Reel-to-reel tape is the new vinyl

Yep but that was top of the line in the cat. There's a 190 acetate but its about a $1 cheap a reel at 8.40
All the average everyday 7" reel stuff running about $1.50 to 2.50 a reel.

Could I interest you in a brand new MacIntosh MC240 for $288 or a Marantz 9 at $324
If your cheap a Dynaco ST70 is $99
Lord these were the real hey days of HiFi
What I wouldn't give to get my hands on some of the speakers, EV and Jensen 12" coaxial with horn tweeters.
Damn

 

I belonged to that club. The tapes ran at 3 3/4 ips IIRC. Had a big box full I gave away with my Pioneer RT 707 when I sold it.

 

It is a sad story how worthless the greenback has become over the past fifty years ...

 

Pioneer RT-707
Offering a Low Profile Tape Deck with High Quality Sound, now available at J-Corder

 

I had Revox think it was A77 years ago, I was also lucky to get a collection of BBC tapes live Classical concert performances. they went sometime in the 80s when I moved to a much smaller place.
They were the best recordings I have ever heard, how I would love to hear them on my latest system. thank God I did not get rid of my vinyl at the same time, was tempted.

 

But one can rip and burn a CD from a CD for about 33¢. Cheaper than a cassette, more durable. The Jewel Case will cost more than the media.

 

ahhh...that Pioneer. Someone at the company remembered and was fond of the old Wollensak 5280/5780. As they should have been, because that was a sweet little machine in it's day too (As well as being my own very first exposure to a tape recorder, back as a child.)

 

I still have my three open-reel decks: Tandberg TD20, Revox A700 and Akai GX-77. I hope to listen to some of my pre-recorded open-reels again ...

 

There are somethings I will never forgive myself for, those tapes are one, but I do still have quite a few vinyl BBC records from the time. Will dig them out later.

 

Looks like Pioneer might have been inspired by Wollensak in its design for the RT-707 ...

 

Robin L wrote the following in response to one of my previous posts:

That's true...now. But for a while both recordable CDs and the CD recorders were expensive (the first stand-alone CD recorder I saw cost about $1,500), making cassette the more affordable option.

 

I have noticed some audio CDR that has gone bad sitting in my car, i.e. it started to skip, which has never happened before.

 

Tell me all about it. 1995, burning audio CDs was really arcane and expensive. Now it's like a little toaster attached to your laptop.

CDs in cars are more likely to have rough treatment. In any case, we are some distance from discussing reel-to-reel tape and recorders.

 

Apparently, J-Corder, whose link I have attached above, is doing well. I am amazed at how people are gravitated toward the open-reel format once again two generations later. But those open-reel decks are cool. Even Marantz made one at some point, though it is hard to find one on eBay ...

 

That is beautiful, my first one was a Sony in the early sixties. Sound quality did not come into it, at the time, it was the only way to record anything.

 

Sweet, they were very handsome looking decks even when stock. I looked at the pricing and was surprised at what I consider to be
a quite reasonable $1,600-3,000. Understanding the time that would be involved in a detailed restoration like this I would
have guess much more.

 

Apparently, J-Corder is also agnostic as to what brand it would restore. It is nice to see some of those Technics open-reel decks getting restored ...

 

Since CDRs are recorded via a laser burning pits into a layer of ink within the disc, if you left the CDRs in a car when it is hot then a possible reason that the CDR went started to skip is that the heat affected the ink in the disc, causing the data on the disc to degrade.

 

Very logical explanation as I cannot think of what else could have caused a CDR that used to play well to start skipping. At least the cost of the CDR was minimal ...

 

This RS-1800 deck must be the best open-reel deck ever made by Technics, though I don't know for sure. It is probably difficult to find on eBay ...

 

Great thread! These are my decks:

Akai GX4000D



Sony TC377

 

The Akai GX4000D was very popular in the US back in the 70's ...

 

Ferrograph opem-reel decks were made in the UK but they are hard to find among the eBay US listings ...