Studer A-820/A827
Two multitrack tape machines sharing one transport - the flagship A820 with full auto-alignment, and the A827 that got the same tape path and audio quality at a lower price.
Overview
The A820 and A827 are siblings built on a common foundation. Studer's own advertising, which ran repeatedly through Mix in 1990, framed the A827 as the affordable entry into the line and the A820-24 as the "standard setting" machine that preceded it. The pitch was simple: the A827 carries "the same transport and head assembly, the same audio quality as its big brother - the A820-24." Ad copy is ad copy, but the shared hardware is the defining fact about these two decks. It's why the A827 was the more attainable way into Studer multitrack ownership while the A820 remained the full-featured reference machine.
The transport is where both machines earn their keep. According to Studer's own documentation, both models include 14-inch reel capacity, fully programmable 600 ips wind-speed, all soft keys, 40 user-programmable transport functions with a library of programmed functions, and varispeed indication in ips, semitones and percentages. In the Mix (1990, p.9) advertising, the A827 was pitched to post-production buyers on the strength of that transport - Reverse Play with varispeed, parallel control ports and serial RS232/422 control ports for easy integration into post production facilities. The 600 ips wind speed matters less on a spec sheet than in a session. Fast spooling between takes and quick reel changes keep a room moving, and the 14-inch capacity means a lot of tape per reel rather than constant swapping.
Both machines are predominantly computer-controlled, with the processor governing basic transport operation, auto location, audio metering, audio alignment, operational key assignment, and in/out punch timing. Each has separate timecode cards that can be physically plugged into any channel, providing a high-speed reader and code re-shaper. The modular timecode looks fussy until a card fails mid-session. Then you can move a known-good card into the problem channel.
The two machines diverge in alignment and metering. The A820 offers full auto-alignment, including the analysis and signal-generation capabilities that let it align itself without external test gear. The A827, by contrast, offers digital control of analog electronics - meaning microprocessor-assisted alignment without the analysis and signal-generation functions. Put plainly, the A827 can be aligned under processor control, but the A820 can do the whole job autonomously. This is the single biggest functional difference between the two, and it's why the A820 held the flagship position while the A827 was sold as the value proposition.
Metering follows the same hierarchy. The A820 provides a bar-graph meter display reading either peak or VU, with full-range or "zoom mode" metering. In zoom mode the full-scale display represents a 2.5 dB level change, which is very fine resolution for spotting level problems. The A827's metering is simpler. The A820 also has no global alignment controls, while the A827 includes them. That's an unusual inversion, and it reflects the A820's reliance on full automation rather than manual global trims.
Both machines use amorphous heads, with the reproduce pre-amps located under the head block. Erase current and tape tension are both set by head-block jumpers. Dolby HX is standard on both, and both accommodate Dolby noise reduction. Studer also offered an optional serial-to-parallel audio remote interface for console-audio status switching. For synchronization, an Audio Kinetics ES.Lock 1.11 serial control option was available for use with the A820/A827, allowing transport crawl to be specified and controlled accurately.
The A827 was sold in 24, 16 and 8-track versions, with a computer-controlled transport offering 3 tape speeds, varispeed, microprocessor-assisted alignment, switchable Dolby HX Pro, and phase-compensated audio electronics. Post-production features included Reverse Play with varispeed, parallel control ports, and serial RS232/422 control ports, which made integration into facility infrastructure relatively painless. The A820-24 was the 24-track flagship referenced throughout the A827's marketing as the benchmark the new machine was measured against.
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