Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?

Yes R2R is not cheap. Yes, R2R is not as reliable. Yes, the choices in this category are slim. Yes repairs can be expensive unless you can do them yourself. Yes, its what the professionals used.  Yes the performance is superior.

These together are compelling reasons to stick with a more conventional format. Of course these are also the reasons most car enthusiasts never bought a 12 cylinder Ferrari in the 60s and most likely will never get to enjoy one.

Life is short - especially at 15ips

I got into R2R seriously about 6-7 years ago, after lots of help from a good friend Stewart Emmings, who sadly passed away from cancer at 49. Stew was the chief archivist and serviced all the vintage video tape and audio tape machines at the British Film Institute (BFI).
He taught me how to line up and calibrate a machine and the equipment I needed. I don’t think you can truly get into R2R without learning this. The bare minimum you can get away with is at least 1 MRL test tape, a set of decent meters (I have a pair of PPM meters with mono-sum function for checking azimuth), test tones (wither a generator or a set of calibrated tones), as well as a demagnetiser, isopropyl alcohol (plus a different cleaner for the rubber) and swabs for cleaning heads and guides. An oscilloscope is helpful, and a proper testing unit (I have a Sound Technologies 1510A and an older Ferrograph RTS2/AU1 units) is a bonus.
IMO, if you are seriously into tape i.e 15 IPS 2 track, then having 2 machines is almost a must - why? Every vintage 2 track master I buy has been around for at least 30+ years. Every tape I purchase is archived during its first play onto a) 24/192 digital using my Prism Sound Lyra 2, and b) new 15 IPS RTM SM900 or LPR90 tape stock with Dolby SR. The original is then stored and I use the next generation Dolby SR copy as my standard play tape. There is no way that I would consider using a vintage production master tape as my regular play tape.
Finally I think that every tape should have test tones at the head of the tape - a 15/16 kHz tone to check azimuth (a 10 kHz will also be ok, although not quite as accurate), as well as something like 1k, 500 & 100 Hz. Every time I play a tape (either a newly purchased production master) or one of my own duplicates, I check that the levels and freq response are correct before I play the music.

Charlie

PS The importance of a high quality tape transport is also more important than the repro electronics IMO. Take a look at the chassis plates for a Studer A820 or A80 and see how rigid they are. Add in the precision guidance transport on the A820 or A80, as opposed to forced tape guidance on almost everything else, and you can see why the top Studers were so good. Remember you have to keep the tape running at precise speed with no deviation across the head, whilst minimising other problems like scrape flutter caused by all the surfaces the tape has to run over. The mechanical engineering on a high quality R2R is way more complex and expensive to manufacture than any turntable system.

@topoxforddoc beyond your interesting moniker here, a great post !!!! Lots of things to glean for sure, thanks
jim

Dear @scar972  : ""  I'm more satisfied with my vinyl setup now than ever before and it performs at a high level. ""

Good, but that does not means that that same analog rig can performs way better that what you have rigth now and I'm not talking because those are my " preferences " no I'm talking because I know for sure that that will be when you pull the trigger about.

Anyway, only an opinion, the important one is yours.

R.

I’ve been into R2R since that was the only option for serious home recorders. I still have my quarter-track Tandberg TD20A and half-track rebuilt Crown SX822. I use them mostly to listen to historic recordings, which should probably be digitized for posterity. Maybe some day I’ll get around to that.

For me, audio is not about trying to get the best sound, but about getting the best sound from recordings that you actually care about. Efforts from boutique labels such as The Tape Project can sound fantastic, but I can’t justify the price. As much as I can appreciate the best quality pure analog, today’s digital is so so-oooo good that I can’t spend $450 for the tape. YMMV.