Quote:
Originally Posted by ben
I think the key is someone reviving one of the mechs from a major manufacturer, 90s era which would be a balance between minimum quality /w&F specs, yet more cost-effective than the older designs. Logic control makes for safer tape handling and possiblity of remote control. If demand keeps increasing someone may do it -after all cassettes seem to be selling more year on year. We shall see.
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The choice is a tricky one - most mechanisms, including Nakamichi, use those plastic gear trains and associated bits, the Revox uses straightforward solenoids and castings, but is correspondingly expensive, the Tascam is tougher than most Japanese mechs but still uses gear trains, although its and the Revoxes' direct drive motors are elegant and effective. Perhaps somebody will come up with a modern version of the Wollensak, which was a bit clunky but robust and of good quality - until those elegantly mounted rollers turned to goo.
The elephant in the room, though, as David has pointed out, is heads - even Revox bought theirs in from Sony, and a lot of the specific plant and knowledge will have to be re-created. One thing I would like to see is the combination of proper tension control and the Nakamichi pad lifter to take that variable out of the equation.