Reel to reel

Of course you can buy new blank tape. Of course it might be hard what with Google finagling their filters but if you use one of the less manipulated search engines like DuckDuckGo it should be a snap to find.

I had a 10.5" open reel deck for years back when it seemed smart to make tapes to avoid wearing out my precious vinyl. Nowadays that seems silly but that’s what we did back then. You can buy it just like I did back then in boxes of 10 which at 7.5ips is a whole lotta music.

The question isn’t availability, its all that and more. The question is why? And what? And how good? Unlike back in the day when we had few choices today you have everything from preserved or restored vintage to new to heavily modded high end boutique to pro decks.

Think carefully and do a lot of research because while open reel is awesome its also really heavily mechanical and maintenance is much more an issue than even with turntables. Not that its not worth it. Its hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t had one how great they are. But use one a lot and it is a fairly high maintenance piece of gear so think it through.

@millercarbon, thanks for the info. Sounds like you and I may be from the same era lol! Back in 5he day that’s exactly what I did with my vinyl as well many moons ago. That’s one of the things I’d like to do today. I owned (2) reel to reel decks at different times. I owned a Pioneer RT-707 and a Teac X-2000R. In my opinion, neither were high end decks but I thought they both sounded pretty sweet. In fact, I’m leaning towards another 707 that I can get a good deal on which is a 7” machine. The other is a Teac 3300 which is a 10.5”. I don’t want to spend tons on a deck, at least not at this time. I also remember buying a Maxells or TDK 7” for about $8 and a  10” for around $20. That’s the biggest hurdle besides the fact I bought a brand new with warranty RT-707 in the 80’s for $250 and the  X-2000R if memory serves around $600. Anyway, now I’m looking at 40yr old decks that are getting more money than paid new. This is a crazy hobby lol!

Yeah I was dumb to sell mine but the heads and pinch roller were worn and this was before the internet when it was hard to find stuff like this, shops were chock full of gear being jettisoned by people who bought into the digital hype, if someone had said fix it it'll be worth more 20 years from now I'd never have believed it.

So instead of keeping a deck that would be worth twice new, and which I'd probably not want to sell since it still sounds good, I bought CD which is worthless, and two or three more since, all just as worthless.

Then you try and tell people don't waste your money on digital. Analog is the only way to go. And they won't listen. Now that's crazy!

The aim of every audiophile is to go where no audiophile has gone before; it's for certain that I've gone beyond anything I've heard before, but it wasn't cheap, then again, it never is.

I'm speaking of recording from a well set up high end TT to a perfectly maintained reel at 15 IPS. Begin with the output from the phono pre to tape in on the reel, and let her rip at 15 IPS. RMG blank tape was $80. dollars, and at 15 IPS, that only accommodated 1 LP; not exactly cheap, but what a ride; Santana was in the house!


      https://www.amazon.com/RMG-EMTEC-Studio-Mastering-4x2500/dp/B00890FBXY