Teac R-1000
The archive has a model number that is attached to at least three different machines, and none of them agree.
Overview
This page is mostly a warning label. "Teac R-1000" turns up in period print in ways that don't line up. Anyone chasing one should know what the documentation actually says before money changes hands.
The clearest period description of an "R-1000" comes from a 1972 equipment directory. It lists a Telex Series 1000 R1000, an endless-loop cartridge transport deck built around standard NAB Type A, B, and C carts. It came freestanding or rack-mounted, with cannon connectors at the rear and a factory standard of 240V 50 Hz operation. The listing names Telex, not Teac, and describes a broadcast cart machine, not a consumer open-reel deck. The replay variant carried a listed price of £210, with cue-equipped and record-capable versions running up to £296. None of that can be attributed to Teac.
Separately, High Fidelity (November 1966, p.177) describes the TEAC R-1000 and R-1100 as professional-quality stereo tape recorders with a three-motor, four-head transport and automatic reverse. They were pitched at home listeners who wanted pro-grade hardware. That is a real, citable period description of a Teac R-1000, and it is the only one in the source material here. It also directly contradicts the cart-machine reading above, which is why this page carries a conflict flag rather than a specification list.
A third appearance, in a later classified section, offers an "R1000 Dig. Verb." That is a digital reverb unit, again a different device entirely. Model numbers get reused across decades and across manufacturers, and R-1000 is a particularly bad offender.
The archive will not paper over the gap. There is no confirmed production span, no confirmed original price for a Teac-badged unit, and no confirmed track configuration, tape speeds, frequency response, wow and flutter, or signal-to-noise figure that can be tied to this exact model with confidence.
If a seller lists a Teac R-1000, ask for photographs of the head cover and the rear panel badge before bidding. A four-head auto-reverse stereo open-reel deck and an endless-loop cart machine are not the same purchase, and the model number alone won't tell you which one is in the box.
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