Tascam BR-20T
A quarter-inch two-track built for broadcast, with a center time-code track and gapless punch-in that made it the workhorse of post-production suites.
Overview
The "BR" in the Tascam BR-20 stands for BROADCAST, and the machine was built to earn that name. It's a quarter-inch, two-track reel-to-reel recorder. The T variant is the one for anyone cutting audio to picture, because it carries a center track dedicated to time code alongside the two audio tracks. The standard BR-20 was aimed at mastering and general production. The BR-20T was aimed squarely at video post and broadcast. Tascam's own advertising put it simply - if you're into audio for video, the message was short and sweet, and the BR-20T was the lowest-priced way in. That pitch ran in Mix (December 1990, p.177).
The center time-code track is the whole point. Tascam used an in-line time-code system with head optimization, and the design goal was to remove the fiddly business of riding time-code level by hand. The deck handles it so the operator doesn't have to.
The transport is a serious one. Three DC motors drive it, with tension-servo control that keeps spooling smooth and the real-time counter honest. Tape speeds switch between 15 and 7.5 ips, and the deck takes 10½-inch reels with independent reel-size selection. There's ±12% pitch control, direct time locate, and a parallel remote port. The autolocator gives three presettable locate points plus return-to-zero, and there's a block-repeat function for working a section over and over. Gapless punch-in/punch-out and spot erase round out the editing features, so you can fix a syllable without a splice.
I/O is pro-oriented: balanced +4 dBm and unbalanced −10 dBV inputs and outputs, with all the major calibration controls reachable from the front panel. That means you can calibrate without pulling the machine out of the rack. And it is a rack machine. Rackmount flanges are standard, while the transport remote, built-in monitor speaker, and built-in microphone inputs were offered as options. The monitor speaker is standard on the plain BR-20 but optional on the T, so a used BR-20T with a blank speaker grille is not necessarily missing anything.
Tascam's list price was $2,999 for the BR-20 and $3,599 for the BR-20T. An EQ (July 1990, p.14) write-up on the new open-reel machines quoted tentative figures of $2,295 and $2,995 respectively. It listed the tension-servo motors, the gapless punch, the spot erasure, the independent reel-size selection, and independent record and monitor select per channel among the features. A dealer listing from the period had a used BR-20T at $1,800.
Collectors and post engineers know the BR-20T as a purpose-built synchronizer deck. The time-code track and the gapless punch are the reasons to seek one out. The front-panel calibration and rack flanges are the reasons it survives in working studios.
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