I have had numerous pre recorded R2R tapes back in he day. Some good, some not so good. Unfortunately, back in the 60's and 70's and probably 80's, many tape editions were afterthoughts. Although some name Mastering Engineers did do a "Tape Duplicating house" master, many times it was left to staff underlings for such. Probably much less so for classical. I'm not certain if RVG mastered the tape editions. RVG did do many 45rpm single masters.
The Sound Quality Of Commercially Pre-Recorded Reel-To-Reel Albums
I’ve owned reel-to-reel machines since 1976. I’ve only used them to make copies of my vinyl LP’s at 7 1/2 ips, and I’ve been quite pleased with the quality of those recordings. I have never once purchased a commercial reel to reel pre-recorded album.
I understand that commercially pre-recorded reel albums were mass produced and recorded at 3 3/4 ips and 7 1/2 ips. Were the pre-recorded tapes generally sonically superior to home recorded reel tapes made from LP’s?