Thread: New R2R deck - Ballfinger M-063 reel-to-reel tape player

http://www.monoandstereo.com/2017/02...-tape.html?m=1


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Nice post Mike!.....I'm in the early stages of research on getting a R/R again and I have sellers remorse a few decades ago for selling my Pioneer RT 707.

That Ballfinger is a beautiful piece of equipment!

27k EUR

Looks great.

Switching subjects - What ever happened to the HORCH house R2R that they were working on?

There are no updates. It was supposed to debut in Atumn 2016, when I had last spoken with them in Munich 2016.

Their News section was last updated ... in May 2016:

https://horchhouse.com/news/

Pricewise, the Ballfinger and Horch, although both built in the same area, look like they are aimed at the two extremes of the market. The Ballfinger is priced like a nicely restored big pro machine, like the Studer A820 or Ampex ATR-102 with a top of the line tape prepro - like the Doshi 3.0. The Horch is priced like a restored prosumer modelt like a Technics 1500 series or Otari MX5050 with a lower cost pre pro, about 5 times difference in cost.
The Horch sounds like a much more difficult assignment to fulfill, but one which is more valuable for the marketplace. Greg Beron's UHA machines come close to spanning that gap right now.

Larry

Wa have yet to see if Horh House project comes to frutition and how much it will cost. One thing I've learned over the years, is that early price estimates are often overly optimistic.

Originally Posted by Elberoth

We have yet to see if Horch House project comes to fruition and how much it will cost. One thing I've learned over the years, is that early price estimates are often overly optimistic.

You make very good points. We haven't had a new R2R that can play 15ips 2 track tapes in some 20 years. The last new machine still for sale was the Otari MX5050 BIV, which sold more than a decade ago for the current estimated price of the Horch, which means, if you take inflation into account, the new machines are very aggessively priced. And the Otari MX5050 had been in production in different variations since 1990. So Otari had more than 20 years to amortize the design and tooling costs for the machines. One advantage that Horch apparently has is that it is related to Lutz Precision, which makes precision automotive and industrial fittings. Volker Lange is the principal of both entities. He is a real music and tape buff and I have bought prerecorded tapes from him for several years. In fact some of his earlier releases are under the Lutz Precision name. My understanding is that the manufacturing of the machine will essentially be in house. I am speculating that this venture is a labor of love for Lange, who reminds me of some of our acquaintances who have started wineries in the Napa Valley of California. I asked one of them, who is along with his wife a practicing physician, how the winery is doing. He said, we're both keeping our day jobs. Horch looks like it has the advantage that the day job is pretty closely related to this new venture.

Larry