The very best source of pre-recorded open reels was a small company named Barclay-Crocker, which licensed performances from a number of the majors, and did them in very high quality Dolby B. They had several thousand titles, as I recall. At least on the East Coast, any used tapes for sale will usually be at least 50% Barclay-Crocker, and need a decoder (if you can find one).
Should I get Dolby B decoder for my open reel deck
I'm confused! Recently, I purchased an RT707 reel deck and upon enquiring about where to buy pre-recorded reels some one on Audiogon tells me about getting a Dolby B decoder. Problem is, NONE of the pre-recorded reels I own (about 14)were recorded with Dolby, at least the boxes don't say so. I think this is a little odd, considering they are all from major labels. Could it be thagt they WERE recorded with Dolby amd merely not listed?