I'll be delving more into the machines, perhaps trying others if available, and my own Pioneer at some point. I'll be learning as I go. Lots of great tapes to cover too.
I bought myself a B77 Mk II when I retired back in 2018. It set me back £600 and had been completely refurbished and set up for the latest blank tape. It's a 1/4 track 7.5 ips machine but it is still awesome and I would recommend it.
Thank you so much Richard! Great to have you here for this series. I think it will be very interesting for both the curious and experienced tape lovers.
I have two consumer level Akai reel to reels and I LOVE EM. I mainly record to them myself...vinyl or flac files. Sound is amazing. Keep on this subject please. Great video.
I'm very interested in hearing about recording digital files to tape. I have had a few comments about this enhancing the sound in a positive way. That's very interesting and I'll explore that some more as the series moves on.
I think the last time I heard anything on reel to reel was back in school so that’s been a while. Whether I’ll ever get into them is doubtful (more for cost reasons) but then you never know and I’m fascinated to see more like this, Scott.
Hi Robert, I think this is going to be very interesting. I can already tell I'm very excited to learn more, hear more comparisons and discuss other aspects of this. It's great to have you here!
Exact comparison could be tricky. Studio recordings may be (are!) not fully compatible to tape recorder which can be available for people now.. On other side turntable sound is at it's best when we play on top quality turntable perfect new LP or in ideal condition .
Very interested in continued comparisons between tape and LP. The words you used to describe the LP on the mercury are exactly the reasons SACD was hoped to be the next evolution (analogue quality without the impact of the medium). Keep up the good work.
Thank you, There will be more coming up! I hope to be able to comment on SACD at some point. If it close or better than the best analog, it does raise some interesting questions. I myself was a big fan of the Mercury CDs and I wish I had kept them.
Please, more comparisons of r2r and vinyl! I also have a Pioneer RT707 and many pre-recorded tapes that's sitting in my closet for the last 20 years. So you could talk me into getting it refurbished with more tape reviews. Thanks Scott.
Hi James! I will keep you updated on the Pioneer - I really hope it's not a fortune to fix it. Any way I will be covering lots of aspects and of course tape to disc comparisons. Thanks for letting me know your interest in this topic. Let's get you excited to play tapes again!
Bravo Scott! And YES there is interest! Duh! 😉 Where are all my tapeheads at? Well done sir! I look forward to continued support of this amazing format. In fact, after you have had your fill with 1/4-Track tape, I will arm you with one of my 1/2-Track decks so you can experience 15ips production tape copies which are the *ULTIMATE* analog experience ! ! !
I have been using tape for more than 40 years now on domestic and professional applications. Oz introduced me to the master of reel to reel restorations, Gio Currado from Italy and I have commissioned 2 Revox decks already. I keep my tape decks collection running and serviced and actually have over 20 units in my possess ion. My passion is recording.
Yes I made an error in the video, but Gio is credited in the description of the video. I might look into a Revox if I can afford it. Seems to be the choice among those in the know!
I would definitely like to see and hear more! My own experience with prerecorded R2R is that sometimes you get beautiful and stunning sound quality, but also I have ended up with some true stinkers in terms of sound. While true “the pressing matters” in the vinyl world, I think it’s safe to say that “the duplication matters” in the tape world.
Absolutely. There were a few duplication houses at least. I saw Bel Canto for two wonderful sounding Mercury Living Presence tapes. Amped was the big one of course. I used to have some others. I did have one pop stinker, that once I dj the comparison, I'll bring up. This will be a fun diversion!
Great video as usual, it is nice seeing someone addressing reel to reel. If they are in good shape they typically sound fantastic. You should enjoy the RT-707 when you get it back, they are great little machines. You are also right, you can still find the tapes reasonable if you are willing to hunt a little, estate sales, garage sales. Currently have a dining room table full of London blue back classical and opera reels that came from a garage sale a couple of weeks ago.
Thank you for your comment! I'm hoping the Pioneer will be in service soon and that it can compete with the Revox. I've already started looking at auctions for some tapes! There's been a very good response to this so you'll see more on this topic! Thanks for watching!
I bought a Pioneer RT707 on eBay that was completely rebuilt with new caps and resistors about 8 years ago. They are super reliable and sound gorgeous. There are several people on eBay who rebuild RT707. Send your old unit and they will ship it back rebuilt. I have 200 prerecorded R2R tapes and play them several times a month. I love my Linn LP12 but R2R tapes are an equally enjoyable experience. I look forward to more comparisons. Thanks.
Fun! I've always wanted to add reel-reel tapes to my collection/system, but it's a challenge re: space and funds. I'm interested in hearing more comparisons.
That's understandable. I think if you put your feelers out there you may find a decent deck for not too much money. . I'm going to be hitting up the auction sites for tapes so we might have a bidding war! Lol
Thank you Scott for offering this subject. We always considered “reel” tape to be superior audio to vinyl if the hiss wasn’t bad (and rarely was it bad). I did a lot of home recording on reel-to-reel from 1968 to 1974 but no longer have a functional machine for playback. This was basic Scotch tape on 5-inch reels for amateurs. My fear is the tape has degraded. Would love to hear my family again from long ago, but can’t pay big money for a player! Alas, it may be lost...
