Nagra repair anyone!

scooter

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2013
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Bottlehead stepped away from doing Nagra repairs. Anyone else in the US doing Nagra repair? I talked with Nagra and they want me to send it to Switzerland. I think the machine just needs a calibration so seems kind of crazy to go through the effort to ship to Switzerland.
 
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jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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Why do you think it just needs a calibration? Nagra will also check out the rollers, belts, heads etc etc...might be a good investment.
 

tunes

Member Sponsor
Nov 9, 2013
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Nagra switzerland will do a full refresh on a IV-S or T-Audio.
If it’s something simple, Forrest Forbes in CA may be able to help. While there is no current authorized service tech for Nagra in NA, I know Forrest is still servicing Nagras.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2013
23
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133
It’s funny... I bought the deck from Trew Audio almost 30 years ago. I emailed Trew the other day but didn’t hear back... not surprising with CA being shut down right now. I will try calling them when all of this passes.

I would rather try local in the US as I am probably going to sell the deck once it’s operational again assuming it’s something simple. I have decided that I don’t really need two large R2R these days.
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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Scooter,

what part of the US are you in? assume it's a 'T' since you said 'large' R2R but you were not specific about that either.

someone might know a tech in your area with the skills/appetite to tackle your 'T' (?) if you share that bit of info with us. especially if it's maybe just a tuning issue and not major.
 

scooter

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2013
23
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133
Yes, it’s a T. I live in Seattle. Ki didn’t know of anyone local and if anyone would, I imagine it would be him.
 

djsina2

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May 30, 2019
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FYI someone just posted on the audiogon classifieds looking for a T.
 

btreim

New Member
Apr 11, 2020
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Following this thread, hoping that someone is "local" to Chicago. I have a T-Audio that has been sitting idle for the better part of 20 years, would love to get it looked over before putting it through too much work.
 

c1ferrari

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May 15, 2010
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Interesting...I thought Doc was set up for Nagra repair. Anyway, I believe I'd read Trew Audio was again servicing Nagra.
Good luck!
 

Don-RMGI

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Mar 30, 2019
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80 miles Southwest of Chicago,
From what I heard, Doc walked away from the Nagra service deal. I have no idea why. I use to know a couple of people down at Trew Audio, but that was years ago, when they kind of walked away from the Nagra service business. Back in the 1990's I knew people in LA, Chicago, and New York who would take care of their machines. Maybe Nagra is a little difficult to work with, to be worth the effort. Just a thought.
 
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c1ferrari

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May 15, 2010
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Whether a Studer or high-line vehicle, it's de rigueur to have a technician lined-up and preferably in proximity.
 

andromedaaudio

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Jan 23, 2011
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My expirience is its not the studer machines that are difficult or cause problems .
Its some so called " studertechs " that do a bad repair job .
To bad the topicstarter is not in europe or he could have contacted :eternal arts in hannover / germany .

My studers and telefunken run flawlessly

Brg hj
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Whether a Studer or high-line vehicle, it's de rigueur to have a technician lined-up and preferably in proximity.

I found the local Studer technician first, and I purchased the model in which he told me he specialized second.
 
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srs148

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2016
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From what I heard, Doc walked away from the Nagra service deal. I have no idea why. I use to know a couple of people down at Trew Audio, but that was years ago, when they kind of walked away from the Nagra service business. Back in the 1990's I knew people in LA, Chicago, and New York who would take care of their machines. Maybe Nagra is a little difficult to work with, to be worth the effort. Just a thought.

According to Doc, Nagra Switzerland never provided him with the help, parts, and knowledge that they promised they would when he initially signed up to be the authorized service center in North America. What compounded this was that, apparently (heard via conversation), their long-time parts guy left and they had no one other than their expensive techs available to comb through their huge parts store, so he would wait weeks and sometimes months to get replies, often to find that they no longer had the part(s) he requested in the first place. In the end, it was too much of a hassle with essentially no support from HQ, so he abruptly closed up shop.

I had 3 T Audio decks with him at the time and in return for the hassle of shipping the decks to him and back home on my dime, he did not charge me for the time he put into my machines - PSUs were recapped for all 3 machines and one machine had extensive hours into it, but still wasn't completed. Fortunately, I was able to have a friend complete the work on the first machine - the other two are waiting in queue for refurbishment 2 years later.
 
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tunes

Member Sponsor
Nov 9, 2013
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Shipping the Nagra T is a challenge. I've used a pick and pluck foamed pelican case specifically to do this, so far, with good results. Guessing you did something of the same Steve, if you sent three units back and forth to Doc B safely.
 

andromedaaudio

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Jan 23, 2011
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I know somebody here in belgium who had 2 nagra T audio s up to this year
They might have been sold recently .
He used to bring them each year to an official nagra specialist in paris /france .
So nagra still does official repairs / maintenance here in europe .
I advise you to contact nagra and they might point out the official representatives closest to you .

Brg hj
 

srs148

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2016
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Shipping the Nagra T is a challenge. I've used a pick and pluck foamed pelican case specifically to do this, so far, with good results. Guessing you did something of the same Steve, if you sent three units back and forth to Doc B safely.

That's correct. I have 3 Pelican cases - two for machine 'tubs' and one that's formed to fit either 1 meter bridge and a control panel keyboard or 2 meter bridges. All three were driven from point of purchase in LA to Seattle for work (stands were shipped directly to me from LA via freight). Coming east from Bottlehead, I shipped one complete machine home first via freight with 2 Pelican cases, wrapped and strapped to a pallet and had the other two machines and their bridges shipped in their Pelican cases (the control panels were boxed) by a uShipper. Both times worked out well, but I was still sweating it while they were en route.
 

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