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Is There Any Reason To Buy A Reel-To-Reel Machine Nowadays??

I bought my first reel-to-reel machine in 1977 as a convenience in order to record and play back multiple albums in high fidelity.without having to fool around with my manual turntable.  I was surprised to find out that I preferred the sound of the reel to the turntable.  Along came cd and I could play both sides of an album with the fuss of having to flip it over every 15 minutes.  Now with high a high quality DAC and a computer, you can have uninterrupted high fidelity music for days on end.

No one is making new recordings on reel-to-reel.  The cost of blank tape is exorbitant.  The cost of a good open-reel deck is stratospheric.  So pretty much you're left with recording an LP or a cd to your reel for playback.....what's that??

Please chime in for reasons to buy an open-reel deck today.
128x128mitch4t
robbyedwards101
37 posts
 
ETSY and eBay are good sources for prerecorded tapes at fairly reasonable prices. When combined with a compander such as the Dolby 3-BX, nothing else really comes close to reel to reel sounds. 
krell303
39 posts
 
I have mint Tandberg TD20A SE aligned by SoundSmith and collection of about 300 factory pre-recorded 71/2ips tapes - mostly classical, from 1958 to 70s.
The machine is fun to look at and use. On well recorded tapes (mostly from pre - high speed dubbing era) the sound is amazing and there is a feel of unlimited dynamics.
For DOLBY B tapes I use Nakamichi NR-200 Dolby B-C noise-reduction (NR) processor.

Is RTR is convenient? Much less than CD player. Is it fun? Big time!
oldschool1948's avatar
oldschool1948
502 posts
 
In the 80’s I bought a Teac X-10R R2R, dbx 224 Type II noise reduction unit, and dbx 3bx dynamic range expander.  I recorded about 30 reels of my favorite vinyl albums of that time.  Each reel holds 6 hours of music.

I’ve got some decent gear, but the R2R and dbx components is the best sound to me.  I have mine sitting in a Teac rack, which also makes it very functional and cool to look at.  The remote control has about a 10’ cord.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 
224’s are a great compromise but they used really cheap ass switches that drop contact. Like Otari.  And its motors need to be rebuilt before they self destruct. No replacements are available except from a boneyard. Like I said if you think nostalgia is fun, have at it.
Been there, done that.
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,682 posts
 
HO....R2R tape still has this romance about it.  I used to own a Revox A77 & the 10.5 reels....
( I believe ) Mid to later '80's, was using a VHS to record audio...touted at the time to have 'near digital' quality....
...and it actually Worked....*L*

Cheap seats, J ;)
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