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Reel to Reel Question?

Hello,

I recently bought a used Teac X-700R reel to reel deck that I just paid a lot of money to have serviced. My question concerns the operation of the two tension arms on this model. The arm on the left seems to switch on the motor which turns both capstans, while the one on the right seems to have no electrical function (does not cause the motor to turn on or off) but may aid in tensioning the tape -- although it rides higher in the slot than the left tension arm. Does this seem normal or is the right arm not working as intended?

Apart from that, the deck sounds marvelous and all other functions appear to work okay. Thanks in advance for any help.
plato
david99
1,467 posts
 
I've been interested in reel to reel for sometime.When I was a young teen I went to a girls house and her father had a reel to reel playing ELP Tarkus.I still remember the great sound I heard that day.Maybe he was a 'phile but I dont remember his other gear just the reel to reel and the music.Whats a decent unit to get for as little $ as possible and where would I be able to find great condition tapes? Is there much out there in rock/pop?This is a good thread.
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
Hi Bob,

Thank you for your reply. I think the unit is working properly, but I just wanted to be sure since it now has a warranty.

Man, does it ever sound great! I started playing some prerecorded tapes through my Grado headphones last night and it boggled my mind how tight and deep the bass was and how natural and airy the midrange and highs sounded -- very open, dynamic, and relaxed presentation. I stayed up way too late, but it was worth it!

It's too bad that these great machines fell out of favor, because frankly, this machine beats most CD playback systems I've heard (albeit with a slight tape hiss - though it's VERY quiet with the DBX) and it also rivals expensive turntable systems for a lot less cabbage. It has a quality that's just so "right-sounding" that seems a little different from what CD and turntable-based systems provide. Too bad the public never really seems to embrace the best-sounding formats...

Anyway, I have a decent little collection of classical and popular reel to reel tapes and now I have another high-quality playback medium to savor. Cheers!
brianw
373 posts
 
Shhhh. Decent tapes are hard enough to find!
david99
1,467 posts
 
No shhh! where are they,eBay?
davebachmann
94 posts
 
I've had TEAC R2R in my system since 1968 and now have about 800 reels. Initially I'd buy an LP, record it immediately, and play the tape from then on. While it started as a defensive mechanism for parties - visitors would grab LPs and scratch the heck out of them but would never dream of threading a tape - it turned into a surprising way of listening to CDs. For a while I'd borrow CDs from the library and tape them (no flames, please). After a while when the rest of my gear improved I started noticing that some of the CDs actually sounded better coming off of the tape! While you may find a scarcity of prerecorded R2R out there (has there been *anything* released in R2R for the last 30 years?), it is still an excellent medium for dubbing.
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