Best REEL TO REEL blank tape?

I'm still not all together clear on the best sources for new R2R tape purchases. Please help.

Maestros,

Can't help with the USA. In Europe, Thomann is very competitive on pricing for Recording the Masters tapes (formerly RMGi, Pyral, BASF, EMTEC, Agfa etc) - SM900, SM911, 468, LPR 35.

In the UKL, Tape City usually have stock ready to ship, albeit a tiny bit more expensive than Thomann

Since this thread began a few things have changed in the reel to reel landscape.  RMGI is now Recording The Masters, ATR is making a consumer tape called MDS-36 and a new brand called Capture is making two tapes.  

However reel to reel hasn't gotten significantly cheaper to run except Capture is a bit less money than ATR and RTM.  Quality for Capture is said to be very good.  Now recording vinyl to reel to reel at any reasonably good speed is still hardly worth the fuss.  I haven't put a vinyl album onto RTR tape in over 30 years.  However many of my favorite CD's have gone onto the RTR.  The RTR adds back the missing analogue character which is why I do it.  There's nothing sonically to be gained by putting vinyl onto RTR and at current tape prices makes little sense.  

I'm all in favor of dubbing vinyl into hi res digital or if you really must have it on tape invest in a good three head cassette deck.  The better three head decks can match many of the consumer reel to reel machines if set up well and using good tape.  If new RTR tape wasn't $30 a 7" reel it could almost be argued that taping a new $25 vinyl pressing has merit but sad to say those days are gone.  That's why I choose to record digital music onto tape since there is at least the payoff of arguably better sound.

Wrong on a few points. First, I have Nakamichi 682ZX cassette deck with custom transformer which is tuned as well as it can be. I also use Purist Audio Neptune top level interconnects with it. It cannot fully match my Nottingham turntable even when using the best tape there is - Maxell Metal Vertex. The deck wouldn’t match top cd player either, I just don’t have one.
Second, It makes a lot of sense to record to tape if you like compilations. I do. I have few records that I listen from first to last cut.
Third. Some of my records are very valuable to me, hard or impossible to replace, so I don’t play them at all, I make recordings.
Besides, good tape on well-maintained deck will last for hundreds or even thousands of plays without deterioration. I have couple of Vertex cassettes with more than 500 plays on them. Records become noisy and wear out, any records no matter how you take care of them.
So, vinyl is great to play but even greater for archive, this is your ’master copy’
Cost for blank tape is reasonable. If you do a lot of recordings at 15ips, yes, quite expensive. For many recordings 7 1/2 two track is sufficient.
Finally, good sound always costs some, and it should.
I record digital too, make compilations. Yeah, sounds a little less digital but not by much.

You really need to use maxell or TDK with the 909. Newer formulations, especially the +6 tapes will be grossly under biased on the 909.  

I have maxell tape that is 40 years old and never had any problems that I often experience with the 'professional' tapes.

Also a big fan of AGFA and BASF formulas.

Enjoy the 909.

N