Hi John, Thanks for your comment and I hope you find the series interesting. I'm very excited to get rolling on this! I understand the importance of what you have in those tapes. There are places that digitize older media for you but I've never heard of them handling reel to reel. Maybe someone here can offer some advice or help.
Yes! I know I have Prokofiev Concerto with Janis and although I haven't compared yet it sounded spectacular. I believe Balalaika Favorites is here as well as Respighi The Birds. Might be more! Can't wait!
@@ThePressingMatters I look forward to more. I think it was your reviews of some of the Living Presence vinyl re-issues that first brought me to your channel. When my dad passed away, he left me his record collection, which included quite a few original 50s and 60s Mercury LPs. They are all pretty beat up and crackly, but I'll never part with them because they bring back memories of the early 1970s when he used them to introduce me to classical music. Our mutual favourite was Dorati's recording of the 1812; Dad had 2 copies, because he'd worn the first one out. He let me have the older copy to play on my cheap suitcase record player. Lowest of the lo-fi, but it was such a thrill to my 10-year-old self.
Interesting video. I became a two cassette deck guy by the late 1970's and enjoyed copying tapes, recording off air concerts and editing them. Eventually the open reel format "bug" bit me. I started shopping for a R2R deck and in 1982 got the best deal on a Teac X-3 machine. The dealer offered me either two or four track and had to explain the difference. Two track seemed to provide better fidelity but I opted for the four track unit. He also threw in the smoked dustcover with my X-3 for an additional $40. Total cost was $329. It's a very good "basic" R2R deck and I've used it for over forty two years with little maintenance issues. I wasn't sure I wanted to take the R2R plunge with a monster Studer, Revox or Uher and the Pioneer RT-701 was too much $$. Forget the "one motor" Akai GX-4000D, it looked like junk. So I sprung for the X-3. I've used a Pioneer RG-2 expander with my X-3 since 1982 and it does open up the dynamic range a bit more. A nice addition to my hifi system.
Awesome history there, I really enjoyed hearing about this deck. I will look into it more. I think you're going to enjoy this series. The next video will be out tomorrow!
This is certainly interesting, but I just don't see myself getting into it. I don't ever recall seeing these tapes around in the wild, but I do recall seeing the reel to reel decks in second hand stores. I don't see them in second hand stores anymore. Looks like a more difficult to find specialty item, but it may be as rewarding as antique recordings. 👍👍👍
It's something that I had hoped I could talk about here, and this fortunately came together in a way o couldn't have imagined.i hope you'll follow along - it should be fun and interesting for sure!
@@ThePressingMatters It wouldn't be the first time that it takes me a while to warm up to a new interest. Tape is a part of audiophile history, so I'd like to know more about it. Depending on time, I'll try to follow along. By the way, I had the ultimate audiophile experience yesterday. I bought the Fender Stratocaster guitar that I told you about for a really good price. Fender hand built this one really well; it sounds really good. It is so much fun playing it with different amp settings. 😻
Glad to see you pursuing this. Oz knows tape for sure, and of course I’d love to see some more of these comparisons. 15IPS is the pinnacle of course, but a lot more considerations. One suggestion, if Oz would accommodate it; try to buy one of his 4 Refurbed Revoxs vs putting ANY $$ into that 707… you’ll have a much better sounding machine at the end of the day:)
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm not sure how much I can afford to put into the format. I certainly have a decent amount of media. I'll have to see what the verdict is on the Pioneer. Perhaps if I can get it to working condition for little money, I can sell or trade up towards a better deck. They do go for decent money these days.
Very interesting video. Thanks! I’ve always liked the open reel tapes. I have only one commercially pre-recorded from the 50’s. It’s so impressive. In fact playing it prompted me to have my machine checked because it distorted on the more intensive parts. My AKAI 4000DS mkII is not the best around but hopefully a good deal will come around.
Great to have you here. I hope the videos and the comments section will be a source of information for those who wish to explore this, or just watch from the sidelines.
My A77 is sitting unused and, even though it's been recapped, is not at the level that I would want. I bought it second hand from a colleague at the BBC back in the 1980s. When I retired, seven years ago, I got myself a fully refurbished B77 Mk II. Now that is a beast and is set up in my system and running perfectly. It has been adapted from the peculiar Revox power lead to a standard IEC power lead but other than that is all original specification.
I've just been told that Oz will bring a 15ips set up here at some point, if only for a demo. I know he has many master tape copies and Analogue Productions Living Stereo tapes!
@@ThePressingMatters As 15ips is basically the master tapes and not the commercially available iteration to do a fair comparison with vinyl, at the very least, you need a test pressing.
