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Re: Re: Fostex FR-2 Field Recorder

Subject: Re: Re: Fostex FR-2 Field Recorder
From: David Steinwedel <>
Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 13:24:25 -0700 (PDT)
Hey Curt, I've had an FR2 for about 4 months now.
Overall I'd say it's a pretty good machine with a few
drawbracks . . 

The few complaints I have about the FR2 are that it
totally crunches anything that hits over 0db on its
scale, it's menu screen is pretty hard to read, its AC
Adapter makes this annoying 15 or 20k tone, it eats
batteries in about 2 hours, and it also makes a
buzzing sound when you've got the phantom power turned
on. The shoulder strap can also be quite noisy,
epsecially if you're moving around a lot. One more
thing, the PCMCIA drives make noise when they're
spinning, go for the CFC cards if possible.

I solved most of its drawbacks by getting a separate
mixer and an external battery source. If I hadn't
needed it when I did, I would have waited and gotten
the 722 from sound devices. If you're willing to live
with those drawbacks, you can get a great machine for
a little over $1k. 

I have no compaints about the audio quality, it does
everything from 16/44.1 to 24/192k just fine. I
haven't tried using the built in limiters so I can't
speak for those.

It is large compared to a minidisc, but nowhere near
the size of other digital recorders (like a DEVA). If
you've ever seen a portadat it's about the same size
as that.

Hope this helps a little, happy hunting.

d




--- oryoki2000 <> wrote:
> Curt Olson asks:
> >Fostex FR2...Any real-world experiences to report?
> 
> There are a few published reports. See
> http://tinyurl.com/8bec3  and
> http://www.nickspicks.com/FR2.htm
> 
> The FR-2 is rather large and bulky for a digital
> recorder, being about
> the same size and weight as the HHB Portadisc.  The
> FR2's mic preamp
> signal to noise ratio (87 dB) is better than the
> Marantz 660/670/671
> recorder (65 dB), but nowhere near the quality of
> the Portadisc (122
> dB) or the new Sound Devices 722 hard disc recorder
> (130 dB).  
> 
> The mic preamp S/N ratio is not the sole determinant
> of the quality of
> recordings, of course. Martyn Stewart has posted
> several high quality
> recordings made with the Marantz 670.
> 
> --oryoki
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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