Is There Any Reason To Buy A Reel-To-Reel Machine Nowadays??


I bought my first reel-to-reel machine in 1977 as a convenience in order to record and play back multiple albums in high fidelity.without having to fool around with my manual turntable.  I was surprised to find out that I preferred the sound of the reel to the turntable.  Along came cd and I could play both sides of an album with the fuss of having to flip it over every 15 minutes.  Now with high a high quality DAC and a computer, you can have uninterrupted high fidelity music for days on end.

No one is making new recordings on reel-to-reel.  The cost of blank tape is exorbitant.  The cost of a good open-reel deck is stratospheric.  So pretty much you're left with recording an LP or a cd to your reel for playback.....what's that??

Please chime in for reasons to buy an open-reel deck today.
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Showing 1 response by scar972

I see audiophiles spending crazy money on equipment upgrades when the fact is the difference will not be as great as hearing a superior-sounding format in your system. Going from a 10K amp to a 20K amp will not make as big of an SQ improvement as hearing a different format altogether. Nothing sounds like TAPE! Put 2-3K on a reel to reel deck and spend the rest on tapes. I’ve posted on this topic last year.
Reel to reel is not meant to replace your existing formats, there’s not enough music available and most of us here already have a turntable we’re happy with. But reel to reel gives us an opportunity to start listening to master tape quality for 2-3K, a price some of us pay for a cable or a tweak.
Also, it’s good to have friends that are into tapes. Making copies of master tapes for one another really helps with the cost and a good way to build a collection. I’m all in for making new friends...even if you’re just starting out.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/4524

Anthony