@@ianz9916 The commercial 4 track tapes are already surpassing the vinyl playback in some cases. I'll be discussing some possible reasons why but I expect the 15ips to totally outclass the vinyl.
The one thing you should ALWAYS notice when comparing ANY lp to reel tape, is that lps have a spotlit "whitish" coloration;; always! Reel tapes have a warm rich sound, even compared to lp. This "whitish" coloration of lps is always there, as the former TAS Editor Harry Pearson pointed out in an old article where he compared the reel tape of the factory prerecorded Fritz Reiner, Lieutenat Kije reel tape with the shaded dog lp. He likened the lp playback as listening to a marching band parade with the windows closed, and the tape sounded like a parade going by with the windows partially open. That "whitish" spotlit coloration is always there, and a comparison with a reel tape, always reveals it. Which is one reason why I like tape better. It's my favorite medium. I will be drawn to even playing a cassette versus an lp. I like them better than lp, but of course I have extraordinarily high quality cassette playback.. Except for dynamic range, which is actually getting closer and closer to lp, MUCH closer as I mod, I cannot say that lps outperform cassettes in any significant way. Now those who've only heard cassettes in a car, played on a boombox or maybe a 2 or 3 hundred dollar cassette deck are probably saying "What the heck?" But factory prerecorded cassettes played back with extraordinary cassette playback equipment can sound like Heaven on Earth. Even on Nakamichi decks, (which are not THE KING) many people prefer cassette sound to cd and lp. . Reel to reel is the ultimate for sound quality of any format; and not by a small margin either, especially if you're used to hearing factory prerecorded tapes played back on a modified Studer studio machine. Cassettes should be looked at as Reel to Reel JR.. They work on the exact same principle as the greatest medium for sound quality (reel to reel). The only difference is the tape moves at a slower speed and is narrower. A great cassette deck, at one half the speed always outperforms reel to reel's 3 and 3/4 ips speed. At 7 and 1/2 ips, reel to reel really gets going for sound quality. And it leaves most cassette decks behind. But if you have cassette decks of the highest precision and are highly modified, you can forget you are not listening to a pro level reel to reel. And cassettes are very inexpensive to acquire. And very often they beat the same lp recording, for sound quality. And also the cd. Tape, whether it is reel to reel or ultra high quality cassette playback, has such a smooth warm liquid sound, with unbelievable continuity. The music is not chopped into segments by ticks and pops or the unnaturalness of that persistent whitish coloration of lps. No ticks and pops at all, and tape is more analog, and more analog sounding, than any format. The more I improve my cassette playback sound, the more I think that maybe tape is capable of more low level detail and subtle nuances than any other format. Of course the detail is there electromagnetically instead as wiggles in plastic, or bits on a cd. For bass reproduction, nothing touches tape as different formats go. When TAS or Stereophile (forgot which) compared the old MOFI UHQR lp of The Beatles Sgt. Peppers with the actual master tape, reel tape brought out of the vaults; the reel tape trounced the lp, which was played back on a $100,000 plus turntable setup. Totally crushed it, and the area of the most improvement of all, they said; was the bass response. Much clearer, deeper, tighter, faster, dynamic, weighty. In addition to prowess with low level nuance, and bass, reel to reel and even high quality cassette playback has another forte; Openness, spatiality, and big instrument size. Instruments sound miniaturized and somewhat slow on average cassette playback. But not like that at all on something great. Interesting that so many Ansermet titles were shown. Maybe my best sounding cassette of alll is the old Ansermet Nutcracker. It sounds like it was recorded directly from the master tape onto cassette in real time. The London or Decca FFSS lps cannot touch it for sound quality. And I'm not even so sure the FFSS reel tape sounds as clean.Something unusual went on with this cassette. It's the factory prerecorded cassette case that is the one that has the rare cover picture. It's the rarer one that is about 1 in 30, if you look on ebay. Often there isn't one. Earlier in the year I found one still sealed on ebay.and bought a second one, because I knew how good it was. I will be playing it this Christmas.
Maybe the fastest appreciating piece of gear in all of audio is the Pioneer RT 909 reel deck. 8 years ago, the going price on ebay was S700; they're now going for prices like $2,800 and more. In the forums someone or soneone(s) were saying that the RT 909 playback of prerecorded titles were one of the best. Pioneer reel decks have been known to be hard to get parts for. Same with Tandberg. Tandberg.The Tandberg TD 20 reel deck was a true cut above, and would have been a dream for reel deck enthusiasts if not for its reputation for unreliability. Tandberg, the company, has been out of audio for many years. Among the easiest to get parts for are the Revox machines. Our local Laserium used one as the sound source, with 38 JBL speakers spanning the circular roof of the Planetarium according to Laserium protocol. Would really like to know what JBL models thety were. Wouldn't it be funny if they were JBL vintage model 100s, which are probably second only to Bose at people making fun of their sound..The new ones I hear are not harsh like the old ones could sound. Maybe some of those JBL 100 critics would be in shock for days , thinking the Laserium sound was the best sound quality they ever heard heardnot realizing they were hearing 38 JBL speakers. I once compared original Steppenwolf lps, ABC black label and the later yellow/orange label lps to the ree7 and 1/2 ips reereel tapes and there was no contest. You really have to hear Steppenwolf on tape. I think Acoustic Sounds came out with some Steppenwolf. I'd really like to hear one. They do a very consistently great job on the mastering.
