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Looking to buy a R&R machine...

The Tandberg is superb.
Yes Agree Jez I have heard Ali's TD20A and its also superb and a nice looking deck as well
Their Cassette decks are also supposed to be very good as well so I bought a Tandberg TCD 440A but it needs a complete overall to get it working properly

Alan
 
Thanks Ali - looking at an SE version of that Tandberg one (with Dynex) based in Europe. Obviously the p&p is the big risk. If I was buying a model in the UK, I'd be going round to pick it up.

Quite sure the SE will be very nice, but don’t discount the quarter track machines, they are more useful as a home recorder as you get twice the recording time on each tape. My Tandberg only does 7.5 ips, but sounds great nonetheless. Not heard an SE but it’s hard to imagine it would be much better than the normal version.
 
As an aside, the best sound I’ve heard in my system at home was from the Tandberg- a recording of some acoustic stuff from Sky Arts HD, just stunningly good. The series was called Songbook, keep an eye out for it, fantastic sounds.
 
Yes Agree Jez I have heard Ali's TD20A and its also superb and a nice looking deck as well
Their Cassette decks are also supposed to be very good as well so I bought a Tandberg TCD 440A but it needs a complete overall to get it working properly

Alan

They are indeed very good. I have 2 TCD440A's, one in good working order and which I fitted a new belt kit to and the other blows a fuse at switch on... I can't be arsed to fix it...
Also have a TCD320A (2 head) which is very good.
Oh and a NEAL 103 which is at least as good as the TCD440A believe it or not!

The only time I've used cassette in over 20 years was to test the good TCD440A when I was thinking of selling it a year or so ago...
 
Quite sure the SE will be very nice, but don’t discount the quarter track machines, they are more useful as a home recorder as you get twice the recording time on each tape. My Tandberg only does 7.5 ips, but sounds great nonetheless. Not heard an SE but it’s hard to imagine it would be much better than the normal version.

One of the reasons for wanting a 15ips version is that a friend has a couple of the 'Tape Project' and 'Chasing the Dragon' reels, which run at that speed. I'm curious about these, even though they are stupidly pricey.
 
Just when I was getting out of R 2 R....you had to show those pictures...damn you!
My big reel machine is now gone and I have left two 7 inch machines, an Akai 4000DS and a Tandberg something or other. It needs some recaps and it has sat in storeage a few years....
Oh they are so gorgeous but I have no use for them any more.
 
Edit: blimey said:
R2R machine prices have firmed up significantly in the last 3-4 years. I have heard rumours that one or two chinese companies are buying up all of the old Studer A80s etc to make massive tape farms, for tape duplication.

To give you an idea of the price hike, my 2 Sony APR 5000 series machines cost me £450 and £600 back in 2016. They now go for £2000-3000.
 
One of the reasons for wanting a 15ips version is that a friend has a couple of the 'Tape Project' and 'Chasing the Dragon' reels, which run at that speed. I'm curious about these, even though they are stupidly pricey.

Ah well that’s a good enough reason to get one lol, love to hear some of those tapes.
 
Ah well that’s a good enough reason to get one lol, love to hear some of those tapes.

The irony is I'm wanting to sell my digital set-up (NVA TFS - a machine you know well) to buy this R2R machine...

Truth is, I just engage with legacy equipment much more than streamers & DACS. I suspect my age comes into play :)
 
Truth is, I just engage with legacy equipment much more than streamers & DACS. I suspect my age comes into play :)

Me too I have a really excellent Digital system but I would rather record a playlist onto tape and just listen to it over and over :D
Ive been listening to Herby Hancocks "River, the Joni letters" and played it to death but its an excellent album
Alan
 
So...anybody got anything that they would like to move on?
The best and cheapest way to start is to look for a Revox A77, being the oldest consumer model they started showing their age a few years ago with the frako, Rifa and tantalum capacitors failing so people just wanted to move them on. so if you are interested in a project look for one of them but you would have to be prepared to do a full recap to be sure its reliable. Think that Jez Arkless has one for sale but Im not sure of its condition
The thing is the A77 is a 10.5" reel model but because of its simple discrete circuitry it actually sounds very good when serviced.
Alan
 
The best and cheapest way to start is to look for a Revox A77, being the oldest consumer model they started showing their age a few years ago with the frako, Rifa and tantalum capacitors failing so people just wanted to move them on. so if you are interested in a project look for one of them but you would have to be prepared to do a full recap to be sure its reliable. Think that Jez Arkless has one for sale but Im not sure of its condition
The thing is the A77 is a 10.5" reel model but because of its simple discrete circuitry it actually sounds very good when serviced.
Alan

Hi Alan - I'm looking at various B77s and PR99s at the moment. Hopefully a half-decent one will show up...
 
The best and cheapest way to start is to look for a Revox A77, being the oldest consumer model they started showing their age a few years ago with the frako, Rifa and tantalum capacitors failing so people just wanted to move them on. so if you are interested in a project look for one of them but you would have to be prepared to do a full recap to be sure its reliable. Think that Jez Arkless has one for sale but Im not sure of its condition
The thing is the A77 is a 10.5" reel model but because of its simple discrete circuitry it actually sounds very good when serviced.
Alan

It's more one as a parts donor really.... but could be saved with some effort I guess.
 
Hi Alan - I'm looking at various B77s and PR99s at the moment. Hopefully a half-decent one will show up...
Theo I have to say that I much prefer the B77 and PR99 machines over the A77 and once the they have a full service they make a very fine machine indeed with an excellent sound quality
Here is a 4 track machine Ive restored recently and its a great machine



Alan
 
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pick up a couple of them, one with decent heads and you can make one good machine with some spare parts
Alan

It's got decent heads, motors etc etc... The issue is that it appears to have been vandalised by applying way too much force to the rotary controls! All the controls just go round and round with no click stops or end stops..... if you mess about with it for a while you can find the right positions by trial and error and it then does actually play fine so I guess the actual contacts are intact. It's as if some sort of "ball detent" mechanism is missing from them all...
The case is scruffy it has to be said.
 
Buy the best machine you can afford - you could spend a small fortune trying to get a dodgy machine back in good order. 15IPS 2 tr machine prices have gone mental in the last 2-3 years. Personally I would now go for a refurbished Telefunken like a M21 or M15 from Hilpert in Germany. Euro 2300 buys you a restored fully working machine; Hilpert were and still are the German service agents for Telefunken, which were the workhorse in German radio stations.

http://www.hilpert-audio.de/audio/index_e.php?site=geraete&inhalt=geraete/e_geraete_aeg_m20.htm

Buy a poor R2R machine with knackered heads, and you could spend £500 plus labour just to get things sorted.

Charlie
PS the machine is the cheap bit, if you want to listen to 15 IPS 2 tr "masters"
 
If your treasured 15 IPS tapes get trashed by a machine with worn heads and tape guides, it's akin to taking a worn stylus to a test pressing of a Beatles/Led Zeppelin/Stones album and trashing the LP. If you let the tape guides accumulates crud, they can shave thin slivers off the edge of your tapes, as you FF or REW.
 


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