Reel to Reel

Quality wise, I am surprised so few friends/members here have R2R.

My Reel to Reel is the best sounding source I have. Same content/different formats: Everyone here picks tubes over solid state; lps over cd's; r2r tape over lp.

In my case, I have two of Teac's last Prosumer 4 track 6 head auto-reverse model x2000r. same as x1000r except 2000 has colbalt heads, Big and small reels, but 7-1/2" speed. It isn't as good as 15 ips, or 2 track, but it still beats anything else I have. Tape hiss, yes, and yet it's better! I've made two nephews involved with music industry cry while listening to Sgt. Pepper's.

My friend has two Otari's, 2 track, 15 ips. Incredible, he played Led Zeppelin's 1st album among others. Holy smokes, now you know what they were hearing in the studio, so much more listenable than 7-1/2" 4 track. He pays a lot of money from certain sources for tapes, primarily Jazz (some sources are not great). Most sound amazing, a few, not outstanding

I had early 2 track stereo tapes, 7-1/2 ips, definitely sounded better than my 4 track.

A problem is that pre-recorded content is age related, and simply stopped being made/released. The early 2 tracks are mostly classical. The 4 tracks have all the wonderful 50's, 60's; 70's, I think into earlt 80's.

If you are younger, none of your favorite artists exist pre-recorded R2R.

@elliottbnewcombjr Thanks for the input!  Yeah that's my feeling.  Never really heard anything that good...except for when I was in the studio.  I'm a bass player and have done a lot of studio recording.  For how long was tape THE master.   Then there's the whole "ability to hear/prove the backmasking" thing.  lol  I recorded Stairway to Heaven" and played it backwards.  The message is really there.  I'm 60 so...lol.  I've had music bring tears to my eyes not because of the lyrics but the sound itself.

I've had a reel to reel in one of my systems since 1970. I currently have a Pioneer RT-707 in my garage system now and use it all the time.

You can try reels by purchasing cheaper unit first. I got my Akai GX-77 for like $300 on eBay. If you like the experience, you can always upgrade. But then, it depends what you want to do with the unit. Record LPs? You probably don't need 15 IPS unit for that. Purchase master-level 15 IPS tapes? They are $$$, I could never justify the expense for myself. YMMV.

I got into R2R about 6 or 7 years ago and as others have pointed out it is a very good sounding source. I have a Teac X300 (bought refurbished for $400) which does 3.75 and 7.5 IPS only, but since I am only interested in purchasing factory made tapes from the 60s and 70s I’m perfectly fine with that. To my ear the sound is quite immersive and it’s a little mesmerizing watching the reels spin!

It is an interactive medium! You can’t just sit back and push buttons on an app and serve up music. You have to be sure the rollers and the heads are clean, and have to get up and string the tape after each side (unless you get an auto-reverse model). There is also the occasional snapped tape which requires some splicing skill. Not often but it does happen. especially if you do buy old factory tapes after all they are now 50 years old.

I also have fun scouring local auction sites for old tapes. If you purchase factory tapes there has to be some patience involved as well. Many sellers in my mind way over price these. It takes a while to look for someone who has them at what I consider a reasonable price. I’m OK in the $25-$30 range depending on which album/artist I’m trying to get. I did score an estate sale group of 80 tapes last year at 16 bucks apiece that kept me busy for awhile.