Be very interesting for you to compare the LP to the reel to reel. Eugene List and Ivan Davis were both gifted American pianist. Ivan passed a few years ago and lived in south FL.
Oh I didn't know where or what happened to Ivan Davis. I have another LP on London Phase 4 that features him as well. Both were very fine pianists. Looking forward to this series!
@@ThePressingMatters Ivan recorded six or seven albums for London Phase 4...think I have all of them. Also three or four albums early in his career for Columbia Masterworks.
I have a perreaux 3150 and I definitely recommend that you get that beast fixed. It will drive anything including maggies with ease, and sound great doing it.
Yes! I'm particularly proud of tomorrow's premiere video on this subject: th-cam.com/video/OLp8mEJ0LZw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=QX8wrlijj6xjQUPS Hope to see you there!
I've been enjoying my Pioneer RT-707 for a few years, and I think you will love it's performance as well as it's appearance. I would definitely be interested in more r2r shootouts, as well as discussion about the format. Thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for watching and the vote for more on this topic! I did love my Pioneer and I hope I can get it up and running again. It's very nice looking too, but what a beast! So heavy!
I would love to see some comparisons between the two formats I'm a collector myself, not that much classical music, but I've got some tapes and some vinyls and would love to get some tips or references :)
Interesting to see the open reel format still in use here. My late father bought a Philips machine in the early 1960s before I was born, and kept it in the living room next to a Dansette. I'm still unsure why he bought it, as he rarely used it, but it looked nice. In my teens I gave it a whirl and found a rather nasty mains hum which I didn't know how to fix, so I left it alone, although its audio quality at 3.75ips (top speed) was pretty good.
yes please continue. You could also use the Wilma Cozart mastered cds of these recordings as a comparison (I bought all 3 boxed sets of Mercury Living Presence cds)
I really need to do that too. As I said in another reply, I let my individual copies go when I decided to go all analog. I wish I would have kept them. I'll probably end up there again!
This is a great topic. Scott, I am curious if you know how fast the Mercury Gershwin reel tape was duplicated. Was it 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 4 to 1? I can comprehend a 1 to 1 copy sounding better than the vinyl, but a 4 to 1 would probably be missing some top end and low bass. It would be great to see you compare some pop/soul/rock/jazz music consumer reel to reel tapes of the 60s and 70s album to their concurrent LP pressings. Thanks for another enjoyable video.
I honestly don't know how this tape was done. It was made by Bel Canto rather than Ampex. The other Mercury I played was just as good. Different companies might have had faster or slower duplication. I'd like to know more about this too. I have very little in the genres you mention. Most of what I have are classical, folk, broadway and light pop. I'll see what else I can access!
@@ThePressingMatters - As an idea, perhaps you may have access to some of Barbra Streisand's early-mid 60s Columbia reel tapes. I think up to a certain point, they were done at 7 1/2 ips.
@@themotownboy1 Oh, I have located most of my collection but there's one box missing and it had some great stuff in it including a few early Streisand tapes. I know it's in the vault, but things got mixed up at one point and I'm getting it organized again. I'd love to do one on Barbra. I bet those tapes shine and yes they were 7.5ips
I thought about getting into reel to reel and was looking for a machine for 6 months. Sanity returned . The machine are generally expensive and are over 40 years old.Most people recommend a higher end machine to show the benefits. Recorded material is expensive and hard to find. I then remembered the disadvantages of cassette tapes. I then realized i probably would be using the reel to reel to record my vinyl album so i bought a tascom da 3000 instead.
I completely understand hesitating on this format. The only reason this is viable is that I have some software with some more coming in, and that I have this Revox on loan. I don't know yet if my Pioneer can be fixed and if I will have been spoiled by the Revox. I'm sure Oz would sell one of his for the right price. It's definitely not a decision to make lightly. However so far I am very impressed with the sound. I do happen to like the classical and pop recordings from the time this format was active. The modern machines are definitely out of reach. I can't go there. I'll play with the vintage stuff while I can and see where things go.
Very interesting. I’d love to get in to tape. It is the holy grail. But, I just don’t have that kind of money. In particular, servicing the decks seems to be like buying an old Bentley. Best of luck and keep us informed - maybe it is possible? Get the 15ips Gillian Welsh reel 😬
Thanks for your comment. It looks like I will be exploring this through a series of videos, and I'll work through deeper comparisons of tape and disc equivalents. There will be the day my own Pioneer deck comes back and I can compare machines in that case. It also looks like I may have some exposure to the 2 track 15ips format, at least for a demonstration here in my system. Gillian Welsh would be amazing!
