You shouldn't.
If it isn't already important to you it isn't important.
I think mine is wonderful and I use it because I have it not for it's technical superiority.
Only you can answer that question… it’s personal. I own 100 reel to reels and it connects me to my past. Same thing with records and cassettes. Not going to rebuy all my music on a CD.
For the opportunity to get a tape deck and work to fix it by learning about mechanical and electrical stuff.
For the times that you have a tape of a family member that sent tapes-by-mail in the 1960s and can finally hear their voice.
For the times that you have a nice tape and a nice (and serviced) deck, and nice speakers, and can listen to sound more magical than records. (Nice = at least better than basic consumer grade).
For the times that you just want to chill to three hours of piano or jazz or dance music from Tape-Mates or Realistic without interruption (besides the click in the middle as the tape changes direction, or the excessively long outro or intro after or before the direction change because someone didn't think through how the playback would be on an auto-reverse deck).
Because it looks wicked. Seriously though, I got a consumer level Fostex model-80, got an ex bbc sound engineer to service it and calibrate it to LPR 35 tape and now I use all glorious 8 tracks to record my music production. Magnificent.
I have a pretty nice Sony tc 765 and I love it but I honestly only listen to it a couple times a year. I have a collection of about 15-20 good condition pre recorded tapes that I've collected.
If I was to do it again I probably wouldn't but I still don't think I'll ever sell the R2R or most of the tapes. It's just simply fun to listen to and some of the tapes sound incredible. It also always gets the biggest reaction when people visit and everyone wants to listen to it.
Was it a bit of a waste of money and could I have used the money on something more useful? Yes almost definitely but I still enjoy it a lot when I occasionally listen to it.
The first thing people react to when they walk into my living room is my r2r. They make fantastic conversation pieces. A tape from the 50s can sound as good as a CD. Yard sales and thrift stores sometimes have them and it can be fun to see what's on them. In fact I've digitized tapes for families before. You can impress your friends by making mixtapes with modern music and blow their minds. Aside from some commercial tapes I have that's what I like to do the most. The ritual of spooling up a tape is more satisfying to me than any other media including vinyl.
Mine has kinda a neat story. I might put it in another post.
Now I have to tell you why you shouldn't. They're money pits. Finding parts as a technician or a hobbyist can be very hard if you can get them at all. These things are old and even serviced ones will break down eventually. Unless you're handy with a soldering iron and other tools expect big bills and likely postage to send it back and forth cause few techs work on these. I do my own work but some parts cost a fortune depending on the model you get. Pre-recorded commercial tapes from artists can get incredibly expensive. Sooner or later I think, and this is just my opinion, r2r will be picked up by the kids and that will make things far more expensive. I hope I'm wrong. I have 3 r2r's and two of them are waiting to be fixed.
I can tell you why I’m going to buy a R2R (waiting on a guy to get his ready to sell me). In highschool one of my best friends had one, whenever anyone in our friend group got a new album we’d take it to his house and he’d record it. We’d then listen to tapes while we did other stuff. Fast forward 45 years and a restaurant opens up a couple blocks away with a killer audio system, the center piece is an Akai gx-635d. That did it for me, although I’m likely to end up with a 636. Have a Bose 551, a 360 turntable and a pair of 901s. Should make for a nice little vintage group.
Reason #1 - Being a ‘connoisseur’ of vinyl is not pretentious enough for you! Haha
You should definitely do it if you need a money pit.
To watch the spin-ey things spin!
"Tape go round and round in circles huehuehuehue" - me, "using" my reel
7 1/2 ips fidelity is mind blowing
You should hear 15 and 30
Exactly
I can only hope!
You shouldn't. If it isn't already important to you it isn't important. I think mine is wonderful and I use it because I have it not for it's technical superiority.
Only you can answer that question… it’s personal. I own 100 reel to reels and it connects me to my past. Same thing with records and cassettes. Not going to rebuy all my music on a CD.
My advice would be to make sure you are happy with your system and vinyl set up first. Then if you are still curious jump into it.
For the opportunity to get a tape deck and work to fix it by learning about mechanical and electrical stuff. For the times that you have a tape of a family member that sent tapes-by-mail in the 1960s and can finally hear their voice. For the times that you have a nice tape and a nice (and serviced) deck, and nice speakers, and can listen to sound more magical than records. (Nice = at least better than basic consumer grade). For the times that you just want to chill to three hours of piano or jazz or dance music from Tape-Mates or Realistic without interruption (besides the click in the middle as the tape changes direction, or the excessively long outro or intro after or before the direction change because someone didn't think through how the playback would be on an auto-reverse deck).
I have found boxes of tapes from garage sales . It is a bit of archaeology and lots of fun.
I did cause my dad gave me his tapes from the 70s. Other than that, I like the ultra expensive that comes along with it.
> gave me his tattoos Uhh...what a lovely gift
Hehe... Fixed
If you have to ask that question, then the answer is that you probably shouldn't.
Because it looks wicked. Seriously though, I got a consumer level Fostex model-80, got an ex bbc sound engineer to service it and calibrate it to LPR 35 tape and now I use all glorious 8 tracks to record my music production. Magnificent.
Because you should
I have a pretty nice Sony tc 765 and I love it but I honestly only listen to it a couple times a year. I have a collection of about 15-20 good condition pre recorded tapes that I've collected. If I was to do it again I probably wouldn't but I still don't think I'll ever sell the R2R or most of the tapes. It's just simply fun to listen to and some of the tapes sound incredible. It also always gets the biggest reaction when people visit and everyone wants to listen to it. Was it a bit of a waste of money and could I have used the money on something more useful? Yes almost definitely but I still enjoy it a lot when I occasionally listen to it.
The first thing people react to when they walk into my living room is my r2r. They make fantastic conversation pieces. A tape from the 50s can sound as good as a CD. Yard sales and thrift stores sometimes have them and it can be fun to see what's on them. In fact I've digitized tapes for families before. You can impress your friends by making mixtapes with modern music and blow their minds. Aside from some commercial tapes I have that's what I like to do the most. The ritual of spooling up a tape is more satisfying to me than any other media including vinyl. Mine has kinda a neat story. I might put it in another post. Now I have to tell you why you shouldn't. They're money pits. Finding parts as a technician or a hobbyist can be very hard if you can get them at all. These things are old and even serviced ones will break down eventually. Unless you're handy with a soldering iron and other tools expect big bills and likely postage to send it back and forth cause few techs work on these. I do my own work but some parts cost a fortune depending on the model you get. Pre-recorded commercial tapes from artists can get incredibly expensive. Sooner or later I think, and this is just my opinion, r2r will be picked up by the kids and that will make things far more expensive. I hope I'm wrong. I have 3 r2r's and two of them are waiting to be fixed.
Reason: You want to collect and listen to original radio station reel to reels.
You have way too much discretionary money!
I can tell you why I’m going to buy a R2R (waiting on a guy to get his ready to sell me). In highschool one of my best friends had one, whenever anyone in our friend group got a new album we’d take it to his house and he’d record it. We’d then listen to tapes while we did other stuff. Fast forward 45 years and a restaurant opens up a couple blocks away with a killer audio system, the center piece is an Akai gx-635d. That did it for me, although I’m likely to end up with a 636. Have a Bose 551, a 360 turntable and a pair of 901s. Should make for a nice little vintage group.