Reel to reel

orpheus10
I don’t know what is more shocking about that tape you recommended. That it costs twice as much for one as I used to pay for a box of 10, or that the reels are 10.5 feet! That is one BIG tape deck! No wonder dweller complains about space! https://www.amazon.com/RMG-EMTEC-Studio-Mastering-4x2500/dp/B00890FBXY

New tape = 2 choices
buy the big box and save
Me I use ATR in my mobile rack w Revox B-77 ( high speed half track iec)
as for gear, it’s a bit like a wood boat, initial purchase price is low compared to lifecycle and ancillary costs... demag, calibration tape, maintenance, blank tape, etc....
some glorious sound possible
and ya might go off the deep end of fun
check out The Tape Project
there are also links there to the wider community of tape heads...
have fun

Thumbs up for @benjie

Right. I found the ATR stuff too. Most of the tape heads I know are using it for a "higher fidelity" medium than LP (i use the quotes only because I don’t want to create an argument about whether tape is better than LP, just noting the difference in use): that tapes are available pre-recorded at a premium and some folks find old tapes, including safeties used for making records in various territories (there were a bunch of Yugoslavian tapes for sale on e-Bay a while ago- who knows what the story is on those sonically). This is different than the OP’s objective- which i remember too-- recording your albums to reel to reel, not only to save on wear but to make highlight reels (or what people today might call a mix tape or playlist).
The modern hi-end reel to reel stuff is deep and the real cost, ultimately, is source material in my estimation. One of the excuses I’ve used so far to avoid diving into that pool, much as I love the gear.
I think the comments about researching thru the tape head community are well taken though-an old machine is going to have needs. I gather Otari was a pretty good bargain deck, but don’t know.
Crazy, but Lee Perry recorded what is considered one of the very best reggae records on a TEAC - probably a 3340 or equivalent-- The Congoes, Heart of the Congo. Killer record (you need the Blood and Fire remaster, most of the others I’ve heard are pretty bad sonically, though i never heard a first Jamaican pressing-- rare and costly).
Good luck with this- could be a fun project. The ReVox and Tandberg were very common in the early -mid ’70s when I was fooling around with this stuff. Have no idea what it would cost to restore one of those machines or whether it is even worth it.

Reel to reel is ultimate audio, this is unequivocal fact; just a few days ago, in order to prove this to myself, I decided to record one of my favorite Santana albums at 15 IPS. This is something I had never done because it shortens recorded time and raises cost; a ridiculous thing to do; never the less, I proceeded.

The results were far beyond my expectations; the experience of hearing this album that I played so many times that the new one I recorded must have been the fourth album, was so intense and exhilarating, that I repeated it over and over; the same as other experiences that I never tire of repeating.

As to speakers, what speakers; the sound emanated from a black velvet background of silence across the rear wall; left, right, and center, with background sounds that were to the rear of the rear wall.

Santana, "Barboletta" is one of the best albums ever made; let me give you a rundown of the artists.


Personnel
Leon Patillo – vocals (3,4,5,7,8), piano (8), electric piano (3,5), organ (4)
Flora Purim – vocals (1,11)
Jules Broussard – soprano and tenor saxophones (4,6,9,11)
Carlos Santana – guitar (3-5,7-11) percussion (2,9), congas (7), gong (8), vocals (11), producer
Tom Coster – piano (4,9), Hammond organ (7,10,11), electric piano Fender Rhodes (2,9-11), organ (3,5,6,8), Moog synthesizer (4,8), producer
Stanley Clarke – bass guitar (6,9-11)
David Brown – bass guitar (2,4,5,7,8)
Michael Shrieve – drums (2-5,7,8), producer
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (6,9)
Airto Moreira – drums (10,11), percussion (12), sound effects (1), triangle (11), vocals (12)
Armando Peraza – percussion, congas (2,4,5,6,8,11), bongos (3,6,11), soprano saxophone (10)
José Areas – timbales (4), congas (2,3)
Michael Carpenter – echoplex (2)



Although all the artists on this LP were fantastic "Chepito" really caught my attention;


        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceir7Jj7pZc&start_radio=1&list=RDEMkuOapXZbfe8SlzNP9mmMrg


Here's the thing about 15 IPS; each individual instrument pops out of this black space in such a way that you can focus on it alone.

Like all of the best things in life, the question comes up, "Can you afford them"? Personally, I have never been able to "afford" hardly anything, yet I manage to indulge.

"One day this is going to be all over".

Now you have me drooling over machines with 15 ips capability.

Still my old Sony tc645 was/ is a great cheap entry level r2r.

Built well, tough, relatively simple and fairly compact.

Sounds darn good to me recording 24/96 and 192 streams from Quboz at 7.5 ips.