The mighty Nagra 10T

[flez007]

I have embarked a new project, bring up to life a very clean Nagra 10T, a friend and I will look to have it up & running, it powers up, motors are perfect, all controls work, tape runs from one end to the other, it sounds via its internal speaker.

Missing so far:

1) NABs are faulty - they click randomly, dangerous to try recorded tape right now
2) one tape lead roll cap is missing, tape runs but the piece is missing.
3) I will look to get the electronics out and use an external Tape preamp, this is project itself.

Once I get a pair of new NABs will evaluate its working condition, thanks to Ki Choi so far for the tips!

 

[Bruce B]

Damn.... that's a clean machine!!

 

[c1ferrari]

Alright

Great project

 

[amirm]

Love to see these beautiful machines restored....

 

[Mike Lavigne]

welcome to the Nagra 'T' club. they are beautiful machines. you have the same front keyboard as mine.

enjoy.

 

[ack]

How incredibly ugly and outdated! Are you selling?

 

[flez007]

It will look worst once I place it at its Nagra dedicated Stand!

 

[c1ferrari]

Hehehe

How incredibly ugly and outdated! Are you selling?

Good one, ack

 

[sMckee]

Be cautious all you read on the web is not true.
Just sold mine, I read all the hype and bought one about a year ago, can't find any parts and they need new electronics, don't sound too great.
I lost about $900 on the deal.
Live and learn!

 

[flez007]

sMckee - thanks for the warning note, I have tried to minimize such risk by i) making shure the transport is OK, ii) heads are in good condition and iii) get information to skip the audio electronics since I will use an external tape head preamp which is sounding great with my modified Technics 1520. I am actually not pursuing this project to make some cash out of it, but into enjoying the process...

 

[Ki Choi]

Be cautious all you read on the web is not true.
Just sold mine, I read all the hype and bought one about a year ago, can't find any parts and they need new electronics, don't sound too great.
I lost about $900 on the deal.
Live and learn!

On eBay that ended yesterday evening?

 

[flez007]

On eBay that ended yesterday evening?

Which by the way ended very close to your estimate Ki!

 

[flez007]

Progress Report

I have received the CINE adapters that allowed me to test the mechanics of the Nagra, it looks all is working, unit powers on, runs tape from one side to the other, plays and music comes out from its internal speaker.

The only test that is not OK regards to the STOP function while FFWDing tape, when STOP is pressed some tape from the right takeup reel gets loose and winds tape beneath the reel (about two or three loops of tape), this is not happening when the unit is RWDing or PLAYing, timecode works perfectly and stops in the selected point.

I will greatly appreciate any hint on how to address this issue, as well as accepting recommendations for additional tests I should perform prior to execute the modificaton plan to take sound directly from the play head and skiping internal electronics.

Fernando

BTW - I placed an add (EMT 938 Broadcast Turntable) at the Trading Section to fund this project.

 

[flez007]

Thanks to everyone who have PM me regarding tips on having the T up & running, I am still not there....but very close.

It looks like the deck needed some time playing, having access to the user manual helped a lot, I can declare that phase 1 is almost done (transport section running), and now I will proceed to phase 1-b (play tapes thru its internal preamp) prior going to phase 2 (rewire to play via an external preamp).

I am looking to get Balanced-RCA adapters (since my preamp does not have balanced inputs) and configure the T for the appropiate speed/eq option (a dip switch) and evaluate its sound quality.

I might receive the T stand in the comming weeks and might hunt for a meter bridge later.... Things are happening faster than I expected!.

(thanks to Ki Choi for his wise words and help on achieving this progress, with half a day of time differences and a hiper-active amateur (me) dumping his mail with silly questions!!!... I owe you one Ki!

 

[flez007]

As expected, the Nagra did not sound that great stand-alone, test checked!

Now it is at the lab where my tech will perform changes to run it directly from the tape-head to an external tape preamp (I have a BH Eros but considering other options like BH Repro, King Cello, DaHavilland or Doshi).

I got three modification plans from Ki, DocB and Alex (thanks a lot!) all based on the same principle that leaves the deck almost intact, I hope to get it back in a week or so and will post my findings and comparison notes vs my Technics 1500/TP modified unit.

UPDATE 12/24/11 - the Nagra T is is still at the shop, my technician has quite a large backlog and the unit is still in line for bench time...

 

[flez007]

Nagra T back from the shop!

i) Modification to take signal out from the PLAYBACK head
ii) Interior cleansing
iii) Stand installation (Thanks again Ki!, I hope you have stopped kicking yourself for this )

 

[mep]

Fernando-Your system reminds me a little of mine. Very nice Bro. It looks cool and a little untidy. I definitely have some clean-up work to do on my wires and cables.

 

[flez007]

Agreed mep, I do need to run the cables in a more neat fashion.

 

[mep]

I can make you feel better by posting a pic of my system, trust me.

 

[flez007]

I read somewhere..."the worst it looks, the better it sounds!"...(or something like it)