Southern California Member Help

[rugyboogie]

Hi Guys

Joined the TPF today as a result of going to Mike L's place this last Thursday April 9/09.
I posted my comment on Audiogon:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1036349020&openflup&1427&4#1427

Well needless to say I am buying in.
There is a R to R deck that I have found that looks good, but it is located in the southern California.
I live in the "Great White North" , Vancouver, BC, Canada to be precise.
This would be a long trip for me to make to check out the deck , so.......... I am wondering if someone who lives close to where the deck is located could check it out for me. Or maybe it is a deck I should stay away from.
I would be willing to reimburse for time and travel expenses.
It is located south of LA.
Please email me if any can help me.

Thank you for your time,

Rugyboogie
 

[Ben]

The Great White North is not Vancouver B.C Canada ... More like where I live.
One thing you have to watch for is the shipping into Canada on anything heavy
if it goes by some transport company -- you may have to have a broker clear the item into Canada , a real pain.
 

[mikel]

The Great White North is not Vancouver B.C Canada ... More like where I live.
One thing you have to watch for is the shipping into Canada on anything heavy
if it goes by some transport company -- you may have to have a broker clear the item into Canada , a real pain.
 

he can ship it to me in the Seattle area and pick it up here on one of his visits.

[rugyboogie]

Hi Guys
When I am shipping from the USA, I have it sent to my PO box in Point Roberts WA, where I can pick up and act as my own broker.
Yellow Freight handles all of the heavy stuff for me so that is not an issue.
What I need is for some one to take do an inspection down in California.
I have also started looking closer to home, probably my best bet.
Thanks again,
Mike

[rugyboogie]

Thanks for the help guys.
Found and purchased a minty Studer A810 from this side of the border.
Now to buy some tapes......
Locally can purchase Quantagy 456
Seller has RMGI 911 tapes.
It is going to be a huge learning curve for me so any links or what next, woud be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike R 

[ironbut]

Hi Mike, sounds like you're on your way then. There are several 810 owners here so you should be able to get some good first hand advice along the way. As far as tape goes, I'd stick with the RMGI. 456 is kind of infamous for having long term problems. If you can get RMGI 468, that's what I'd stick with but having a mix of 911 and 468 shouldn't be that big of a deal. 468 is what the Tape Project tapes are recorded on and if it's good enough for Paul Stubblebine, it's good enough for us.
If you're just starting out with reel to reel, you should get yourself an operations manual (you can download this). Studer wrote some fantastic manuals and that should take you a long way to understanding how best to use your deck. To supplement the manuals, there are a couple of stickies above this forum that you should check out.
The links sticky will link you to a couple of sites that have Studer manuals and other cool Studer stuff.
The beginners guide is supposed to pick up where the manuals leave off to gain an understanding of the elements that make up a magnetic tape recorder.
Have fun!