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Re: [ARSCLIST] Revox A77
Hello, Peter,
Affording and/or getting a fair/good price on an A77 is one question,
the overall desirability of that machine for archival work is
questionable today. Since you refer to yourself as a "babe in the
woods in this area", please forgive me if I over simplify this.
Please don't get me wrong, I made many lovely recordings on my four
A77s (I still have two, one working well), but I don't find a place
for them in my restoration and transfer work. The last time I used an
A77 was as a trial machine to see how cold playing would work on
squealing tapes.
First of all, the A77 is at least 30 years old. There were at least
four different versions of the machine (Mk 1 - Mk IV) and IMHO, only
the MKIII or MK IV are worth getting (my good one is a MKIII). But
these are 30 year old machines. Most, if not all, of the parts are at
least 30 years old.
Second, what shape are the heads in? Even before that, what heads are
in it? Quarter track stereo or two-track stereo? Many machines that
might be "creampuff" candidates I suspect would be quarter track,
sold to consumers who took care of them. Most of the two-track decks
were used professionally and are probably worthless today except as
parts donors.
See the following link for track information.
http://richardhess.com/notes/formats/magnetic-media/magnetic-tapes/analog-audio/025-reel-tape/
There may be some NOS parts available, but changing out the heads
would be a multiple-hundred-dollar effort if you could find the heads
or an appropriate substitute. If you have to buy new pro heads
(because nothing else is available) that is a couple of hundred a
head, would be my guess, not counting installation.
Third - The A77s definitely don't play back as well as they record,
and they are not the most gentle transport around. These are constant
torque rather than constant tension machines.
If you're spending in the multiple hundreds of dollars, you might
consider an alternate machine. Some of the B77 or PR99 ReVox machines
are newer by a decade and may be a better choice. If you're lucky,
for half a grand you might find working pro machines such as the
Studer A810 (though these go for more than that now, but I've been
lucky in the past), or Sony APR-5000 which is one of my two favourite
tape machines for many reasons.
But with any machine, even if it starts out as a mint creampuff, will
need service work. How will that happen?
I would need to understand your goals in acquiring and using this
machine far better to make a recommendation.
Good luck. I hope this helps a bit.
Cheers,
Richard
At 07:31 PM 2007-11-11, Peter Hirsch wrote:
Can anyone give a rough guesstimate on what a Revox A77 in
(supposedly) perfect condition might be worth on the market? I know
that it is worth whatever one is willing to pay for it, but I could
use at least some guidance based on what someone may have laid out
for one in the past few years. A quick search seems to confirm that
this model can be taken seriously enough for my personal purposes,
but I need to know if I ought to make an offer in the low hundreds
or think bigger. I can probably afford whatever is asked, but I'd
rather not spend foolishly.
I am looking for a fairly decent deck and found out about one of
these that is for sale locally. I would like to be able to either
make a reasonable offer (on the low side) or know if the seller is
setting the bar unreasonably high before I make contact with the guy
with the deck. I'm totally a babe in the woods in this area, so any
sort of crash course information on evaluating used Revox decks
would be most appreciated.
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.