Reel-to-reel tape is the new vinyl

I dunno why everyone is saying a RtoR deck is so expensive. I found this one on Amazon for only $22

 

Yeah, I did the same thing. My cassettes of my cds sounded better in my car than a similarly priced cd player that replaced it later on. I missed that tape deck for the car. There was no worry of someone wanting it because everyone wanted cd players so tape decks were no longer hot property.

 

So tapes on Ebay are around $80 for a 10.5 reel. Is that typical?

 

No. Crazy overpriced. Typical Ebay...

 

Something that came to mind after reading the above:

Another reason for using cassettes in the car: Damaging a cassette in my car (that only costs about $1 and can be recreated at home by re-recording it from my CDs) is better than damaging an original CD (that costs $10-$15) in my car. Plus, a car is not an optimal environment for listening to music so cassette can be fine in that environment.

 

That's about $10-20 over MSRP for a new loaded metal reel, even cheaper if just getting the pancake.

 

I never understood people that wanted all the hassle of reel to reel for recording. As you mentioned, I have always thought the point of the format was so you could get near master quality recordings to use in the home. Alas they are way to delicate for mem I remember destroying one of my dad's symphony tapes in the early 80ss but god he really loved his old Tandburg Reel to Reel deck. The last time I heard it was about 10 years ago and it sounded pretty decent but by then I think it was in need of a good servicing.

Anyone who has one for recodings share why they like them for that use?

 

I thought that sounded crazy but then I haven't bought a reel of tape since the 70s and that was Navy PX prices.

 

I stopped using my reel to reel when I bought a cassette deck with better specs than the reel to reel. From a sound perspective it no longer made sense. Now if you played and recorded at 15 ips with 10.5 inch reels then you'd have something.

 

Excellent point. Not only that but high quality tapes not only sounded better and were cheaper than pre-recorded tapes, they were built better so I had few failures in my experience.

 

The best cassettes never sounded as good as a high quality R2R 1/4-track 7.5 ips, whatever the specs tried to say, and I used the best Naks.

 

I have an Akai 4000 Ds MKII and an Akai 4000 GTX....both were purchased sometime late 73-76. Both sound great! I was able about 1o years ago to get some great deals on pre-recorded AMPEX- Beatles and Frank Sinatra RTR. They sound great through my Sonos
Connect and my B&W speakers.

 

Yes, I have always enjoyed the pre-recorded RtR's. The earlier tapes are the best sounding, once state of the art and still a valid top of the line high fidelity source.

 

In the good old days, a 10 1/2" reel might run you somewhere between $35-40 ...

 

I remember those good old days when I could get 7 1/2" TDK or Maxell reels for $10-12 each. I still have a good number of them in shrinkwrap ...

 

LOL, I sitting here looking at my 1963 Allied Electronics catalog. A 10" reel of Scotch's best 150 1 mil 3600 ft reel is $9.41 on aluminum 3" hole reel. WOOT. You don't want to know the prices on R2R recorders.
Lord how I remember those days and enjoy looking back thru this catalog. I lived in Chicago about a 15 minute ride from the BIG store on Western Ave. About once a month I'd get my dad to take me there to shop and druel over all the tech of the day. I built a bunch of kits from there and took my Novice Amature Radio license course and test at that store. Also right across the street was Olson Radio, a much smaller version of Allied with their own line of tech goodies, etc. Thank God my pop was a patient man as I'd make a whole day of my Radio Store excursions. Thanks Dad, I'll always remember our time together there.

 

I bought 10 of these TDK EE 7 1/2" reels in the mid 80's. Half of them are still in shrinkwrap ...

Looking at these tapes bring back some wonderful memories.

 

Keep in mind that $9.41 in 1963 adjusted for inflation is nearly $73 now. Not to mention 150 was not even their best formulation at the time. Economies of scale should be taken into account too, they were manufacturing a quantity not only to meet the demands of professionals but for a healthy consumer market as well.


We really don't have it so bad in 2016.

 

I think the large price increase has more to do with the current lousy economy of scale, i.e. low demand. There is no doubt the manufacturing process should have been much improved relative to the early 60's, not to mention the lower raw material costs ...

 

That's a Columbia Record club issue. Those are almost all quite dire sounding. The bottom of the barrel in pre-reccorded tape (although some are fairly scarce/rare). High speed dubs from dubious sub-masters.

 

Prices are pretty much the same, for premium grade tape that blows any vintage formulation away. On a new sturdy metal reel (much better than what 3M was supplying in 63) and a heavy duty plastic tape care box. And prices were actually quite a bit lower only a couple of years ago - as you mentioned, due to economy of scale. But even at today's "identical" price, we're getting much more value for the money.

 

I wish I had bought the GX-747 instead of the GX-77. Both decks accept EE tapes but the GX-77 only handles 7 1/2" reels ...

 

Here's a story about a label that makes you a tape copy straight from a digital multi-track. Essentially doing a new mix for each copy. Automated, I'm sure, but imagine the trouble being gone to. Enjoy the comment section for overwrought bellyaching about semantics.

Analogy Records Sells Only Master Tapes »

 

I have been listening to classical music pretty much exclusively since the late 80's. All my pre-recorded classical reels do not suffer from poor quality sub-masters even if the tapes were produced under license ...

 

I'm just stealing master 2 track reels from protected archives, and buying a studer half inch reel. The reel experience wont get any better than that.