Ampex Model 960
A stereophonic recorder/reproducer that plays back any tape you can buy - and holds pitch to less than a third of a half-tone.
Overview
The Ampex Model 960 is a stereophonic recorder/reproducer built around a precision transport and the company's own playback head. The spec sheet reads like a bench report. The manual insists the published figures are based on actual performance tests rather than theoretical design parameters, and that they will still hold years later. That is a bold claim to print. At 7½ inches per second the 960 is rated for essentially distortionless response from 30 to 20,000 cycles per second. At 3¾ ips it holds 30 to 15,000 cps. Within ±2 dB, that flattens to 50-15,000 cps at the higher speed with 55 dB of dynamic range, and 50-10,000 cps with 50 dB at the lower.
Flutter and wow sit under 0.2% rms at 7½ ips and under 0.25% rms at 3¾ ips. That matters the moment you put a piano or a sustained string note on tape. Pitch is held to tolerances of less than one-third of a half-tone, which is the kind of stability you want in a machine you trust for dubbing.
The 960's real party trick is universal playback. Ampex's own advertising billed it as able to reproduce any recorded tape you can buy - monaural, two-track stereo, or four-track stereo - and period coverage repeated the point. Audio-Collection (1961, p.14) described the 960's "universal playback" facility as one of its advanced features, framing it as a machine that would handle whatever tape format a buyer brought home. Ampex's ad copy of the same period leaned on the company's professional pedigree, invoking the videotape television recorder as proof of the same engineering know-how. That is marketing, not a measurement, but the format flexibility itself is documented fact.
The manual publishes playing times across three tape thicknesses and three reel sizes. On a 1200-foot reel at 7½ ips, four-track stereo runs 1 hour 4 minutes. At 3¾ ips the same reel yields 2 hours 8 minutes. An 1800-foot reel gives 1 hour 36 minutes at 7½ ips and 3 hours 12 minutes at 3¾ ips. A 2400-foot reel at 7½ ips covers 2 hours 8 minutes, and at 3¾ ips a full 4 hours 16 minutes. Two-track stereo tapes halve those figures: 32 minutes on a 1200-foot reel at 7½ ips, 48 minutes on 1800 feet, 1 hour 4 minutes on 2400 feet. Monaural half-track matches the four-track stereo times exactly.
Inputs and outputs are straightforward. There are high-impedance line inputs for radio, TV, phono, and auxiliary sources, rated at 0.3V rms for program level, plus high-impedance microphone inputs. Playback output is approximately 0.5V rms from a cathode follower when playing program-level tapes.
The 960 came in two forms. The portable case measures 9" × 15" × 17½". The unmounted recorder measures 13" × 15" with 6½" of depth below the top plate and 1½" above. Recorder weight is 36 lbs. The matching speaker amplifier adds 31 lbs. That speaker amplifier is the Model 2010, a ten-watt (20 watts peak) unit with an 8" speaker on a massive die-cast frame and an edgewise-wound ribbon coil. Its amplifier section is flat within ±0.1 dB unequalized, with total harmonic distortion under 0.5 of 1% at rated output and noise and hum 80 dB below rated output. Input sensitivity is 0.18V to develop rated power. The 2010 is a companion piece rather than part of the 960 itself, and Ampex treated it that way in the literature.
The 960 sits at the head of a small family. The Model 970 shares the 960's operational features but adds a stereo amplifier and speakers inside the case. That is a 3-watt stereo amplifier (1.5 watts per channel, 6 watts total peak) intended for monitoring rather than serious listening, and Ampex itself suggested owners connect to an external amplifier-speaker system like the 2010 for maximum quality. The 970 also introduced the door-like "sound directors" on each side of the case, opening up to 80° to aim sound forward, plus grilles on each end. Ampex was candid that the two-foot speaker separation was too close for full stereo effect, though the directors helped. The 970 listed at $595.
Below the 960 in the lineup were two playback-only machines built on the same playback head and basic precision transport mechanism. The Model 934 at $199.50 has no playback preamplifiers. Signal is taken direct from the head for feeding high-impedance tape head inputs on an external preamp. The Model 936 at $249.50 has self-contained playback preamplifiers equalized for direct connection to power amplifiers or an audio-control center. Both are two-speed (3¾ and 7½ ips) and play four-track stereo, two-track stereo, full-track, and monophonic tapes. Controls on both include fast wind, play, stop, speed selection, and a head-shift lever for switching between four-track and two-track playback. The 936 adds listening level and on/off controls.
Ampex also offered the Model 910, described in period listings as similar to the 960 but with monaural record and two- and four-track stereo playback, at $399.50. The Model 952 tape deck had specifications similar to the 960 in a gray finish, at $449.50. Those prices come from a 1961 dealer listing and should be treated as period retail rather than a fixed historical constant.
The practical questions for anyone chasing one today are the usual ones for a machine of this vintage: head condition, belt and idler health, and whether the original 2010 speaker amplifier came along with it. The 960 will play formats that narrower machines cannot touch, and the transport's timing accuracy is the reason a well-sorted example still earns its bench space. Documentation is reasonably thorough between the owner's manual and the period press. A 36-pound recorder with a separate 31-pound speaker amplifier is not a casual pickup.
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