added a 3rd Studer A-820 Mk2 with both 1/4" and 1/2" heads, guides and hubs

yjwu

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2011
78
12
913
Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Have any of you ever experience your studer cannot both rewinding or fastforwarding the reel? And the stop button keeps blinking. I hit rewind or forward the machine seemed to respond a fraction of a second. Then stopped and not tensioning the tape. Stop button started blinking after. Seem like sensor was sensing something.
I had misplaced pre-stabilizer roller and move sensor roller once; my A820 had problem FF and rewinding. Groves on move sensor roller do have its function: it will prevent thin air developed between tape and roller surface at high spooling. Tape air cushioning created a problem that roller no longer keep up with fast tape motion. A820's control program picked up this mismatch of calculated tape speed from reel motor tacho and move sensor, reported its duty by showing ERR message and drop tension support - spooling no longer possible.

Mistake of this sort only happened when you switched 1/4" rollers and 1/2" rollers. Or you did maintain your own machine and did not sleep well.

It took me half a year to pin down this mistake.

Yeun-Jung Wu
 

andromedaaudio

VIP/Donor
Jan 23, 2011
8,350
2,730
1,400
Amsterdam holland
Your wishful thinking is much appreciated. Great crowd in this thread.
All LEDs are on. I will have my tech run through the list Ki suggested. I have all backups I ever need on my vinyl front but not on tape. Now I have to think of backups on tape front.

View attachment 86364
Tang needs an old school back up .
It would fit perfectly to those old horns you have bought .
C 37 , M 15 A , M5 , A 80 an old ampex stuff like that :cool:
 

Tango

VIP/Donor
Mar 12, 2017
4,938
6,268
950
Bangkok
I had misplaced pre-stabilizer roller and move sensor roller once; my A820 had problem FF and rewinding. Groves on move sensor roller do have its function: it will prevent thin air developed between tape and roller surface at high spooling. Tape air cushioning created a problem that roller no longer keep up with fast tape motion. A820's control program picked up this mismatch of calculated tape speed from reel motor tacho and move sensor, reported its duty by showing ERR message and drop tension support - spooling no longer possible.

Mistake of this sort only happened when you switched 1/4" rollers and 1/2" rollers. Or you did maintain your own machine and did not sleep well.

It took me half a year to pin down this mistake.

Yeun-Jung Wu
Thank you for chiming in. Appreciate you sharing your experience.
 

andromedaaudio

VIP/Donor
Jan 23, 2011
8,350
2,730
1,400
Amsterdam holland
let's not ruin the thread with - i am done with you let the others talk

If you read this you can read what bruce thinks of the standard studer cards in comparison to aftermarket gear , he has 2 A 80 s afaik .
And bruce has more experience than any of us in this thread regarding tape / recording
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
2,162
51
1,770
so you joined the forum just to ask me that question? good for you.:rolleyes:

well....er….I do have a few tools. the one i'm missing my friend will bring over tomorrow.

the first pic shows my 2 MRL Calibration tapes, 399-271-512-139 for 1/2", and 299-271-512-130 for 1/4"...….my Fluke 87v multi-meter and my Rigol Oscilloscope. the second pic shows my friend's Audio Precision One Plus signal generator.

my plan is to stick to 15ips. but I do have a preference for 1/2".

i'd comment on Fred's Studer list comments, but why? Fred is not changing so why waste my breath. he wants to deal with pro audio guys but they have no money, he wants our money but does not have the patience/temperament for us. a sad case. I hope he finds what he is looking for.

View attachment 42072

View attachment 42073
Nice, Mike!
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
2,162
51
1,770
1 out of 3.....the 820 is only interesting for its drive/transport, not the audio cards, which are at best mediocre
Hi,

Interesting comment about the A820's transport. I obtained my first Studer A820 from Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering. Eddy offered me my choice of either an Ampex ATR-102 or Studer A820. The Ampex's tape handling was far too coarse for me and I dreaded snapping tapes due to
my inexperience!
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,467
11,363
4,410
i just listed one of my Studer A-820's for sale:confused:.......got to keep the wife happy :p as i add to my vinyl playback gear list ;).

 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing