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Reel<->Reel and CD

mobydud

mobydud

Analog Again
Ok, this is just a quick observation but..I just received an apparently unplayed R<->R tape of Bachman Turner Overdrive from the 'Bay today..and played it through, then played the last selection from the same album NotFragile on my Cd player.

I suppose there might be some differences in the playback, and I would say it was just that. Different..maybe. This is just one quick listen but it's the only album I have so far on both Reel and Cd. The Cd *might" have had better sound on some spots..same thing for the Reel. It's late and I can't crank it up at all.

More than anything, I suppose I'm saying that it's amazing that both of these can sound so nearly the same, considering the vastly different technology. Either way its cool. More observations to come, if anyone is interested or has comments.

System:

Denon Dcd 1520 Cd player
Akai GX 635 Open Reel deck
Pioneer Spec 1 preamp
Pioneer Spec 4 poweramp
a/d/s L 810 speakers.
 
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Thanks for posting. I have been curious about the quality of pre recorded RTR tapes as compared to LP records. I keep finding old tapes yard sales, I have sold about 60 of them in the last six months, but I have never been able to listen to any of them because I don't have a RTR deck. I have read elsewhere that the LP records are the better sounding of the two.
 
From what I can recall, my dad's ol' Pioneer 7" reel to reel (can't remember the model) from the early '80s did a convincing job at recording his LPs...the only difference in sound between the two formats was tape hiss (his Pioneer had no noise reduction); other than that, the recording and the actual LP sounded nearly identicle. He also made many live recordings that sounded better than any cassette deck (and he also had two Nakamichi 680ZX decks with Dolby B).

I recorded most of my LPs with my Nakamichi DRAGON back in '83, and I thought the cassettes (using Dolby C on metal TDK and Maxell) sounded as good as vinyl...I almost bought a Teac 10"er for comparison, but lack of funds prevented that. Wonder how good the Teac would've sounded in comparison to my cassettes.
 
It's pretty close..but I would have to say that the CD is more of the high definition high impact sound we would probably call Real stereo. The CD definetly has a better soundstage. The music is noticeably clearer and more "distinct" if that means anything.The music just hangs in the air. I suppose I'm not surprised, considering this kind of sound qualities is what got me into CD's in the first place. So maybe I'm just biased now,,who knows??

On the other hand..and I am somewhat surprised..the Reel has the better bass. I can almost feel him picking that string as well as feel the impact of the note at higher volume!! And BTO's bass player plays deep, especially on this album. Overall, I would have to say also that the Reel has more weight to the music..the CD is very clear and precise, but the Reel gives the same music a little more "body"..somewhat muffled sound but maybe thats why it has this impression.

So the point of all this, if there is one, is that these two sources sound more alike than not. At least to me, and I suppose thats all that counts. Now as far as the Way Kewl factor goes, its that big Akai and it's spinnin' reels hands down. Noo contest. I guess I just wondered how good a pre-recorded Reel to Reel could be, and the answer is damn good. Like I said, I used this BTO album because I happened to have the same thing on disc, and this tape was in excellent shape even though 30 yrs old!

So I'll be buying more tapes off the 'Bay..and doing some taping of my discs to Reel. I do have an old tape I recorded from Cd of SteelyDan's Aja, and I have to really listen to hear any difference on the tape as opposed to the disc. Meaning there probably isn't any!!

Let them Reels keep rollin' along!

:p: :p:
 
Mobydud,

I think the pre-recorded tapes on 7-1/2 speed have better quality then many LP's.
Got many tapes even from early 60's that still sounds great.
Some pre-recorded tapes was kind of bad quality when recorded at 3-3/4.
Be careful when buying old tapes, dry, brittle tapes is very common on Ebay.

Good Luck and enjoy the reels :D
 
Pre-recorded reels at 7 1/2 speed generally sound great to my ears. I have a Well Tempered turntable and a Rega Planet Cd Player and definitely prefer vinyl to CD's but I also have some very healthy prerecorded reels that sound better then both. I have a particular Kinks release on all three formats and the reel sounds the best of the three. I also have many classical reels that are killer.

Are the heads clean, have they been demagnetized? Both make a world of difference.
 
Tx and Dingus

Hi guys, thanks for the input. Tx, yes the reels recorded at 7 and 1/2 are much better than this BTO at 3 3/4. The tape I made of Aja I recorded of Cd at 7 half and like I said it is nearly indistingushable from the Cd..this deck does a fine job of recording for sure! I've also got some Herb Alpert reels I bought off ebay that are 7 1/2 speed..they do sound just marvelous :) Lots of 'ambience' sounds and reverb that they used then..Reel Big Sound. I really dont' know where else to get ? pre recorded reels than Ebay..I've searched on google and come up with a few sites, but nothing much available. Any pointers would sure be appreciated.

I've had this deck for several years but it's been in storage till about 3 mos. ago. Finally got the urge to see it and use it again, so I dragged it out of the closet and sent it off to be cleaned and serviced..and calibrated. I *think* its in proper condition for playback, no reason to suspect its not. I just had never bought any pre recorded reels for it because the last time I had it in my system there was no such thing as Ebay!! It's been years,,and its my first big Reel deck to boot..so I'm experimenting and learning still somewhat.

Hope that answers you as well Dingus, the deck is supposed to be in very good shape mechanically and sonically. This little test between the tape and cd was very casual..curiousity mostly..and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that pre recorded reels are indeed excellent..provided the tape is in decent shape of course.

