Spent most of the day researching and inspecting a 1972 reel to reel machine and I want today‘s electronics devices to be just as serviceable as they were back then.

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@gisiger Indeed! At least since they settled for the 1/4" standard internationally after WW2.

[electron_greg@oldbytes.space]

@janbeta
And I bet stupendously high quality too. Seriously beautiful machine.

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@electron_greg It is built to last (and to be repairable). Funny thing is that it’s nearly the bottom of the line model from Philips that year (there’s only one model below it) and it still has a lot of the features and the same build quality as higher end models.

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@daedalus Haha, true, the Sony reel looks a lot like a telephone dial. It’s a bit larger in diameter though (18cm).

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@janbeta @mike I picked up this Akai a couple of years ago and managed to get it working almost perfectly again with the help of my neighbour who repairs old hi-fi equipment as his retirement job/hobby. Love the sound of these when they saturate a little.

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@janbeta @mike Here what it sounded like just before the final round of servicing.

https://youtu.be/KhzMTtTm4Xs

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@mdreid Noice!

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@mdreid A bit more sophisticated than my Philips, too. Mine only has two heads and yours already has Dolby!

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@janbeta The Philips looks so slick though. It’s got that real “here’s what we imagined the future should be” design.

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@mdreid That’s true! I especially love the faders for controlling the levels.

[acejacek@social.vivaldi.net]

@mdreid have a look these guys how they use tapes as proper instruments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Reel_Ensemble @janbeta @mike

[mdreid@mastodon.social]

@acejacek @janbeta @mike I’ve seen a few of their videos. Amazing!

[wikinaut@berlin.social]

@janbeta I owned the smaller one.

[robeeshepherd@mastodon.art]

@janbeta “Good morning Mr Phelps, your mission if you choose to accept it…”

[janbeta@chaos.social]

@RobeeShepherd I hope it doesn’t self destruct on me!