Concord DBA-10

[Peter Breuninger]

I've dusted off my 1520 machine and have wired in the DBA-10. Does anyone here have a manual for the Concord? I want to check the calibration and I plumb forgot what to do.

 

[mep]

I've dusted off my 1520 machine and have wired in the DBA-10. Does anyone here have a manual for the Concord? I want to check the calibration and I plumb forgot what to do.

? Isn't the DBA-10 a cheap cassette deck? I assume by 1520 you mean the Technics R2R. Why are you hooking up a $100 cassette deck?

 

[Peter Breuninger]

The DBA-10 is an outboard Dolby C unit from Nakamichi, it looks like a piece of junk but it's one of the best Dolby C units sonically. Many reel to reels were Dolby C encoded. If you don't decode them they are hot. And yes, the 1520 is the Technics R2R.

 

[mep]

This is what I pulled up when I searched on DBA-10:

http://www.vintagecassette.com/concord/dba-10

 

[Peter Breuninger]

That is the unit pictured. The listings says it's a Cassette deck but that's an error. I thought it was a Dolby C, but I must be mistaken. I went through five or six top rated outboard Dolby units and stumbled upon this one as a lark. It was far less pinched sounding than the big (and far better looking) TEACs. I've been into tape for 35 years. I believe even the low speed pre-recorded 7.5 IPS tapes are more involving than LPs.

 

[mep]

I have one of the TEAC Dolby units. I do believe that 7 1/2 ips tape has a story to tell, it's just too bad it's a noisy story because the message is awesome.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Yup. +1 here.

I am playing 7.5 tapes for Terry today and she is blown away. You just have to eat the hiss. The Cleveland Symphony was just at our house.

 

[mep]

Do you have the Blood Sweat and Tears tape at 7 1/2 ips? The one that has Spinning Wheel on it? What a tape.

 

[RTM]

New member here. I have every original iteration of most of the B, S&T Reels and they're all terrific sounding. The quality of their music (at that time in particular) is, for me, a foregone conclusion as it was all wonderful. I came across this thread after I recently acquired a Concord DBA-10 Dolby B NR unit. I'm looking forward to restoring it. If anyone ever found a manual for it, I'd sure like to have one. PM me if you do!

 

[tapepath]

Hello, welcome!
The service manual appears to be available here for around $12.00:

Concord DBA-10 Service Manual, Analog Alley Manuals

I've never used this company myself, but usually these places are pretty trustworthy. Good luck with your project!