Studer A80 VU Master Recorder - unveiling a legend.

An exciting day today: a new addition has just been delivered. Perhaps the ultimate source: a 1970 Studer A80 VU Master Recorder. This one has clearly been beautifully looked after by its former owners, the first of which was EMI, Hayes, Middlesex.

The mind boggles at the albums this beautiful classic Master Recorder may have helped produce.

Having been asked about my system many times, this seems like the perfect opportunity to introduce you what will sure be my favourite source.

Tags: #stereo #hifi #hi-fi #music #record #recording #analog #analogue #soundquality #highend #Studer #tape #mastering #reel-to-reel #Studio

[ryanstark]

I have an old Revox G36 all valve reel to reel machine. You can still get these cheap. It's not super hifi but I got it for music production purposes i.e the sound of tape. It has a glorious sound. It also has tremendously good valve mic preamps which unfortunately I can't route without going going to tape otherwise I would use it just for mic pres. I have some pretty good analog to digital converters and this Revox is one of those machines where when I record it digitally I can hear something is lost.

[Bootlegger]

A “new addition”! That’s quite an understatement. Some people think I’m anti-digital so I have to point out to them that I am not, It’s just that my preference is analog. At this point I give them my three things that digital did for us. One of these being that without digital I would never have the home recording studio I have as I wouldn’t be able to afford the analog equipment. So good on ya, I’m guessing this is for planning your one-to-one copy Masters. I will look forward to any updates, thanks for showing this.

[owenkitto]

The only issue is finding new heads when they go 😢

[nickbitten]

Lovely looking machine. Would love a decent 2 track machine. My 2 mono and one stereo R 2 R's are all laid up awaiting s service/ repair. A nice working machine would be great, but getting it past the missus might be tricky ( not to mention the space). Keep up the great videos on tape and records

[fredthompson]

Nice looking speakers. With the exception of the ribbon tweets, they seem to be very similar to the big PMC's.

[tspinks]

Hi Dave, I love the Studer A80 but my set up is in my cellar and getting it down the stairs would be impossible with insufficient room (I do have a Studer A810 trolley version with VU meter bridge which is my baby). I was hoping that you might have put together a folllow up video to this to let us know how the machine sounds, your joruney in linking it to your system and bedding it in and your longer term thoughts and feelings now you have had it for a year.

[dazaaw]

Very interesting and wow what a beautiful machine, the pinnacle of tape some would say. Do you archive your vinyl in to it? If so how does it compare to the original

[carlosoruna]

Very near 100 kilos thanks for the post

[garyb]

Have a look at Tannoyvista review of A80 and Sepea Audio Stabiliser card for the Studer A80.

[fernandozaldivar]

I have an A810 which becomes a headache and muscle ached each time we move houses. Your A80 is most likely heavier. Watching your video got me thinking how realistic is it that MoFi ships one of these units around the world together with the ancillary electronics needed to create DSD files from analogue master tapes. These decks are delicate and don’t travel well in my experience. There is always something to repair or re-calibrate. What’s your take on MoFi’s claim that they take one of these monsters around the world? Congratulations on your A80. It looks fantastic.

[SiloSoundStudios]

Yeah get rid of the scissors. Always freaks me out, I get rid of them in all machines I refurb. I love A80. Almost everyone has bad A101 and those terrible Frakko caps, but they are the best sounding Studers.

[JBLClassic]

Hm, we might have to reconsider how we label our electronic bips n bobs

[rtacconi]

Do you have DIY speakers? It looks your speakers have ribbon tweeters. I hope you can do a tour of your listening room.

[johnkaplun]

Extreme overkill for a hifi system, but can't say I'm not jealous!

[bobsbits]

hi know a man i did alot of deal with his mate worked in the emi tape place dave did say alot of the decks at emi did have alot of hrs on them

i have my self a otari mtr 12 because the price of the parts is very fair note my deck is a 1/2 inch low speed 4 track stereo with the head set up very hard to find now

the deck came with 100 zonal 1/2 inch tapes wow it sound mind blowing it can record at 10 ips and any speed from 3 3/4 ips to 15 ips

i all ways buy a deck that can be jazzed up after repair i have alot of jazzed up tascam 38 decks

the thing is i have a otari mx80 i had to make a ramp out of decking boards i am a tec so working on them is ok