Considering Reel-To-Reel

skrol

I used to be pretty avid with cassette I always looked forward to graduating to R2R.

So how would the Akai GX265D rank for SQ? Even at $50 I might not want to sink a lot of effort if it is too low end.

miner

I bought a rebuilt,
black Pioneer RT-707 from J-Corder 7 yrs ago and it records marvelously, and fits in my cabinet. New tapes are still available that are very good quality, albeit expensive (7" 1800' reel about $21). I have the 45rpm version of Texas Hurricane, the SRV box set of his studio albums. The quality of the recordings of these LPs on tape is undistiguishable from the LPs. Tape hiss? None even during the quiet passages.

mhardy6647

The RT-701/707 (and their big brothers, the RT-901/909) were, perhaps, the pinnacle of "home" reel to reel decks and were even fairly bulletproof, as such things go (although see my 909 comment earlier ).

As to that AKAI GX265D -- my guess is it would sound a notch better than the 'entry level' reel decks if in good working order. It was not a low end deck. It would be worth finding out what tape formulations AKAI calibrated 'em for. Actually, it would be even better to recalibrated it now to whatever tape you'd like to use with it (ahem UD-35-90, ahem...) -- but it's not critical -- unless you want it to be critical

skrol

Thanks again for the info.

I had passed on a Pioneer RT707 at a thrift store a couple weeks ago. They wanted $399 as is, no way to really try it and no returns. It seemed like too much coin for the risk.

mhardy6647

skrol wrote: »

Thanks again for the info.

I had passed on a Pioneer RT707 at a thrift store a couple weeks ago. They wanted $399 as is, no way to really try it and no returns. It seemed like too much coin for the risk.

I would concur; the fifty buck AKAI seems like a much better risk

tonyb

Ken S.- send the man a PM, he's a pretty good authority on R2R.

Personally, I love the sound of R2R, but like others have said it's labor intensive and a money pit to boot. Trying to do R2R on the cheap is going to net you poor results. Kinda like trying to do vinyl on the cheap, you just don't get the full value of those formats.

Jed Leland

Hello Skrol,
The Akai looks like a pretty safe bet, maybe ask the guy who's selling it if you could bring a tape and a set of headphones to listen? The common complaint about Akai machines is the transistors that were used in the recording and playback circuits getting noisy and possibly needing replacing. There are easily available replacements available. Mechanically they are usually very dependable and can be fun to maintain and very satisfying to own. They were the maker of the Roberts tape recorders which are still sought after.
You might also want to keep an eye out for one of the same era Sony decks?

skrol

What are some good sources for Akia R2R parts?

txcoastal1

RTR is can be awesome with good equipment and good recordings. @Wardsweb Luther, has a really good set up and premium 2nd and 3rd recording tapes. If I remember right from his generous explanation...every time you re-record a tape you lose quite a bit of the resolution and to sound degrades quickly.

His setup is sublime IMHO.

Jetmaker737

Ebay for parts. You should check out Tapeheads.net for lots of info on RtR.

BlueFox

Had a reel-to-reel, but they are a ‘reel’ PITA. Trying to find a song is a major pain. If you just want background music that you will not change then it can be useful. However, from a music enjoyment perspective a good digital system, like the Lumin X1, is much more flexible, and enjoyable.

nooshinjohn

R2R sounds great, but is a bigger money pit than even Vinyl...

mhardy6647

txcoastal1 wrote: »

RTR is can be awesome with good equipment and good recordings. @Wardsweb Luther, has a really good set up and premium 2nd and 3rd recording tapes. If I remember right from his generous explanation...every time you re-record a tape you lose quite a bit of the resolution and to sound degrades quickly.

His setup is sublime IMHO.

That's why, if one wants to invest in prerecorded tapes (music); one is well advised to focus on early generation copies of the master (e.g., safety copies). As mentioned earlier, they're out there -- but they ain't cheap.

And, yeah, @Wardsweb is a good person to drag into this fray; forgot he was a tape guy

Wardsweb

Yes, I have had many decks over the years. It is a niche area of audio that can provide studio quality playback, but it can get very expensive. Like many things in audio, there are levels of quality. Playing a tape is much like vinyl in that it is a ritual. You get vinyl analog goodness with CD quality black background (with good source material and a good playback 2 channel deck. I'm not saying 4 track and consumer pre recorded tapes are bad, just that they can be improved upon.

Is there anyone you can visit to listen to tapes? Testing the waters is advised before investing money, time and effort.

tonyb

OR.....you can invest in a nice poor mans R2R.....a cassette deck.

skrol

tonyb wrote: »

OR.....you can invest in a nice poor mans R2R.....a cassette deck.

Already have more of those than I should. I need to sell some stuff.

skrol

Denon DRM-800A (keeping), DRM-700A, DRR-780 (tray loader), DR-M30HX, Pioneer CT6R.
I think that is it.

verb

skrol wrote: »

Denon DRM-800A (keeping), DRM-700A, DRR-780 (tray loader), DR-M30HX, Pioneer CT6R.
I think that is it.

Sure it is! I love it when I rummage through the basement looking for something, find a box, "hmmm, what is it", oh yeah! When did I buy that? Great, now I have two!