[DVV]

Interesting to see someone else investigating the wonder of R2R.  I keep coming back.  Over the decades   I jumped in and out of audio.  Now that I am back I had to have a deck to play the tape that I recorded in the 70's containing some great stuff off vinyl that you just alomost can't get any more.  So, into the dregs of auctions and other things I went.  I wound up with a match for what I used to perform the original recording with.  ReVox A77 Mk III with Dolby.  Not the TOP OF THE PILE even  ...

I beg to disagree about B77. Three of my friends, all of them electrical engineers, bought the B77 about a year into its production. All three had problems with starting up that machine. Press "play" and it would jerk visibly and audibly, exactly the opposite what A77 made its name on in good part. The last thing you would expect to see from a Studer product.

They groaned to the factory, the factory responded by sending them small plastic bags with some components they were to change inside, because the timing of the start sequence was not right. They kept at this game for about a year, but the problem was never solved satisfactorily.

This sort of put me and others off Revox - a basic design flaw they can't solve two years down the road? Worse, most weere owners of A77 and naturally stated this NEVER happened on the A77.

Of course, once it got going, it worked very well.

If you look for a Revox B77, make sure it was made in the very late 70-ies, not an early model.

Cheers,
DVV

[BlackCat]

I had both the Pioneer 707 and 909 decks....I loved each of them.  I lived near a military base where the Army guys got them cheap overseas and then dumped them when they needed some cash.  Of course back in those days, audiophile qualilty was JBL and SAE.  I had a Kenwood integrated amp and a Dual turntable.  Loved the RtR format, you could get a ton of albums on one tape.  Also for Nathan....they did in fact distribute factory recordings on RtR format....mostly classical junk.  You got a normal 7 inch reel with about 1.5 inches of tape in it.

RtRs were also great for parties...just put one on, and get up to 10 hours of uninterupted music.

[Fathom7]

DVV wrote:

Three of my friends, all of them electrical engineers, bought the B77 about a year into its production. All three had problems with starting up that machine. Press "play" and it would jerk visibly and audibly, exactly the opposite what A77 made its name on in good part.

DVV I'm sorry to hear about the bad experiences.  My posting stems from having owned (and own again) A77 decks.  They never behaved in the fashion you describe.  The B77 recommendation was pointed primarily for the greater availability of 1/2 track decks with higher speed capabilities in today's used market.  That seems to be the direction headed.  For me, I'm reel thrilled   with the A77 I've got now -- 3 3/4 and 7.5 ips only but Dolby B.

As for pre-recorded RTR stuff -- there is SOME   stuff available the was from musical areas other than classical     -- I have one reel with Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding on two tracks and "Best of Bob Dylan" (up to thirty years ago) on the other two.  7.5 ips recording too.  You can find some antiques out there but the quality of the tape can be spotty -- this stuff generally doesn't hold up too well stored for long periods of time.  It's a side-line piece of the overall hobby.  Now if someone were interested in modifying the output electronics of my A77 to a higher power -- that would be interesting .   Keepin' it Reel  
Cheers!  

[DVV]

DVV wrote:
DVV I'm sorry to hear about the bad experiences.  My posting stems from having owned (and own again) A77 decks.  They never behaved in the fashion you describe.  The B77 recommendation was pointed primarily for the greater availability of 1/2 track decks with higher speed capabilities in today's used market.  That seems to be the direction headed.  For me, I'm reel thrilled   with the A77 I've got now -- 3 3/4 and 7.5 ips only but Dolby B.

As for pre- ...

I got that, Fathom. I don't think there's a version of the A series RtR that I didn't work with over the years, and to be sure, it's one hell of a good deck, arguably the best 1968-1975.

You will know that it's greatest virtue always was that you could go into record mode on the fly and never hear anything untoward on the tape. I think it's safe to say the A series in general made the ReVox name what it was in those days - the one to beat.

I don't know why you say "only" 3 3/4 and 7.5 ips. 3 3/4 ips was ideal for taping background party music, while 7.5 ips, assuming a good quality tape, was about as good as you could ever want it. It took an awfully good recording to really need 15 ips, however, it really shone on live recordings.

I never owned a Revox RtR, but I did own for some years Revox' A76 integrated amp. Made in 1974, a friend owns it and it still works today, never once broke down. I only wish modern day electronics were made as intelligently as that.

