Revox PR99

[Deleted User]
[Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
edited November 2004 in 2 Channel Audio
Hello,
I've just about finished rebuilding a Revox PR99 MK I open reel deck. It seems to be working fine, which is always a relief after taking something apart and hoping you made enough notes to be able to put it back together. I replaced all of the 1/4 mic jacks and the headphone jack and did a general cleaning of every contact I could find. This deck is so quiet in operation, the three motors run very smoothly. I just received a 15 IPS 1/2 master tape dub of Liszt piano concerto number one with Richter as pianist and Kondrashin as conductor. I can't wait to hear the results! I can use this tape to determine what the changes I make to the Revox sound like. The deck was made in an era when tantalum capacitors were considered the best sounding. I plan on replacing them with Black Gates and Roederstein metal film resistors. I'll listen to the tape a few times on the stock output circuits and then start to make changes.
Ken
Post edited by [Deleted User] on

Comments

  • PolkThug
    PolkThug Posts: 7,532
    edited November 2004
    Sounds like a really fun project, keep us updated.

    Regards,
    PolkThug
  • bikezappa
    bikezappa Posts: 2,463
    edited November 2004
    ReVox is an unsual company. AGELESS QUALITY. I just bought a B160 tuna and B150 intergrated amp with remote made in the 80's. Did anyone ever have a remote that could turn the A and B speakers off or on with the remore? I do and the sound fades in when speaker A or B is turned on. Very nice sound compared to my B&K. And they look beautiful. Their tape decks still sell big time on ebay. The problem is all the new and old stuff costs to much. The price of quality.

    ReVox has a new CD player, M57, with a virtual CD archive. It copies any cd with full audio quality. Can store 4000 cds with 80Gb!!!!! All the music is on a hard drive.

    Data input on all the CDs is done automatically using the internet. The information is displayed on the remote screen. You can down load your MP3 files. It can play diffenent music in 8 rooms at the same time. No ****.

    Makes my sony M555es look like a dinosaur.

    How about a photo of this tape deck.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited November 2004
    Hey BZ,
    I agree completely about Revox, they are an amazing company. The famous A77 deck sold over 400,000 units over the lifespan and it's been estimated that between 60 and 80% are still functioning, maybe not perfectly, but still able to play a tape. The overall industrial design is really beautiful. There's no wasted space and everything functions smoothly, there's only one belt found in the whole machine. A good technician could replace just about any major part in less than 30 minutes. I have two of them and one is a high speed 1/2 version, the other is standard. The Audionics company produced some modifications to the record circuitry, this is a hard to find version. The PR99 is really just a final version of the A77 incorporating all of the small improvements revox came up with over the years. I'll try and take some photos and post them.
    Anybody have any of the Proprius recordings? Made with a high speed A77 and they still are among the best recordings ever made. Matt and Mark use them for speaker evaluation.
    Ken