I find this interesting and would enjoy seeing more comparisons. I do have an Otari MX5050 and a dozen 15ips tapes. Sounds great. Haven't aquired any 7 1/2 ips tapes yet. I find them hard to find. I mostly see 3 3/4.
Yes, the 7.5 are the best of the vintage tapes. I really don't bother with 3 3/4. I will get to experience 15 ips soon so stay tuned. Next vid will be out this week!
More, please. Obsolete formats are inherently interesting, but also the recordings issued around 1955-1965 (before baby boomer rock took over the industry) are also interesting
I'm keenly interested in this period of music too so this will be fun to take a deep dive into what was available on tape. I'm starting to assemble some catalogs for a bigger picture. Thanks for the vote to continue!
In these times people were not concentrated on lowest and highest harmonics as today anbecause gear was limiting it's amplification due to interferences of hum and noise . For that reason were applauded wideband systems, often callled "concert" - in my opinion best of them deserved it .
Great interesting topic, please go for it ! I bought a Revox a77 mk4 by „accident“ for 100€ 5-6 years ago. After maintenance by a Revox technician for 400€, this 4tr machine transformed into an incredibly sound machine, when run with 7.5 ips 4tr prerecorded reel to reel tapes from e.g. Colombia, Ampeg or Barclay Crotchet. Tape sound is like a drug. Everything is more visible and pronounced, even in comparision with records from Acoustic Sounds and Impex imo. Revox in Europe has the great advantage, that all replacement parts are still 100% available and knowledged technicians are around. Here in Germany (where I come from) well done maintenance of Pioneer, Tascsm or Otari tape machine is way more challenging in contrast to Studer, Revox or Telefunken tape machines.
Wonderful comment, thank you! I'm hearing what I imagine you are on a similar machine. I think mine may be earlier incarnation. It will be great to have your input as we go along here!
I would be interested for you pursue this area more Scott. I own two Studer Revox B77's one domestic 4 track and one pro-sumer 2 track 15ips with IEC output to suit todays "new" tapes, they are both excellent ways to listen to analogue sound from the past and present without the vinyl restrictions imposed at the cutting stage
That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to hearing 15ips with one of these machines. For now, I'm really excited about 4 track 7.5. The next video is already done and should be out tomorrow! It's going to be great to have your insight and experience here as I go through this journey.
Scott, you got me to thinkin' (smell of wood burning)... In 1970, a buddy of mine, a few years older, was working at Tower Records in Hollywood, CA. He was a natural soft-sell salesman. He met a lot of folks from the recording industry. He met someone that was in the business and was a regular customer of his when buying LP's. He had upgraded his entire home audio system so he offered my buddy his old Ampex tape deck. It was old but it must have been a top of the line consumer deck when new and it was immaculately maintained. My buddy had a very good stereo system at the time: McIntosh tube electronics and original JBL speakers. Anyway long story short. My buddy got his hands on an English import tape reel of Led Zeppelin's 1st LP. To this day I remember the SOUND of that tape. I have not heard anything like it to this day. I have heard and owned many different versions LP and CD of that album. The sound quality/musicality of that tape was remarkable.
@@ThePressingMatters I have seen Led Zeppelin live 4 times including one night of their 4 night (I think) gig at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood with Alice Cooper. I believe that was Led Zep's first Los Angeles area appearance. Anyway, I have never heard Led Zeppelin sound so good as that tape in my buddy's "sound room" at the time over live appearances and different home set-ups with different version CD's and LP's... It's crazy I know.
This would be a fascinating series. I have an Onkyo OR deck and it works great and is built like a tank. I have probably 20 OR tapes, all 4-track. My observations match yours in that the dynamics are handled better and there is more detail. The high level of tape hiss is very noticeable at first but it's steady-state noise and my ear 'hears through' it just a few minutes in. I do have some later RCA OR tapes that are re-releases, budget ones I think, that have orange labels on the reels and those don't sound so great. As soon as levels get near 0 dB audible overload creeps in and then goes off the chart, most likely inferior oxide formulation.
Thanks for your comment Jose! You described this better than I did. The hiss is not a problem. It disappears as your ears and brain become accustomed to it. It's so much less intrusive than the eccentricities of vinyl records. This was quite amazing to me and I'm really psyched to continue collecting the tapes and reporting on them here.
Scott, I'm very interested! We need to be thankful for you having such well-connected friends. We may need to change the name of your channel to - Because Scotty Matters ❤
Yes, I owe a big debt of gratitude of people like Oz for making things happen. I'm really excited about this subject and there's a lot to cover! Stay tuned and thank you for your support and encouragement!
My Revox is also languishing needing some love, like most people I never bought pre-recorded tapes but recorded John Peel at the BBC most nights and comedy broadcasts
Oh those tapes might have some great stuff on them. Maybe you'll get inspired to have the deck brought up to speed, so to speak! Glad to have you onboard for this!
Thanks for addressing reel to reel. More of this. :) But, instead of only comparing prerecorded tapes you’d to consider taping content from 96/24. You’ll be surprised of the new perspective tape creates on a dead digital recording.
