Reel to Reel

Tempted by R2R?

I'f you are loaded, go the Otari (other pro deck), 15 IPS 2 Track, with a professional lined up to maintain it. The sound is far far better than any cable tweak, or batch of tweaks you could make. 

For me and my 'well off' but not loaded crowd: Modest ProSumer deck to play 7-1/2" IPS, primarily pre-recorded tapes.

I went thru each era of Teacs:

1st. the early Stainless Steel face-plates with real wood end panels. Variations: Two 4 channel forward decks I restored and gave to musician friends. 2 Track to play my historic 2 Track Stereo Pre-Recorded Tapes from 1956-1958. After a while gave the deck to a musician and just gave the 2 track tapes to my friend with the pair of 2 Track Otari's.

btw, he can play the 'in-line' stereo tapes on his Otari, but not the 'staggared' stereo tapes (take a mono deck, add an adjacent head to make it 2 channel, now the left and right signals are physically separated by something like 1.25" distance between the heads/tracks. My Inherited Viking 2 track stereo deck (came in the Fisher President II I inherited from my uncle Johnny, along with the 2 track tapes) has an extra head, to select in-line or staggered. I have it downstairs with hard to find new belts waiting. Needs a new case, it was mounted in a drawer.

2nd. Next the beige plastic front panels, with plastic cases.

3rd. Finally the aluminum face plates, silver or mine anodized black. Plastic cases with optional 'wood look' surrounds (chip-board, wrapped with paper printed to look like wood). That is the end of the line X1000r and my X2000r's.

................................

I went thru: Single play, then reverse play, then 6 heads auto-reverse, start with that!

Many years back, I bought over 500 pre-recorded R2R tapes, 7"/7-1/2 IPS. Let's say the shipping cost more than the tape often, they were not expensive like today.

Mine have been stored in conditioned space, slightly slanted shelves: boxes edge to edge, and they still sound amazing, no bleed thru, strong signal strength, not stretching, bad edges. Except the 1st few feet each end, the tape is often brittle, a snap will break there, perhaps beat up edges. I add new polyester leaders to both ends, using a simple manual tape splicer. I add metal reverse strips, (the auto-reverse decks have sensors).

I sold about 150 of them, eBay, unconditional return/refund. Only 1 refund, seemed like USPS had a destructo challenge that day.

Many are over 60 years old, mine still sound better than my Vinyl, everyone here agrees.

Maintanence:

Mr. Fixit. If you have some tools (nothing special), some fixit experience, you can do most or all of it yourself.

I haven’t needed to work on one of mine or my sons (4 total) in years (except normal head/capstan rollers clean/oil). I can do anything physical to them, but nothing electronic. These Teacs are built like tanks, the old grease and old belts turn to glue. 6 screws the case is off. Remove all the junk, new lithium grease, new belt, the brakes need to be adjusted, the height of the reel decks need to be raised/lowered to align the tape with the heads and avoid the tape rubbing on the reel edges.

Not always needed, but when apart I take the motors out, apart, clean moving parts and electrical contact points, lube, back together. Mark their screw positions and pay attention before removal and disassembly, just careful common sense.

resistor adjustors for ff and rewind speeds, tape tension for fwd and rev play speeds, ..... like an old carburetor idle speed and fuel mixture: one effects the other, take your time, wait, tiny adjust, wait ..... you will get it. also, like a carb, you make the adjustments while it is running.

I find heads stay aligned, and I have even replaced the entire plate with pre-mounted heads with success. Alignment perfection needs a professional. Worn heads can be found or re-conditioned.

Sony at one point brought out a Beta VCR that could lay down a near-CD level response if used to lay down 2 chan audio only....

Worked well enough for me to let go of an A77 Revox; the blank 10" were a splurge to get and filled up too fast at 15.5...

The Sony did do that, tho'.....and shortly after, the VHS format 'won'....

The only 'revenge' (of sorts) was that VHS got DVD'd... and the story continues with D2D.....and streaming, and file types, and....

...not even mentioning the cassette era, although we've got 2, a 'single' Nak and a 'double' Yamaha deck....and 'bout 130 cass's....

You can chase the 'bleeding edge' of the tech d'jour...
But all you're going to get is splattered... ;)

...but I'm just an optimistic cynic 'bout this sort of progression......

bbarten  -  Do you want to tinker, or just enjoy?  Many Audiophiles seem more focused on the process of how the music is reproduced than the actual music.  As an engineer, I suffer from that too. In the case of R-R, it is first and foremost a mechanical medium, and just like turntables (or sports cars, or a person's social life) it takes constant maintenance and attention to detail to keep working properly. 

From your comments on cost, you may be a bit like me, and not about to drop 10 grand on a whim.  I happen to have and love middle of the road R-R decks.  I've had probably a dozen over the years, and still have a stable of 4 Teacs that will be re-woken in the months to come. My Sony, Panasonic and even the Wollensak will get refurbished as time allows.  Unless you are like me or probably     
elliottbnewcombjr, R-R may be more trouble than it is worth, but like having a classic car, it is a matter of time, money and love. In fact, you might do best with a love triangle - a deck that really appeals to you, a good LOCAL tech to take care of your new love when it gets sick, and YOU.   Think of any tape medium as more like a pet - you have to understand its needs, exercise it, and get to know its idiosyncrasies well or you will both suffer.  

There are lots of forums that can offer help.  This one tends toward the high end, but not exclusively so, as demonstrated by the responses to this thread.  I won't recommend any particular brand because R-R decks are imposing pieces of equipment that demand attention, just like floor-standing speakers. They have to LOOK right to fit into your space.  There have been some good brands mentioned already, and just like buying a car, going cheap may easily result in your getting eaten alive with unexpected maintenance costs.  Again, that's where a knowledgeable friend or a good local tech can be your best guide (after this and similar forums, of course...)

My personal experience has benefited from watching what is popular on fleabay, checking the actual "Sold" prices of things that catch your eye, and then come back and make a few more "whadda ya think about..." posts here and elsewhere.  You can help others help you if you share what you think is "reasonable", what features you are looking for (quad prerecorded R-R tapes of any kind are essentially unobtanium for anyone who cares about costs), and for equipment this old, repairability and availability of parts is a major consideration.  R-R requires care and dedication, so if you are really only looking for a brief hookup with your high school crush, you may be better off just savoring the memories.  Either way, good luck!