Reel to Reel

My experience so far with my Studer A80 (OK, it's not a C-37 but it's not bad and I bet it lasts longer!) and prerecorded tapes is quite satisfying--however, while very good, the 7.5 ips tapes Dertonarm refers to do not hold a candle to 15 ips material, IMHO.

Kipdent-I don't think your A80 will last any longer than a properly maintained C-37. The C-37 is built like a battle ship and was designed with maintenance in mind. The tapes that Dertonarm is referring to are the early 2 track tapes that were made at a time when the record labels actually thought that tape might overtake LPs as they were a superior sonic medium. But like many things in audio, tapes were dumbed down over the years to cater to lazy people. Tapes went from 7 1/2 ips 2 track to 7 1/2 ips 4 track so you could save half the tape and if you had auto reverse, you didn't have to get up to change reel sides. And then tapes went to 3 3/4 ips 4 track so the record labels could save 50% of the tape used. Reel to Reels were always fairly expensive, harder to use than record players, and wives didn't know how to use them which was the real deal killer for most married men. Combine all of those factors and you can see why R2R tape died off as a commercial medium to release music on. And sure, 15 ips sounds better than 7 1/2 ips, but Dertonarm was referring to tapes that still sound damn good and were commerically available. There is a very large library of R2R tapes out there on the used market. The number of tapes available from the TP are a pimple on an elepant's ass in comparison to the number of 7 1/2 ips tapes you could buy on the used market. We could even debate how good the TP tapes really sound but I don't want to go there now.

Hi Dertonarm,

Do you know something?! :-) Actually, I'm very excited about acquiring an RTR for location recording - I know...digital is astoundingly more convenient.

Regrettably, the C-37 may be just a bit too cumbersome for the field - Hmm...perhaps, another RTR for the home?:-)

Vbr,
Sam

p.s. Kipdent, how're you doing?

The C-37 was never intended to be a field machine-it was designed to be a studio warhorse. I will certainly be interested in hearing your recordings if you want to share the wealth.

C1ferrari--I'm doing, fine, thanks! It looks like you are really enjoying your R2R, too.

Mepearson--All the prerecorded 7.5 ips tapes I own are from the early days (1950s) and are 2-track only. As I said, they are very, very nice, but not as nice as either the TP tapes or other 15 ips tapes I have lucked into. Sadly (and no doubt in part because of the resurgence in interest in R2R that forums like Audiogon have ignited), the "large library" of these early 2-track prerecorded tapes are soaring in price. Some I have tracked on ebay recently have fetched over $300 each, a huge increase from six months ago. My original post had this "value" issue in mind--I think a newly released, 15 ips / IEC tape from the Tape Project is a far better value at $300 than a lovely RCA 7.5 ips 2-track from the 1950s that costs nearly the same. But, as you said, our opinions are debatable!