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The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape

It feels like I re-entered the world of tape knowing full well of all the downsides, yet I  did it anyway.  I spent much of my youth glued to my dad's decks, making recordings.  As cassette and digital came of age, I always appreciated the sound of tape. 

Whether this adventure is worth it is a subjective exercise.  For folks who plop down $500-$1k on cables or those who swap gear often, tape is really not that expensive, relatively speaking.  Titles are limited though. 

The sound quality and experience is quite something.  Before jumping back into R2R, I had 4 versions of Muddy Waters' Folksinger.  Hearing Chad Kasem's firm's work on it in 15ips it's just something else.  Body, size, and presence are just different than very good vinyl and digital.  And this is with the stock reproduce board from a Revox PR99 MKIII. I can only imagine what's going to happen when I rebuild that card, put in a modern one, or run directly from the head out to a preamp. 

Maybe I'll see some of you in R2R Rehab, where I'll try to get sober from tape. 

128x128jbhiller
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,871 posts
 

Some of the best sound I have heard came from a well restored Studer A820. There really is no other source besides tape that I have heard that can bring that level of realism. Problem is, and this is why I have not gone down the 'rabbit hole', the price of entry and to play is extremely high these days. If one is into vinyl ( like I am) to add tape and do an ongoing justice to vinyl as well is almost prohibitive, cost wise.

For those who can, I say you have the best of all worlds. Tape is the best source from a SQ perspective.

knittersspouse's avatar
knittersspouse
26 posts
 

Ah, Retirement!  Jan 1 2024!  Now I can have some time to play with my toys again.  Back in the dark past when decent R2R was all new and I was single, I bulked up on MoR Teac 6010's and TDK or Maxell tapes.  (I ran an FM station out of my dorm room for a few years and this made it fun...) I now have 4 Teacs and ~2000 tapes to get reacquainted with.   As a Hands-on EE I have a bunch of bench equipment to refurb/upgrade these old friends and expect to spend 2024 there, getting everything up to spec. and putting lots of hours on my headphones.   I also have several other decks to do pre-rolls and check for splices, shedding, etc. before I put any crud or wear on my favorite units.  The Teacs are not TOL by any stretch, but I bought two of them new, and know every mile and insult they have been subjected to. 

Other than refurb parts, I expect the only new purchase Might be a 24-bit A to D converter to dump my tapes onto my 18 TB NAS box as FLACs if I am not happy with the 16/44.1 output of my Parasound Z Phono USB.  I bought the Parasound new a while back to use with my old Dual CS-7000 since the Parasound could disable the RIAA curve so I could use custom curves when playing or recording 78's. Since I have downsized and my entire home is smaller than either my shop  or my living room used to be, all this hardware and media has to go and will be showing up on various forums as I work through it. The world of Reel-to-Reel tape IS dangerous, but what part of this hobby isn't?

ghdprentice
6,963 posts
 

@knittersspouse

 

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. It can be a the greatest of  times for audio, it sure has been for me. 
 

 

vinylsighs
2 posts
 

Any manufactures make new units besides Balfinger. Can’t find a reseller for that unit? 

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

All I can say is that IMHE, with modern digital recordings, High Res digital is superior to analog R2R. I am being given an old Nagra portable deck. I expect it will be more of a display item than anything. It is a beautiful thing, precision to the max.

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