Rob Thomas
Active Member
What would be a good RTR for someone getting into tape and wanting a RTR that is well built, economical and fairly simple to operate?
well built, economical and fairly simple to operate?
If you are serious about tapes then go for one of the top and popular decks such as akai gx-646, gx-636, gx-635, teac x1000r, x2000r, revox a-77b or pioneer rt-909. Gx-646 and teac offer EE tapes recording. If you want a 2 track semi-professional deck offering 15ips then revox pr99mk3 or 2, teax x1000m or x2000m or two track revox77. These are the most popular and easier to get parts although usually these come from dimantled decks.
cheers,
TEAC A-2300SX would be my recommendation. Once the pinch roller linkage and (sometimes) the belt are tended to they are extremely reliable machines, very well designed for the task at hand if you plan on really using it.
My first R2R was a Teac A-1500W, a cheap entry level deck...
Budget?
I always recommend the Pioneer RT707 to beginners as it is very robust, fairly straight forward to operate and service, easy to find, parts are plentiful, and there are many users to troubleshoot if there are any issues. That said, it is only 7" capable with 7.5IPS max speed. I'd recommend Teac over Akai for similar reasons.