My Philips N4520 replace the B series decks in most of Germany's audio magazines as their reference deck when it appeared, in 1980. It's a hell of a machine - it's a cross between Revox' B77 and A700, looking more like the A700, but costing more like the B77. It has three speeds, 3 3/4, 7.5 and 15 ips, three motors, capstan driven by a 6 lbs flywheel itself belt driven by a quartz locked and tachogenerator controlled main motor. As opposed to Revox, it has a more elaborate tape stabilizing path, with full electro-mechanical tape tensioning. Rewind speed is variable from the front. Bias is adjustable from the front. Two stereo line inputs can be simultaneously used from the front, with a master volume slider. Meters can work in VU or peak mode, but either way, they have +3 and +6 dB LEDs with zero inertia. At 15 ips, equalization is switchable between NAB and IEC. It has sandust-ferrite heads, and headphones amp is adjustable from the front. In short, it has just about anything you could reasonably want.

But its greatest virtue is a Philips patented circuit which, to the best of my knowledge, appeared in that and its smaller brother deck and never again. The whole trick of the circuit is that it has an overload margin of 60 dB, or 1,000:1. I could connecte my mains at 220 VAC, 50 Hz, straight into the deck's line input and record the 50 Hz hum no problemo. Don't do it now, of course, but 22 years ago, I was still kid enough to demo it.

But the best part of that deck is its 0 VU frequency response. At 7.5 ips, it has a response of 25...17,000 Hz at just +/- 1 dB. At 15 ips, this is 25...22,000 Hz +/-1 dB. Incredibly flat, and I had it checked in a local lab, 'scope and all. Using Maxell UD-XL II tapes this increased still more.

Mine is the 4 track version, and there was a 2 track version as well, model N4522. Still have it, still love it, still use it.

Cheers,
DVV

[Fathom7]

DVV:

I suppose I've read too much over the recent months disabusing the old RtRs and tend to downplay my enjoyment of them.  Your deck sounds mightly tasty -- I've not seen one myself.  As for me, this is my THIRD A77.  I regretted almost from the moment I loosed the first two having gotten rid of them.  Now, my playing options are open -- just like my reels.

Enjoy the music.

[DVV]

DVV:

I suppose I've read too much over the recent months disabusing the old RtRs and tend to downplay my enjoyment of them.  Your deck sounds mightly tasty -- I've not seen one myself.  As for me, this is my THIRD A77.  I regretted almost from the moment I loosed the first two having gotten rid of them.  Now, my playing options are open -- just like my reels.

Enjoy the music.

Well now, I suppose I could make some pictures of it, although I loaned it to a friend who wants to A/B test it against his Sony. And I just couldn't say no to friend of 30 years.

No wonder you haven't seen it. For some reason, Philips started making them in 1980 (after showing off a prototype in 1979 at the Tokyo audio show) and made them until late 1982 or early 1983. As far as I am aware, they never sold it outside Europe and the Middle East. It was made in Philips' factory in Austria.

Mine is the developed version. They had another version, which was essentially a downsized version of mine, losing two stereo lines and master volume to just one line (switchable between two inputs), no external bias pot, no wind speed adjustment, no NAB/IEC selection (just IEC), etc, but it cost less than a B77 and could still take him on.

You know, Philips is a strange company. They are always late to come to the market, but when they decide to move, man, they MOVE! They used to make mostly low priced audio, but even so, some of their models were stunning, and for the money, a gift from heaven. But in 1983, Philips and Sony made the deal regarding CD patents and rights, and a part of that deal was that Marantz became a part of Philips, since Sony never figured out what to do with them (those were Marantz' darkest years, under Sony).

So, Philips decided not to compete with themselves, and left the audio more or less to Marantz. They did surface a few times, as for example with their memorable 721 CD player, costing like $150 and sounding like $700-900, nabbing awards for it, but then leaving again? I tweaked a unit my son is still using, and it still sounds better than it has any right to in view of its modest price.

Exactly as with those tape decks. They produce a winner and seem to lose courage to really push them, and this didn't happen only once.

Anyway, as you have gathered I'm sure, I dearly love that deck and would not sell it at any price, ever.

Before them, I used mostly decks by Uher, a German company, but they lost it in mid-70ies. Brilliant ideas, but somehow little market appeal. I have always respected Revox products, but never really wanted to own one - beats me why, somehow they just don't move me, despite their high quality sound.

Cheers,
DVV

[Brett]

Unless you want to record to studio (quality) level, and deal with having to buy donor machines for spares, just buy a PR99. Parts, service and manuals are still available from Studer. Ditto for the pro series Tascam machines, but I don't like them as much personally. There are lots of both types around, and prices are quite reasonable if you're willing to shop and wait for a minter at the right price.

I also have an A80 as my toy, and nice though it is, it's the size of a small fridge, and has zero WAF. But damn it's impressive looking whipping inch tape at 30ips.