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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
michaelc2020
17 posts
 
Yes-if you can't get to a laundromat.......

michaelc2020
17 posts
 
(Sorry-I've been drinking, and I thought that was oh-so Clever!) 
robbyedwards101
37 posts
 
ETSY and eBay are good sources for prerecorded tapes at fairly reasonable prices. When combined with a compander such as the Dolby 3-BX, nothing else really comes close to reel to reel sounds. 
krell303
39 posts
 
I have mint Tandberg TD20A SE aligned by SoundSmith and collection of about 300 factory pre-recorded 71/2ips tapes - mostly classical, from 1958 to 70s.
The machine is fun to look at and use. On well recorded tapes (mostly from pre - high speed dubbing era) the sound is amazing and there is a feel of unlimited dynamics.
For DOLBY B tapes I use Nakamichi NR-200 Dolby B-C noise-reduction (NR) processor.

Is RTR is convenient? Much less than CD player. Is it fun? Big time!
oldschool1948's avatar
oldschool1948
502 posts
 
In the 80’s I bought a Teac X-10R R2R, dbx 224 Type II noise reduction unit, and dbx 3bx dynamic range expander.  I recorded about 30 reels of my favorite vinyl albums of that time.  Each reel holds 6 hours of music.

I’ve got some decent gear, but the R2R and dbx components is the best sound to me.  I have mine sitting in a Teac rack, which also makes it very functional and cool to look at.  The remote control has about a 10’ cord.

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