Polk Forum Tapeheads -- how about a dedicated thread for analog tape reproducers?

mhardy6647

Ken -- PS -- we need a cheesecake shot of that TD-20 with two big sexy aluminum reels on her. Hubba-hubba!

RduNC

My Dad was a fan of the Sony TC-377. In the early 70's this was his go to player.

mhardy6647

I'll tell you -- it's not a bad sounding deck at all. No, it isn't.
It was probably the ultimate manifestation of Sony's single-motor, all-mechanical deck. I say "probably" because I have utterly no hands-on nor ears-on experience with their TC-399. That was, I think, the last of the single-motor Sony decks.
http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/tc-399.shtml

oldrocker

Question for all:

I'm in Indiana, south of Lafayette. Does anyone here know of a RTR tech within 50+/- miles from where I'm at?

I will not ship this thing, I'll drive it to wherever.

Even though my 280 SS is working good, she is old and probably in need of some interior work to bring her back to her prime.
I have cleaned as much as I'm willing to do but there seem to be a million interior parts and I'm just not comfortable trying to do what needs to be done.

If anyone knows someone that they trust and can recommend in this area, I'd appreciate the info.

THANKS all...

boston1450

erniejade

I always loved the looks of the pioneer silver decks with the florescent blue. Even the cassette decks looked good like that.

mhardy6647

They are nice decks, too.
Mine is kind of buried in the basement -- part of the "point" of this thread (yeah, right!) was to psych myself up to begin rehabbing the RT-909...

boston1450

Listened to this for quite some time today & sounds very nice as i just hooked it to the Marantz with Monitor 11 peerless tweets. The original owner never wrote what songs were on the tape shown,so today i wrote them on box. Shazam is my friend if i dont know song title Tomorrow i hope i can squeeze a few recording in off the turntable-to-reel & see how this unit does with these new tapes.

mhardy6647

TDK made good tape formulations, IMO.

pongshi

My Technics RS-1500 2 Track is my favorite deck.

boston1450

Beautiful machine ^^^^ there

oldrocker

Any thoughts on a Tascam 22 2? Watching one on an auction.

oldrocker

Rats, too late it's gone. Went for around 80 bucks.

[Deleted User]

I have a non-working one of these in the basement...
I had a higher end model that I messed up trying to fix
and tossed in the garbage years ago...

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
In keeping with this thread, here is a Nakamichi BX-100 that was given to me a few years ago. I had to take the main drive motor apart and clean the brushes, the outer shell of the motor was a wrapped hard plastic "tube" that I just unfurled and took off the main assembly. Really a different approach. Then all the belts including the main drive pulley "tire" had to be replaced and a thorough cleaning was done. Somehow the AC power cord had been spliced and I replaced it. The top cover and the bottom plate were pretty scratched so I had them sand blasted and powder coated.
It checked out great, with wide flat frequency response and low distortion.
Cheers, Ken

oldrocker

Didn't see that many favorable comments on it, don't have a tascam myself but the look was intriguing for my old eyes.

oldrocker

Been looking at some Sony's also to add to the mix.
My wife calls it purchase "withdrawl", she is right...

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Here's a photo of my Revox A77 high speed version 2 track that I've modified pretty extensively. It has the optional stainless steel front plate which adds a nice touch providing it isn't too scratched up. I'm playing one of the Tape Project tapes which sounds great.
Cheers, Ken

mhardy6647

Just like mine ('cept'n yours is considerably prettier) :- )
Thanks for posting photos, Ken!

[Deleted User]

here is my baby

dumpster save earlier today...

mhardy6647

Cool.

That (very rugged) Wollensak cassette transport showed up in several other places, too...


source: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/advent.htm
see also: http://www.davidreaton.com/cassette_decks.htm

and...


source: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/heath_dolby_cassette_tape_deck.html

oldrocker

Question for you RTR pros. I will be looking at a Otari reel to reel this weekend. I think its model # is MX 50. Do you guys know anything about the Otari brand as to how well they record/playback/parts available and costs. Sorry to be so vague but I know absolutely nothing about this type of player.

As always THANKS.

David

oldrocker

One other thing. This unit has xlr jacks instead of rca jacks. About all I know about it at this point.

mhardy6647

Otari (AFAIK) still makes a version of the MX5050 deck as a special order item; again, AFAIK, parts are generally available. Ken probably knows fo' sho'.

I haven't actually done anything to mine, so I haven't investigated this myself... yet.

oldrocker

Tks Mr. Hardy.
Hopefully he will chime in.

mhardy6647

Interconnection of (line leve) balanced XLR I/O to unbalanced "RCA" I/O is...as mathematicians like to say... straightforward. You can make adaptors, or buy 'em from, e.g., Parts Express.

Here are some recipes for adaptors (just a Google pull): http://home.comcast.net/~zenkai-audio/gndtss/pages/adapters.htm

oldrocker

Good deal. I just hope its good at recording and playback. Oh and actually works as the guy says it does...

mhardy6647

It'll outlive you! ;- )

oldrocker

mhardy6647 wrote: »

It'll outlive you! ;- )

I don't doubt that. I count it a great blessing when I make it past the expiration date on our milk each week...

[Deleted User]

So, with the coming of the new LZ re-re-re-re-releases, I was hunting around to see what people thought of them. I ran across, the statement
"hires reel to reel rips of II & IV are quite good" and wondered if any of you
have them?

mhardy6647

umm-- no, but I do have one of the "ZOSO" licorice pizzas... and I've gotta admit, I was surprised by how good it sounded.

... and, in an unrelated story :-P (well, kind of on topic for the thread) there's a rumor circulating that "a Swiss pro and semi-pro" erstwhile reel to reel manufacturer is poised to te-introduce a reel to reel recorder as a product. Whether true or not, I don't know, but I'd certainly expect the price to be on the high side of astronomical.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/famous-swiss-tape-recorder-brand-re-introduce-reel-reel-analog-recorder

source: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=593942