks. The final result is the highest-quality “home format” analog copy available.

Dan Schmalle is the brains behind The Tape Project, and also happens to be the drive behind Bottlehead Corp, who fabricate a range of tube amplifiers and modifies tape decks with the CCIR/IEC1 playback equalization needed to play these tapes. The project gurus suggest coupling your modified RS-1500 tape deck with the $4000 Bottlehead Repro tape preamplifier, along with any high-end audiophile amplifier and speakers you have lurking in your home’s listening room.