Revox A77 - Mk IV Reel to Reel

Just arrived is this Mint Condition Studer Revox A77 Deck. Built between 1974-78 these are precision audiophile units that are engineered to the highest specifications in the industry at that time. Called the most "delicate" of recorders they incorporated a load resistance for intital start-up reels which were much heavier and required more motor torque to spin. Thus decreasing as tape wound to the pick-up reel and also greatly reducing any slippage or flutter through the heads. Precise!!! A three head system for 4 track stereo recording set this deck high on the audiophiles radar.

This one is super clean and did not see a lot of action through it's years in play. It needs the meter bulbs replaced but other than that its a spectacular sounding piece of Vintage Sound History. All of these early Reel to Reels came with a dustcover. Acrylic similar to turntables although many will not have them with the units. They were put aside and in most cases lost or broken. I dont think you could find a better A77. A True Vintage Beauty!

Sony TA2000 Rare

Here is the control centre of my system. Uber tough with shielded circuit boards and the most accommodating analog preamp with 2 grounded phono inputs and tape loop! The Walnut is stunning!

   




Circa 1969 this Gem is the heart of my listening pleasure. I mean what is more gratifying than hitting the switch of an audiophile unit like this knowing it has served for 40 years and is still today precise and so musical sounding! I hope you enjoy my images.
Here is my original post for more images to drool on.


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Sony NR-335

Vintage Sony units truly define an era. 

These 70's modules are by far trend setters of their day.

Here is a somewhat rare cassette Dolby B noise reduction unit from that era. Not to be confused with Thomas Dolby although he was equally innovative! Remember, "poetry in motion" moog music! Interesting fact... He won an achievement award 1998 for Internet music downloads. Interesting because his hits were prior to Internet down loadable content. 

Back to Dolby Labs gem...
It is encased in a true wood cabinet and sports the two massive VU meters so characteristic of the day.
This is a museum quality piece that should be appreciated.

Here are some specs

Built-in Headphone Jack
Two Mic Input Jacks
Two Professional VU Meters
Two-position Mic Attenuator Switch-reduces level of input to minimize input distortion
Tape/Source Monitor Switch
Built-in 19 kHz Filter Switch-eliminates FM multiplex interference
Two Playback Volume Controls - Ultra cool
Two Record Level Controls
Built-in 400 Hz Oscillator for input/output balancing.

Bravo Sony!

Sheffield Lab Recordings

From an early age I was shown the quality and performance of vinyl cut directly to disk in Sheffield Lab studios in New York. Breathtaking clarity and equally impressive musical performances as they were "cuttin grooves" with each note played. Masters which were 1st generations!
Lincoln Mayorga and Doug Sax are the visionaries and founders. The story goes that Lincoln relentlessly pursued a piano recording that could detail precise tone and clarity as if the piano was actually in the room from the recording. Thus long story short, they were brought to where they produced direct to disk recordings of unsurpassed quality.

There are many excellent LP's available including one of the clearest I have heard. James Newton Howard and friends is basically a Toto album, including the members of the day the Porcaro brothers. Jeff Porcaro shot to fame as the incredible drummer on Steely Dan's Katy Lied LP.
This collaboration has exceptional keyboards of the 80's with a somewhat Jazzy melody. All originals that I'm sure with this caliber of musicianship got very little rehearsal time. If your looking for that vintage sound or keyboard test sampler this is it man!
Here is Lincoln's (founder) own recording. He was an accomplished studio pianist.

and another quite notable...

Go to SHEFFIELD LAB HISTORY to read the full incredible coming of what is now the best vinyl produced! I hope you will enjoy one of their recordings soon. I do all the time.

Some Gear around the House

Leslie W2 Vintage Headphones

 

 

One of my great friends Yuri, taught me most of what I know about music and recording. I remember he introduced me to the vintage sound of a Hammond B3 through a Leslie speaker cabinets on the early Deep Purple & Nucleus (highly collectible) records. Yuri has the original pressing, I have a newer 180g vinyl pressing. 

The Doppler swoosh sound was incredible to me as he went through his incredible selection of vinyl. He described how the Allman Brothers Band and others would perform on stage with their Leslies rocking back and forth on the stage to give it a methodical sense of manic timing and sound. So calculated were the echoes of the vibrating Leslies most noticeable on Pink Floyd's "echoes". They were simply put, "the sound of an era". I was in high school listening to the Police and a Flock of Seagulls playing their mini moogs and DX-7's at the time and loved that I had been opened up to this new (old) ear candy. I came across these 1968 vintage Leslie W2's and it brought me back to that time. I recognized the logo and had to grab them. I didn't know that they even produced any audio accessories so these seemed like quite a find and it turns out they were. Ultra rare the W2's truly are vintage open aired units that have great reproduction. If I were to find a flaw it would be a lack of bass as is not unusual in those days without spending some serious money on higher end cans. Great mids and low fatigue,  I find them to be excellent for 40 year old phones. The W4's were the successor to the W2's and were upgraded with a switchable crossover to select genres from Classical to Popular and then to Vocals. Cool! These were only available in black with chrome accents. I will be watching for a pair of these one day.

Yamaha YP-B2 Turntable

Here is a very nice manual belt driven turntable that arrived this week. It has a simple and elegant vintage look with the Brazilian rosewood stocky plinth. A polished S-tonearm is complimented with the original head shell. It sounds like a menu description doesn't it? Ah well these units are like fine foods aren't they? When all the right ingredients are there it truly is delectable!

I replaced the belt and wiped it off and away we went. My wife actually likes cleaning them for me. Quite nice when she comments on the quality of a unit. Once the tracking was set up I found the sound to be surprisingly good as I was skeptical on the Yamaha series although they really did have some gems in the late 70's. All in all this is a solid entry level TT that you really cant go wrong with in both function and design.