Yes, this is an area I'm interested in as well. Oswaldo has told me about this effect. Thanks for the suggestion and the vote to continue down this path!
Oh muh God, this is right up my alley. I don't need any more of these, well, lets say I am not looking currently. At one point I had about 30 machines and twenty years ago I had about three so that collection took time to grow, but before moving I had to shed a few of them, including an Otari MX5050 BII, 3 Teac A-2340 decks and a AKAI GX-4000D most made me $$$ and went to good homes but I had to give away or toss out the A-2340s which were in good shape. There is more to this story, stand by. okay here we go... With factory reels I prefer the sound of 2-track, they are all recorded at 7.5ips and if I choose a 4-trk tape I try to go for the higher speed also, but 4-trk at 3.75ips isn't bad, a lot of my "rock" tapes were cheaper at the slower speed. I also try to acquire Quad reels because they deliver true discrete 4-channel audio and i have a little JVC 4 Ch. system set up for those. I have a lot of decks still, I have a Akai GX-365D just for spooling "tails-outs" tapes cuz it has 15ips, great for getting a smooth and even pack on rewinds. I located some very good deals on used machines using Craigslist. I got a TOTL AKAI GX-747dbx from a guy on CL and he charged me a couple of hundred for it, and it had the reel clamps and one metal reel, one lil button the reel size was missing which I found on ePay later. Nothing wrong with the transport or electronics, it had a common fault caused by failing little belts for the tensioners, an easy fix. One day there was an ad for some reel to reels, this person need to clear out a room at a Self Storage place. So I called and he told me to meet him over there but I would have to take everything, or nothing so I said how big is this room? He said not big, just about 6 by 8 feet and his Uncle had stored records, tape machines and tapes in there. I figured I would be able to get it all in my big Buick station wagon. When I saw what was in that room I tried my best to remain calm and mildly interested in the contents. One side was all R2R decks and the other had several boxes and bins, these were almost all Organ records well over a hundred of them but there was also lot old 10" microgroove LPs in a bin with a bunch of blank Ampex 7" NIB tapes. The other boxes had mostly 7" used tapes that Uncle had made, yes, all Organ music. He really liked Organ recordings but I wasnt too keen on them. There was some 10" metal reels too and other stuff like old 5" reels in a box and some dust covers. The best part of the deal was there mostly in plain sight, a stack of Pioneer decks, with a nice dash of vintage Teacs with an Akai or two thrown in as well. All this stuff barely fit in my Wagon, it was chock full when I had it all loaded up. A few months later I won an auction for a Tascam 22-2, this is a small 2-track deck, meant as an affordable mix-down of multi-track recordings - and it works well for playback of any 2trk factory tapes - like I really need this, not. BUT that purchase was just the tip of the iceberg as the seller was eager to thin his "herd" at that time and he had some formidable Japanese Tech ...cont.
Sounds like you might be someone that would make a great guest! I may do a group panel at some point with Oz, myself and other tape enthusiasts. Let's see if we can get this series running! I already have the next episode thought out and it's going to be fantastic!
@@ThePressingMatters Sure! I would be glad to contribute what I can. I haven't found reel to reel to be very cost-prohibitive and I am not a "rich person" though I have been very fortunate obtaining my gear for not much $$$ - I have had my moments bidding more than I ought for certain "gems" of the factory produced media and some rarer one-off kind of tapes. Hey, I'm only human!
@@ThePressingMatters Really? Most of the factory reels, well, titles that I was really looking for I purchased from ePay sellers. Try finding quadraphonic reels anywhere else, granted most are priced above what I want to pay but I get a deal now and then. The rest of my reels are flotsam and jetsam I happened to find at the Goodwill-type used places, various flea markets and like you. some gifted to me by friends. EX: of an unexpected major find - I found a still sealed RCA 4trk Reiner/ Scheherazade in a Goodwill once. My cost was less than the old price sticker that was on the shrink but I would have paid more than 8.99
Another wonderful, prescient video, Scott. Sadly, the audiophile grail is a step too far for most. Thanks for bringing us all the information and sound comparisons. Yes, more please.
@@AudiophiliaChannel It’s not a step too far if you refrain from the recorded (master) tapes. You’ll be having a great time using an e.g. AKAI 4000DS creating your own tapes from a digital source. The 3D image and lush a reel to reel gives you will surprise.
Ain't that the truth! It will be fun and so far isn't costing anything. We'll have to see what happens with the Pioneer and if it's worth the cost to fix or look elsewhere.
Very interesting, thank you for doing this well thought comparison between vinyl and tape reproduction. From the start I believe that the tapes have the edge in terms of dynamic swing, channel separation and low end energy and pitch definition. I have few tapes around, both 2 track 15", true reference that I play when searching for Nirvana, and also 7" at 7,5 and 3,75, but alas, the machine for these needs a service and that seems harder to find here in the South Island of New Zealand. Lastly, I find it ironic that the high end turntables (cartridge/arm and phono stage) costs few times more than the arguably top Reel to Reel machines (Studer A 820, Nagra T, Ballfinger,...)
