Reel to reel

orpheus10

We have been discussing an aspect of R2R that only those who have had considerable experience are aware of ... Without a doubt, this takes you beyond the most expensive cartridge, TT, tone arm, phono pre combination. While you need all of that to record to the reel; after it's recorded, the reel takes you a step further.

If you really want to know what reel-to-reel can do, record your own music live. If all you do is dub from LP, you  have no idea what tape can offer: You're limited by the quality of the LP, and the small amount of noise and distortion that tape will inherently add to it.

@luvrockin .

And all of this started as a simple question.

I have to ask.... Are you any wiser now and has your question truly been answered?

I just down-loaded 4 of the 15 IPS reels that I had recorded to my hard-drive. They really sound good on play back, and I don't have to get up and put another reel on.

- I just down-loaded 4 of the 15 IPS reels that I had recorded to my hard-drive. They really sound good on play back, and I don’t have to get up and put another reel on.

It also saves wear on your repro head, as well as the rest of the transport.

But personally I can’t see why you would want to use R2R to record your LPs. At 15 IPS, you’ll need 2 pancakes of 1.5 mil tape or 1 pancake of 1 mil tape for each LP. Each pancake is GBP35 over in the UK (presumably about USD 40-45). That buys you 2 x 45 rpm QRP pressings of every album.

I do get R2R as a concept - I have 5 studio machines - 1/2 inch 2 tr Studer A820, 1/4 inch 2 tr Studer A807/II, 2 x Sony APR 5000 series and an Otari MTR12. But I play studio masters or dubs. The difference then becomes compelling, although the outlay is very substantial.

That was just an experiment, and to make sure it wasn't a waste, I down-loaded it to hard-drive; those were my most select LP's.

As you know, new tape can be recorded over at least once with no ill effects; consequently, I'm regarding that as blank tape when the need arises.

While the playback sounds good from the computer play list, I'm wandering if I would get R2R quality out of the playback with a very good DAC?


Yes, 15 IPS is extreme for LP's, but only because of the expense and time. Even if I could afford the expense, the time would be too short; but if I could find a way to negate those two factors, I could easily live with 15 IPS for my most select LP's, not just any LP.