Teac 80-8 question

[Dubwise]

Hey All,

I am thinking on buying an 80-8. I have 3 questions....

1. Are they able to be aligned, (if so, is it hard?) or do they come stock? I have only worked with large 24-trk machines, so......are home machines alignable?

2. Will I need to get some kind of noise reduction unit, or are they pretty quiet?

3. Does it matter that the machine is unbalanced, or should I look at maybe the Otari MKIII-50? (does the otari need noise reduction?)

Thanks so much for any help, it is greatly appreciated!!!!

[Herm]

1. Yes they can be aligned There is only so much you can do unless you have an o scope and some other fancy tools that are hard to find.

2. Maybe. It depends on what you are recording. Alot of soft stuff you may want it. But if your going to be hitting it pretty hard then its not that big of deal.

3. No you dont need to go with balanced unless you are going to have the machine along ways from your mixer. Anything less than 10 feet you will proabably be ok.

4. Think about a tascam 38 or a tsr8

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by Dubwise

1. Are they able to be aligned, (if so, is it hard?) or do they come stock? I have only worked with large 24-trk machines, so......are home machines alignable?

Any machine of this age would have to be callibrated and aligned to meet 100% factory specs. It is best left to a qualified tech with the right tools.

2. Will I need to get some kind of noise reduction unit, or are they pretty quiet?

Noise/hiss level is pretty subjective. What is too noisy to you may be perfectly acceptable to me and vice versa. A stock 80-8 without noise reduction is certainly not "digital quiet" but neither is it offensively hissy, especially if it's up to spec and a good tape is used such as Quantegy 456. I personally don't mind a little background hiss, on quiet parts. It's not an issue for me especially on such a well sounding recorder.

3. Does it matter that the machine is unbalanced, or should I look at maybe the Otari MKIII-50? (does the otari need noise reduction?)

That's a non-issue in my opinion.