The Marco-boy main system, as of August 2020

[Macca]

Always good to see 45 year old kit still in showroom condition with all the paperwork. How it should be. That's a great score. I've always rated Tandberg. Cut above.

Seeing those old BASF and TDK tapes brings a lot of memories back. Everyone had their favourite, used to get quite tribal as I recall. The TDK-SA boys vs everyone else - who were wrong ofc.

[struth]

i had one of those, or very similar model... excellent decks.

[Marco]

Always good to see 45 year old kit still in showroom condition with all the paperwork. How it should be. That's a great score. I've always rated Tandberg. Cut above.

Seeing those old BASF and TDK tapes brings a lot of memories back. Everyone had their favourite, used to get quite tribal as I recall. The TDK-SA boys vs everyone else - who were wrong ofc.

Ah, the rabid 'tape wars' - I remember them well!

I did like TDA SA (and SA-X), plus Maxell and others, but my favs were the BASF Chromdioxid (as shown) - a nicely crisp, dynamic and weighty sound, but of course much of that is down to the deck used, how well the heads are set up, and synergy with different tape formulations.

I agree with what you said. The looks, condition and provenance was what sold it to me, plus the 3-motor thing, and the fact that there are much less moving parts than normal for a tape deck. With a proper service, it should perform as new, as well as look like it, and be easily maintained.

It was £250, so not 'beer money', but considering the condition and its sonic potential when fully serviced (it's already very good), plus the fact that collection was local, I thought it was worth it

Marco.

[Marco]

i had one of those, or very similar model... excellent decks.

Cheers, mate. Interesting that you had one. How long ago are you talking about and where did you get it from?

Marco.

[Macca]

Aye, the rabid 'tape wars' - I remember them well!

I did like TDA SA (and SA-X), plus Maxell and others, but my favs were the BASF Chromdioxid (as shown) - a nicely crisp, dynamic and weighty sound, but of course much of that is down to the deck used, how well the heads are set up, and synergy with different tape formulations.

I agree with what you said. The looks, condition and provenance was what sold it to me, plus the 3-motor thing and the fact that there are much less moving parts than normal for a tape deck. With a proper service, it should perform as new, as well as look like it, and be easily maintained.

It was £250, so not 'beer money', but considering the condition and its sonic potential when fully serviced (it's already very good), plus the fact that collection was local, I thought it was worth it

Marco.

That's a good price, have you seen what tape decks are selling for now? Utter tat is selling for not much less. Plus Tandberg kit in good nick has always held its price.

[struth]

Cheers, mate. Interesting that you had one. How long ago are you talking about and where did you get it from?

Marco.

got it on here and resold it here. (i think) might have been different model but very similar otherwise. I did like it ;build quality is superb really and sounded good too. Ive done away with tape medium although ive lots of tapes, including lots of new old stock ones i got from Barry. Still got a cd style loading cassette deck but not used it for years.. think it was a denon

[Shovel_Knight]

Ah yes, the famous Shure SC35C. I'm quite fond of it myself, I have an old "made in USA" one along with a small stash of styli (most also NOS "made in USA" with white lettering as opposed to later Mexican ones with black Shure logo). They are the best, although this Jico conical is not bad at all (it tracks very well at 3g): https://www.jico-stylus.com/product/n-44-7x/

[Wakefield Turntables]

Blimey, the lad has gone completely audiophile bonkers. I've never seen as much kit documented in such a long time. Keep up the good work Marco. I'm feeling less sanguine about the hobby myself!

[User211]

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.



I had a pretty decent Technics machine in the 70s. The only way I liked it was with Maxwell ferric oxide tapes and definitely no Dolby. Dolby was like listening through an ear muffler. Just plain sucked.

Sssssssssssssssssssssss. Ssss.

LOL.

No clicks and pops, though, which lets face it are even more annoying. TBH the ssssing never bothered me much as the music I listened to didn't have much in the way of quiet passages.

Enjoy Marco tis quite pretty.

[Macca]

I thought the number of 'Dolbys' a deck had was purely a status symbol. Did anyone ever use any of them when taping a mate's records? Except once to discover that on balance they'd rather have the hiss?