To be fair to the Austrians, they claim to be making a consumer deck. Even 
so, tooling from scratch would cost a bomb, if it's going to be any good.

The "air channels" sound like the guttering which has been used on European 
professional heads since the year dot. Cutting these channels in the head 
face ensures that the width of the pole-pieces is marginally less than that 
of the tape, and thus that the head face wears evenly, without those 
infuriating wear lips which catch the tape edges. They work, too - I bought 
a Revox which had been well used, with flats on the heads beyond the 
recommended 4mm. It measured OK, so I left the heads where they were for 
many more useful hours - until, one day, all the top went from one side. 
Examination revealed a visble gap on that side, In other words, the head had 
performed well until the gap itself had collapsed.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Austrian Audiophile Company Designing New 
Reel-to-Reel Player


I meant parts available in AUSTRIA. And after saying that, I got to 
wondering if there's a secret
stash of Studer parts somewhere ...

I think a more viable model is what a couple of folks do already -- refurb 
and improve some of the
many Japanese late-era reel decks floating around out there. The 
last-generation Tascam transports
were pretty darn good (all rolling guides, ceramic large-diameter capstans 
on some,
somewhat-Studer-like tape path), and the Technics do a good job when 
properly maintained. I've found
that it's key to have good pinchrollers on a Technics, and most machines you 
find at a decent price
have the original 1980s pinchrollers, worn out. Terry's Rubber Rollers, 
recommended by someone here,
did really good work for me. It also helps a Technics deck to have John 
French refurb the headblock.
John fixes that cheapo play-head switch very well, and also cuts what he 
calls air channels above
and below the tape path on the play and record heads, which seems to help 
keep firm contact between
tape and head (John points out that the tension around the heads is low in a 
Technics machine).

Anyway, there are lots of old decks out there, so I question the viability 
of starting from scratch.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 1:44 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Austrian Audiophile Company Designing New 
Reel-to-Reel Player


> Not saying it's impossible, but it will be very hard for them to achieve a 
> high-quality modern transport without economies of scale. If they want to 
> try for a brute-force vintage design, that can be done in smaller batches 
> if they can still source motors. I think of George Adams at United Audio 
> in NYC. Back in the 70s and 80s, he was able to build what probably 
> amounted to a couple hundred tape machines from scratch. He had a 
> transport design I'd call brute-force with refinements. It was 
> dual-capstan (one being slightly smaller diameter than the other to 
> maintain a tension over the heads) and motion-sensing via a magnet glued 
> to the bottom of the reel motors and "read" by a mono cassette head (each 
> time the circular magnet flipped polarity, the voltage changed out of the 
> head, so it was a primative "clocking" mechanism with fewer gradations 
> than the light-sensor and spinning striped wheel that Inovonics used for 
> the Tentrol system). So it could be done, back then. I think it would be 
> harder to source parts in Australia in 2016.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Aaron Coe" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 1:22 PM
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Austrian Audiophile Company Designing New Reel-to-Reel 
> Player
>
>
> Horch House Press Release:
>
> Austria-based Horch House is excited to announce the initiation of 
> ‘PROJECT R2R’: the development of the world’s only brand new reel-to-reel 
> tape deck.
>
> Launched in 2012, the Horch House brand has already developed an 
> impressive reputation for capturing the magic of original analogue master 
> tapes and delivering faithful (and fully licensed and approved) copies on 
> reel-to-reel tape, vinyl records and in various digital formats.  Now, the 
> company is also turning its attention to bringing the once essential 
> reel-to-reel deck from its current vintage status back to centre stage - 
> where it belongs.
>
> As is typical of Horch House, the company will be working closely with 
> some of the industry’s foremost experts in order to deliver the most 
> accomplished outcome possible.
>
> In developing their much-admired processes for creating astoundingly high 
> quality copies of original analogue master tapes, Horch House’s expert 
> team of sound engineers undertook meticulous research and development, 
> calling in input from some of the world’s leading specialists (think of 
> folks whose client lists include Sir Paul McCartney, Sony and Abbey Road 
> Studios and you get a sense of the level of know-how involved).
>
> This same high level of input will be applied to PROJECT R2R. The aim? “To 
> achieve the best sound quality, bar none,” says Horch House’s joint owner 
> and project leader, Volker Lange, whose excitement about the project is 
> palpable. “My passion for audiophile tape machines goes way, way back,” he 
> explains. “This will be the realisation of a lifelong ambition. And it’s 
> an absolute honour and privilege to be working with a team of this 
>  calibre”.
>
> In fact the team is already hard at work and hopes to be in a position to 
> show a prototype of the new deck at Munich’s High-End Show this coming 
> May.
>
>
> http://www.analogarts.net/project-r2r/
>
>
> -Aaron
> _____________________
> http://cuttingcorporation.com
>
>