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

Hello,
If I could get the R2R and the music I love to listen to at a good price I would but good analog is not cheap or convenient for that matter.  I love to listen to it but I would rather buy better speakers, amp, preamp, DAC before I went on the full analog kick. I love spinning vinyl. In fact I am spinning vinyl as I write this. Stuff that I can’t find on digital. The minimum I think you are dropping on a decent analog media rig like Vinyl or R2R is $1500 to $2000. I would rather buy a Puritan PSM156 power conditioner or vibration control equipment for my gear like IsoAcoustics. Only because these things make all your music sound better regardless of the type you listen to. Don’t even get me started how good it is to add subwoofers to your system. MC has $5000 Tekton speakers added the vibration control platform by Townsend for probably a few grand. I have listened to these Tekton speakers at Dave Thompson’s house who is a reviewer for StereoTimes. They were really good! I am in the process of upgrading my foundation system. Amp, Preamp, DAC, cables, vibration control,  speakers, Power conditioner,  and subs. Mainly because if you have a great foundation you can listen to whatever you want. If you have not done this it’s like buying the $5k racing tires for your used $3k Honda Civic. If you want to hear the difference of what a good system can do with the music you already have and live near the Chicagoland area this is the store I buy my gear from. They let you try before you buy and I believe they have used R2R units for you to try out. https://holmaudio.com/
I don’t want to have to sell gear I wasn’t happy with due to buyers remorse. They do let you trade in used gear towards a purchase which I did for my surround sound setup last year. I hope this helped put things in perspective. 

Back in the 70’s, I loved my Sony R2R deck. The tape section on my Pioneer receiver was better than the phono section, and nothing beat the tape sound for me.  Plus, a local radio station had an evening program intended for recording whole albums, with recording level signals and everything — those were the days!

About 6 months ago, I considered buying a Teac deck from the late 70’s that a neighbor wanted to sell.  After posting the question to Audiogon, I found that the source material for R2R was much too expensive for me, so I passed on the purchase.  Rich guys’ hobby, for sure.  The guy still has the deck, an A6300 as I recall, as far as I know.

I make party tapes from LPs played on my Technics SL-1200G using modern blank tape on an Otari MX-5050B2-II (1/2track, 1/4") and Teac A3300-SX (1/4 track, 1/4"), both at 7.5 ips.  The decks were refurbished by Reel Pro Sound Guys, both had light use and great head life left.  

The sound is fantastic, and my friends think they look cool.  The dynamic range and S/N seems excellent with modern tape.  True, the rec/play amps are decades old, but both machines use discreet transistors.  I think the tape sounds better than dubs to my Tascam DA-3000 in 192/24 mode.

Yes because they are Big and Sexy!! You can see the music being "made" as the reels go round and the meters dance! A digital streamer won't get you laid.

Don't let any of the "digital" folk take you off what you are hearing.  Digital was originally designed for cost optimization, not high fidelity.  That is what Sony and Philips were looking for when they invented the CD player.  .MP3's are just the next step to lower cost.  Digital has improved markedly over the decades, with the highest quality digital sounding pleasant, though not up to a good reel to reel setup or turntable.

It is interesting: the biggest digital success story in the last 20 years, perhaps ever, was Steve Jobs.  But when he went home, this is what he listened to

https://www.speakerscornerrecords.com/news/details/18/steve-jobs-and-vinyl

Digital could probably be fixed (as mentioned in the article), but then it will be less cheap and convenient.

The big secret with reel to reel is the idler arm drive used in system.  There are other reasons, but the idler arm drive is probably the most important piece.

The problem is getting tapes and keeping reel to reels running.

Though you do now have an option that gets you 98% of the way there w/o the cost, inconvenience of tapes, and problems with getting the decks serviced.  Here, take a look at this:

http://www.idler-wheel-drive.com/science-art/drive-system/

I have one of these, and all the claims made are true.  My table is the best sounding source I've ever heard except for older pro Ampex reel to reels.  It even sounds better than the Tandberg I used to record live concerts in school.  Nantais does a very good job of explaining the advantages of idler arm technology.

It is definitely easier to deal with records over reel to reels, and recordings are generally cheaper on vinyl.