In 1948, Willy Studer founded a company in Zurich for the production of oscilloscopes for high-voltage laboratories, his staff consisted of three people. The prototype, called Dynavox 100, was ready in June 1949, and a batch of 500 were ordered by Christmas. On March 27, 1951, the Studer company registered the reVox trademark and the debut model of a tape recorder under this brand, the T26, appeared, of which 2,500 were eventually made. Since then, the company has produced professional equipment under the Studer brand, and household equipment under the reVox brand. And oscilloscopes, by the way, were produced until 1968.
Objectively, the most famous and popular reVox product was the A77 tape recorder from 1967. Over the next 10 years of production and four modifications, it was produced and sold in quantities of more than 400 thousand units. It was paired with the A76 tuner and the A78 full amplifier. At the same time, in the mid-60s, in addition to the Swiss Studer factory, another one was opened in West Germany, specifically for the production of reVox equipment.
Studer’s first reel-to-reel tape recorder – Revox T 26 (1951)
In 1970, the production of acoustic systems under the Revox brand began. The debut series 46 was precisely intended to complete the above-mentioned A76/77/78 system. Subsequently, the company’s line included active speakers (including digital Scala), triphonic sets (the first of which, Triton, was introduced back in 1980, and a subwoofer weighing under one hundred pounds was a rack for equipment) and even some semblance of desktop stereo systems (Stereolith Duetto, 1987).
Reel-to-reel tape recorder Revox A 77 (1967)
Revox B790 (1977) is the company’s first record player with a tangential tonearm. reVox B225 (1982) – again the first, but this time a CD player. A year before it, the first and, perhaps, the highest quality cassette recorder, the four-motor model reVox B710, was released. The best year in the history of Studer/reVox was 1986, when the number of employees was about 2,000 people and the annual turnover exceeded 200 million Swiss francs. However, already in 1990, Dr. Studer sold all his assets to Motor Columbus. A year later, they were joined by the French Digitec, and on March 17, 1994, Studer finally went to the Harman corporation, while reVox was acquired by a group of private investors. Willi Studer died on March 1, 1996.
Amplifier Revox A 78 (1972)
In order not to end the company’s history on this minor note, I will mention a couple more interesting facts. At one time, CRT televisions and Revox VCRs were produced. The contractor in this case was Loewe. And the French Micromega produced the S27 DVD player for reVox. Moreover, in 1999, the Revox plasma panel, model E542, was released. In 1990, Willy Studer sold the Studer Revox group to Motor Columbus AG and began work on creating a new corporation, Studer Revox AG. The process of absorption of related companies continued the following year – a controlling stake in the French audio equipment manufacturing company Digitec SA was acquired. The products of this company complemented the line of equipment manufactured by Studer. Now the corporation could offer turnkey system solutions. The full-scale reorganization program was crowned by the transition in 1994 of the Studer group of companies to the full control of Harman International Industries. The Revox group of companies was spun off from Studer and sold to private investors.
Tuner Revox B 760 (1977)
In 1993, the first large-scale digital mixing console, the D940, was sold to radio station WDR Cologne. And in the spring of 1995, a digital radio broadcasting system, created by order of the Swiss company DRS, began operating on the air. That same year, the Studer Corporation completed work on the first 2-channel MO tape recorder, the D424. An 8-channel Mic/Line preamplifier was also introduced, equipped with a professional AD converter, which opened the D19 series equipment line. The seriousness of the corporation’s efforts to improve radio broadcasting devices was confirmed by the appearance of the Studer Digimedia automatic broadcasting system, which was distinguished by a completely updated design and a completely new hardware and technical base.
Revox B 790 vinyl player (1977)
In 1996, many new products were released. First, a device for recording compact discs CD Recorder D741 appeared, and then – digital equipment for switching, the Studer 928 mixing console, designed for the production of radio programs, recording theatrical productions and live broadcasts, and the Studer On-Air 2000 digital broadcasting mixing console with very operator-friendly interface. The D19 series equipment line has been expanded with a 2-channel Mic/Line preamplifier MicVALVE and an analog-to-digital 8-channel MultiDAC converter with variable frequency amplitude modulation and mixing/listening functions.
Revox B 710 cassette deck (1981)
In 1997, the Studer D950 digital mixing console was released. Its presentation took place at an exhibition held by the Committee for Automation of Broadcasting (CAB), and attracted great attention from specialists who highly appreciated its unique technical characteristics. At the same exhibition, Studer presented for the first time compact broadcast automation systems DigiMedia and Digitec Numisys, Track’Filer and Smart’Log software developed at Studer Digitec, and new Studer D19m switchers. 1998 was marked by the implementation of the new VirtualSurround Panning mixing format in the D950S console and the creation of the PUMA chip. This powerful digital signal processing chip was developed by Studer and is used in the DigaStudio controller to control DigAS software using DAVID
Revox H 1 cassette deck (1990)
Probably the newest page in the reVox stereo annals was written in 2012, with the introduction of the Joy series, which now consists of a server, a CD player, three receivers of varying power, a desktop stereo system and a universal radio remote control with a screen. Today, the Studer company is a symbol of quality and prestige. Studer is a leading manufacturer of broadcast and live show consoles.
