Reel-to-reel chat, post pics and talk about your reel to reel!

I have been a r2r lurker for years. Love to goggle at these type of threads thinking I might pick one up on the cheap on Craigslist one day just for kicks and see where it leads me.

I would really like to hear about a realistic commentary on where and how tape collections materialize. Are you buying albums? Taping albums? Taping playlist? I'm really kind of clueless here on how you all go about creating and acquiring tapes... which is what always holds me back from buying machines.

 

I have my granddad’s old TEAC X7r in not quite 100% working order. Not sure whether to sell as is or attempt a fix. So it sits, for now.

 

Here’s the deck I use at work. Left VU meter is dead, but otherwise a tank:

 

So for myself I record my high quality vinyl (UHQR, 1-STEP, MM, etc) onto tape. My father makes playlists for himself and my mother to play so she doesn't have to mess with the turntable

 

I record directly off of my Denon DP15F to my Pioneer VSX 49 receiver to my TEAC A3340S.

 

I enjoy listening to r2r occasionally. I currently have two decks and a handful of pre-recorded as well as recorded music on blanks.

This image is a Tandberg 9000x that my wife's uncle (an audiophile at heart) owned since new and gave to us. My wife's biological mother passed away when my wife was a year old. My uncle used this machine to record music at church in the 70s, including her mom. Although poor sounding cassette tapes existed of these recordings no one knew (forgot) about the original reel I discovered in a box when helping her uncle move. I got the old deck working and it was a touching moment to play back that reel for my wife. The quality was much improved and we had never heard her voice that way before. Needless to say I made a digital back up and shared CD-Rs with the family!

As it sits, the pinch roller? is a bit gummed up and needs a little push when engaging the tape and there is a channel issue when trying to record but it plays back reels in bright, clear, warm, and smooth stereo. My only complaint is that the motor spinning is a bit loud and of course I'd like to fix the issues with it. ~Cheers

 

I got a nice kickstart from my wife's uncle. He had blanks and pre-recorded reels. Since then I've found reels at record stores and purchased some on ebay. Life is short! I recommend buying one, cleaning it up, and finding something to play!

 

The pinch roller has gummed up oil lubricant inside of it, you need to lube the motors and pinch roller mechanism.

 

Thanks for the tip!

I've worked on computers and beginner level vintage electronics and I can see where the old grease is gummed up at a pivot point but I'm concerned about pulling off the bottom part necessary to clean it and not getting it back together right. I'll have another look at the motor and see if I can get it better lubricated.

Cheers

 

You’re very welcome. Good luck with tape!

 

In addition to a Sony TC-377 and an Akai 1710 I have two Revox B77s (yes, greedy I know ). Both are two-track 7.5 and 15ips.

I also have a 4 track PR99 which is 3.75/7.5 ips. My most recent acquisition is an Akai GX625 which isn’t in 100% cosmetic condition but works like a dream!

When people come round, inevitably the first thing they ask is if I can put on the R2R. There seems to be the same element of “tangibility” for the younger crowd including my son (reels spinning) that isn’t there with digital. It is the same with vinyl.

 

FYI - That is not a stock machine. Those units only ever came in silver. This machine has been completely refinished by somebody like JCorder.

 

I've had a TEAC A3440 , A Revox B77 hi speed 2 track, serviced and recapped.
Currently using a TEAC X-1000R.

Personally I preferred both of the TEAC's over the Revox, it left me cold, it sounded accurate but boring. Even though its a 2track (so uses twice as much tape)
The X-1000R sounds much better to my ears, maybe as its a newer design etc.
Admittedly the Revox is built to a better and more serviceable standard, but that's not a basis for owning and listening to HiFi IMO.

Would love to try an Otari or Technics one day, lots of praise for these machines online.
Many say certain models of Tandberg are the best sounding of all, but if the logic chip goes it renders the machine u/s

 

I have a 909 and it's beautiful in silver and sounds great. But I would love to have it finished in black. I started to look into it a few years ago but decided I'd rather eventually invest in a 15 ips machine.

 

Indeed. Doesn’t look stock at all.

 

Bought this today at a car boot sale, Tandberg Model 6, cost £7 and a very pretty deck.

 

Oh wow! Does it work!?

 

It's fitted with an original Bakelite 2 pin plug which suggests it hasn't been used since the 1960s and that fits in with what the seller told me about his family sending messages to each other on reels, bizarrely he'd thrown them away, I'll change the plug and see if it works tomorrow, I doubt it, but Tandberg make pretty serious kit so there is a small chance it will fire up and play without issue, now that would be impressive after fifty years.

I love the metal 3M reel, I figured that was probably worth what I paid for the deck.

It looks like the Tandberg was $498 in 1962, that was a lot of money.

 

That was a HUGE amount of money, strange enough, pretty sure the Roberts 997 was $650 in 1962, yet it was made in Japan. I bet you it will work, it may need a recap as well.

 

Those Tandbergs are almost indestructible, though a Tandberg 3000X I have has a locked up motor. Ugh.

 

I was just amazed to see a Tandberg sat there and it had been there for at least half an hour which is insane, I mean it's a proper high end make and the seller is almost giving it away, but then I found a Marantz CD 63 KI Signature and PM 66 SE KI Signature, £20 the pair, must have been one of those days.

 

I was just going through the paperwork for the Tandberg and as well as the instruction manual there is an original UK brochure, the deck cost 110 Guineas which converts to £115.50 plus an additional £7 for the carrying case, the internet suggests that average yearly pay in the UK in 1962 was £799 so the Tandberg was a chunk of change, two months wages before tax and as far as I can find income tax was high.

 

Here's my restored Akai GX-230D. Operates like a dream, and sounds just lovely.

As the photo shows, I'm listening to my own needledrop of With The Beatles recorded at 7 1/2 IPS (stereo mix on side 1, mono on side 2). The tape box is my own creation.

 

I changed the plug on the Tandberg, the drive motor seems to be in good working order, but the pinch roller rubber surface is perished so it's not possible to properly test the deck with a tape, if anyone has any sources for replacement, restoration or repair of the pinch roller or an alternative that will fit on this side of the Atlantic please post. Otherwise there's fifty plus years of dust and oxide to clean, but the deck seems to be in excellent cosmetic order.

 

I also enjoy my Pioneer 707.

Any opinions out there as to whether or not to use a metal take-up reel when playing from a plastic one?