What an experience. Ki is my HERO! Quite a collection. Ki is a fine host and a gentleman. Thanks for letting me and John visit and listen. We were both suitably blown away.
What an experience. Ki is my HERO! Quite a collection. Ki is a fine host and a gentleman. Thanks for letting me and John visit and listen. We were both suitably blown away.
Thanks for posting the vid...what an intoxicating array
Ki, can I rent a room and bring my Studer LOL - Congratulations -- I know they have a great home!
What an experience. Ki is my HERO! Quite a collection. Ki is a fine host and a gentleman. Thanks for letting me and John visit and listen. We were both suitably blown away.
Thanks a lot guys for the undeserving attention and kind words...
Thanks to Rich's video, I am getting fan emails for the first time in my life.
I also want to apologize to the owners of the other fine tape recorder models for not bing able to show them in the same room - such as the Studer A807s, A810s, Otaris, TASCAM, and TEAC... I just ran out of the wall space.
I have been fighting off the urge to catch the Ampex disease... It seems I need to focus on a C37 before anything else.
Also, I probably need to start a new thread to thank Myles for his extra ordinary help in securing the 1/2" A820 shown.
At the end, these machines are some of the nice means to the ultimate end - the music.
However, it is good to know I have so many "sick" friends who share same disease...
I am so glad there are people that keep the R2R dream alive. All we need now is someone to start making better electronics for some of them... and I mean electronics you plug into the units, not outboard.
I am so glad there are people that keep the R2R dream alive. All we need now is someone to start making better electronics for some of them... and I mean electronics you plug into the units, not outboard.
I second that.Would it not be fantastic if one can simply slide in cards with PS and repro amp into something like a Studer A 80R a la Levinson, thus preserving the wonderful feel of the machines with superior sound reproduction.A810, A820 etc all of those have a modular structure with really old replay amps filled with those awful tantalum caps so beloved by EMT, Studer and just about every 70s/80s designer.
Charles King,ATR/Aria, anybody? Please, Please , Please?
IMO there is no question that inboards would be so much more welcome that an outboard where circuitry has to be bypassed or removed. I did this with my first Studer A810 and by a "reliable" technician who came highly recommended. Suffice it to say my machine never worked the same afterwards and I ended up selling it. All of us would love some inboard as you described
All of them have been receiving periodic feed & care. I have a pair of long XLR cables I drag across the room to give them exercises.
Athough I am still rebuilding and fixing few things to the 1/2" A820 to get them functionally back to its original factory condition, the machine is healthy and working enough to play the tapes. A friend in LA who's in the industry had sent me some 1/2" tapes for me to try recently but I haven't actually played them yet - waithing for the machine to be ready.
If I had to choose, in the performance, maintenability, show&tell, and usablity as the criteria -
I second that.Would it not be fantastic if one can simply slide in cards with PS and repro amp into something like a Studer A 80R a la Levinson, thus preserving the wonderful feel of the machines with superior sound reproduction.A810, A820 etc all of those have a modular structure with really old replay amps filled with those awful tantalum caps so beloved by EMT, Studer and just about every 70s/80s designer.
Charles King,ATR/Aria, anybody? Please, Please , Please?
I have found the Ampex 440 with plug and play cards a good machine to experiment with. I was lucky enough to purchase a set of RTZ cards and they tranform the Ampex into a top noch sounding deck. I have the original cards and I plan to repopulate them with better caps and so forth.
Like I said I have a C37 in my sights. But the Ampex 350 has always been a favorite. I'm having mine recapped with mundorf films right now and a 440 transport (playback only) with 2 & 4 track capability being built. The 350's sound very good but at this point my disease is terminal,lol. I will post some pics when it is done sometime in August.
Hi Guys
The C37 is indeed a beautifully built and engineered machine. Sonics are not wonderful on playback- like the G36, it is a better recorder than a playback deck. It sure makes the Ampex 350 series look like scrap. No comparison on sound- the Ampex machines win hands down for playback. Most C37(probably more than 90%) are 50 cycle and can't be used in the US. Best left for European or Asian collectors IMO. Ki still needs one to complete his Studer collection though
Power supplies can be an issue, as one is pretty limited by the supplies on most decks. It does make it easy for quick 'shootouts' with just a card replacement.
Hi Guys
The C37 is indeed a beautifully built and engineered machine. Sonics are not wonderful on playback- like the G36, it is a better recorder than a playback deck. It sure makes the Ampex 350 series look like scrap. No comparison on sound- the Ampex machines win hands down for playback. Most C37(probably more than 90%) are 50 cycle and can't be used in the US. Best left for European or Asian collectors IMO. Ki still needs one to complete his Studer collection though
