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Old 9th May 2019, 9:40 am   #51
woodchips
Octode
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 1,177
Default Re: Reel to reel revival

For interest the price I marked on the Grundig TS945 was £400, the TS1000 was £600 and the Revox B77 was £550. This was all early 1980's, time to pension off the Ferrograph after a good few years service, and a pay rise.

Again, for interest, the bumf I have for the Tandberg TD20A and the Philips N4520 have near identical characteristics as the Grundig and Revox, as you would expect.

The sales details for the Revox included a review by Hugh Ford of Studio Sound, and he wasn't overly impressed. Particularly the winding, he described it as pretty brutal too. A direct drive mains AC motor has to be a few steps down from the DC servo motors used on the other machines.

I recently put my R2R back into use after about 25 years of not using it. Creaked and groaned a bit as the oil circulated in the bushes, but works fine except for the rewind, not working. I was impressed with just how good it sounded, the tapes hadn't shed any oxide either.

Die cast chassis? So what? A stress relieved steel chassis is its equal, if not better if only because steel is so much stiffer than aluminium. Also the casting stresses could creep out after the decades. The Philips uses 4mm thick steel!
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