Reel-to-reel tape is the new vinyl

When I was a kid, my dad had a stereo Wollensak R2R deck. That was my first experience with stereo sound. Around 1967, I had bought a stereo Capitol LP of Rubber Soul, and my dad had a neighbor friend record a needle drop of it to tape so I could hear it in it's "wide stereo". We had a small collection of commercially made open reels as well. I specifically recall having Let It Bleed on regular rotation on that thing.

It also sparked my interest in experimenting with recording, as it had sound-with-sound and sound-on-sound overdubbing capabilities.

I still have a few decks in operation, but their use now is mostly for production and for archiving recordings. Once digital recording became affordable and practical, open reel - for me at least - transitioned to being a "legacy" format.

 

I've only hear R2R once. It was at that California audio show last month. The guy who does The Tape Project played some tunes. I thought they sounded pretty good, but no more dynamic than my vinyl playback system at home.

What I din't particularly care for was the fact that you kinda had to listen through the tape his on quieter passages. And this was on $450 each source material.

Not sure if tape hiss is just a part of the experience or if maybe it was just this particular setup.

 

Reel tape playback IMHO doesn't sound anything like vinyl, it is vastly superior. All things being equal.

I love vinyl and the large format album cover art but, it is only because I can't own everything on tape!

 

And therein lies the rub!

 

Yeah, and I would imagine vinyl may well have a longer "wear" life and easier queue in anyway...

 

I played with tape all my life, since I was 13. Loved tapes, needledropping made vinyl sound even better to these ears, plus MIXtapes. 3-6 hours (at 3.25) for parties, making a tape like that took all day and was a blast to do.

But...in reality...though I still want a good deck for the tapes I have kept, I can't see me putting out money for something that will only get occasional use (though I love just looking at the decks).

And software...when *I* was recording Radio Shack tapes were from 1.99 (1800'-3600' mylar) to 3.99, which was easy to use. And THOSE cheap tapes outlasted my damned Ampex 206 mastering reels (thanks, sticky shed). But now? Not feasible.

If you have the money, it is another sublime audio experience when everything is set up correctly. For a non-audiophile like myself, anyway.

 

Ok, so let's do some math. I'd say you'd need at least 100 titles to make it worth investing in a nice $5-$15k R2R deck.

Given the high cost of the new production tapes ($300-450+) and the low stated percentage of quality older less expensive tapes, I'd say you'd be looking at an average of $250-300 per tape to build a decent library. That's $25-30k on source material and $30k-45k all in. Ouch.

I'd probably have to hear one in my system to see if it was even worth it. Plus, I'd need to see what titles are out there. The last thing I'd want is to spend all of that money just to hear a bunch of music I'm not really into.

Probably a non-starter for me, though I do get the appeal and may change my mind one day if I heard a proper demo.

 

Yes, and also making audio recordings of the kids and family (since the majority of hobbyist 8MM film was silent you had to capture the voices another way,) sound letters to distant family (long distance telephone was expensive back then!) as well as making live recordings of your own or local bands, TV audio, etc. Reel-to-reels were the original mix-tapes.

During the early-1960's to the mid/late-1970's you weren't a serious audiophile unless you owned a reel-to-reel.

 

They do look super cool. But then again, I am a geek for equipment.

 

Honestly, the lure for me is probably equal parts sound quality and audio porn. I just LOVE the look of the decks!

 

I had an Otari MX5050 that I never could get sounding right even at 15ips. I got the calibration tapes (very expensive) signal generators an oscilloscope and all of the other gear needed for a calibration and read a lot on the proper way to calibrate. I even had the heads checked to see if they needed replacement. The highs just always sounded rolled of when I did a needle drop and then listened to the tape vs. the LP. I had visions of making really cool party tapes so I wouldn't have to keep changing LPs.

Now maybe a professional could have got it set up right, but I gave up and ended up selling it because I decided spending the money on upgrading my vinyl setup made more sense given the cost and scarcity of good source material.

I did get a Nakamichi Dragon and that sounded better than the Otari (which would not be the case with a properly calibrated deck). That makes great party tapes.

 

Someone should quote the above whenever the subject comes up.

 

Maybe I'll get flamed for this, but it wasn't you. The OTARI 5050 (all iterations, IMO) has to be one of the most mediocre, underachieving pieces of professional equipment ever made. I've worked with (and on them) in many places for almost all of my professional life and even the lowliest 7" reel consumer Akai reel-to-reel can beat it sound quality wise, hands down. It sounds meh, can't hold mechanical settings, drifts electronically, is a royal pain to service, and was severely overpriced for what it really is. Great marketing and product positioning though.

 

That's good to know. I just assumed since it is often used at as a mastering deck it had to sound great. It sounds like you have more than enough experience to know.

 

I am of an age that I grew up revering the Nakamichi Dragon as if it were a Ferrari. I would never want to go back to cassettes but I would get that deck just to look at it in my rack.

 

I had one of those back in the day. I see they're selling up to $1200 on ebay

 

I also fell in love with the Dragon in a little HiFi shop in New Haven CT when I was in High School and have always lusted after them.

 

I will take a high resolution digital transfer of a tape any day. Which will more than often (from good labels) be from the master and not from a "working master" (how many generations removed??) that the over priced tape dubbing companies offer.

A fair comparison would be doing the comparison of live tape playback compared to the hi-res digital transfer with the volumes exactly matched.

 

The word,"masochist" comes to mind for those who are collecting prerecorded music on reel-to-reel.

 

Oh, don't let me give you the wrong impression. Although I feel tape is superior, even a couple thousand choice titles would be a non-starter for me too. It is a dead consumer format IMO.

 

Reel-to-Reel is absolutely the new vinyl!
Except for a couple of things.
1. You need to have buckets of money to acquire and refurb massive, mechanical tape decks.
2. More buckets of money to get the tapes which have already been scooped up by guys who were into it loooong before you and have more buckets of money as well.
3. An AudioQuest Cognac magnet to retrieve the iron oxide that sheds off the 195o-70 polyester base every time you play it.
4. Enjoy!

 

You could get a decent deck for a few hundred $, GREAT blank tapes were about $10 apiece, so I'd pick some favorite LP tracks, experiment a little & get a custom playback experience. I used to run the tape right at the edge of saturation, just a smidge of distortion, & I enjoyed rock music more than the LP - it seemed more like a live venue to me.

 

I have a couple of reel to reels, a few blank 10" reels and a collection of two track prerecorded tapes from the late 1950's. The tapes range from very good to astounding. I've long since digitized them, so I listen to my CD burns instead.

 

A niche for those that fit, have tons of spending money and like to keep the membership to the club down.

 

I enjoy my RtR [Roberts 800X/AKAI M-10]. It's not a high-end deck but it records pretty good and has only needed one repair in the 8 years that I've had it. My friend made me some new cams which I replaced the old pig-metal cams with. Prerecorded tapes are not easy to come by but here in NYC I do find them every now and then for cheap. I currently have half a dozen NOS blanks I bought for $2 each. Half the fun is watching the reels spin.