05 November 2018

TANDBERG TD 20A (1977) - 4 Motor Reel to Reel Recorder

reel to reel


The TD 20 A was Tandberg's first open-reel recorder to incorporate the ACTILINEAR process. ACTILINEAR recording include a dramatic increase (20 dB) in the signal handling capacity of the record electronics making them essentially immune to slew-rate limiting and transient intermodulation distortion (TIM). This means better transient response and lower distortion level. Front-panel bias adjustment controls have been included to facilitate optimum performance with any known or prospective tape. Four separate record-level controls, plus a master record control, permit full mic/line and line/line mixing, and a switchable 25 dB microphone attenuator is provided to prevent possible overload when using high output specialty microphones. 

The TD 20 A transport contains four motors rather than three. The capstan is driven by a brushless synchronous motor, and uses a belt drive and heavy flywheel to eliminate vibrations from being transferred from the motor to the capstan. The two reel motors are directly coupled to the reel turntables, and are controlled by a "PROM" (program read only memory) with a trial output to provide constant tape tension. The fourth motor is used to operate the pinch roller and tape gate, achieving smooth, noisless control impossible with the conventional solenoid activated system. A 5 mm thick aluminium baseplate rolled under 40 tons of pressure in a unique "honeycomb" design eliminates stress and greatly increases strenght. Tandberg's full-logic button control permits you to go from rewind into playback with complete safety, and allows the inclusion of "step-stop" editing with full monitoring capability. An optional infra-red remote control is also available. It was sold in two versions: 4 tracks and 2 tracks.


reel to reel

reel to reel

reel to reel

reel to reel