Less than top line reel-to-reel worth it?

Thanks for all the responses. I should mention I am not very interested in recording. So far, I've gathered that it takes at least 7 1/2 ips to be comparable to vinyl, and, of course, condition of the unit and tape is critical.

The Pioneer RT-909 is a very good, reasonably inexpensive deck. And they have those very cool blue meters.

The very best-sounding decks are the Tandberg TDA20-SEs with DynEQ. You can make *fabulous* tapes with these, virtually indistinguishable from the original source.

And, for me, feeding the tape thru the capstans and onto the takeup reel rivals the tactile ritual of the best turntables...

-RW-

I've been into Ampex pro audio machines for about 40 years now. I think I have had the same electronics (351) for about 35 years. They have been rebuilt three times.

The old Ampex stuff is pretty bullet proof, not as nice looking or as easy to operate as the newer logic-controlled transports, but the sound is easily on par if not better. Tubes baby! You should not have to pay $10K for that stuff- even completely rebuilt, unless I am really out of touch with prices these days...

If you are only going for playback you will likely find the rather limited catalogue of commercial tapes recorded at 7.5ips or 3.75ips. Yes, Tape Project tapes are at 15ips but they are expensive.

3.75ips as said for recording is pretty good for the most part. Vinyl recorded at 3.75ips makes for long playback times and still quite high fidelity. IMO 3.75ips is best for FM radio recording.

7.5ips is true high end fidelity on a good reel to reel and will make great playback and esp great recordings of vinyl or cd.

If you are only planning to play back though you will find as I said a very limited library of tapes and a lot of used ones are in mediocre condition due to age, use and possible previous abuse.

i have several reel to reels myself and i love to listen to tapes and make new dubs from vinyl that i can borrow from friends. however, one issue that is unfortunately lacking in the development of consumer decks is that there never was a higher grade of electronics incorporated into these machines before they
fell out of production. unless you have lots of room for a studio-quality transport and custom recording preamps and playback amps, you're not going to realize the full potential of this wonderful format. United Audio's TASCAM BR-20 is something that should have been developed (in some form) years ago, but even if you supply your own machine ($500) and dispense with all of the cosmetic upgrades, it's still almost $20K. surely someone could come up with a more reasonably priced "compact" machine.
Years ago i was away at college and i walked into a little audio shop with a Revox A77 deck playing Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" through a good pair of speakers. If only i could've laid my hands on $500! the sound just blew me away. you just never forget how good classic audio used to lift you up.