Otari MTR 100A - Anyone know if this is a decent machine

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tubejay

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Anybody know anything about this machine? What's it got going on electronically etc... I take it this is an opamp based maching? Does it have transformers? Are the transports good? Is it pretty basic as far as calibration goes? Nothing fancy?

There's one I may purchase. My understanding is that this is the last model they manufactured.
 
What do you know about the machine? From what I can gather it's a very nice machine...sounds like it was supposed to be modeled after a Studer A827?
 
far far from the 827

I was just talking to keef about this machine earlier today... his opinion was that the mtr90 series is better sounding...

basically the 100 was the step up from the 90 which provided "auto-cal" capability... the only thing is the the auto-cal doesnt really get ya right on as you would with manual cal..

my thoughts...

currently mtr90 II's and III's should be in the $2500-$4000 range.. the 100 should add about $1000 to $1500 ($4000 to $5500) range...

anymore than that then studer becomes fair game :)
 
Yes, we have a MTR100 - and it's a very good and stable machine indeed.

The drive is not really a MTR90, but a later generation that was co-developed with Mitsubishi for the X850 Dash-recorder.

I don't agree with the autoalignment being sloppy - but it depends very much on the mechanics being accurately adjusted.

Of electronic servicing issues, the most common is inductors going open-circuit. These are easily found with a beeper :)

But there are some issues. The MTR90 and 100 are not very happy with the modern high-output tapes, because they are made with a very slippery back coating to prevent copy-through effects. This means that you will have to run the deck at rather high tape tention to control the tape correctly (as the tape is only grabbed by it's back side in these decks - no capstan roller). And higher tape tension is a bit hard on the heads.

Other than this, it is a fantastic machine..

Jakob E.
 
It's a very happy machine to synchronise. The speed response time is excellent. It's an evolution of the MTR90 transport, with "back-stops" to try and prevent the swing arms being bent when the tape slips at the end of the reel. (a partial success....) -The similar solution was deployed in the 90 Mk.III also.

The capstan and the counter roller also suffer from turning to goo over time, as the tape backing tears at it this way and that and some of th edry lubricant used in the tape backing (graphite-based, I suspect) migrates into the rubber, turning it to an oozing blob of play-doh. That machine still has the factory rollers... replace them with Athan Corp rollers, or T-Reds or something similar. Athan corp claims improved 'stiction' over the factory rubber, permitting lower operating tensions, as per Jakob's explanation.

We have two MTR-100s here, six MTR-90s and two A827s. I also service several other A827s, an A820 and five D827s. The MTR-100 is okay, but I don't like it much. Apart from anything else, auto-align removes a sense of 'communion' with the machine. -We all probably know that if you usually set a preset at eleven o'click, and you find yourself setting sonme controls -say, all the record HF EQ presets on the high-numbered tracks- rather higher than usual, there's a sense of "pushing" uncomfortably... with auto align on the A820 and MTR-100, you dont get any feedback until it fails, if youre doing it automatically.

I've had a bunch of those MDACS fail... ADC7528JN is the type I kept as spares... they make your life a living hell... and if the machine has a Dolby Rack in it, you have to pray that nothing goes wrong with it, since I've never seen any documentation for it, though some may have surfaced by now.

When we decommissioned our 100s from service I was happy to see them go. Our A827s are as old now as our MTR100s were when I forst took them over, and the Studers simply do not wear down and get loose and sloppy like the Otaris do. Studer also provides adjustment for many things that Otari don't. -If the swing arms are out-of-whack, you replace them. That's the big one. And if you ever have the "tape-catching-the-end-of-the-leader" problem, you'll be replacing both of them.

I know that the A827 cost a lot when new... but with nearly-new ones available for almost chump change, I'd only consider an MTR-100 if I wasn;t going to put much wear on it, otherwise it would be like trying to turn a truck into a racecar... the analogy being based on the notion that if you want mechanical precision and longevity, you'll spend far more on the Otari than a Studer.

Sonically, I've got a favourite test that I like to do: run two machines with a CD player patched into tracks 1&2, patch the repro outputs of 1&2 to 3&4, patch the repro outputs of 3&4 to 5&6.... and so on. Then run one machine on the left hand side of a 48-channel or larger console, and the other machine on the right. Pushing up the faders in pairs tells you how bad it sounds after multiple generations very quickly.

