Any reel to reel guys here?

GlennDog

@Joey_V is gett'n his learn on . . . Deep rabbit hole

just say WTF . . . ya only live once, Bro!

Jetmaker737

Joey_V wrote: »

I still can’t get over how pretty this set up is

Thank you, Joey!

Jetmaker737

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

Crown decks are beautiful, especially that one. Holy cow! Love those big ol' VU meters. Like from a 1950's nuclear power station or something.

invalid

Joey_V wrote: »

invalid wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

That’s awesome

I’m a little intimidated by the cost so I’m just looking from afar

You should just buy a studer A820

I need something smaller

I’m looking at the Metaxas tourbillon

Go for the gusto and buy the Papillon!

jdjohn

I inherited about 15 RTR decks from my dad, along with a slew of tapes. Most of the tapes are home-made, dubbed tapes, but there were a fair amount of factory, pre-recorded tapes as well. I sold a few of those tapes here on the forum.

Many of the tape decks are lower-tier, but a few nicer ones are in the bunch.

Akai GX-266D, which has a few nice features:


For a more compact design, the Pioneer RT-707 and the Akai GX-77 are kinda cool.


The GX-77 has six heads (three for each direction)

As far as playback, the 3.75IPS speed is pretty low-fidelity IME. 7.5IPS can sound decent, but none of my decks are very fancy or modded, and frankly...not calibrated. None of mine will play 15IPS, but my understanding is those can sound quite nice.

As already mentioned by others, finding good tapes in a genre you like might be the biggest challenge, and they are expensive. Tapes stretch over time, and the backings (on some brands/types) will flake-off, especially at this point in their life. Some of the guys here have nice collections of tapes that (no doubt) have been accumulated over DECADES. It would be a shame to sink a lot of money into an RTR deck, but then only be able to find a handful of actual tapes to play. Now, if you plan to RECORD your own tapes, that's a different story

Joey, I know you have a few young'uns, and they are probably well-behaved, obedient kids. But remember: one day they will turn into teenagers

That's my two cents!

mhardy6647

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

JM Technical Arts is a highly reputable Revox service center run by Jack Clark who was head of Revox Studer service for the US located in Nashville has this deck available:

That's a nice, useful configuration. When it says "Reproduce EQ adjustments" does that mean user selectable NAB or CCIR (or... whatever); i.e., a switch? If so, that would be pretty ideal, other than lacking 15 ips for playing many masters/low generation backups.

SeleniumFalcon

I don't believe so, however Jack could probably add something like that. Normally the PR99 is a 7.5 and 15 IPS deck and, again, Jack could probably convert it to the higher speed. A different capstan motor or different capstan shaft would have to be changed as well as different playback cards. It does have balanced outputs, but most enthusiasts prefer to use the monitor outputs eliminating the output transformers.
A rock solid deck.

mhardy6647

Since Charles converted my A77 to a high-speed deck, I would imagine the newer ones could be, as well.
Yeah, that looks like an excellent choice for a hobbyist deck, i.e., playback only... but most of "us" aren't seriously interested in recording
.

Joey_V

I found this
Neighbor if my uncle and aunt in Illinois

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649995735-new-trx-tourbillon-portable-reel-to-reel-deck/

That’s the Tourbillon

I spoke to the guy two hours the other day. Guy knows more about analog tape than anyone I’ve spoken to.

I’m very interested but I wish my timing and circumstances were better. Tempting though to end the tape aspect of the hobby in one shot.

Wardsweb

Wardsweb

Nagra IV-S

Wardsweb

Technics 1500

Wardsweb

Pioneer RT707 and 909

Wardsweb

Teac X10-R

txcoastal1

txcoastal1 wrote: »

@Wardsweb (Luther) in San Antonio has a very nice RtR setup and collection that I have enjoyed with my ears...sublime

Like I said, Luther enjoys his R2R

Great to see you chiming in Luther, hope all is well. I have rented a house in Cibilo for the Luling and Boerne Buc-ee's projects

I need to come by with a couple bottles of wine and say hello

--Ron

pitdogg2

Wow! Now that's impressive!!

Jetmaker737

Beautiful collection. Is that an X-2000M or R?

Joey_V

Wow

Wardsweb

Jetmaker737 wrote: »

Beautiful collection. Is that an X-2000M or R?

X-2000M

mhardy6647

I had to snicker at a thread at AK today -- some guy bemoaning the price of cassette decks & tapes. Oy vey.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/starting-to-feel-like-a-sucker-for-buying-a-cassette-deck-in-2023-2024.1047016/

Jetmaker737

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I had to snicker at a thread at AK today -- some guy bemoaning the price of cassette decks & tapes. Oy vey.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/starting-to-feel-like-a-sucker-for-buying-a-cassette-deck-in-2023-2024.1047016/

The guy is misremembering history a bit in terms of the prices for cassette decks in days of yore. Yeah, there were cheapies. But for instance I have a very nice little Nak RX-202 that I paid $450 for in 2022 (w/ box and manuals). That deck went for $879 in 1982 (according to cassettedecks.org). So in 2022 dollars that's $2,666. The deck runs like a champ (knock on wood) and sounds decent. It also has the cool factor of the UDAR function. So relatively speaking it's a good deal. Cassettes can be had in bulk for a buck each. You have to toss about 25% of them but that's still super cheap.

Cassettes won't impress anyone for audiophile SQ but they're fun for conversation starters and background music at parties. I have a lot of Christmas tapes so it gets a lot of use this time of year.

Joey_V

@Wardsweb
if you want to get rid of any of your decks, let me know.
I don't think we live too far apart
Thx