[Scott Dorsey]

Nobobdy wrote:

I am wondering if any of you have heard the 8 track head block on one of
the A820's at Abbey Road. According to their latest list, they have
multiple A820's but only one 2" 8 track headblock.

I haven't used any machine at Abbey Road, but I have used one of the
2" 8-track Flux Magnetics headstacks for a short demo and I found that
it really sounded identical to the same machine with a 1" 8-track Flux
headstack, just 3dB quieter.

I am assuming that Abbey Road is using the Flux headstacks, since as far
as I know only Flux has made them and they haven't made very many.

I'm not sure I'd be willing to use a tenuously-supported format with twice
the tape cost for 3dB of dynamic range... but I have certainly worked with
people who would.

Although... that 3dB _was_ noticeable. I was surprised, but it was.

It did sound great... but so did 1" 8-track, which is a lot more common,
or 2" 16-track.

Still, some people just like spending their time fiddling with azimuth
rather than recording... and the wide track formats will certainly
increase the amount of alignment time.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."