Greetings, all:
Just had to share with you all my newRTR. I found an Otari MX 5050 B2 HD on ebay (I know:( ) It was listed as an one-owner-since-new-used for home recording. I emailed the owner, asking about head condition and VU meter lamp function, and recieved the reply " what are those?" Seems it was owned by the lister's husband, since passed away, who told her beforehand "Everything is OK with the Otari". So I crossed my fingers, and did the BIN thing. I was somewhat concerned about packing/shipping, since it was in Florida and I am in Oregon. The woman had it packed by the UPS Pack n' Ship Store in Orlando ($150.00 to ship and pack).
I wrung my hands about it for a week. It arrived this morning, and to my great relief, it was EXTREMELY well packed, shipped cross-country on its back, and came through it all unscathed!
To my delight, the original owner was quite exacting in its' care and feeding, arriving with all of its' original accessories, plus a few more. It came with the original manual, Otari take up reel still in its' box, the Otari hub adaptors, a tape with alignment test tones, and a full set of 4 cables for input/output, all for $225.00. DEELIGHTFUL!!
On the minus side were 3 burnt out meter lamps, and a heavy coating of nicotine residue on everything. I spent several hours scrubbing and bathing all I could, cleaned and demagged the heads, Deoxit to all the pots and switches, and replaced the meter lamps, plugged it in to the Variac for a slow charge-up, and took it for a test spin afterwards. EVERYTHING functions beautifully. It records and reproduces beautifully!
A good day, all considered. I just had to share!
Cheers!
Bill