Reel to Reel people

cstmar01

Soo in my entire time going to Hi Fi shops ect there has only been 1 total that I found a reel to reel at and it was a new one but the price escapes me now.

My question is, at this point if I don't own any reel to reel tapes, would it be worth getting into? I know people say they enjoy hearing the tapes and I know it can get super duper expensive, however I didn't know if down the road it would be something to try out if I could a R to R on the cheap or at this point seeing I don't have any of the tapes and no player something to stay away from.

concealer404

What exactly do you think you'll gain in this endeavor?

leroyjr1

It's 2010, stick to cd's and mp3's. If you can find anything better to do with your money I'll give it a good home.:D

damn rich people.:)

concealer404

^That's pretty much where i was going with my post, just laid out more plainly.

HB27

You don't know what you're missing. Good tape on a good R-R sounds fantastic and very close to vinyl. Analog in a very fine detailed format.
MP3? LOL!

headrott

I wouldn't listen to the MP3 crowd, just as I wouldn't listen to MP3's. I own a reel-to-reel deck and can say absolutely it will blow away ANY MP3 for sound quality, period. You can get a cheap reel deck and see what you think of it, and go from there.....


Greg

vc69

Keiko wrote: »

Chris, Ken Swauger and mhardy are a couple of the resident gurus on R2R, IIRC. Maybe they'll chime in to advise or you can always give them a shout out. I almost bought a top of the line Akai back in my Army days. Kinda regret it and have thought about trying R2R still. Just don't have the funds right now. The format may be obsolete, but that doesn't mean it still can't be rewarding.

I am afraid I must disagree with some caveats.

Caveat being if you have a resource for playback material OR a desire to record on the format for some artistic reason. I would still use analog multi-track for studio recording.

Otherwise, there is a reason the format died. There are better/less expensive formats with a wide variety of software to playback.

2/4 channel playback material is relatively non-existent and what there is remains in a very niche market. Nobody is going to re-issue DSoTM on tape.

I'm sure the tape Luddites will disagree, and I understand the nostalgic appeal. But I couldn't recommend entering into the R2R world unless you have money to burn and/or a serious interest in vintage gear.

concealer404

Basically... from what i understand, Chris, you're still getting into vinyl. I'd stick with that rabbit whole for now. The best review that i've seen so far in this thread is that "it's close to vinyl." You have vinyl already. Stick with that.

I mean... or not. I guess this would be why i only buy cheap gear.

vc69

Keiko wrote: »

Analog tape is still a useful media though and other than my passion for vintage gear, R2R I think would be a cool way to archive source material.

The problem with using analog tape for archival purposes is that the tape itself degrades over time even in the best of conditions. It's chemistry.

Of course, at our age, it might outlast us if properly cared for.

I love me some analog Mike, and as a hobbyist, pretty much anything is fair game. I totally agree that there is a place for R2R in the hobby.


But I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend the format to a newbie.

HB27

Keiko wrote: »

No doubt, it's a niche and expensive. Same can be said for tubes, vinyl and other aspects of the hobby. So long as anyone knows what they're getting into. I have more $ tied up now in tubes and vinyl than I do the gear I use to play it on. It's a sick addiction.

I gave up long ago trying to justify dollar amounts in this hobby.
IF I want something bad enough I know there's a way I'll be able to rationalize the bottom line.

mhardy6647

I don't know that I'd advise someone to start in to reel to reel tape from zero in this day and age. That said, there are some fun things one can do with a three-head deck (even a cheap one like a single-motor Akai or Sony) - and the sound quality of a fine deck in good tune can be superb... but it is an expensive hobby to get into seriously; and as a toy there is far more one can do with free or cheap software and a mouse click.

I reckon Ken Swauger will weigh in anon; it'd be interesting to see his thoughts on the matter.

If the OP wants to play with tape - (used) cassette hardware and software is far more cost-effective today, I'd opine.

joeparaski

Well, if cstmar01 wants to try it. I have a pristine Akai 4000D with 2 or 3 reels of tape (un-opened boxes) that I would consider selling.

Joe

cstmar01

concealer404 wrote: »

What exactly do you think you'll gain in this endeavor?

the fact I could say I tried it lol

honestly I love vinyl, and I've heard a lot of people compare R to R as good as vinyl and in some cases better so thats why I was kinda curious about it.

However from what I've seen the tapes can get crazy expensive for ones so not really sure at this point if it would be worth the time to try and track down the tapes ect or just use the money to buy more vinyl with.