You're welcome! I'm so glad you found this interesting. Your experience with tape is much appreciated. It's so nice to discuss this topic with other enthusiasts. Stay tuned for more!
Unfortunately both of my reel to reel decks need servicing. I have the RCA 4-track Chicago Symphony Scherezade. Just phenomenal. Only gripe is the bass drum doesn't have the extension/impact of modern recordings. I picked up a few gems pre ebay cheap. A couple Miles Davis reels and a very rare Blue Note-Jimmy Smith The Sermon. When Liberty owned Blue Note, they released about a half dozen titles on reel to reel. Extremely rare to find.
I think I'll be poking around eBay to see what's up these days with reels. Classical should be cheap, rock and jazz will be $$ if available at all. Maybe you'll get inspired to have your deck looked at!
Tape is amazing. I've heard R2R's of MIchael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Queen here on TH-cam that even with TH-cam's compression, obliterate the best vinyl rips I've heard of each respective recording.
nice overview. If you decide to get further into tapes and tapes vs. LP comparisons, get a tube tape head pre=preamp to run the signal from the tape heads to achieve the desired level of gain. Listening to tape through the stock tape deck electronics is akin to listening to a LOMC cart through the phono stage on a 1970s receiver. Once you change the signal path, you'll get really surprised. You can do this for not a lot of cash. the EAR phonobox (real or clones) can be adapted as well as the Marantz 7 phono stage clones from China. The clones from China are inexpensive enough you can order two. One for NAB EQ and set up the 2nd for IEC if there is a desire to get into 15 IPS IEC tapes.
Great video, have a few dozen classical 4-tracks, most sound fantastic and average price on them were maybe $7. Dynamic range on the best ones is astounding for a consumer format, IMO.
Yes, I agree! If you can get hold of a vintage machine in good shape, the cost of media is a relative bargain! I'll take this as a vote for more videos on this topic!
Hi Scott, This is a fascinating subject to explore. I remember seeing a High Fidelity magazine from the late 1950's advertising the tape of the Heifetz/Mumch/BSO recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto and the price was $29.95. For comparison, the equivalent lp price was $4.95 so these tapes have always been quite pricey. I have only had a chance to hear a few of them and never under the type of conditions you outlined. At the time, I thought that once my ears adjusted to the slight hiss, the sound was pretty stunning. As an aside, perhaps you should someday do a video tour of your vault!
Wonderful comment and a great picture of how this was perceived at the time. It was a very expensive proposition that only a small segment enjoyed. Looking forward to doing more videos on this topic!
Definitely explore the reel to reel. So many things to try. I am curious to know what happens to the recording quality when one records to reel from different sources, cd, vinyl, streaming?
This has been mentioned to me by Oz, the owner of the Revox. He said when recording digital to tape, the result is a more pleasing sound. I suppose it's a euphonic distortion. I'll be doing something on that phenomenon soon! Thanks for watching!
There will be more tape discussions soon, including more comparisons, best sounding tape editions, the return of my Pioneer deck from the shop, and a look and listen to 15ips tapes☺️
I bought a revox b77. The only tape i have so far is fleetwood mac rumours. I have never heard any of my 300 or so records sound better. Perhaps this particular tape is that good. I have other tapes in the mail and will know soon.
Maybe, maybe not. I think vintage is affordable. I have the deck already (just needs a tune up) and tapes are out there. Many are coming back onto the market as their owners downsize. But high end modern stuff? Forget it. But I will get to hear it and report on it too. Thanks for watching. More coming soon!
My parents had a Hanson-List half-track 7-1/2 IPS reel that only had the "Piano Concerto in F" performance because that is all that would fit on a 7" reel. I played it countless times as a young child. Sadly, I only have that performance on CD today. Not sure why I never bought vinyl copies of the prerecorded reels in my collection, I only have CD's to compare to reels. I can say that the 7-1/2 IPS prerecorded reel tapes that did not degrade (thanks, Ampex!) generally sound a little better than the CD pressings. For example Quincy Jones "Smackwater Jack" sounds a little more open and alive on 7-1/2 IPS reel-to-reel than the MFSL CD. The Kenny Burrell's "Midnight Blue" is another album that sounds really good on 7-1/2 IPS reel.
That's a fascinating comment! It seems like maybe your parents had a two track 7.5 deck and tapes? I know RCA did some of these and perhaps the first Mercury did too. That would explain the short program. Do you recall if it was one direction only, or did it have to be reversed? I think the Mercury CDs are very fine, but I stupidly let them go. I wouldn't mind a revisit, but I need a good player first.
