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Reel-to-reel: Tandberg vs. TEAC

Sam Cogley

Sam Cogley

Last of the Time Lords
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Trying to decide what to use in my main system, which will (when finished) be comprised of a core of Fisher tube gear with a modified Empire 598 turntable. The TEAC is an early 80s X-300-R that works great. It has most of the benefits of late-era consumer reel-to-reel, including three motors and roller tensioners for very gentle tape handling. The X-300-R is currently in my possession. The Tandberg (which I don't yet own) is a model 64, tubed, beautiful styling, and repordedly extremely good sound. It has a rather complex single-motor transport, somewhat soft heads, and will need the same general overhaul work as any other bit of early 60s tube gear.

Any thoughts on which I should choose? Obviously the Tandberg is going to be more period-correct, and they have a great reputation. The TEAC is well-built and has a lot of nice features.
 
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Teac, for numerous reasons. 1) they are reliable. 2) parts and tech supper is available. 3) I have an X-3, and it sounds excellent.
 
The 64 will need a new belt. Brakes are the only bad service issue. Soundwise it is special....much better than you would expect. The Teac is all plasticy. If you are impatient it will fast wind faster.
 
The Tandberg will be a lot of work to restore, but it will probably be well worth the effort. The X-3 is an decent little machine, with good parts availability and a nice modern transport, but it is really nothing special sonicly.

FYI - If you want a really nice tube machine with fewer issues, I would recommend that you might seriously consider a Revox G36. It has a 3 motor driect drive transport, and can handle 10.5" tapes.

The other tube machine that I would consider is an Ampex F-44.
 
There are a few considerations here - one is that I'm going to modify my Barzilay cabinet to drawer-mount the RtR and TT, so it has to fit inside. The G36 wouldn't. If a 10.5" machine would have a chance of going in there, I'd probably just use my Otari.

The other consideration is that the Tandberg is actually for sale at the moment.
 
Makes sense! If it were me, I'd go for the Tandberg (assuming that you are up for a project). FWIW: I a have very similar plans for my X6.
 
Last I checked, there were still a couple of sources for the OEM curved friction pads, and in any event you can sub adhesive-backed cork. Rebuilding the 64 isn't that big of a challenge. However, if you are going to go through the trouble you should probably do it with a 64X which is an improved crossfield head version and likely the best performer sonically of all of the tubed Tandberg decks.

John
 
The Tandberg 64 may be more period correct but it is a problematic PITA (IMHO). I've had at least 4 of them over the years and when they are working they are ok *BUT* like all Tandbergs they are finicky and for some reason that model seems to be very susceptible to tape dropouts. Even with fresh tape every Tandberg 64 that I've ever had seemed to dropout momentarily for no obvious reason.

I know the X-3 has a bad reputation for burning up capstan motors, but sonically it is very good (especially the X-3 mkII) and if the motor goes you can get rebuilt ones on ebay or new ones from Teac. Currently have 2 TR-3000 (Realistic version of X-3) and a Tascam 22-2 (1/2 track high speed version of the X-3) and they have been very reliable and great sounding decks. They are also very gentle on tape and have excellent tape to head contact (better than most machines out there).

The only other machine that I can think of that might suit your needs well would be a Teac "A" series deck like the A-2300s or sx series. They are ultra-reliable, compact and very good sounding decks, although the tape handling isn't as gentle as the X series.
 
audiojones said:
The Tandberg 64 may be more period correct but it is a problematic PITA (IMHO).
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I agree. They are a PITA to work on. They have this funky arrangement for the drive belt and it is always in contact with both reels and the drive motor. They do sound amazingly good, though. But I think any TEAC is more reliable than any Tandberg reel to reel I have seen.
 
Well, the other option is a real rarity - TEAC R-1000 from the late 60s. I even have the spare parts kit for it. Tape handling isn't as nice as the X-300-R, though.

The looks of the Tandberg are simply drool-worthy, it keeps sucking me back in. I should probably do the sensible thing and stick with the X-300-R, though. Besides the looks and being a tubed unit, I thought the Tandberg might have some sonic advantage, but the TEAC seems to have some fans.

I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the X-300-R when it was here. Currently it resides with my parents, but I can swap the R-1000 to them.

And I'll keep my eyes out for a 64X. For now, the Sony TC-500A will have to sate my desire for a tubed reel deck. And I have a spare head for it. ;)
 
If you want a reliable tube unit that you can pick up cheap, and sounds fantastic, look for an Ampex 960 (2 track), 1260, or F44. They are home machines, but made by the professional division of Ampex. Others:
Crown, Berlandt, American Concertone (all 2 track professional machines.)
 
Sam Cogley said:
...I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the X-300-R when it was here. Currently it resides with my parents, but I can swap the R-1000 to them.
Click to expand...

The X-300R is nice but I don't like that 4 track playback head. I've had a couple of them and the crosstalk was kind of irritating. Most noticeable were the bass notes of side 2 playing backwards quietly in the background while listening to side 1 (and the head alignment was spot on). The X-3 and TR-3000 decks (as well as the A series machines with separate playback heads for each direction) seem to be immune to this. Just my 2 bits, YMMV.
 
The Ampex F44 and 1260 are very well designed one-motor tube units. I've whitnessed one of these still runing perfectly over 40 years after it was built. And supposedly these sound pretty good too!
 
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I dislike the Teac X series equipment. That DC capstan motor is very unreliable through the years. The Tandberg machines are cranky but usually reliable if maintained well. If you want a Teac, get an A series which will be running much longer down the road and is better built.
 
Revox G36

Despite the fact that the Revox G36 takes 10 1/2 reels, it is much small than any Otari I have ever seen. Overall, it is probably about the size of your Teac, give or take a few inches. Just something to consider...
 
I agree that the G36 is extremely compact. And it might very-well fit into his opening. But if he requires for the reels to be fully contained inside of the same footprint, then it won't work as even a 7" reel will extend slightly beyond the edges.

But otherwise I agree with you that this would be my first choice.
 
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I was able to hear the difference between a Tandberg 9100x and a Teac whatever from across the store with the sound room door closed. For sonics it has to be Tandberg all day long.

My brother had a 64x, a nice machine that worked very well. Must have been those nearly new telefunken tubes in it that made it sound so sweet so many years ago.
 
Hmm. I'll keep my eyes out for a 64X or a G36. Currently, G36 prices on eBay are way out of my range.

The reels don't have to be contained within the footprint if I can set the whole deck far enough forward that they'll be clear of the cabinet when it's in use.
 
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