Teac Model 5 (c. 1976–1977)
An eight-into-four console that shipped in limited quantities in September 1975. It was advertised harder than it was ever reviewed.
Overview
The Model 5 is the Tascam Series mixer Teac built to sit at the center of a small studio - eight inputs, four submasters, and enough routing to get a band onto four tracks without patching around the front panel. According to Reverb's listing copy, September 1975 was when "the long awaited Tascam Series Model 5 analog mixer (8 x 4 x 4)" shipped "in limited quantities to excited dealers across the United States." That "8 x 4 x 4" shorthand is the whole architecture: eight input channels, four groups, four output busses.
The price was the argument. Teac advertised the Model 5 at under $1,500 across a campaign that ran from early 1976 through at least mid-1977. The pitch was deliberately broad - recording *or* reinforcement, "at home or on the road," as the ad copy put it. That's a console sold to the guy cutting demos in a spare room and the guy mixing a club PA on the weekend.
What the record does *not* contain is any independent bench test. The surviving material is essentially Teac's own advertising, so there's no measured frequency response, no THD figure, no crosstalk number to pass along. Audiofanzine says outright that it has no technical specifications for the product. Buyers today are working from the feature list and from what owners report, not from a lab sheet.
Key Features
Eight Channels with Transformer-Isolated Mic Inputs
Each of the eight inputs carried attenuation controls, LED overload indication, two foldback sends - one taken before the EQ and fader, one after - two bands of EQ with four selectable frequencies and ±15 dB of boost or cut, plus solo, direct out, channel assign, and pan. That's a deep channel strip for a console in this bracket. The pre/post foldback split suggests Teac expected it to be used for overdub sessions, where the headphone mix and the recorded mix need to differ.
The mic inputs were low-impedance, balanced, and transformer-isolated. Byrd Finds goes further and identifies the transformers as Tamura units on all mic inputs. Audiofanzine describes the connectivity as eight mono channels with RCA for line level and XLR for mics, plus insert points and direct outs. Byrd Finds confirms RCA direct outs and inserts.
One caution: sources refer to Model 5, 5A, 5B, and 5EX as related but distinct items, and the specs are not consistently attributed to specific suffixes across those sources. The 5EX, for instance, is described by Byrd Finds as an extension console that brings a Model 5 system to "20 total channels with 4 output busses." That's a system configuration, not a base Model 5 spec, and it shouldn't be read as one.
Four Submasters with Independent Monitor Mixing
The output side is where the Model 5 earns its keep. There are four submasters, each with buss/tape monitoring, tape cue, monitor pan and gain for an independent stereo monitor mix, and an echo receive gain that could be assigned either to the monitor buss only or to the program buss as well. That last switch is the useful one. It lets an engineer audition a reverb return in the control room without committing it to the mix, then fold it in when the balance is right.
Four VU meters sit across the meter panel, per Reverb's listing. Audiofanzine notes the console is not rack-mountable.
Two-Band Switchable-Frequency EQ
Two bands, four selectable frequencies, ±15 dB of boost or cut. Byrd Finds describes the same circuit as "2 band switchable frequency EQs." It's not parametric, and nobody will mistake it for a modern console strip. But switchable frequencies across two bands give you more surgical options than a fixed shelving design, enough to notch out a room resonance or lift a vocal without dragging the whole low end with it.
Historical Context
Teac positioned the Model 5 for both studio recording and live sound reinforcement, and the advertising leaned on a philosophy rather than a spec sheet. The company's page in High Fidelity (August 1977, p.109) argued that musical styles change but the interdependence of musician, recordist, and equipment does not. The ads ran from early 1976 through at least mid-1977.
Reverb's copy adds a note that the Model 5 "had all the features of the Model 10." That's a single listing's characterization, not a documented engineering statement, and the archive has not verified it against a Model 10. Treat it as period sales framing.
The Model 5 also turns up in collector inventories alongside the Model 2, the 2340, the 3340, the 7300, and the Tascam Series 70H8 eight-track recorder.
Collectibility & Value
Here the record gets thin and slightly strange. There is no confirmed current market value for a complete working Model 5. What exists instead is a restoration and upgrade kit - "TEAC TASCAM Model 5 restoration upgrade kit repair rebuild" - listed around $185. Somebody is selling rebuild parts, so people are rebuilding them.
An eBay listing titled "TEAC/TASCAM SERIES 70 TAPE DECK MODEL 5/10 CONSOLE 1974" at $18.00 should be treated with real caution. The "Series 70," the "1974," and the conflation of Model 5 and Model 10 in a single title are not corroborated anywhere else in the record. It may well describe a different product or a parts lot rather than a console.
Owner reports are sparse but consistent on condition. A Reverb listing describes "general cosmetic wear but is in good shape for its age and functions as intended." Evolution Music notes "Meters all functional" on their example. Gearspace threads carry date codes - a Model 5B with a PCB connector stamped 79.9.12 and serial 480333, and an owner recalling an older Model 5A with a connector date beginning 76 - which confirms the line ran longer than the advertising record alone suggests. One HomeRecording.com user admitted buying a Model 5B purely "for the purpose of scavenging some parts" for a Tascam 12x8 prototype.
No service documentation or editorial test reports have surfaced in the archive. Anyone buying one should assume a recap and a fader cleaning are on the schedule, and should verify the suffix - 5, 5A, 5B - before ordering parts, because the documentation does not treat them as interchangeable.
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