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Technics Reel to Reel

I have the 1506 model and like others here have said they are a well made machine.The only service I've had to do other than some minor lubricating was the tape counter.It really started to squeal like a banshee and to removed and lubed.
 
741 is a lesser machine. Even the RS 1500 and 1520 really are overrated machines. And they fetch way too much money even as parts decks. No parts available either. They're excellent, but $800 on average for a parts machine is way too much money in this economy. I'd much rather have an Otari unless I had the room for a real pro studio machine, meaning an Ampex 300, 350, 440, ATR-102 or a 3M M 79, or MCI or Studer machine. The Technics copied 3M M 79, and it makes the 1500 look like a CONSUMER machine or SEMI-PRO which it does very well.
 
Here is my 1506 from 77.
It is a original Japanese model running 100 Volt
and before they marked it 4track.

It is in mint condition sounding really good :music:

DSC_1529.jpg
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Big reason why they're not discussed too much here is they're priced beyond many budgets now. You are often looking at $800 for a spare parts deck for a RS 1500 nowadays.
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Kent I think you're way off on this one. I just sold mine and I've been tracking prices on them for the last year or so. They sell for around $400.00 at the top end nowadays. You usually find them regularly on ebay at around the $300.00 mark. I sold mine for $250.00 locally and was surprised I got it without having to ship.
 
Just in the past few weeks I have seen one with the bidding up to 1100.00, and one with the bidding up to 1400.00, both in good working condition.

There is a site online advertising 3, fully refurbished, each over 3000.00. We put mine through it's paces today, and it just sounds outstanding. Can't bring myself to sell it. What will probably happen is a cap will go one day, and I will then have to sell it as a parts machine. :tears:
 
You've seen one with the bidding up to $1100.00 or that's just what they were asking? I saw one that didn't sell for $1100.00 in the past two weeks. All of the ones that have sold in the last two weeks (about 3 or 4...) have sold for $400.00 or less. Check out the completed listings on ebay and you'll see what I mean.
 
Yes...those were the current bids at the time. I did not go back to see the final price. But I've been busy lately, and am sure it has been more than two weeks since I looked. It wasn't terribly long ago I saw one go for 1800.00. I think the cheapest one I ever saw sell was about 350.00, and that was a machine which would just "power up", and looked rough.

I wouldn't ever consider trying to pack one for shipment, so if I ever did sell mine, it would have to be 'buyer pick up'. Besides that, it would prevent any misunderstanding about the condition.
 
Hmmm. Maybe I sold mine for too little. Although mine was pretty much mint, the track switch in the headblock needed at least a cleaning, possibly more. The heads weren't exactly brand new either but they played and recorded well. My fear was kind of the same as yours... I knew if something went wrong with it that it would have been nearly impossible to get fixed and therefore pretty hard to sell at a decent price. There was no way I was going to ship that beast. Although I really loved the aesthetics of it it almost never got used and I needed to raise a little cash so off it went. It's definitely one of those pieces of gear that I wish I hadn't sold as soon as it walked out the door. It turned out the guy that bought it from me i knew from selling him something before so it was all good. He knew all about the deck and he collects super high end audio so I knew it went to a good home and not a flipper.
 
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See here: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=376706

The Twins are in the best shape, but there are a few caps that are going bad. Next on the list. The third deck is a bit rough, not bad though. (Not in picture)

And I gutted a bad one for spare parts. It's true, no parts available except banged up decks. They are good machines, not really that hard to service. The good thing is that unless you snap off the reel spindle locks, most problems can be fixed with off the shelf parts.

Marc
 
elgato8905 said:
Hmmm. Maybe I sold mine for too little. Although mine was pretty much mint, the track switch in the headblock needed at least a cleaning, possibly more. The heads weren't exactly brand new either but they played and recorded well. My fear was kind of the same as yours... I knew if something went wrong with it that it would have been nearly impossible to get fixed and therefore pretty hard to sell at a decent price. There was no way I was going to ship that beast. Although I really loved the aesthetics of it it almost never got used and I needed to raise a little cash so off it went. It's definitely one of those pieces of gear that I wish I hadn't sold as soon as it walked out the door. It turned out the guy that bought it from me i knew from selling him something before so it was all good. He knew all about the deck and he collects super high end audio so I knew it went to a good home and not a flipper.
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Mine is working so well now I simply can't let it go. I bought it sometime around the mid 1980s and kept it in storage here until a couple of years ago.
Didn't appear to have had much use before I bought it. Would love to be able to have it recapped, and everything specced out.:yes:
 
Zygmo said:
Mine is working so well now I simply can't let it go. I bought it sometime around the mid 1980s and kept it in storage here until a couple of years ago.
Didn't appear to have had much use before I bought it. Would love to be able to have it recapped, and everything specced out.:yes:
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Almost every RS-15XX deck looks to have some bad caps in it now. If you open the back and look very carefully at the legs of the caps, you can often see some greenish fuzz on them, like on a car battery. This has now befallen my own decks, so when I have a moment I'll re-cap them.

