Really a real Reel to Reel

[DMcMahon]

A somewhat bizarre product, as always a very good review by Tech Moan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bmcJ-_BbxQ

David

[dglcomp]

Yes I saw that, it's one of those products that you think "why on earth did someone think that was a good idea", but I guess they thought that nostalgia sells and using a mechanism that already exists and repurposing it is quite clever!

[wd40addict]

I remember a colleague flagging this machine up to me ages ago, I was baffled at the time by the use of 1/8" tape. Now I see why: They could use an off-the-shelf cassette mechanism rather than having to design a 1/4" 3 3/4ips deck from scratch. I wonder if the original product brief was to have a real reel to reel, but once they'd costed heads etc decided it was too much for their intended novelty market.

[Edward Huggins]

I wonder how this sounds using external speakers, better still via a stereo amp and speakers?

[DMcMahon]

Interesting but do not think I will be tracking one down.

David

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by Edward Huggins

I wonder how this sounds using external speakers, better still via a stereo amp and speakers?

He demonstrated a direct connection later in the video which sounded reasonable for a budget cassette deck. Listening on a fairly good setup here I'd say the performance was probably better than most reel to reels could achieve at 1 7/8ips.

[DMcMahon]

I thought the playback of a pre-recorded standard cassette sounded too fast, he said not great sound then due to W & F. But of course it was not deigned to play cassette even though using a cassette deck mechanism.

David

[knobtwiddler]

Did anyone notice how effortlessly he lifted it out of the box? Either Mr Techmoan goes to the gym or this machine doesn't contain much.

edit - as I have gotten further into the video where he shows the mech, all is revealed

[Aub]

Couldn't be bothered to wait for the adverts to finish 🙂 I much prefer reading David's almost forensic descriptions of finding and fixing faults on his tape deck acquisitions.

Aub

[Borderer]

I can't quite see the point of buying an imitation vintage machine when there are plenty of genuine ones available cheaply enough. On the other hand if it gets folks interested in old technology that may be a good thing. Apart from pushing the prices up of course....

[DMcMahon]

The video text says it was a 2004 launched product so in a few more years it may loosely be deemed vintage itself

David

[mister valve]

It could have been an excellent piece of gear, if they had made the real to real part compatible with the standard domestic 1/4" tape width, and 3 3/4" inches per second tape speed ! Maybe they could have made it go all "super-dooper" and high tech with 1 7/8", 3 3/4", 7 1/2" and possibly 15" per second tape speeds with correct equalisation to suit !!

I would have considered buying one

[knobtwiddler]

Although the machine is obviously a gimmick and - considering how easy it is to find a secondhand 1/4" machine - barely decent for a youngster to train their R-R chops on, I have to say that I finished the video with a great deal of respect for the designer. It appeared to me that they put a great deal of ingenuity into solving the problems created by such a half-baked concept. The problem is down to concept, not so much execution, which could never be other than mediocre. Kind of like a skilled chef who could only cook with ingredients that were past their sell-by.

As someone who works in audio, it's far more common to see the opposite: expensive components, implemented by people who've never bothered to study CAD or electronics. I regularly see uber-opamps used in designs, but so badly implemented the overall SNR could have been better with an LM741 and someone with design chops.

[Edward Huggins]

One would have thought that the "mass" of those large 7" reels might have aided the wow and flutter on this machine over a standard cassette?