Reel to reel seems to be a slippery slope to me... It's a good thing (for my wallet and my space, not for my audio desires) that it really is as close to an obsolete format as still exists. .............If tapes continued to be widely in use in all these formats, I might be "forced" to have four or five machines here!
HI Jon,
My slope is even more slippery. I have no use for a reel to reel tape machine. The last R to R I had was a Revox A77 30 years ago coupled to an Advent outboard Dolby B noise reducer. I do have a Teac 3340 that I have used for a few live recordings but mostly it just sits in my garage unused. I have no recorded tapes. I have no prospects of doing any live recording. I have no mic's. And if I did, I would not haul my Revox A700 to do live nature and general sound recording. I would use either DAT or a Nagra. And my Nakamichi Dragon does wonderful service for my numerous self recorded cassettes.
For everyday use, R to R's just are not as practical as a great cassette machine. Further, great cassette machines equaled the audio performance of R to R's a long time ago except in the most demanding professional applications. Plus, they take up a lot of space and tape is close to unobtanium. Currently, tape is a dead format. There are a lot of good reasons to not persue R to R's.
So, why am I spending a significant amount of time and money refurbishing a Revox A700? BTW, this machine was given to me because the owner did not want to replace the worn heads and it had major electronics problems. One obvious answer is I am crazy! If someone accused me of being crazy, I could accept that. But, there is another truth. I have always loved tape technology. When I had my repair shop, I specialized in tape machines of all kinds. I love to work on them. So, my A700 project is a labor of love which is closely related to crazy.
Tape machines are the most complex gadgets in the world of audio. Just because I have not owned one in 30 years does not mean I don't love them. It just means that I had acceptable alternatives - great vinyl playback and a series of great cassette machines.
My A700 will be eye candy. I think it is beautiful. It will be mounted in my rack which I have to modify to accomodate it. When I am finished it should perform as well as, or better than, when it was new. I'm making modifications to the electronics and I have replaced the head block with quarter track heads. I may have the original half track heads reconditioned. I haven't decided.
Oh, I will make a few tapes and I will enjoy them. But, in truth, it's not needed and will be eye candy; really nice eye candy.
Crazy? Yes, but fun.
Sparky