I won the Auction for the APR 5003 you're talking about. The Sony APR's are quite popular in Asia and Australia, although you do find a fair number of them in the US. This machine in particular is like the "holy grail" '59 Les Paul someone has in their closet. It has less than 500 hrs on the original heads, all the manuals, components, etc. It has been babied and will continue to receive loving care.
Its new home is a private mastering facility in the West San Fernando Valley that will be catering to hi quality, yet reasonably affordable mastering services for select indie label and project studio artists.
In the 2 track analog world, the Sony APR's rate just behind Ampex, and Studers in sonic quality. Good decks are getting hard to find.
I will post a follow up once the machine is installed and double checked by a technician. The seller by the way is known for his passion and knowledge of vintage analog gear. My bet is that this deck will be a winner right out of the box.
