Open Reel Curious

I was at the recent THE SHOW and I took that chance to listen to Reel to Reel

Well, I want one !! but my wallet said, no you can't.

growing up with Reel to Reels and TT in the 60 and 70s, this is nostalgia but at a higher level. With today's materials and technology, Reel to Reel is at a much higher level, BUT so is the price. Even if you can afford the deck, the software is 1) hard to find 2) there are not a lot of Artist recorded on that format 3) The tape itself is expensive. I cannot comment on mediocre gear as i have not heard it. All I can say is that what I heard in the show (Revox and Tanberg) is a dream to own. it's musicality and details are extra ordinary, spectacular tone and PRAT and that is from a show demo. How much more if that is in your listening room!

If you have the resources to tune up these decks, I believe you can get some of these decks off eBay and have a resource who knows to work on these decks and bring it up to snuff. an example is a Revox B-77. But after you get all these done, you still need to source out software and there is not a whole lot out there, unless you are happy with whatever is just available

As for me, I will pass. 

This is where I purchased my fully rebuilt and upgraded Revox PR99 Mk11 deck:

https://www.techtrader.ch

Shipping cost from Switzerland to the USA was reasonable and they do a great job packaging to avoid damage in transportation.

The last time I went to AXPONA, Krell were demonstrating using R2R and the sound was best in show IMHO, using a +50 year old Dean Martin tape!

Using a reel to reel deck to preserve rare vinyl on tape is certainly a reasonable use of the technology, especially when one wishes to avoid the AD conversion inherent to ripping.

Asking a question of whether / how dubbing vinyl to tape might affect SQ also seemed reasonable.

@dishman442 it's okay to be upset, but indicating why and at whom always helps everyone understand where you're coming from.

A few years back l bought an Akai GX-220D three motor, 4 track three head auto-reverse on impulse from eBay £79

Recapped and with no additional maintenance needed it is now in good shape. Bought 12 new and some used Agfa 7” tapes from one guy for £30 + P&P again from eBay. Soon up and running for £200 all in. I was so impressed (only had a Grundig mono R to R in my teens) I spent a little more on about 10 pre-recorded 3 3/4 and 7 1/2 ips tapes for good measure.

l can’t put my finger on it but 7 1/2 ips (no Dolby) there’s just something about that sound. Yes it’s of novelty value, l do not play around with it often, but it adds some razzamataz to the music.

For sure; reel to reel is something us baby boomers sort of got sucked into; high end on tape formats that were better than 8 track or cassette.  So as a young 20 something i bought a Pioneer RT909; it was cool; ok; and groovy....got rid of it to someone who liked it more than me..Bought a nice Teac deck; model excapes me but i just spent a grand on it to recondition it...got it back, plugged it in; and it's sat right there on the audio stand for nine months now...i love having this audio antique there; along with my Marantz 5420 cassette deck....but really, not motivated to record yet....but wow, those two units look cool sitting there; albeit they are both over 40 years old....but, maybe it gets to be fun on rainy days once i retire....who knows..