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Is There Any Reason To Buy A Reel-To-Reel Machine Nowadays??

I bought my first reel-to-reel machine in 1977 as a convenience in order to record and play back multiple albums in high fidelity.without having to fool around with my manual turntable.  I was surprised to find out that I preferred the sound of the reel to the turntable.  Along came cd and I could play both sides of an album with the fuss of having to flip it over every 15 minutes.  Now with high a high quality DAC and a computer, you can have uninterrupted high fidelity music for days on end.

No one is making new recordings on reel-to-reel.  The cost of blank tape is exorbitant.  The cost of a good open-reel deck is stratospheric.  So pretty much you're left with recording an LP or a cd to your reel for playback.....what's that??

Please chime in for reasons to buy an open-reel deck today.
128x128mitch4t
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,520 posts
 
I thought the big boys were using the RTR as a digital source? Am I wrong? 
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cleeds
5,960 posts
 
russ69
I thought the big boys were using the RTR as a digital source? Am I wrong?
I think so. There can only be disadvantages to putting digital on tape rather than HD or SSD.
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,520 posts
 
"...I think so. There can only be disadvantages to putting digital on tape rather than HD or SSD..."

You can put a lot of data on a tape. I think big computer systems still use tape for backup? I think? 
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 
Silly answers above. Taping adds a generation.
Veil. If you think THAT is euphonic you got on the wrong boat. Unless you own original recordings there is no reason for one except nostalgia. The "tape" sound is readily replicated with a transfer function. Kinda like a software tube buffer.
I have a wall of tapes I don’t listen to because I have better copies of all the tracks.Like the original LP. Anyone who thinks the tape sounds better is hypnotized by the spinning reels.
I have better things to do than calibrate via MRL to make inferior copies that I don’t need..
I’ve worn out 8 R2Rs. Their time has passed.

The long answer being hell no.
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
The deal with tape is the quality of the tape and what it's being used for.
Magnetic tape for digital storage is a great idea. It's a physical media that can be recovered pretty easy for one. The right kind of tape will last for 100 years AND can be transferred without data loss.
In the analog world Tape is still king. The problem has always been WHAT you can get on 7.5-30 ips recordings. When R2R was at it's height, you could find a LOT of classical or contemporary music.

But POP, Jazz,  Rock and Roll, MOST Country western, wasn't on R2T.
SOME not a lot. I had about 35 masters 50 2nds and 50 or so 3rds. 

Well they went with the 750 Fairchild, RtR (Otari) MC240s and C22 in a theft..

Guess what there is even LESS now..

I like a R2R simple as that. I like to record my own stuff and play it back.

I'm NOT a source snob. I use to get high quality recordings that I liked.

Who else is there to please? Were the recordings perfect? Perfect for me!!

Does anything else matter? Same with vinyl I really enjoy the old 78s mono and about 5-10 watts from a MC225.
I know they will be in heaven.. :-) Pop, Crack!.. Not to often..

Thank to the mighty Puffin.. All kinds of thing are possible pretty dog gone CHEAP. The new Decware ZP3/tape and the Puffin.. WOW..
Now STL KEQ-200 balanced big valve EQ for the Otari.. Double WOW.

Digital? OK.. I like it too.. I like ALL of it.. Including transistor radios, and Victrola's

Regards
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