[Ted Kendall]

This is a misconception that goes back fifty years. In one of the first reviews of the A77, David Kirk was misinformed by the importers about the function of the outer positions of the speed switch, which provide reduced tension for cine hubs, and dolefully recorded that he was now the proud possessor of several feet of Kodak quadruple play plastic string. This led hm to recommend that thin tapes and small hubs should be avoided. However, with these conditions and the use of the reverse torque trick on rewind, at that time also beloved of Brenell owners, "the A77 then becomes the gentlest mechanism on the market".

Subsequent marks of the A77 did have slightly more refined brakes, but the difference was not enormous.

Motion sensing was almost unheard-of in audio machines at the time - the short-lived Unitrack concern made a point of it around 1970, and there was an article in Studio Sound around 1974 about adding it to an A77. It was of course standard wear on the B77 (1978) and the A700 (1974 and big bucks).

In hi-fi, there have been several products which have been derided by promoters of the new this or the latest that, but within a short time the challengers faded and old Aunt Sally just kept rolling on. The A77 is one, the Quad 33/303 another. Fill in your list to taste...