How many People own Working Reel to Reel Decks?

Les-I was reading your mind! You need to be very careful when buying a reel to reel. Any ad that states the seller has no way to test it can be translated to say that the deck is broken. In fact, unless the deck is coming from someone who has just gone through it and cleaned it, lubed it, put on new belts, adjusted the brakes, etc., it probably won't work correctly (if at all) when you get it. Better to pay more for a deck that is in good shape and ready to roll than a "bargain" that needs a bunch of money dumped into it.
And Tiger, you are correct, there are many chances to make a bad master tape. I have the Sony ES-9000 SACD/DVD player and I could never get worked up over the sound of SACD. In fact, I have hundreds of CDs and I basically never listen to them. I guess I am just an analog/tubes kind of guy because that is what sounds the most real for me. I have two copies of Miles Davis Kind of Blue. One is the original mono and the other is stereo pressing from Canada. They both sound real good other than the speed issue. The master tape was a 30ips tape I do believe.

Mepearson,

I hear ya! I believe the same. Reel to reel like cassette decks have lots of moving parts and it is likely not a typical to have some not operate properly. I suggest that those selling machines that may not work just be upfront. To dump your junk on another buyer is just not right. I know, I know all about caveat emptor, but that still does not make dumping junk onto others correct. Sellers should be honest and they still may sell it to a person who is into fixing things, no not as much as they may hope but so be it. I agree to be prepared to spend a little more to buy a deck that has been tested and maybe reconditioned.

Kmulkey-we have all been through the "wish I never got rid of that piece of gear" remorse. And you did have some really good decks. The Akai GX-747 is a really cool looking deck and brings big bucks on Ebay. Lots of people love the Pioneer RT-909 and they usually bring over $600 on Ebay. Did you make all of your own tapes or did you also collect prerecorded reel to reel tapes? I am really curious to know what people who are buying RTR decks now are doing with them. I know some people like to copy CDs over to tape because they swear they sound better and others like to copy their LPs over to tape. Looking at auctions of prerecorded tapes on Ebay, it is obvious that people are willing to pay high prices for tapes they want. I know that my brother has spent over $2000 in the last couple of months since he bought his Revox buying tapes on Ebay. The 71/2ips Beatles reel to reel tapes all seem to bring big bucks and he is collecting those. I have two copies of the EMI/Parlaphone BC-13 Beatles collection on LP and I think they are great. Having said that, when I heard "Fixing a Hole" from Sgt. Pepper at my brother's house on reel to reel, I heard things from a new perspective. I have heard that song and that album a thousand times if I have heard it once and it was a new experience on tape-and one for the better.

Casey-You bring up an interesting point. One of the things that tape also has going it for in comparison to LPs is that LPs can't sustain the same level of bass and treble information across the entire disc. You start off with a 12" diameter at 33 1/3 rpm and after the second song on the LP, the diamter has shrunk and continues to shrink. Kevin Gray wrote a good article on how mastering engineers have to take these physics into account when they are mastering LPs. They always try and cut the most dynamic songs at the beginnings of both sides of the LPs. Tapes don't suffer from that problem. The last song on the tape can and will sound as good as the first song on the tape. RCA engineers knew back in 1958 that two track stereo 71/2ips tapes were better than their LP counterpoints. In fact, it is too bad that 2 track tapes lost out to 4 track tapes as they don't have the problem of two tracks always going backwards over the playback head while the two tracks you are listening to are going forwards. Sometimes you can hear this. Also, with two track tapes, the two tracks are wider than they are on 1/4 track tapes as are the gaps on the tape head which should translate into more information in a given space on the tape. 2 track tapes lost out to convienance which is how so many things were dumbed down in audio. Consumers choose convienance over sound quality or at least the marketeers tell us so. Now people want 1 million songs crammed onto a device the size of a matchbook and they don't care what it really sounds like as long as it is digital.

I have 3 decks, Revox B77 MKII, Sony TC 765, and an Otari MX 5050 BII-2. I mostly listen to pre-recorded tapes and will make my own recordings as well.