Okay.. I'll ask elsewhere... Thanks
Go out and buy an old Studer A80.
Then you can be a member of an exclusive club.
Well, sort of.
The marketing messaging behind the tape revival has consistently been that you only need to get a functioning tape transport of some kind and then change out the stock playback amplifier for something new.
Then, welcome to audio nirvana.
The psychology underlying this marketing scheme is brilliant, because coaxing the customer into getting deeply involved in how his resulting machine is modified, is a proven and powerful way to greatly raise his expectations.
Only when you look more closely at the science of analog tape playback, do the obvious cracks appear.
Eight-five percent of the engineering problem with tape transports is that they fail to deliver a flutter-free time base.
It's an especially huge problem with thirty or forty year old highest quality (and best sounding) machines like Studer A820s and A80s.
With relatively simple instrumentation, we can readily demonstrate that somebody's tape transport is seriously failing.
In the face of such audible time base corruption, listeners who nevertheless insist that they still find the sound quality from tape attractive, probably can't really be called audiophiles. At least not by any definition that I use.
To me, the notion that an old Studer A80 can be competently rebuilt by its new, non-expert owner is ludicrous.
Servo constant tension transports in this class are more than twenty times more complex than any turntable.
Yet, I'm clearly outnumbered by those who want you to think otherwise. So we have people selling do-it-yourself parts kits for A80 "overhauls".
Never mind that any real Studer expert would shudder at the notion of using those parts inside an A80.
Let's move on to a poster's recent mention of replacing his gold-colored Frako electrolytics in an A80.
Remember that Frako was once perhaps Germany's pre-eminent manufacturer of highest quality electrolytic capacitors. I have many here that are more than forty years old and still performing and measuring near their original specification. It's almost sad to preemptively change them in our remanufacturing.
Remember also that it was only a couple of the modern, compact form factor series (out of hundreds of gold-colored case Frako capacitor products made over decades) that were manufactured in the 1980s that developed reliability problems after only five or ten years in service.
Unfortunately, the issue showed up principally in the flagship Studer A820.
Always the same few capacitors. It was a minor embarrassment to both companies.
But a do-it-yourselfer looking at any old Studer with a mandate to shotgun any electrolytic with the name Frako is arguably misinformed and misdirected. Too often, the most consequential result of this approach is ruined circuit boards. That's actually harming the machine. Hurting its value.
So, does the tape hobby now intend to train its participants in expert-level thru-hole pcb soldering rework? And then do the same with do-it-yourself precision radial ball-bearing replacement, using bearings sourced from after-market tape machine parts suppliers who appear to be clueless of how Studer specified their bearings?
And then train owner-users in wide-band FFT flutter analysis to verify their end results?
That's kind of a tall order, in my opinion. But the market speaks much louder than I do.
. . . what would be the result of wide band FFT flutter analysis of well tuned STUDER A80, A820 v.s. Nagra T-Audio?
What signature would appear for different transport design? . . .
. . . Can we perform flutter analysis using tradition spectrum analyzer? . . .
. . . Or Tektronix's MDO? . . .
Just being curious: what would be the result of wide band FFT flutter analysis of well tuned STUDER A80, A820 v.s. Nagra T-Audio? What signature would appear for different transport design?
How about OTARI MTR-15? AMPEX APR-102? Lyrec PTR-1 "Frida"? Telefunken M15/M15A? SONY APR-5000?
Also STUDER A810, A812, A816? A807? ReVox C270?
Another camp STUDER D820?
Can we perform flutter analysis using tradition spectrum analyzer? Or Tektronix's MDO?
Audio Precision gears were expansive; they accomplish their task automatically. I do own several Tektronix old stuff: SG505, SG5010, AA5009, all designed by Audio Precision's founding members. But still need a spectrum analyzer.
I had also collected some US' technical wonder: Tektronix 7104, R7844, R7903, 466, 485, 5116, 2467B etc.
Their list price were extremely high, even compared to STUDER A820.
Looking for some other information in my Studer A80 folders I found these pictures of the famous A80 gauges - all we would need is accurate dimensions or measurements of them.
View attachment 59509View attachment 59510
Instructions? its a Studer, instructions are in the manual.
I suggest the A820MCH manual, I think it has the best pictures. But read them all, they're free in pdf.
https://www.reeltoreel.nl/studer/
Here is a good adres for proper restored studers and other brands
A 100 % restored / calibrated A 80 without meter bridge (which is flimsy anyway )will set you back 6 K euros.
He has several at the moment.
Audioclassica.de which is : Eternal arts audio.
Brg hj
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