Dreams do sometimes come true, My New R2R's

[gamve]

Guys,
Have been fortunate enough to find a couple of dream decks that should end my search for tape nirvana. The decks came up recently and I could not pass them up. They may be old but with 950 hours on one deck and 430 on the other they are close enough to new in my book. I'm a happy as a pig in s**t. One deck is here (and it is brilliant) and the other is on the way shortly.

 

[Elite-ist]

Hi Graham,

Long time no hear. You will have to let us know more about your Studer. Is the other a Studer, as well?

Nando.

 

[rtp_burnsville]

Hi,

Very nice looking deck...... You know when you have more than one deck they populate like rabbits! Ha, at least that is what has happened to me.

Robert

 

[speakerman1]

Graham has some nice decks. Cassette and R2R. Dude are you almost to audio Nirvana yet?

Larry

 

[gamve]

Both decks are ex BBC UK. The one I have now was supplied to the BBC with no metering as it was run through a desk. The second deck is the full monty with a meter bridge.
The models are Studer A 80 RC MkII Master Recorder 1/4" 2 track. Both machines are fitted with the 316 butterfly heads. The heads on the non meter bridge model (950 hours) look to be in very good condition, so I'm expecting the other machine to be even better. The deck has magnificent tape handling. There are no tape lifters as such as it uses a roller that activates with the pinch roller to bring the tape into contact with the heads. There is also an arm that you can manually activate that lifts the tape away from the erase and record heads when the deck is in playback mode. These decks were used for final mix down for a lot of very famous recordings. There is another version of The A80 that has staggered playback heads that was used to provide the signal for a record cutting lathe. The sound quality is the best I have heard from tape and I can't quite imagine how it could get much better. I played a few of the Yarlung 1:1 master tapes through the deck and the dynamics, presence, weight and timbre were just superb. The deck weighs 65kg, it was a lot of fun getting it out of the packing crate on my own, my back is still sore.

 

[gamve]

Hi,

Very nice looking deck...... You know when you have more than one deck they populate like rabbits! Ha, at least that is what has happened to me.

Robert

Yeah Robert,
Tell me about it. I think these Studers are numbers 11 and 12 or something like that in the R2R procession

 

[gamve]

Graham has some nice decks. Cassette and R2R. Dude are you almost to audio Nirvana yet?

Larry

Working on it Larry.
Doing plans to build a dedicated sound room in the back yard with a heap of storage space. My house is pretty small and has stereo gear stashed all over it. Wifey gets a bit pissed off when she cant get stuff in the washing machine because there a a pair of JE Labs OB in the way and that sort of thing. I badly need some workshop space.
Couple of speaker projects, couple of amp projects and a couple of TT projects. Luckily I have most all the components needed to complete these jobs, just need to get of my arse and do them.

 

[speakerman1]

Graham has some nice decks. Cassette and R2R. Dude are you almost to audio Nirvana yet?

Larry

Working on it Larry.
Doing plans to build a dedicated sound room in the back yard with a heap of storage space. My house is pretty small and has stereo gear stashed all over it. Wifey gets a bit pissed off when she cant get stuff in the washing machine because there a a pair of JE Labs OB in the way and that sort of thing. I badly need some workshop space.
Couple of speaker projects, couple of amp projects and a couple of TT projects. Luckily I have most all the components needed to complete these jobs, just need to get of my arse and do them.

LOL Sounds like me. LOL I have a TT to finish. I'm getting to the sound room. Wish it was bigger. Hadn't spun any records in awhile. Just started again. Gotta quit shopping for vinyl. LOL And CDs and DVDs. LOL Your toys are alot nicer than mine. You can send me anything you want to get rid of. LOL I do have a dedicated Aussie and UK power source. LOL Take care my friend.

Larry