Are you an audiophile?

[Dave2002]

I've just retrieved my Revox 736 from 7 years in storage but have yet to switch it on. The open reel tapes of music recorded from the Proms in the sixties beckon, including the Havergal Brian Gothic sym and the best ever (imv) Sibelius 5 from the Edinburgh Festival with Bernstein and the LSO.
Day to day I'm still wedded to my elderly Quad speakers (63's) and amp.

I hope your Revox still works. It'd be interesting to hear more about this if you get it working.

[Bryn]

I hope your Revox still works. It'd be interesting to hear more about this if you get it working.

Are parts still available for Revox recorders? Hopefully, they are better supported than my Tandberg.

[richardfinegold]

I always avoid any video that is supposed to demonstrate some audiophile point and then uses You Tube as it’s audio source

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've just retrieved my Revox 736 from 7 years in storage but have yet to switch it on. The open reel tapes of music recorded from the Proms in the sixties beckon, including the Havergal Brian Gothic sym and the best ever (imv) Sibelius 5 from the Edinburgh Festival with Bernstein and the LSO.
Day to day I'm still wedded to my elderly Quad speakers (63's) and amp.

Is that an early valve model with metal deck ? In the seventies I coveted an A77 . They seemed to feature in the bachelor pad of every 70’s TV spy series . I think Jason King had one in that terrible series of the same name. They were however expensive and looking at eBay remain so - over a grand.

[Bryn]

I always avoid any video that is supposed to demonstrate some audiophile point and then uses You Tube as it’s audio source

Surely, it depends upon what property is being demonstrated. While the lossy compression used on YouTube can be extreme, thus severely restricting timbral and dynamic fidelity, such issues as perceived stereo imagery might still be usefully represented if joint stereo processing is avoided.

[Old Grumpy]

Reading through the posts on this thread:

Am I an audiophile?

No.

Do I like listening to music?

Yes.

[gradus]

Yes its valves and built like a tank, really heavy.

[RichardB]

Yes its valves and built like a tank, really heavy.

IIRC the 736, being intended for the “domestic” user, is made even heavier by containing a bloody great built in speaker and amplifier as well! I know it isn’t hard to get parts for the professional models - there’s a company in Germany that manufactures them, given that so many are in use (we have four 807s in my place of work, all in perfect working condition), and I would guess that the 736 has many parts in common with these.

[gradus]

IIRC the 736, being intended for the “domestic” user, is made even heavier by containing a bloody great built in speaker and amplifier as well! I know it isn’t hard to get parts for the professional models - there’s a company in Germany that manufactures them, given that so many are in use (we have four 807s in my place of work, all in perfect working condition), and I would guess that the 736 has many parts in common with these.

That's right Richard, they engineered them to last. Its the twin track, 3,3/4and 7,1/2 ips model and from memory produced quite listenable quality, at least that's how I remember it!

[Lordgeous]

That's right Richard, they engineered them to last. Its the twin track, 3,3/4and 7,1/2 ips model and from memory produced quite listenable quality, at least that's how I remember it!

More than "quite listenable quality". I had one (valve Revox, low speed) and attended at least one Julian Bream recording session where the high speed version was the sole recorder! I still have a Studer B62 (Revox was a branch of Studer) which for years was my master recorder & editing machine.

[Ein Heldenleben]

More than "quite listenable quality". I had one (valve Revox, low speed) and attended at least one Julian Bream recording session where the high speed version was the sole recorder! I still have a Studer B62 (Revox was a branch of Studer) which for years was my master recorder & editing machine.

B62’s are (were ) pretty much professional qual machines weren’t they ? . I seem to remember using B67’s at the Beeb in the 80’s though only for speech . Music was strictly A80’s . The OP got me on eBay where I see there’s a refurbished A80 for sale for £55,000 ! Even with add-ons that’s got to be over the top.

[RichardB]

I've never owned a reel to reel machine and, having got into professional recording in the early 1990s, I've never really had to deal with them. However, about fifteen years ago I decided to start digitising some unique cassette recordings before the tapes became unusable and thought to myself I'll buy a second hand Revox B215, do the transfers and then sell it again. I still have it of course! Who would want to get rid of such a thing. It cost me 400 euros at a time when cassettes were "not a thing" but I reckon I could now sell it for four times as much. Weird.

When I said earlier we have four A807s in our electronic music studio I meant A80s of course - you can see my colleague Kees Tazelaar giving a guided tour of them here

http://sonology.org/aiovg_videos/bea5s-studer-tape-machines-basic-operation-and-some-sound-effects/

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've never owned a reel to reel machine and, having got into professional recording in the early 1990s, I've never really had to deal with them. However, about fifteen years ago I decided to start digitising some unique cassette recordings before the tapes became unusable and thought to myself I'll buy a second hand Revox B215, do the transfers and then sell it again. I still have it of course! Who would want to get rid of such a thing. It cost me 400 euros at a time when cassettes were "not a thing" but I reckon I could now sell it for four times as much. Weird.

When I said earlier we have four A807s in our electronic music studio I meant A80s of course - you can see my colleague Kees Tazelaar giving a guided tour of them here
http://sonology.org/aiovg_videos/bea...sound-effects/

As a matter of interest why do you use A80’s ? Is it for tape effects like flanging ? They are obviously superb machines but have (on paper if not by ear? ) been surpassed technically by digital.
Aah the answer is in the video !

[RichardB]

As a matter of interest why do you use A80’s?

They're also used for the ongoing digitisation of our tape archive, which goes back to the 1960s.

[Ein Heldenleben]

More than "quite listenable quality". I had one (valve Revox, low speed) and attended at least one Julian Bream recording session where the high speed version was the sole recorder! I still have a Studer B62 (Revox was a branch of Studer) which for years was my master recorder & editing machine.

Often wondered how long high quality 1/4 inch tape lasts. Not just a question of increasing noise as the magnetised areas demagnetise though. . There was a huge problem at the BBC with mould on videotape. It led to a very expensive digitisation programme.