17 July 2019

REVOX B710 (1981) - Studio Technology For The Living Room

cassette deck

The world had to wait patiently for Studer Revox to develop a cassette recorder but once it was finally launched on the market, the Revox B710 very soon became the market leader. The first Revox cassette recorder was manufactured between 1981 and 1984 and there were two versions of it, MK I and MK II. At the core of the development was a 4 motor drive, that lived up to the high professional demands of the company. The drive worked without belt, friction clutches and mechanical brakes. Instead it had two quartz-synchronised direct drive capstan motors and two take-up motors with optical tacho-generators that also took care of the braking. The complete movement process was controlled by a microprocessor. This resulted in a previously unknown protection for the delicate cassette tape while at the same time achieving record-breaking spooling speeds. This precision drive was later to be built into the professional cassette machines Studer B710 and B710 II.

The amplifier electronics had four Dolby™ B processors. With the MK II version, you could even switch between Dolby™ B and C. That together with the professional 3 head technology (sendust-ferrite), resulted in a perfectly "dolbyised" read-after-write. Two LED chains, each with 24 LEDs was ´built in to give optimal output control. The electronic press button control and an electronic counter with timer function ticked all the boxes when it came to operating the device. In 1981, the Revox B170 was voted "Most outstanding new development of the year" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Los Angeles. Three years later at the same show in 1984, it was again voted "Most outstanding new development of the year in the area of magnetic sound and studio technology".

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck