You have some lovely equipment.
The Technics RtR machines had to play second fiddle to the Revox and Tandberg machines back in the day,yet the Technics transport was probably one of the best ever made.
Technics took the 3M developed iso-loop system and perfected it.I'm told that the direct drive capstan motor is the same used in the SP10 turntable.Rumour has it that it was a 3M "Iso Loop" machine that destroyed large parts of Fleetwood Mack's Rumours multi track master. The machine was nicknamed "Jaws" by the (slightly irate?) band. Technics overcame those problems and perfected the transport. These machines are popular with tape fans , so good is the transport that it is frequently used with external repro amps,often the $14 000 Doshi.
IIRC those fantastic Tandberg amps were Tandbergs final attempt to break into the very high end of audio before folding up their Hi Fi side to concentrate on their far bigger educational electronics arm.
SAE. Many years ago when the QUAD ESL63 was launched an unnamed shop got a pair. They tried everything they had but it just would not gel. Finally a salesman found a humungous SAE amp that really woke those stats up. It sounded stunning. As a poor student ,I used to hang around that demo room. One day I was left alone in there and turned the volume on the QUADs up slightly. Result-total silence.Probably the QUAD's notorious crowbar protection. I do not believe I ever disappeared so quickly-well except the day I scratched the mint vintage Rover on pole outside the classic car dealer.
Sorry ,just stupid memories in a Blue Tooth world.
Thank you Agaton, thats some great feedback, always nice to know the history, never a waste..!!
So some more history goes like this..
Way back in the day I was very close friends with the stepson of a gentleman called Brinn Rebstein, owner of the then Schuler Presses South Africa.
Brinn was an audiophile of note, magnificent equipment such as Audio Research, Steinhardt, Acustat, Tandbergs & Revox RtR's was the order of the day at his home back in the day, and I while we were absolutely not allowed to touch anything for fear of being quartered, we could watch and listen.
We are going back to mid 1970's to Mid 1980's, I was fortunate enough to be his very young neighbour, and we got on fairly well given he was a perfectionist of note, which made him inherently difficult..
That I can remember, he sported 2 x Revox 10.5" units and a smaller 7" Tandberg reel to reel unit in his system, and I loved those machines, don't know why, it' just the beauty of them working that appealed to me in a deeper level..
So something clearly planted itelf in my core way back then, and since I was just a mere student studying engineering at the time meant I could afford jack diddly, I decided that I would build my own, using parts salvaged from an Akai of sort that I had laid my hands on.. did not get very far, but functionally she worked believe it or not..!!..
Move on a few years and come 86' I get a bursary/job offer from the National Panasonic AKA Technics..
Somehow landed up in a specialised service division made up of 3 people including myself, where I met a professional broadcast video technician called Dennis Noble, very eccentric character who unfortunately quite literally drank himself to death, but prior to his leaving this planet I had got into a friendly chat about my homemade RTR, and on his request took it to the office to show it off to him given his interest...
So help me, the very next day, without saying a word, he shows up at work with the Technics RS-1500 & 2 head blocks and a complete set of factory service manuals and hands it over to me as a gift, all 100% functional, the only thing missing were the reel NAB adaptors.. I quite literally had to pick myself up off the floor, I will never forget theat gesture of kindness!!
Teac/Tascam NAB adapters were quickly sourced from (I think) Spescom in Midrand sometime in 86'-87' cant really recall exact dates.
Brinn in the meantime had closed Schuler Presses down in JHB, purchased a farm called Jan Harmsgat in Swellendam, and turned it into one of the countries finest B&B's.
Time passes on for all of us I guess, Brinn moved on as well, and a number of years later, his daughter (with whom we remain close family friends) calls me and asks me to come over, there is something for me from Swellendam from Brinn. Turns out he had placed aside a few of his more popular RTR recordings and about 10 brand new sealed (Non-Ampex) 10'5" reels for me as he somehow remembered my dreams of his RTR's back in the day..
Quite remarkable really, I will keep those original recordings as long as I am on this planet, so help me...
Anyway, so I had a stint in the Audio Dept of Panasonic for a few years, only ever saw one 1500 come in faulty, and it was to do with the direct drive capstan motor feedback loop going open circuit so speed became unstable, easy repair, first and last time I ever saw another of those units..
Regarding the SL10 motor, you could be quite right, the capstan motor on the 1500 is literally enormous, when you open the back panel its mostly capstan motor in there, absolutely wonderful engineering, certainly from an era when true mechanical marvels were designed and built, properly..
Thank you for the feedback on the Tandbergs, also beautiful in my eyes, very stylish and unassuming.., having found those I was hoping to find the matching CD player, but they are difficult to find, however I will keep my eyes peeled open for those rare opportunities.
The SAE is a beast, its currently undergoing internal organ replacement, just ordered a whole pile of fresh components with the hope to ressurect her once again, they are tough old ladies, lets see if she survives open heart surgery at my hands once again..
Cheers & good day to all..
