rt-909, a77, or gx-365

[browningham]

i have these three reel decks (pioneer rt-909), revox a77, akai gx-365 - 1/4 track stereo decks). am thinking of getting rid of 2. wanted to see what you guys would keep/ get rid of based on reliability, sound quality, ect. each one of these has it's own charm to me, but for some reason i feel most attached to the revox.

what do you think?

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Keep the ReVox A 77 and the Pioneer for your collection. If it were only one to keep, the A 77 wins out on parts availability and ease of maintenance alone.

 

[jan_stevns]

auch - first choise would be to keep the Revox, but the 909 is also a candidate to stay ..

 

[browningham]

thanks guys. i've done a lot of a/b-ing today. the revox gets a little hotter signal on tape before distortion and sounds a bit smoother. both the revox and pioneer sound clear, but the pioneer has a slight utilitarian sound to my ears. the revox doesn't work at 3 3/4 ips, but who cares. i never use that speed for reel to reel.

 

[Andyman]

My Revox was the last to go when I sold off my RTR gear. It was the most musical to my ears.

 

[ppeterso2]

thanks guys. i've done a lot of a/b-ing today. the revox gets a little hotter signal on tape before distortion and sounds a bit smoother. both the revox and pioneer sound clear, but the pioneer has a slight utilitarian sound to my ears. the revox doesn't work at 3 3/4 ips, but who cares. i never use that speed for reel to reel.

Keep the A77--hide and keep the RT-909--you'll miss it.... My 15ips GX-365 with the awesome magno braking has been banished to the shed out back to provide music out there...LOL!

Your speed issue should be an easy fix (3 3/4 ips is good w/revox). Take the deck out of the case and look toward the bottom. The function switch shifts a long bar fore and aft--over another bar (i'm doing this from memory). Stare at it for minute and you'll figure how it works. The piece that joins them often cracks--I just added a piece of tape to hold the assembly together and it has switched fine for 2 years now.

 

[goldear]

Yep, keep the revox if you want to please your ears. Keep the Pioneer if you want to please your eyes.