3014 (not A) sells on ebay

[perry]

Watched it go for $760 plus $36 S&H (250540344483) And that was for a non-A. They are pretty decks, for sure.

[juud_TH]

An this is another one(320461401787) with BIN. Some issue on analog vu meter which I think will be easy fixed. Thia item will dissappear quick.
I am no association with the seller.

[braxus]

Its not exactly a great deal for a deck that needs work. The deck will be hard to find VU meter parts for.

[perry]

The 3014A might qualify as a Dragon killer, but not the 3014. analog VU's are pretty easy to fix/rebuild, but I agree with Braxus, that is still high, IMHO too.

[braxus]

From people who have heard both, the sound of the 3014 deck isn't too far from the 3014A. They are very close.

[perry]

It's gone, juud was right!

[TandbergRay]

Hi Braxus,
I was wondering if you ever got all the work done on your Tandberg 3014A by Nick in NY? If so, how did everything go? Are you now enjoying it like hell?? He still has access to alot of parts for these decks, but doesn't just sell them, mainly uses them if you were to get him to do the work on the Tandberg Unit you were sending him. Ray

Originally Posted by braxus

Its not exactly a great deal for a deck that needs work. I bought my deck that was supposedly in 100% condition for $650. His deck will be hard to find VU meter parts for.

[TandbergRay]

Hello,
According to Soundsmith, there is no difference between the 3014A and the 3014, except money, and some paint differences. Thats official word from a Phone call there. Ray

Originally Posted by perry

The 3014A might qualify as a Dragon killer, but not the 3014. analog VU's are pretty easy to fix/rebuild, but I agree with Braxus, that is still high, IMHO too.

[braxus]

I wouldn't trust Soundsmith to be honest. I've heard they've botched jobs before and what they charge isn't worth what you get. And its common knowledge that the caps in the 3014A are improved from the 3014, so I don't know where Soundsmith gets their info.

As for my 3014A deck- its still with Nick. Im holding off on getting it fixed till April next year when I can afford it.

[TandbergRay]

Good Luck with your deck. It never occured to me to ask Nick this question, and I am well aware of the practices and B****S**** that you get from Soundsmith. Should have considered that. But very tiny difference between the TPT3001, and the 3001A Tandberg FM Tuners, but huge difference in Price. Ray

Originally Posted by braxus

I wouldn't trust Soundsmith to be honest. I've heard they've botched jobs before and what they charge isn't worth what you get. And its common knowledge that the caps in the 3014A are improved from the 3014, so I don't know where Soundsmith gets their info.

As for my 3014A deck- its still with Nick. Im holding off on getting it fixed till April next year when I can afford it.

[jdurbin1]

Bit off topic and somewhat of a dead topic, but in response to the last post I would qualify that there are numerous differences between early 3001 and the 3001A, and few differences between late production 3001 and the 3001A. That's speaking in terms of parts used and circuit changes anyway; they all sound pretty good to me when they're working properly, and I've heard dozens of them at this point (not all in any kind of controlled A/B situation however).

One other factor is the modular board design lends itself to board swapping which may have been a common practice at service centers, although that's just my guess. I know I've found FET-based boards in 3001's with serials low enough to have been built originally with non-FET boards. So, what you get inside doesn't always correspond to the serial labels, which tend to fall off and get lost or mixed up anyway.

As to the 3014/3014A discussion, I know what the literature says... now that I have one of each to put in front of me, I am looking forward to seeing what is or isn't different. Like the tuners, these decks had running production design changes too, my guess is that it'll turn out that late production 3014 and all 3014A are pretty similar, and that the earlier ones will be the decks where the differences are seen.

John

[itzmike]

To the eye the 3014A is identical to its predecessor the 3014 witch we reviewed in aug 84. Internally however there are a number of refinements, including more sophisticated recording and output circuits and better parts ( such as polystyrene capacitors and close tolarance resistors in key sections of the signal path.) Also the remote control was standard in the 3014A. About Soundsmith, when I was having my deck refurbished they said the whole tape mechinuism needs to come out and redone because after the late 80's tapes had become thinner and the 3014A would chew them up!!!!!!!!! I sent it to another tech that said that was not so. Mike

[TandbergRay]

Hello itzmike...
Interesting.....not unusual about Sounsmith though. Can I ask you who the other Tech was, that said its not so?? And was he an authorized Tandberg USA Tech?? Just curious, was wondering if it was Hi Tech Electronic Labs,in NYC?? Thx....Ray

Originally Posted by itzmike

To the eye the 3014A is identical to its predecessor the 3014 witch we reviewed in aug 84. Internally however there are a number of refinements, including more sophisticated recording and output circuits and better parts ( such as polystyrene capacitors and close tolarance resistors in key sections of the signal path.) Also the remote control was standard in the 3014A. About Soundsmith, when I was having my deck refurbished they said the whole tape mechinuism needs to come out and redone because after the late 80's tapes had become thinner and the 3014A would chew them up!!!!!!!!! I sent it to another tech that said that was not so. Mike

[jdurbin1]

I spent most of the day going through a 3014 today... needed belts, old grease removed and replaced w/new, and the usual maintenance. Came out really nice, has the wood panels and just about every accessory they supplied for these decks. I added a pic for reference...

All I can say is, wow! What a phenomenal piece of equipment... although I own a 3014A, I have been too busy to do much more than power it up briefly since putting it in my rack so this was the first time I had spent a lot of time with one.

