1970 ReVox A700 - Information Needed

Try this link . . .

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=revox+A700

Ha. Thank you.

It's a useful piece of gear <drools>. Shame it's in New York!

I would happily ship the A700 overseas, but I imagine that would be expensive? The unit is pretty heavy... (or) I may try to contact the US HQ- if there still is one - and see if they have an interest in it. But I imagine they still have units they never sold?

How did that other fellow upload a picture here of his reel to reel?

Hi PWS,

How do you rate a 1964, series 5, Ferrograph? One owner, low miles!

regards,

Massey.

The A700 was a nice machine in its time and uniquely for a Revox had 3 speeds which makes it useful for transcribing archives. The mechanics and heads are pretty much interchangeable with other Revoxes (B77 & PR99) and some Studers eg C270 so are not too difficult to find. The electronics are quite different.

The machine was complex and expensive for its time. It was the first Revox with a flat deck which made editing easier. The remote controls are comprehensive but quirky in their circuitry which meant it was not trivial to interface to studio mixers and the outputs unbalanced so it never found much favour with broadcasters.

Unlike other Revoxes it used sliders rather than rotary level controls and these tend to fail due to dirt so most old A700s have problems with the sliders unless they have been replaced. The audio electronics are less accessible than the B77/PR99 range so are harder to repair.

Tape handling was better than the A77 and B77, but the later PR99s were just as good. The machines main attraction is the 3 speeds, the later B77s and PR99s have better quality electronics so a PR99 will give better results.

You should be able to sell it to a collector on eBay or other forum. Revox have long since stopped making and selling them or the spare parts for any of their reel-to-reel machines. You might be able to find a specialist dealer/ restorer in Revoxes who would want it for, possible for parts. If you have the remotes, make sure you include them, but the other accessories are unlikely to be of interest.

If the mic you have is the Revox M3500 this is saleable as it is a re-badged Beyer M201 which is still a highly regarded mic. (It is still in production so it is not a collector's item but they have a reasonable secondhand value.) I would sell the M3500 separately.

Other mics and pickups should work with other equipment but are probably not of much value.

Thanks for your comments. The more I learn about STUDER-REVOX and this recorder, the more I feel I am getting a glimpse into what it was like to work with analog recordings before the switch to digital was made. I remember the rich and warm sound coming from LP's played through my parents German-manufactured tube stereo and amplifier from the 1950's. The speakers were as tall as I was, but the analog system (state-of-the-art for its time) seemed to bring every nuance of the music and soft tones of the voice into the room. You could even adjust the warmth or the tone with a knob ib the back of the speaker. So I appreciate the excellent engineering of these recorders so that consumers who wanted a professional grade deck could create Master quality analog recordings.

I was wondering if I should I try to turn it on or leave that for someone who purchases it and knows more about it? I'm pretty sure it hasn't been used since 1974 (when it was bought new), but it was stored covered with a custom heavy-duty fabric case that was hand made to protect it. Someone just advised me that the accompanying 7" and 10.5 inch tape reels most likely can't be used, but the 10.5 reels are important to include. I also have about ten Scotch and Pioneer 1/4 tape 7" reels. Do you think the tapes can be reused? Many currently have music recorded on them from LP's and 78's. And does anyone still use the splicing tool? It's a small metal flat piece. I'll include it.

As far as finding a buyer for the A700, I found one audio engineering website that runs auctions and classified ads. I'm looking into it. That may be better than eBay.

If the tapes have not been kept in ideal climate controlled conditions they are almost certainly useless due to the binder oozing and sticking layers together. Recordings can be recovered for transcription by tape baking (covered in a post a couple of years ago), but the tape will disintegrate after a month or so.

I think this mostly applies to some tapes made in the late '70's and '80's. I have earlier tapes that have stood the test of time without the adhesive/backing problem you mention. Here's just one link providing some insight into this phenomena:

http://vinylfanatics.com/analoglovers/page5.html