Reel to reel players, reel to reel recorders, reel to reel decks – whatever you call them they seem to have been a bit of thing over the last five years or so with many people embracing a format that, for the majority, seemed dead and forgotten. Older machines are relatively plentiful, if expensive, but there have been a handful of new machines come onto the market in recent years, albeit at a price that may well exclude them becoming commonplace. Metaxas and Sins, Ballfinger and Thorens have all made reel to reel machines but here we have a newcomer in the form of the French company Analog Audio Design.

Analog Audio Design is headed up by Christophe Martinez and are based in the North West of France just North of Lannion. We’d heard that the tape player, the TP-1000, was going to be on show at a small art exhibition in a chapel on Sunday afternoon, and so we took the time to travel up there and take a look.

Of course, this is in no way a review of the product and more of an introduction to what we think is an interesting addition to the audiophile armoury.

The TP-1000 is a playback-only machine, but there is the TR-1000 in the pipeline that will include a record function.

It’s a quarter-inch player stereo player that will take reels up to 30cm (12”) and has speeds switchable between 15ips and 7.5ips.

The first thing that will grab anyone that looks at the unit is the inclusion of a touch screen. This allows for the set-up and control of most of the functions of the machine. Traditional VU meters are included, of course.

It’s quite a handsome if traditional-looking reel to reel and the obvious functions are controllable via more conventional knobs on the front panel – speed control, monitor levels, output levels, plus there are the common tape controls play, stop, fast forward, rewind, and edit.

Usefully, there is onboard switching between NAB and IEC equalisation and there is an inbuilt headphone amp for monitoring or straightforward listening.

The playback is balanced and so naturally the output connectors are via XLRs.

There will be an infra-red remote control available and the unit includes an ethernet connection for remote control and for updates to the firmware.

The price for the player is likely to be around €10 000 which is pretty keen given the competition and I look forward to trying one out in the Hifi PIg system in the hopefully near future.

Specifications:

Mechanical 

Tape: 1/4 inch (6.35mm)

Track Format: 2-track. 2   (DIN 0.106 inch, 2.7mm)

Max. Reel Size: 11.8 inch (30 cm)

Tape Speed: Switchable two speeds : 15 ips (38.1 cm/s) and 7.5 ips (19.05 cm/s)

Tape Speed Accuracy: Within +/-1%

Pitch Control Range: +/-100%, resolution of 0.01 ips

Wow and Flutter: 15 ips = +/-0.05% peak, weighted (DIN 45507),  7.5 ips = +/-0.10% peak, weighted (DIN 45507)

Wind Speed: Switchable three speeds = 2 m/s, 6 m/s, 10 m/s

Wind Speed Control: 1 m/s to 12 m/s, resolution of 1 m/s

Capstan Motor: DC servo motor, belt drive Reel Motor : 2x DC motor, belt drive

Dimensions (WxHxD): 466mm x 524mm x 269mm Weight : 61.73 lbs (28 kg)

Electrical  

Input 1: Connector = XLR Level selectable = Balanced : +4dBu (in CAL), Unbalanced : -10dBV (in CAL)

Input 2: Connector = XLR (powered 48V)  Level selectable = -60 dBV (in CAL), -40 dBV (in CAL)

Output: Connector = XLR,  Level selectable = Balanced = +4dBu (in CAL), Unbalanced = -10dBV (in CAL)

Headphone Output: 1.5 W maximum (8-ohm load)

Ethernet: RJ45 10/100Base-T for remote control and firmware update

IR Input: Infrared remote control

Audio 

Equalization: NAB or IEC, switchable