How often do you have to service your Studer or Otari deck ? Home not pro environment.


I guess, there are still places where you can be confident that they know what they do.
inna

Showing 3 responses by ct0517

Inna
re the Studer,
Once it is setup it is pretty dependable (knock on wood); keep the heads clean. Use good tape.
I will say from all my time with my Studer the following questions need to be answered when looking for one. A Studer is really no different than buying an older Porsche.  
Serious questions need to be asked.

Do you know the person you are buying it from and its history ?
If it was not maintained by an authorized Studer tech I would not look at it further.
If buying from an unknown source you will need to pay to get it calibrated and set up properly.

**The tech needs to be within driving distance - forget about shipping it. It can get bumped and parts put out of alignment. I experienced this when mine was shipped to me initially. That is how I was introduced to Roger Ginsley - Studer Tech Rep for Canada. 40 minute drive from me. Talking with other tape guys in the past they all say the same thing - you are so lucky to have a Studer tech close by. Picture 5 in my virtual system shows a pic of Roger working on my deck.

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Let me tell you a story that happened many years ago.
I went to play a tails out tape. It powered up like normal.
I wound the tape up and hit rewind to bring it to the beginning.
Nothing - just a click.
Talked to my Studer tech Roger who assumed the power supply capacitors needed changing.
This was at a point in time, when I really needed that deck for audio fixes. It was my reference. It had to be repaired.  

So I drove it to him. He pulled the two main coke can size Made in West Germany silver capacitors.

Guess what ? they tested like new. In impeccable condition he said.
I then asked him.

Are you going to change them out anyway due to how old they are ?

I forget the brand name of the capacitors he had sitting on the table waiting. They would have been the best of what was available then.

He said no. They don't make them like that anymore. He refused to change them out.

That repair cost me from what I recall about $300. All labor. It took him a few hours to trace the problem to a faulty resistor. The manuals he was using to find the problem were 5 inches thick.
Have you seen the way the circuits are built and laid out in the Studer ?

get an Opus 3 master copy duplicate and go from there....


are you serious man ....... $500, $600, $700 for an album ?

Sheesh !

http://audiophile.elusivedisc.com/search?p=Q&srid=S1-3SEAP&lbc=elusivedisc&ts=custom&...

Everyone I know (not in any Music/Audio Business) - Non Pro - that got into 15 IPS tape, also acquired the necessary hunting skills for those underground individuals who somehow acquired tapes from studios. The going rate $200 - 250. Includes two tapes ($100) And this not for obscure music that you will probably listen to 3 - 4 times, before bored.

People want to hear the music of their youth. Music is about staying young. Its available for those that search.

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The first time I heard a master tape dub in my room of popular music it was a "damn" moment. You know what I mean?

When the music is over you proclaim...Damn !!

You’re hooked. The bar is set. You don’t know until you do this in your own room.

This is IMO, when the goals and objectives for each of us, who are not in the audio business, get set.

1) Some look for more tapes.
2) Some just want to use the machine to tape their records.
3)But then for some, like myself, my goal was to get my main vinyl rig sounding as close to, even, or better in my room, with the Barber, Davis, Basie, Beatles, etc... master tape dubs I have bought, and use as a reference.

Well it took a few years years but I got there. In those deep years. I ran both at the same time, with one at a 10 second delay, and switched between them to hear the differences. Oh yeah, you do need a preamp that has "on the fly" Gain. For someone that plays high and low level music sources in the same room, I would not own a preamp without this feature.

I do put on the tapes still, to exercise the machine and tapes, and to check the reference. Also some tapes I have no records for.

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Inna
I don’t know if the Studer sounds better than other machines, because I have not heard other machines in my room. I do know from my tech that the Studer "caresses" - the Tape.
The recorded tape is the most valuable part; especially if someone is putting out $500 + for two tapes

8^0.

@inna

Inna - If I am not mistaken, Studers had an option of two different types of heads, and I have no idea of those differences.


My tech explained the differences to me well, when I asked him about an "Ultra Analogue Recording"s tape that I bought as a past customer.

UAR link - they have a samples button to preview the music

https://ultraanaloguerecordings.com/new/

I was introduced to UAR through Roger when I was looking for tapes. He did the set up of their recording machines. IMO very musical and involving. Some of the reasons behind this are explained here in an email to me.

Roger Ginsely

"Initially we debated over using butterfly heads (0.75mm gap) versus the more standard 2mm stereo heads. We opted for butterfly as there is more recorded area used. This does have the slight drawback of more crosstalk between channels (they are closer together) but for classical recording this works out extremely well. There is far more `blending’ between channels producing a wider and fatter result. Of course butterfly used for say rock recording would not be advise able as instruments panned hard left and hard right would tend to be dragged more towards the centre which would result in some clutter and lack of definition."

Butterfly and Stereo Heads