I did this with an Otari and a Studer. The Studer is bigger and sturdier sounding and went to 6 or 7 generations before becoming pretty unlistenable. The Otari was thinner and reached a similar level of unlistenability about 2 generations earlier. -Machines were carefully calibrated to be fair to both.

Personally, I'd never buy into an Otari having run that test...

Keith
 
Good points, Keith!

But.

When doing the generation-check you should bear in mind that the Otari heads are shielded far less then the studer ones, and there is quite some spill from record-to-replay heads on Otaris. This means that you won't get nearly as good replay (due to out-phasing stuff?) from it if you're recording at the same time at a nearby head. The Studer's don't care at all if you record and play back simultaneously..

And yes, I'd take a Studer anytime over a '100. Also a '90 if it's in good condition - they're much easier doing maintenance on than the '100

Jakob E.
 
[quote author="gyraf"]and there is quite some spill from record-to-replay heads on Otaris.[/quote]
I certainly noticed some broad-band spillage on adjacent tracks, when doing a sync-bounce, but I didn't think that it can bleed from the record to the repro heads?

Otaris certainly have slightly more of the LF bleed on playback (hearing the muffled "OOm" of the kick drom on both adjacent tracks) than the Studers, though neither is immune, it's really the fringe effect of th4e playback heads, and the fact that they can "see wider" at low frequencies... hence the reason you don't calibrate LF using full-track tapes.

The record-to-repro test could also be done in twelve passes to completely prevent that, but I doubt that it's a contributing factor.

Studers have an adjustment in the headstack for "Xtalk" which is there to try and limit the bias spill when doing adjacent-track bouncing in sync... but again it should have no effect whatsoever in repro.

U2 owns a 100
...perhaps that's what gives their sound 'the edge' that I'm always hearing about... :wink:

Keith
 
[quote author="buttachunk"]U2 owns a 100 (along with their beautiful bbc neve console)-- they recorded everything since joshua tree on it.[/quote]
Great post.

-Eric
 
Thanks for all of the input! I have a lot to think about!! I'm just so torn, I have a pretty low budget (Scenaria will beat me out for sure with his). :sad:

Yeah, I guess I'm looking for something that's easy to maintain as far as transports and head adjustments go. I've got a lot of experience on A827 machines, and I love the electronic cal. I've also done some calibrations on some of the MX Otari machines, and found that to also be acceptable, though not quite as easy as the Studer.

I guess I'll keep looking for a good deal on a MTR 90II or III for now.

How are the Sony/MCI machines to calibrate/hold calibration. From what I've read, they sound like they will be harder to maintain than the Otari's.

I guess this a big issue because of my location. I'm located in NE Wisconsin, so I'm going to handle almost all of the maintenance work etc... There's only one other tape machine within a 150 mile radius, so I doubt there's any techs around here. Anyway, I need the best balance between sound quality/price/and the ease of maintenance. Sounds like the MTR100a is out.

Any suggestions?
 
Hey Keith

I was curious about your opinion about the MTR90 mark I . I don't know if you noticed this thread: http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=1749
Please can you also share some info about problematic electronic components in the MTR90 if there are any.
Thank you.

chrissugar
 
How are the Sony/MCI machines to calibrate/hold calibration.

I don't think you want to go there.....at least not the early generation MCI machines. The JH-16 line can sound really cool, huge even, but it's a maintenance pig. Tons of problems with molex connectors, cinch jones conenctors, mechcanical stability is not that great, bias oscillator freq is on the low side, output drive is not too good either (forget about driving G9 or even 499 into tape saturation, you'll run out of electronic headroom first).

I hear good...well, better anyways, things about the JH-24 and especially the Sony branded JH-24s. If I were going into the low end 2" market I'd be shopping for a Sony JH-24 with a 16 track headstack (16 is soooo much better than 24), and would work at 15 ips ( I like the low end better, and find the noise less objectionable...it's lower pitched, oh and the tape costs less per minute this way).

Cheers,

Kris
 
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