Ready to pick up a Telefunken M15. Where to pay attention to ?

Hi Guys , I'm ready to jump in my car and drive to see a Telefunken M15, not the A version.
Since the owner isn't capable to give me much info or a test spin with tape and playing audio, Where should I pay attention to when I power up the unit ?

look if the heads are in good shape, test the transport (Forward, Rewind) and see if the tape is packing evenly, if you can try to record a tone, play back with sync head, listen, switch to playback head, listen, erase the tone while monitoring with the PB head and check if the machine erases ok.
those machines are very robust and i'm certain they can be fixed without too much difficulty. i'm also in the process of putting back together a couple of M15A 2" multitrack machines that i got for a good price.
best of luck
isophase

If it's anything like the M15a 2" machine I acquired recently, I'd say you want to pay attention to your back when you're moving it !

The M15 is a beast.  Only thing I'm half concerned with mine's is the transport belt. I want another one at least and brakes also. (open to offers)
As said: take a look at the heads, and rollers.
welcome to the fascinating world of M15. My apogee Rosetta800 can't touch it even @96Khz. Go figure!.

gpiccolini said:

The M15 is a beast.  Only thing I'm half concerned with mine's is the transport belt. I want another one at least and brakes also. (open to offers)
As said: take a look at the heads, and rollers.
welcome to the fascinating world of M15. My apogee Rosetta800 can't touch it even @96Khz. Go figure!.

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You can get the transport belt from http://www.hilpert-audio.de/audio/index_e.php for 43 euros delivered.

Thanks forthe replies.
As you can imagine, I'm already back home with the beast.
Heads look OK, all bearings seems to run smoothly, Machine looks in general good shape, except for some pigeon shit , no joke.
AND I got a box full of spare cards and another complete head block.
Still need to pick up the huge steel trolley that came with the machine.Dunno if I'm gonna ever use that.

andre tchmil said:

except for some pigeon Sh*t , no joke.

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Mine had a mouses nest right in the middle of all the electronics that I had to vacuum clean out !

Hello ,
can somebody please measure the transport belt? It's a PITA to remove mine's from the case where it lives (it has doors for the connectors and adjustments) just to that. Maybe somebody has it "naked"

ok guys , after months and months of being in doubt wether I want to restore and keep the machine , I finally decided to let it go.
I'm slowing down my recording activities so I see no reason why I would keep it.
Limited space and a not so happy wife pulled the trigger

Machine needs a complete overhaul.
Comes with a box full of spare PCB cards and a head block.
This a a M15 , NOT M15A.

I prefer to exchange it with something "vintage " nice instead of selling it.

Located in Belgium.
cheers