Who bought reel to reels back in the day?

I had this Sony machine back in the early 70s. Sadly, it died about 20 years later and by that time the cost of reel-to-reel recorders went astronomical. The photo is off the internet but the model is identical.
I made a huge amount of recordings of all types which I have since transferred to CD and digital files.

 

Because as I have stated before.........girls love R2R

 

I have only been listenimg to rtr tapes since about 5 years ago, but to records since about 1975. My experience now is that records, played on a current GOOD turntable with a GOOD high-end cartridge, sound much better than almost all of the 4-track pre-recorded tapes that I have collected. Just a very few of the oldest tapes, from the 60s, actually sound a little bit better than I can get from a record.

So, when I think back to the 70s (even though the commercially available tapes' sound started to decline overall), pre-recorded rtr tapes still sounded better than the vast majority of cartridges and phonostages (built into Japanese receivers) that everyone I knew owned. Playing records didn't sound as good as they do now -- the playback equipment wasn't as good. But, rtr tapes DID sound about the same as they do now. So my conclusion is that rtr tapes really DID sound better than records, in those days.

Now, the only rtr tapes that sound better than our current high-end record playback, are the expensive 15ips/half-track audiophile tapes, or home-taped live music.

I think about pictures of Frank Sinatra playing rtr tape at home. Well yeah, of course those sounded much better than records. His tapes were made for him at the studios, direct copies from masters.

 

I still have not one, but two, Sony TC 388-4's, neither in working condition. Got the first one in
the 70's, but it needed repairs after 15 years, but a friend at work had one that he sold to me for
$100.00. But even then, I couldn't get either one to work correctly. And then we were in the
CD era, and I never pursued it any farther.
However this deck had everything...quad, sound on sound, sound with sound, pan pots, etc.
Literally, the works. And I used it for quad mixtapes, home vocal recordings with friends (in quad) and
on and on.
This thread has got me thinking about having one or both of them restored now that I'm retired.
I LOVED that deck...…..

 

Teac RtoR

 

If you have a rtr tape deck, and any inclination to play it again, I strongly recommend you get it completely repaired and adjusted, even if it seems to works ok now. A complete repair and adjustment works wonders, and playing your old deck with the sound that it SHOULD have is really a treat.

I have 5 old tape decks that I bought (all within the past 5 years) VERY inexpensively, because although each seller claimed they "worked fine", he also acknowledged that they didn't "work well". But then spending another $800 to $1500 each to restore them mechanically (and sonically) was WELL work it.

 

The problem with reel to reel deck restoration, it's expensive, and a good technician is hard to find. I would do it and I am Very, very good, but there's no money in it. I have a friend here locally who collects vintage hifi equipment, from record changers to reel to reel. He asked how much to restore his Webcor suitcase record player. My answer was, "far more than it's worth in mint condition". The sad reality at this time, vintage non-high end hifi devices are almost worthless, no market for them. This may change in the future but for now the situation isn't good.

The majority of restos out there are horrible, (butchered and not operating properly) only some end up in good, talented hands and who do good work.

 

My grandfather had that exact machine. Nice memories of it playing classical music he copied from LPs. He used it mainly for background listening, recording at slow speeds for maximum playing time. Not the best sound, but it was neat.

dan c

 

my Father had one in his stereo system, with their wedding on it.
30 years after he dumped it, i received no less than 7-10 reel to reel music reels, joplin, and many others, which just sit in my attic. wish i could play them
I have a wollensack recordable 8track player, supposed to be top o' the line from the 70's. nice unit wit meters etc etc.

 

That was what I liked to do as well. I'd save my LPs from unnecessary wear by recording them to tape. I didn't always use R2R for this though as it lacked the portability of cassettes.

But some time after CDs came out, and I discovered that it was nearly impossible to make a tape of an LP which sounded better than a CD, I largely lost interest in recording tapes.

But I still love some of these beautiful electro-mechanical masterpieces to this day. Although I struggle to find a genuine use for them anymore since I'm nowhere-near rich-enough to participate in cool things like the tape project.

 

Interesting to hear you say that, as my experience has generally been the opposite, where I have tapes and vinyl of the same reording. For example, in the case of one of Von Karajan/BPO ‘63 Beethoven symponies (albeit on DGG), the tape sounds so-so, until you listen to the vinyl (orignal, not re-issue and then the vinyl sounds like it got the life sucked out of it. Then there’s CDs.... Bear in mind that neither of our systems are slouches (and I have heard Warren’s and know what level of ear he has) so I wonder what/why the disparity?

