The Studer A80 Master Recorder is one hell of a beast. After previously owning a Studer A807 MKII, Nagra Kudelski, Revox G36 and a Pioneer RT-909, in 2018 I wanted to revisit an old friend which I was familiar with back in the early '90s.
The Studer A80/R is a 96.5kg machine. It was built for precision, performance and reliability. And after 50 years since its initial release, it's the transport and audio capability which is still regarded as one of the best.
Abbey Road, for example, has always used the A80 and in most recent times an A80 was used for transferring 1/4" master tapes to digital for the Miles Showell 1/2 speed Abbey Road/Universal remasters.
The A80 stabiliser card is something you wouldn't think about upgrading. But Sepia Audio has made something really special which has to be experienced on such a legendary machine.
The Studer A80 is one of the most famous reel-to-reel machines in the world. Renowned for its delicate transport and amazing reproduction quality, its time on this earth is now legendary.
From Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Queen to My Bloody Valentine and beyond, the A80 is still being used to record with and to also remaster classic albums at Abbey Road.
The electronics inside the A80 is discreet but also wonderfully simple compared to the later more advanced machines such as the A820 or the smaller A807 and A810.