I have restored Technics decks for a few people here.... they are among the few truly worth doing, IMHO.
 
Tinman said:
Almost every RS-15XX deck looks to have some bad caps in it now. If you open the back and look very carefully at the legs of the caps, you can often see some greenish fuzz on them, like on a car battery. This has now befallen my own decks, so when I have a moment I'll re-cap them.

I have restored Technics decks for a few people here.... they are among the few truly worth doing, IMHO.
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Thanks alot, Tinman...for giving me something else to worry about! :tears:
Just kidding....I appreciate the info. But I know the caps are living on borrowed time...guess I will drag that puppy out soon, and take a peek inside.
I did not know about the green fuzz sometimes being present on caps going bad.

I don't think I am qualified enough to tackle a recap though, especially on a beast like this. And I don't know of any shops I would trust it to, around here (Little Rock AR), even if I could afford it.
 
I just bought 2 Technics RS-715US Reel to Reel tape deck’s & I love them both & Heavy is an understatement each one is close to 80 pounds or more. Both have all the Bell’s & Whistles that the
RS-1500 have on them. Except for 10” Reel’s & 4 heads they are are identical. Mine do the same from
4 Track, Auto Reverse, Fast Breaking, to 3 Motor Operation, to Remote Control Ready, Solonoid Operation. I have never in my life seen such as fast rewind ever you don’t want to get your fingers near the reel’s when you’re in Rewind. Yes I did have to buy a parts model to be 100% Sure I was covered.
 
Ron Hofmeist said:
I just bought 2 Technics RS-715US Reel to Reel tape deck’s & I love them both & Heavy is an understatement each one is close to 80 pounds or more. Both have all the Bell’s & Whistles that the
RS-1500 have on them. Except for 10” Reel’s & 4 heads they are are identical. Mine do the same from
4 Track, Auto Reverse, Fast Breaking, to 3 Motor Operation, to Remote Control Ready, Solonoid Operation. I have never in my life seen such as fast rewind ever you don’t want to get your fingers near the reel’s when you’re in Rewind. Yes I did have to buy a parts model to be 100% Sure I was covered.
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They're excellent machines, but no 1500 or 1800. And 1/4 track only. And no 15 IPS. Nothing wrong with them, but they're home use machines, and nice ones. But they are also very uncommon machines. And less durable than a proper professional machine (which are built to highest standards, conservative specifications, and built to handle 12-18 hour a day use in a working failure is no option environment, complete with all electronic alignments accessible from the front panel).
 
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I have a Technics RS-1500 deck and ran into one of the rare problems: The playback doesn't work during recording when flipping the control knobs from Source to Tape to check for the actual recording from the tape. The RS-1700 works just fine for the same recording session. Appreciate any suggestion or advice. Thanks, Tamdba.
 
Every Technics RS 1500 unless serviced recently will need it. Every electrolytic capacitor on these tends to be on borrowed time, the leather brake bands also tend to need service. Major things to know.
 
Thanks Kent for the advice. Will try to check and replace the caps if needed. Another problem on my other RS-1700 machine: the pitch control won't work. It slows the play speed down then stops altogether. The playback resumes after pushing the pitch control off. Any idea/advice would be apprceciated.
 
tamdba said:
The playback doesn't work during recording when flipping the control knobs from Source to Tape to check for the actual recording from the tape
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But if you rewind the tape and put deck in play you DO hear the music you just recorded. Right?

What happens if you play any tape with music on it. Does that work fine?
 
Thanks tapetech. The answer is no. If I flip the control switch to Tape, the recording is no longer engaged and switched to Playback mode instead. If I leave it on Source, the recording continues normally, but I can't check the actual signal being recorded because the audio signal in for the Source, not on the recorded Tape. The Playback is fine on both directions. The problem happens only when I put on Record mode and switch back and forth between Source and Tape.
 
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