Tascam BR-20T is good for a audiophile system?

Unless you have good source material, that is tapes in good condition and a properly aligned BR-20T, you will be very disappointed. Most pre-recorded tapes, in good condition are hard to find, especially two track running 7.5 ips. I currently have five R2R tape units, and a library of over 7,000 tapes, some of broadcast quality, some original master tapes. Are they better then vinyl, yes, better then high quality CD's and SACD's, no. Commercial SACD's mastered from the original master tapes, or a second copy, will blow away anything but the original master tape running on an Ampex tape machine running at 15ips. Skip the tape machine, purchase SACD's and play them on one of the new OPPO machines.

Hi Rolando - whether or not any reel-to-reel tape machine is of use in your system depends completely on exactly what tapes you have that you want to listen to. There are very few commercial pre-recorded tapes available, and they vary wildly in age and quality.

There are also myriad formats in terms of speed, equalization, reel size, and track layout - i.e. a 10" reel of 1/4" tape recorded in "half-track" format at 15ips won't work on a 7" machine with maximum speed of 7-1/2ips set up for "quarter-track" format. Also, a given model of tape machine may have been available in several versions depending on application . . . that is, the Tascam BR-20 may have been available in 15ips half-track format for the broadcast market, and 7-1/2ips quarter-track for the archival/library market.

And finally, condition and setup is the overwhelming determining factor of performance in an analog tape machine, especially given the fact that most of them out there are several decades old. Even a top studio machine can deliver performance well below an average cassette deck if it's been used hard over many years without regular maintenance, parts replacement, and alignment.

Anyway, hope this helps a bit - the main thing is to select the machine based on the tapes available, rather than the other way 'round.