For me vinyl is easy to come by both new and used. The guy local to me has about 4-5K LPs in his private collection and if I wanted something he would sell it to me with no problem. Lot of them are even still sealed or at most listened to once. He'll also order me anything I really would want, or try to get it and so I have no problem tracking stuff down.

HB27

I've got 40+ year old tape from Maxell, TDK, Ampex, Sony, that are still pristine and sound fantastic.
You can get nice recordings off Ebay for only a dollar or two each. Blank Maxell UD will run a few bucks but there's a lot of good tape around at good prices.
You can outfit nicely for less than a grand including good cables, tape, demagnetizer, tape eraser, splicer, etc.
My X-2000 is put in the closet due to room restrictions. I've got an old 7010 I like real well too. The quad reel to reels give an amazing presence as the music swirls 360 degrees around you.
Record your good vinyl to good 10" reel and you've got hours of easy handling vinyl quality reproduction to listen to. You can get remote models(wired and wireless remote) for even easier play.
Tubes, vinyl, reels, etc make for some ultimate listening times you won't forget.
An analog system is heaven to me. I like my tube cdp but the pure analog is where my favorite listening comes from.

c0redumpt

Hi,

I have an old teac x2000, would love to find some tape for it to archive some vinyl....

Just wondering where is said maxell UD Tape that is soo easy to find? I've been looking for a while for any stockists of good tape without much luck

kind regards
A

HB27

c0redumpt wrote: »

Hi,

I have an old teac x2000, would love to find some tape for it to archive some vinyl....

Just wondering where is said maxell UD Tape that is soo easy to find? I've been looking for a while for any stockists of good tape without much luck

kind regards
A

The tape is getting a little harder to find for sure but still shows up regularly.
I haven't bought any in about a year now. I sold off about 100 reels of nice once recorded tape on ebay last year and still have about as many in my closet. It's always been kept cool and properly stored when not in use.
I know where another 50 or so sealed Maxell 10" are sitting locally that's for sale also. I'll be seeing him around 9:00am this morning. I can put you guys together IF you'd like.
He's also got some Ampex Professional and some of the Sony premium along with some new metal reels.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Since one of the ways I earn money is overhauling Revox tape decks, modifying and reselling them my opinion is going to be somewhat biased. With that in mind let me offer some opinionated advice. If I were just beginning to think about adding an open reel machine to my system and I had assembled a high quality sound system (which you undoubtedly have) and I liked classical and jazz music and I liked to collect things (sorting out the known list, hunting down the sources and obtaining another "collectible") I would concentrate on the Barkley Crocker series of pre-recorded tapes. These would need a tape deck that was quarter track, 7.5 ips Dolby B playback. There are around 350 different titles, all excellent musical choices that have superb audio playback capability. You could use a separate deck and outboard Dolby unit (think phono stage and line stage) such as Advent 101A or Teac AN series. Probably between $500.00 and $1,000.00 to get started. The tapes are readily found on eBay and are relatively moderate in price.
If, on the other hand, I liked classic rock I would concentrate on getting a good sounding deck, such as the Pioneer RT707 or RT909 or Revox A77 (subliminal advertising message). Then begin collecting classic rock tapes off of eBay. You can find the Beatles, CSN, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Stones, Bob Dylan, The Band lots of great sounding music combined with the fun of enjoying a bit of mechanical audio history. This would be around $300.00 to $900.00 depending upon lots of variables.
I hope this is helpful information.
Enjoy, Ken

jt45

I have a vintage pioneer RT 2044 and a few reel to reel tapes that were given to me with the system, One tape is a live recording of a bands practice session from around 79 and i can tell you that the sound from mine is amazing, it really puts me front and center to that session. I personally believe that unfiltered unprocessed music is far better coming from these old reel to reel tapes. Ive started to realize that we lose alot of the real pure sound by todays digital processing. My old reel to reel player beats my modern VSX-920 hands down for music. Even the old TX-9500 tuner sounds better, of course the vintage silver i have were better in there day than the VSX is by todays standards. However the VSX does super for HT.

inspiredsports

Snow sold a great one at http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97203 earlier this year

cstmar01

inspiredsports wrote: »

Snow sold a great one at http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97203 earlier this year

that would have been nice to try out. Thanks for the link!

I think I'll try it out if I can find a decent R to R at a good price around the area. There was one on craiglist about 30 mins from here about 2 months ago for like 100 bucks or something so for that might just have to try it out.

Thanks for the info Ken! I may have questions for you later depending on what I can find for R to R's if that would be ok.

[Deleted User]

Sure, no problem.