I just purchased my first reel to reel player last December. Best addition to my system ever!
A good tape beats any other medium I have heard...and I’m a very critical kinda guy and have tried em all except MQA.
Tape is not as romantic and glossy as vinyl, nor is it the clean ridged re-representation that is often digital. It is just so freakin ‘natural’ sounding! When you hear it it’s like “Oh. That’s what it’s supposed to sound like.” Great contrast and cohesion. What comes off of a good tape sounds alive!
Even albums I used to think were just recorded badly sound ‘right’ on tape. Aqualung is a good example.
I hope this format isn’t on its way out. It’s a shame more people can’t hear how good it sounds.
Shaft on SACD vs Shaft on tape...the tape is just so much more fun! Again it just feels more alive (not live). And it’s really nice to hear panned left and right bass instead of summed to center like it is on vinyl.
If you are ever in Burbank CA you are welcomed to stop by for a listen. :-) |
|
No its the perfect time spatialking!
...but with your name here you really should give reel to reel a try. |
I think people want the format to die because they don’t want to make the effort to get involved with it and they don’t want their ‘audiophile status’ in question because they don’t want to go that extra mile...
and I totally understand those feelings
I made the commitment to tape after hearing a tape-based setup at AXPONA 2018. That setup was a custom refurbished 15 ips player with a Jeff Rowland amplifier...if I am not mistaken. I had never heard anything as magical and transparent as that. It was breathtaking.
Is my setup that good. Nope! But it’s also probably 1/10 of the cost, more appropriate for my room, but provides 90%-95% of that magic.
7 1/2 and even some 3 3/4 tape can accomplish a sense of cohesion and that oh so special ‘vanishing act’ more readily than other mediums. (And by vanishing act I mean your system disappears and it feels like the air itself is producing music.) |
8 track for me is a non-starter just because program material is often interrupted. And when I did have an 8 track player I didn't think it sounded that good...
...and then there is the fact that tape press-back mechanism inside the tapes can be a problem. Either a piece of metal with felt on it or the worst is the foam-based resistance provider. The foam just turns to tar eventually...
Cassettes are fine. I grew up with them. They sound alrightish. I remember realizing as a kid that tapes made from vinyl always sounded better than tapes made from CD. |
If they had made 7 1/2 ips Elcasets that would have been perfect! |
I honestly believe after cabling, music delivery medium is probably the least important aspect of a solid hi-fi system. If you have a properly performing and well attended to setup, you can get lost in well made mp3 files just as easily as tape. You might not listen as long, but a good deal of pleasure can still be had.
With tape, there is something so unmediated and transparent its hard to explain. As a delivery medium tape will just knock your mouth agape in awe and wonder. |
|
@uberwaltzSome 3 3/4 will surprise you! I think I said it before, Jethro Tulls Aqualung on 3 3/4 tape is the best way to appreciate that album. |
I’ve ‘had tears’ twice now with reel to reel. One a recording of Nina Simone, the other an Ink Spots recording—a group and recording I had never heard before.
Simply amazing! |
I have been using reel to reel since this last december and have only managed to destroy one $8 tape (which I cannot find a duplicate of...ugh). But other than that i prefer it to handling vinyl. Everything seems to affect vinyl playback--everything.
To do it right, you have to manage static, dust, rumble, people walking, keep the needle clean, don't bump anything, be careful how you slide the vinyl in and out of its selves, carefully drop the stylus, properly apply the RIAA curve (via one of a million different ways to do a phono preamp), dampen platter resonance, maintain tracking height, tracking weight, tracking angle, anti-skate, choose what type of stylus you want, how do you know if you have damaged your stylus or if it's gotten old, deep clean your vinyl....
Tape has pretty much none of this. All you've got to do is get it calibrated once a year by a pro (or learn to do it yourself), degauss the metal parts occasionally, clean the tape path with lint free swaps and alcohol, clean the pinch roller with some distilled water every week or so and adjust tape position in or out if you happen upon a warped reel.
Nothing is near invisible with a tape player. Much is near invisible with vinyl.
Plus vinyl has an additional mastering phase and by the time it gets to your turntable it's already like 3 more generations away from the master tape than commercially released tape is.
Tape path to your home:
Master tape>dupe master>tape you listen to at home
Vinyl path to your home:
Master tape>RIAA EQ applied and bass phase aligned and summed to center remix for cutting and then cut lacquer>mother>stamper(s)>record you listen to at home |
@chakster
Some of the best tapes come from the 1950s and 60s. Classical, Jazz, Motown, R&B, Big Band, Vocal, there is so much selection available... The cherry on top is all the Pop and Rock from the late 60s and the 1970s!
Plus a well cared for tape from the 1950s (or any decade) will totally outplay the same title on a well cared for piece of vinyl. No ‘surface noise’, clicks, pops, static, or need for deep cleaning. No more of the resigned sentiment “I like the clicks and the pops, it’s part of the experience”.
With tape you just get the incredible illusion of real music being played for you. |
@vinny55 Like with all things, I try to keep to a lower budget. I have a TEAC 2300s. It’s seems like a solid player. I had it setup and calibrated by a pro here in the Greater Los Angeles area. It handles 7 inch stereo 4-track reels at 3 3/4 and 7 1/2 inches per second (ips).
When it comes to what sounds best, generally stay away from late 1970s and early 80s, everything else has sounded pretty good!
|
I recommend The Ghost Dog soundtrack, and Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet as good starting points.
Maybe De La Souls Six Feat High and Rising.
A contemporary Hiphop/Rap artist I think will be a good test for all your systems is anything by Oddisee.
|
@sleepwalker65i love the Beatles!!! That’s why I bought a reel to reel player!!!
...on rap, try the Ghost Dog soundtrack and Oddisee. Oddisee needs a good system! |
@mads1i am looking for a deck that has the following:
-auto reverse
-a dedicated tapehead out
-adjustable playback eq
-3 3/4 and 7 1/2 playback
can you suggest something? Thanks! |
It would be amazing the quality of r2r tapes we could manufacture and release today if we wanted to. Listing to music without any translation to ‘other delivery medium’. Even digital sources would find more life on tape.
A good tape, beats most other available formats/mediums. For most of the music I love, it’s the medium in which those recording were made.
Yes digital in a sense can be closer the Master Tape, but you decimate time, frequency and loudness to another domain full of time and frequency characteristics and parameters that must ‘work together’. And then you have to do it all in reverse and get it right.
Vinyl you need to go through a completely different mastering process. You lose bass in stereo, and you lose bass energy the closer to the end of a record side you go. Plus there’s vinyl impurities. You have to add a special EQ and then remove it at phono preamp due to real physical limitations. You go from Master, to Lacquer, to multiple stampers. Stampers wear out. Scratches, heat, dust, static electricity are enemies of vinyl production and playback.
With reel to reel tape you go from Master Tape, to Dub Master Tapes, probably with some EQ, to Reel-to-Reel tape you play at home.
Which seems most likely to reproduce faithfully the analog event that is instruments and voices making sound? |
