Tandberg TD 20 ASE Review

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1978 Tandberg TD 20A/20A-SE Cueing worked well, and the brakes can be held off for editing. User bia\ s adjustments allow accurate setting up for many tape types. The quarter-track version gave an overall out-standing performance, and \ can be recommended very strongly indeed, no drop-outs being noted, and very wide dynamic ranges being pos\ sible. The high speed version was also very well liked, and my only reservation is that the replay cli\ pping margin is not quite good enough to enable the highest quality professional studio recordings on very hig\ h output tapes to play back without very slight clipping. (Tandberg have promised to improve on this.) Both versions will provide excellent quality recordings, and show Europe\ an design at its best. The price is reasonable, and it is interesting to see Tandberg enter the semi-profess\ ional tape recording world with so much success, their domestic recorders over the years having been very s\ uccessful. GENERAL DATA Mike i/p: sens/clipping/noise .................... 180uV/370mV/-60dB Line i/p: sens/clipping .................................... 50mV/7.3V DIN i/p: sens/clipping/impedance.............-24dB/>26dB/21.5kohm DIN i/p noise ref DL+4dB (CCIR/ARM)...................... 77.3dB Meter quality .................................................. good Worst replay hum component ......................... -63dB [150Hz| Replay hiss (CCIR/ARM ref DL) 9.5/19/38cm/s ...... -60/-64.5/-dB Replay amp clipping (ref DL)/distortion. ................ +16dB/v. goo\ d Max line output (DL) ........................................ 580mV Dist point (333Hz 3 3rd MOL ref DL) 9.5/19/38cm/s.................................. +11.2/+11.5/-dB Overall noise (CCIR/ARM ref DL) 9.5/19/38cm/s .... -52.5/-55/-dB Worst erase figure ..........................................> -80dB Overall wow and flutter (DIN) av/worst 9.5cm/s......... 0.09/0.098 19cm/s ......... 0.04/0.044 Speed accuracy (worst) ....................................... +0.5 Approx dimensions (W/H/D)............................. 44/46/20cm Approx weight................................................. 18kg Approx typical price ........................................... £550\ file:///P|/9105%20werkdirectorie/Manufacturers,%20Manuals/Tapedeck/tests\ /9160CMTAN-REV-td20a.htm (2 of 3)1-11-2003 11:03:49

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1978 Tandberg TD 20A/20A-SE * It may be of interest to explain this more fully. When doing "Multitrack\ " or "Sound with Sound" recordings on a two channel machine, the Selsync switch allows the user to listen to t\ he first track by replaying it from the "RECORD HEAD" whilst at the same time recording another track alongside.\ Thus ensuring that the two are in perfect synchronisation. This feature was first introduced by Teac on\ the 3340 4-channel machine. Because the record head has a wider gap, the high frequency response is \ not up to normal playback quality but is more than adequate to monitor the replay track enough to synchron\ ise with it. Back to report file:///P|/9105%20werkdirectorie/Manufacturers,%20Manuals/Tapedeck/tests\ /9160CMTAN-REV-td20a.htm (3 of 3)1-11-2003 11:03:49