I think I'm gonna be having fun with it anyways, probably more than ever now that I can find "somewhere" to get any reels at all. :)
 
There is not many sites where you can buy pre-recorded tapes, some are asking high-dollar, so I guess Ebay is a good source.
I usally make my own tapes from LP's and even 8-tracks sometimes.
I'll like the "fat sound" that reel to reel can create.
You have a nice machine there GX-635 has a great sound Mobydud. ;)
 
Thanks TX, it is a real nice piece of gear! Looks very impressive sitting in my living room, I've missed it. It was a real pawn shop score several years ago when I got a sudden urge to own a reel to reel deck. I was looking for a Pioneer 707. I had never seen this Akai before and have never seen another until the Internet came along. I don't think they had had it up for sale very long, as I was pretty regular on making the rounds of the better pawns around here to look for good gear. I just walked in and BOOM. There it was..and in superb condition! I'm glad I have it out and using it again, and that I had it serviced. It always sounded fine, but I kind of wondered if it was really set up properly. That and it needed the inevitable switch cleanings and so forth. The tech's report on the deck said that it's wow and flutter and tape speed were spot on. He aligned the heads and did the other routine maintenance. I'm pretty satisfied with it. :)

I do plan on making some new tapes of my own of course too! Gonna get me some of those big 10' Reels and tape my CD collection:p: By the way, I really enjoy your website..even if it takes like forever to load! Great info and wonderful pictures though, you have a very cool site. :cool: :cool:
 
The GX-635 is one of the higher ends in Akai's line.
Only 747 is a straw higher I think, but of course the prices for a nice deck is higher.
Thanks for your comments about the website:)
I know that some pages takes a loooong time to load, will make some changes after new year with several more photo-albums and less pictures on each page.
The frontpage is cut down already but the Tascam page is overcrowded, sorry...:(
Bandwidth and space was upgraded 3 times the last 2 months, so it will be better when the new starts.
I have many new things and ideas coming up and also information about older decks that you don't see that often, Ampex, Roberts, Berlant, Colombia,Daystrom etc.
I am remodeling the shop right now to make more space here, hopefully all the decks can leave the house and be stored in the shop when this project is over.
Take care of the Akai, you have a nice deck Mobydud ;)
 
I'm glad to hear that you are gettin' back into Open reels...Wonderful machine you have there. It's a dyin'... (dead?)...medium...(artform)...:pity:

It is amazing that The difference between the slow speed....3 3/4ips vs. the fast speed 7 1/2ips, is a dramatic improvement.:zoom: Frequency response and signal to noise ratios inprove as well as dynamic range.

It'a too bad the CD came along when it did because it put the kaibash:twak: on the open reel market just when even more dramatic improvments were happinin'. I'm talking about 'EE' tape.

EE tape is basicly the equilivent to Metal tape for cassettes, and has improved the medium by leaps and bounds:grnbounce in terms of quality of sound reproduction.

The other improvment that was taking effect at that time was the addition of DBX noise reduction.. which is a encode..decode process...to which also gave an improvment in S/N ratio and dynamic range...to the equil of CD.

It's too bad that just a short time after EE made it to the market the CD came along and all the HYPE was concontrated there, and the open reel ,with all the expense of the equipment and the tapes, was pushed aside for the NEW technologys' improved sound, falling prices and simplicity of use. :dammit:

I hope you enjoy your open reel machine as much as I enjoy mine...:thmbsp: :yippy:
 
That machine in my avatar ...a big ole' TEAC X1000Rbl..got it in 85' from the pawn shop...and just had ta have it!!!
Click to expand...


I can understand that, I have one myself unfortunately with a computer problem which I may fix sometime in this life or in the next one but it is worth having just for the looks of it.
Didn't you break your back moving it?

If you want good quality recording at ridiculous prices you should try a VHS VCR with Hi-Fi sound. The sound they produce can be amazing value for money, particularly when you consider the price of the tapes, even cheap tapes will sound good. The main problem is that searching for a particular track is a slow and painful task.
 
OOOOOHHHH YYYYYeeeaaa!!!!!!......been there ...done that, along time ago...but like you said ..long PITA process...of working with them.

My first HI-FI machine was a first generation ..mitsubishi HS 400ur...great machine:thmbsp:

..but a lightning strike took it out ......st. elmoes fire (not a direct strike) hit my CB antenna and blew up my CB, my vcr ..which was under it and poped the little breaker on the back of my TV...after that I had a great picture on the TV.....believe it .....or not ...:blah:

anyway..the sound from these machines is just incredible
 
Can any of you guys help me out with my old Tandberg 3341X RTR? I picked it up a bout 2 years agao at an estate sale and it's been out in the garage due to a recording issue. This thread got my interest up, so I pulled it and got it running. Turns out it's a bit of a stone age machine with lots of mechanical (as opposed to electronic) linkages. My recording issue was that the Record button wouldn't stay on when pushed. I found out that it's a mechanical linkage and the button needs to be held down while one puts it in Play so a metal tang will catch and keep it depressed. Very sophisticated!

I've bench tested it and made a few tapes, but wonder if anyone has some links or onfo on this guy; all I can find is a page in Norwegian. I did search a few threads here and at AA, but there's not much out there. The posters here seem to be pretty sharp, so I wondered if anyone here has any experiences with them. Tandberg used to be quite a respected name, so I'd expect it to be a decent piece.

As always, any and all help is appreciated!
 
Sorry A-man...I've got no info on that machine at all....not even in my archives......:(

Wish I coulda've helped out more :sadwave:
 
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