First, it played tapes I made over 30 years ago and sounded like they were recorded yesterday. Then after setting up the record and bias current for a couple of Maxell tapes I had sitting around (a LN and a UDXLII), I did some recording. Even with headphones on, the A/B from source to tape was as seamless as any deck I've ever heard.

It's whetted my appetite for going through my own 3014A and making some new tapes with it.

To top it off, I found a pair of NOS TDK SA-60's Iand a bunch of unopened UDXLII-90's in my closet under some other stuff. I had totally forgotten that I had any new tapes, much less over a dozen of them!

John

[4tified]

Originally Posted by jdurbin1

I spent most of the day going through a 3014 today... needed belts, old grease removed and replaced w/new, and the usual maintenance. Came out really nice, has the wood panels and just about every accessory they supplied for these decks. I added a pic for reference...

All I can say is, wow! What a phenomenal piece of equipment... although I own a 3014A, I have been too busy to do much more than power it up briefly since putting it in my rack so this was the first time I had spent a lot of time with one.

First, it played tapes I made over 30 years ago and sounded like they were recorded yesterday. Then after setting up the record and bias current for a couple of Maxell tapes I had sitting around (a LN and a UDXLII), I did some recording. Even with headphones on, the A/B from source to tape was as seamless as any deck I've ever heard.

It's whetted my appetite for going through my own 3014A and making some new tapes with it.

To top it off, I found a pair of NOS TDK SA-60's Iand a bunch of unopened UDXLII-90's in my closet under some other stuff. I had totally forgotten that I had any new tapes, much less over a dozen of them!

John

Very nice. Sounds like you've been having fun! As far as those tapes go, it's always nice to find something you've forgotten about.

[TandbergRay]

When I first contacted Soundsmith about the 3014 and 3014A, and wanted to know differences. They told me that there was none. That Tandberg saw the success they had with the 3014, and how well i9t fared against all the best decks out there, that they put out the 3014A, and raised the price a ridiculous amount to take advantage of the situation. This they told me was also true of the Tuners, like the TPT-3001 and 3001A.....they said they changed the color, and slapped a letter A on it, again, raised the price a huge amount. Later, when I met the Tandberg Tech that I know from NYC, I found this to be untrue. Ray

Originally Posted by itzmike

To the eye the 3014A is identical to its predecessor the 3014 witch we reviewed in aug 84. Internally however there are a number of refinements, including more sophisticated recording and output circuits and better parts ( such as polystyrene capacitors and close tolarance resistors in key sections of the signal path.) Also the remote control was standard in the 3014A. About Soundsmith, when I was having my deck refurbished they said the whole tape mechinuism needs to come out and redone because after the late 80's tapes had become thinner and the 3014A would chew them up!!!!!!!!! I sent it to another tech that said that was not so. Mike

[Mignun67]

John,

are you selling your Tandberg so soon? There's one on eBay and the pics look identical to the ones you have posted. I had a complete double-take of deja-vu! Take this as a "heads up" in case some unscrupulous "scammer" has lifted your pics.... If it is you, then best of luck with the sale and sorry to raise the alarm, as it were. It's a lovely looking deck. I'd have one although it would take some to kick my ZX-9 off the rack.

[jdurbin1]

Yes, it's for sale... this one belonged to a friend of mine and he is going in a different direction with his system. I just copied the pics to use for my post because I didn't have any others readily available. Thanks for the heads-up though!

Ray, I did not get a chance to compare my 3014A with this 3014 to look for internal differences, but will on the next pass - I have another 3014 to overhaul and will look at that together with the A version.

The question about the internal differences on the 3001/3001A tuners is asked and answered, in my mind anyway, and I think I covered my outlook on that above in this thread. After going through dozens of the two models over the past couple of years, I can tell you there are definitely differences but the relative significance of the differences depends mostly on how far apart they were in production (i.e. early 3001 vs. later 3001A). I don't feel there are huge differences in sonics though, which puts me at odds with some other "experts".

John

[TandbergRay]

Thanks for the response, about the internals. It would be nice to know the actual differences in the Tape Decks, 3014 and 3014A. As for the Tuners, I only brought that up, as it was part of a Soundsmith discussion on the phone, I had with him. He claimed no differences. I did know someone from Oslo, Norway....and he told me that there was a difference in the 3001A Tuner, and it had something to do with the antenna, once inside the tuner, on the PC Board. He said that in Norway, its common for many of the Homes/Flats, or whatever they call them, to have an antenna input, that feeds several units, and the 3001A had a section on the PCB that was dedicated to this, in the 3001A Tuner, that was not inside the 3001 Tuner. I do know that they improved a gear that had to do with the Tuning knob, on later 3001A's, which was a weak spot of the Tuners for years, the gear would often break. I dont think they ever corrected the preset buttons, that was something that would eventually have to be done to all, with new switches, as far as I know. Im no expert though. Just a Tandberg Lover. Ray

Originally Posted by jdurbin1

Yes, it's for sale... this one belonged to a friend of mine and he is going in a different direction with his system. I just copied the pics to use for my post because I didn't have any others readily available. Thanks for the heads-up though!

Ray, I did not get a chance to compare my 3014A with this 3014 to look for internal differences, but will on the next pass - I have another 3014 to overhaul and will look at that together with the A version.

The question about the internal differences on the 3001/3001A tuners is asked and answered, in my mind anyway, and I think I covered my outlook on that above in this thread. After going through dozens of the two models over the past couple of years, I can tell you there are definitely differences but the relative significance of the differences depends mostly on how far apart they were in production (i.e. early 3001 vs. later 3001A). I don't feel there are huge differences in sonics though, which puts me at odds with some other "experts".

John