Revox B215

The Revox B215 cassette deck was the successor to the legendary Revox B710 and, like this device, far ahead of its time. All this although Revox brought a cassette recorder to the market very late. Maybe that's why. In this way, Revox was able to use all the technical options available up until then. For a long time it was one of the absolute reference devices in the field of cassette recorders and is still absolutely great today. The qualities of this device were achieved through a number of technical refinements and innovations, but also through long experience with tape machines. Revox knew about the importance of stable and precise tape guidance!

The Revox B215 had a "The big hit:"designated ultra-modern"Revox calibration computer"with an integrated tone generator with three frequencies. 400 Hz for the level, 4 kHz for the equalization (EQ) and 17 kHz for the bias or premagnetization, which takes place at 105 kHz. Both channels are measured and set separately. Within 20 seconds, the settings for recording volume, equalization and premagnetization are determined through six different measurements and the data is stored in one of the 6 storage locations. In addition to manual, fully automatic control and recording by means of a peak level measurement and holding was possible. This concept stands for sound quality that is unsurpassed by Revox.

Why is the drive so stable ?! A massive die-cast chassis consisting of three parts ensures enormous stability. The stability, precision and exact tape guidance are particularly important with the narrow magnetic tapes of music cassettes with a width of only 4 mm for 4 tracks and a maximum thickness of 18 µm. And that at a speed of just 4.76 cm / sec.

Even the carrier plate for holding the functional groups is made of solid sheet steel 1.2 mm thick! When fully equipped, the unit weighs approx. 2.5 kg. No other cassette drive is and has been more stable and durable! That is engineering at its finest. This is where the late start with tape decks and many years of experience with reel tape recorders pay off. Something like that has to be kept alive.

The recording quality essentially depends on the level. The Revox B215 has a precise level measuring mechanism, which allows precise leveling! The scaling and the resolution correspond exactly to the display of the predecessor of the Revox B710 MKII. With the Revox B710, the evaluation is carried out via 24 OP amplifiers that are connected as comparators. With the Revox B215, both evaluation and display are the responsibility of one of the 3 processors. In terms of visibility, the Revox B710 with its LED display has a clear advantage.

The digital counter shows the elapsed playing time in minutes and seconds. Even with a newly inserted cassette that has not been rewound back to the beginning, the processor's counter calculates the time the cassette has already played after a short playback operation.

The first Revox B215 are now 35 years old! Dry sintered bearings irreversibly destroy the clay motors or the chassis that hold the bearings. We advise all owners to oil the bearings with the appropriate sintered bearing oil.