Hi, Abbimonyu,

This issue comes up in regard to many different machines. When I had my 
A80s, I used them for acetate tapes on a regular basis. I haven't used 
an A807 for a long time (as I preferred the A810 over the A807 for many 
reasons, and the A80 over the A810).

In many respects, I think that the Sony APR-5000 is the gentlest of the 
list I posted. On the  other hand, I had no bad feedback from the two 
A807s (refurbished by Roger Ginsley) that were sold into an archiving 
project in Pakistan to use alongside their Tascam BR-20s (which I did 
not suggest for the current project because many versions were not made 
with power supply voltage selection).

However, to answer Tim Gillette's rephrasing of the question, we might 
consider machines that start the capstan motor when going into play so 
you are not banging the stopped tape into the full-speed capstan. The 
Sony APR-5000 works that way and mutes the audio for a short period of 
time at startup.

You weren't missing something and it is good that you posted. Perhaps I 
didn't provide enough weight to that criteria.

I'd be interested in hearing more about the fragile acetate tapes that 
you encounter as I've been surprised at how well the Scotch 111 and 
Audio Devices acetate tapes have held up. I've even been pleased with 
the paper tapes I've transferred as well. The only really fragile 
acetate tape I've come across was one that sat behind a wood stove 
through several Vermont winters. One face was welded together and broke 
on ever rotation of the supply reel.

The one thing that seems to fail for me are splices onto paper leader. I 
have to remake all those splices after baking in many instances, but 
that's with back-coated polyester tapes.

Cheers,

Richard





On 2021-11-19 8:41 p.m., Abhimonyu Deb wrote:
> Given the notable list of people who have replied so far, normally I would keep my mouth shut.
> However, I do think everyone is missing an important point.
> 
> Dave mentions that the machine should be able to play fragile acetate tapes. The A80’s, 807’s and Otari 5050’s that I’ve worked with would fail miserably here unless I’m missing something.
> Abhimonyu Debhttp://linkedin.com/in/abhimonyudeb
> 
> 
> 
> On Saturday, November 20, 2021, 6:42 AM, James Perrett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 20 Nov 2021 at 00:55, Richard L. Hess <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Long ago, a company I think called
>> "DarkLab" in Germany made EIA to DIN adapters out of plastic.
>>
>>
> They still make them and sell them on Ebay. I bought some a few months ago
> but haven't used them yet.
> 
> James.
> 

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Track Format - Speed - Equalization - Azimuth - Noise Reduction
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.