Studer 80-VU

Documentation on the Studer 80-VU is thin. Most of what survives uses the period name A-80 VU. It was a professional studio tape recorder in Studer's A-80 line, and it shows up in trade classifieds, studio equipment rosters, and rental rate cards rather than in formal product reviews. The available record spans roughly 1975 to 1988.

What the record shows:

- Studer's own advertising in Recording Engineer (February 1975, p.32) pitched the A80/VU as a recorder developed for the most demanding studio systems. The ad leaned on more than twenty-five years of the company's reputation in broadcasting and recording.

- A used-gear classified in DB Magazine (October 1984, p.61) listed an A80 VU 4-track at $9,300 and an A80 VU 2-track at $6,700.

- A London hire firm's rate card in Studio Sound (November 1982, p.32) shows how configurable the machine was. An A80 24-track could be supplied as a 16-track or 8-track, running at 7½/15 or 15/30 ips, at a daily hire rate of £125. The same card lists an A80 RC ¼-inch stereo machine that could be set up as ½-inch stereo, ½-inch 4-track, ¼-inch mono, or ¼-inch stereo with time code.

- A studio inventory in Mix Magazine (February 1981, p.47) lists an A-80 VU multitrack alongside A-80 RC and B-67 two-track recorders.

No full specifications, production dates, or original prices have surfaced in the available documentation. The 80-VU was evidently a professional, modular studio machine, and consumer-audio magazines mostly ignored it because it was never aimed at home listeners.

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