Anyone ever use an Akai 1/4 2-track?

[inverseroom]

eBay is littered with the suckers, and man, they are awfully cool-looking. Does anyone ever mix down to one of these? Do any have balanced inputs? I'm thinknig there might be a Tascam 22 in my future, but perhaps one of these coule be a reasonable alternative...

[hapbeat]

all depends what model you're talking about, though genrally they're all 7 1/2 ips, and you'll think they sound muddy compared to modern stuff. The typical 4000 is not great. Some of their higher end ones are a bit more useable, or maybe the early m8 with tube pre amps if you want that kind of sound. But there's not really any 'domestic' reel to reel that has great specs. It can be handy to run the signal through one and back on the fx return to get a bit of tape compression when mixing out, but it's all a fidelity trade off - good for somethings, crap for others. Bear in mind that a lot of these machines have seen better days, many don't work properly! The TEAC X10 (?) is a tasty machine, very nice high end.