 

Dad gum that’s a fine looking reel to reel! Dang

 

Thanks, interesting,

Ps. I though reel to reel was for rich people, i guess i was wrong!

 

Wow i would be the all the time.

 

I had Teac's 4 channel simul sync; Akai; Sony; RCA and and a German Korting portable. I have one 4 channel Akai left that needs desperate servicing, but alas. I need a deck to digitize a lot of material before I shuffle off...

 

I think there certainly were plenty of well-monied types who spent piles of cash on top-of-the-line R-to-R machines and recording setups. Revox wasn’t that common in high-end audio setups in the seventies, but some of us less-monied types who had business in theatrical production and the music business in general managed to get clued in about what went on in the studios. So we found ways to put together the funds to buy some of the best machines we could get our hands on.

At home though, for the most part, Aiwa, Akai, Toshiba, Sony, Teac, Tandberg and several other great brands that produced R-to-R machines were the ones salted liberally among the general audiophile set of the day. Most of those machines were capable of making terrific recordings - clean, very low background noise, great dynamic range, and faithful reproduction of a valuable LP or of a really great pressing.

 

I’m always struck by the designated “tape” option on vintage receivers. The reel to reel decks do look cool.
And also the “mic” option on receivers (wtf??) (but I’ll save that for a different thread).

 

Microphone inputs on older receivers were used by people doing verbal introductions to compilations, recording family events, recording themselves or another family member performing a musical piece at home, etc., etc.

There’s no “WTF?” about it. Everything had a popular or at least well-known use or well-understood use.

 

So it was kind of like a vcr? I always thought it was some karaoke thing.

 

Very funny.

 

I was handed-down a 3" mono Panasonic R2R when I was a kid. I loved that thing! I recorded music from the old tube AM radio that I had been given onto that machine from its speaker to my recorder's microphone. I had so much fun with that machine, but for years I only hat two tapes to work with, so I was continually recording over those two tapes.

Then I received what I think was possibly my greatest Christmas present ever from my big brother: A shoe-box full of 3" reels which he had wound some Ampex 456 tape onto!
When I really caught the audio bug (in 7th grade), and I had figured-out just how much better stereo was than Mono, I dreamed about getting my own stereo recorder. Eventually, by the time I was in 10th grade I had saved enough money to buy my first good R2R: A Sony TC-399. And I absolutely loved that machine, even though I continued to drool over higher-end machines that I could not possibly afford.

Now I own a number of the machines which I always lusted over back when I was a kid. I picked-up most of these cheaply back in the early 2000s when very few people wanted them. I can't say that I actually use these very much anymore. But I still think that they are super cool.

I'd really love to acquire a few tape-project tapes. Unfortunately there is no way that I can justify the expenditure for even one of those tapes... <sigh>

 

I know here in Australia, up til about 5 years ago, you could pick up fairly decent R2R's for 10 - 30 dollars, quite easily.
Now, the machines that aren't even worth anything, let alone repairing, people are asking 150 - 200 dollars for!
They assume because it's old its worth that kind of money, but they don't have a clue.
These cheaper machines, most of the time are in need or restoration, so your already about 100 dollars in to do it properly.
I've got about 10 different R2R's, Sonys, National's, Teac, Hitachi, Toshiba that I fiddle with for amusement.
No way am I ever gonna spend big dollars on these home use tape recorders.

 

Yes, the major run of Sony, Akai, Teac, Dokorder, Panasonic, etc., have almost zero value. The exceptions are few, and exclusively among the higher end decks, semi-pro and professional, such as, Studer, Revox, Pioneer, (RT-707 and RT-909, beautiful fluorescent display but otherwise overrated) Technics, Ruby 1520 Ampex, Otari, the Sony TC-880-2 "holy grail".

 

That looks just like my TC-880-2! I used dreamed about owning this machine for nearly 30 years before I finally managed to acquire mine. It is a truly magnificent (and super heavy!) machine. And I agree with you that the RT-909 is gorgeous, yet overrated.

It blows my mind these days to see the junky low-end one-motor machines that people are trying to get top-dollar for today. Fifteen years ago I had people offering me some pretty decent machines for next to nothing (and a few were free). This was not true with my 880 though. That is one unit that I had to pay through the nose for, even back then.

 

I didn't own a RtR but my Dad did (a Webcor and then a Revox) and I bought a few of the early Beatle releases and some Beach Boys and some Stones. My Dad collected quite a few and I made copies of albums I borrowed from friends. Unfortunately they all bit the dust long ago.