As I mentioned in my PAF 2023 reporting, "One of the things that really impressed me in the Genesis room was the new Analog Audio Design TP-1000 R2R machine, capable of both recording and playback, that is being imported by Brian Tucker of Pro Audio Ltd." 

"One of the cool things about the Analog Audio Design TP-1000 R2R (above) is that it has a remote control that allows you to zoom from track to track just like you would with a CD remote." 

"The quality of the Analog Audio Design TP-1000 R2R looked superb, and the fit & finish was excellent." 

In a follow-up discussion with Brian Tucker of Pro Audio Ltd., who is importing the Analog Audio Design TP-1000 R2R to the USA, I found out a little more information to share with you.

First of all, you might want to know why Brian is importing the AAD TP-1000 to the USA.

Well, it turns out that Brian is a long time reel-to-reel enthusiast, with his "tape-recorder" journey starting in high school with the Bell TWR tape deck (above), then followed by the Bang & Olufsen tape deck, Tandberg 64, Ampex FL-44, KLH-model 1, ReVox -G-36, A-77, B-77, A-700, Studer B-62, Studer ML-5/A80, and Studer A-807.

Brian's enthusiasm for R2R didn't end there, as when Studer-ReVox moved their North American office from Toronto to Nashville, Brian joined the technical sales team as their Midwest sales manager, which he did for 22 years.

Brian told me that, "Some of the notable installations were WFMT Radio, the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Recording Studio, the St. Louis Symphony, and Prince's 1st 24 track and Digital D820. Great times!"

As you might expect, Brian's new R2R muse is the AAD TP-1000, which he is importing for R2R enthusiasts in the USA.

Here's Brian's account of how his interest in the AAD TP-1000 came about:

"About 4 years ago I saw a news article about a new tape machine being designed in France by Christophe Martinez. So, I reached out to Christophe and inquired what tape heads he was using in his design, along with other design features. In my note, I hoped he was considering the AMB heads, as AMB took over the manufacturing of the Studer and ReVox heads."

"I was happy to hear he was going to use Studer .318 playback head on his first machine, the TP-1000. The unique design fits into his other ground-up design concepts based on electro-mechanical designs from Studer, Telefunken, and others."

"The first realization of Christophe’s 4-year project I saw was at this year’s Munich High End audio exhibition. Listening to and seeing how well his machine handled tape, I told him I would like to introduce the TP-1000 into the USA and ordered one on the spot."

"We first introduced the AAD TP-1000 at PAF 2023 in Seattle where we had the benefit of a state-of-art music system from Genesis Advanced Technologies' new Prime+ loudspeaker system (above). We also had the pleasure of listening to Gary Koh’s (Genesis) tape collection mastered by Bernie Grundman, and had a Studer A810 to compare the performance with."

"The TP-1000 is really a ground-up development based on professional standards. The drive is based on 3 DC motors that are belt driving the capstan and spooling motors. This design further reduces and cogging effect of DC motors. The mechanical noise from the machine is virtually non-existent. The tape-tension is governed by a unique ‘strain-gauge’ which maintains constant tape tension, at 0.5 gram within 1 millisecond."

"The playback electronics are carefully designed and match precisely the Studer/AMB head characteristics. I found listening to my copies of master tapes to be musical and realistic."

"The real charm of this machine is the ‘user-control’ interface, which is fabulous. The touch screen allows all the professional parameters to be easily accessed i.e., IEC/NAB; Lo/Hi flux density, zero-locate, rewind and automatic replay. There are 4 different touchscreens for additional information, such as calibration time information and finally an Ethernet Rj45 port for factory updates and using your cellphone/iPad/computer for control."

"The typical pushbuttons are there for tape speed (7.5/15), three different wind speeds down to 2m/sec for library wind." 

Brian has had his hand in the audio business for a long time, and has an eye for spotting new high-performance audio products. From 1965 to 1979 Brian worked directly for KLH and ReVox US (Hammond Ind.). 

Then Brian started Pro Audio LTD in 1979, representing the Music Industry, CEDIA, AES, etc., which included the product lines of KLH, ReVox, Beyer microphones, Gauss-Cetec, BGW, FM Acoustics, and Studer.

Today, Brian primarily represents high-end 2-channel products from Playback Designs, Esoteric, Vana Ltd group (Mertan, EAT); and Upscale group (Prima Luna Tannoy, Cabasse), and is importing products from Puritan Audio Labs, Lateral Audio stands, and now AAD like the TP-1000. 

For more information about the AAD TP-1000 R2R (or any of the other products Brian represents), you can contact Brian at 847.561.4008, or email Brian at [email protected]. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!