Starting to dream of moving way up to Heidelberg-quality with a ~20-year-old pre-owned press: what advantages or disadvantages does a Hiedelberg GTO have over a Speedmaster in terms of serviceability, parts, operating costs, trouble free operation, and print flexibility/quality. (I don’t need the faster 15,000 sph speed of a speedmaster.)

HI.

I would say that the only advantage the old SM has over GTO is Print Size. where as i think the later SM's are very good machines the older ones are full of problems. the GTO is a very good machine for all types if printing. the biggest advantage is that you can print leaflets on it as well as Stationary. but the no one would print stationary on a SM.

I am a printer/Dealer in Manchester, UK. and am seling a GTOVP 4 col 1981 for a good price. if your interested email me.

Hope the info helps

Regards
OB

Would love it if you could go into some more details about the types of glitches that might surface on older model speedmasters vs. GTO's.

I've been getting 4-color work printed from a shop who is using a mid-80's speedmaster and I can't remember the last time they were down or had print quality issues on one of my jobs so I was thinking that the speed capability actually made SM's more robust. But maybe this shop is just really good with maintenance -- I'm working towards a project that would enable/require printing in-house as a major upgrade step, but just the same I can't ask them too many details as we would be moving them out of the loop in doing so.

(I'm looking at a 14x20 format only)

To be hinest heidelbergs are well built presses. but the thing with the Old speedmasters is that at that time the GTO was heidelbergs Main Product. Although the technology in the speedmaster came quicker, i.e CPC. but that was because people do not want to adjust the ink keys of a 72CM sized machine by hand. if you are only looking for a 14 by 20 it would have to be a GTO, or another make completely. if you are interested, i have a Heidelberg 1981 GTO 4 colour 52cm. i would give you a reasonable price. but as a start up, i think it is more wise to go for a GTO rather than a SM. or, why just think about the Heidelberg. Roland technology and qualit are just the same, but it is much cheaper. the B2 version of a mid 80's roland is Favorit. but for a few more thousands you could get the B1 version, which is called the Rekord. all at the fraction of the cost of a SM.

Hope the info helps. an dif you need help finding a machine, i would be happy to help. i have a few machines in stock at my printworks which i want to sell. and i alos have many contacts across the world which i could put you in contact with.

Regards

do you need any other info JIM

Thanks OB - just digesting what you've said so far. What year did heidelberg start producing the SM52 anyway?

hi, i think they started around 93/94

Hope this helps

do you need anything else?

i await your reply

kindest Regards
Ob

Thanks again OB.

Do you know if there is any website, article, book, or other reference that describes the engineering between and detail similarities and differences between the GTO and Speedmaster presses?

sorry no i don't

hi jim

have you bought anything yet

regards
ob