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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
oldschool1948's avatar
oldschool1948
490 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.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,510 posts
 
224’s are a great compromise but they used really cheap ass switches that drop contact. Like Otari.  And its motors need to be rebuilt before they self destruct. No replacements are available except from a boneyard. Like I said if you think nostalgia is fun, have at it.
Been there, done that.
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,363 posts
 
HO....R2R tape still has this romance about it.  I used to own a Revox A77 & the 10.5 reels....
( I believe ) Mid to later '80's, was using a VHS to record audio...touted at the time to have 'near digital' quality....
...and it actually Worked....*L*

Cheap seats, J ;)
dill
2,470 posts
 
Well, looks like a few others are doing it.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=reel+to+reel+tape+recorder&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_sop=16
dwmaggie
222 posts
 
I miss 2 of my R2R tapes, East West by Paul Butterfield Blues Band, prerecorded 3.75 ips.  The second was a recording I made while working in an audio store, a never released preview of Fever by Bruce Springsteen with the original E St Band.  It was in acapella, via FM radio.  A fellow employee borrowed and never returned it.  The store was Audio Lab on 20th Ave and Indian School Rd.  The radio station was KDKB  a Dwight Karma Broadcasting affiliate, downtown Phoenix.  Those were the days.
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