@@ThePressingMatters Yes, it was a two-track stereo tape that only played in one direction. The tape recorder we had when I was five years old was a Pentron 9T-3C, which is a mono machine. So I was only hearing half the audio! When I was nine, my parents supported my love of tape and bought a Wollensak 1280 Stereo tape recorder. Then I got to enjoy both tracks of that and several other half-track tapes. 😀
I am very interested in hearing more about your journey into reel to reel music. I myself transfer highres flacs onto 10.5 inch reels on my AKAI GX- 630D to play in my kitchen when cooking. The medium seems to add an analogue warmth to the dgital recordings, that is very pleasing to the ear. Course it could be my imagination i suppose.
Yours is the second comment here and not the first time I've heard of this phenomenon. I'm definitely going to look into this and try it myself. Thanks so much for the vote to continue this series!
I don’t think reel to reel players will ever be making a comeback again You’re right about the hobby is a rich man’s game and the machines need constant attention and work! The few tapes you can get are hundreds of dollars! If a person can afford the money involved that’s great but I’ll stick to vinyl
They sort of did come back in a very niche way. Probably The Tape Project sparked some limited interest in high end machines or restored classics built to play the new 16ips 10' reels. A small handful of titles for these particular listeners. I wouldn't think the number of enthusiasts on that level number more than a few hundred. Vintage 4 track is accessible enough. We'll see where it leads!
I'm enjoying the reel to reel experience, but I'm not sure how invested I can be in it. I'm running out of space for physical media. Going to have to sell off some of it soon.
If the record catalog would be as big as on vinyl I would go into this direction, I can imagine that the tech is better as with everything we have to deal with vinyl
It's true, if you're not into classical, and a narrow range of things from a short window of time, you're out of luck. But many of the very best titles from this era can be found with a bit of luck!
@@ThePressingMatters I'm into Pop/Rock/Metal 70-90s so Vinyl is my best choise and even that is expensive enough when you want early presses in NM/M 🥴 I guess i have spend 40k the last 2 years building my collection 🥴😭😀
As I always say, reel-to-reel tape is, on paper, the best thing to hit the home audio market and superior to vinyl. Let's face it, we are usually judging records on how close they get to the master tapes. (I am a massive record fan, don't worry. They still mostly sound wonderful.) But they never got the mass production of reels right. (Ironically, the ones from the 50s kill the Columbia House reels from the 80s.) The fact that the average mass-produced record sounds as good as it does when it has so many more inherent compromises is amazing. I think they never really settled on what reel-to-reel should be in the consumer space. It should have remained a high-end audiophile format duplicated 1:1 at 7.5 IPS. And probably two-track, at that. Having said that, there are many excellent reels out there. And not just the 7.5 IPS tapes. I have heard some great 3.75 tapes. There are many variables. Great video! Yes, make more, haha.
Great comment, so informative! Thank you for watching! I know it's going to be hit or miss, case by case, but I think it will be fun to explore, and shed some light on different aspects, machines, and more
Thank you for another excellent video≥. M ore such comparisons would be great, especially as reel-to-reel is stir out there being made, albeit expensive ones. Another channel compared the Super Audio CD, pricey vinyl and reel-to-reel on ELEPHANT by THE WHITE STRIPES and the results qwere also very interesting and informative. We cannot have enough of this kind of information and you always do such a great hob ob all your videos. :0)
Thank you, Nicholas, it looks like it's been a very positive response to this so I will be continuing down this path. Interesting story about The White Stripes, I had no idea about that comparison! Thanks for watching!
That was a joke - the original lp is stunning - they have their own lathe and direct mic recordings. Their tape copies are probably as low gen as it comes. Dave Denyer did a review and Micheal Fremer visited the studio A Revox is stunning. My tape venture was a 3 head Nakamichi in the early 80s. As good as it gets for 1 7/8ips
@@audiotomb I know. But I know Oz has lots of buddies into the high end tape world so maybe we can get it. I'd love to hear it. We are planning to move the discussion to 15ips at some point, and I'll have a deck here for that. Right now I really want to do a series of 4 track tape comparisons.
In times of popularity R2R it was probably the best medium available for home use and had got mass popularity. This (in my opinin of course) could be the reason behind issuing studio tapes with best quality recordings to alow owners to enjoy quality not comparable to home radio recordings made with a bit accidental equipment and owners expectations were not so sublime as today Because stating "best quality" suppose to be understood as "best when playd with the same studio machine" I got quite old exceptional recordings from professional recording company which just abandoned them. They are not originaly taged and assure 4 hours on one tape in stereo, they play perfect and I am happy to preserve them but when I compare them to reality perceived from tapes recorded by me in home conditions with my R2R which is aligned to best results they do not compete. . May be beacuse I aligned all system to R2R and turntable? Or may be there are small differences i recordings due to my turnatable and cassette somehow add surprising lowest tones? . That is why in my conditions I do not recognize any purchsed recordings quality as the best for me . Anyway pleasure of using those original beautifull reels with tags as you show is obviously unbeatable . For all reasons I perfer to listen to tapes - with highest quality of listening tapes may contain lot of music in compact form. Now I learn listen back to mono standard because it is practical - it doubles the titles on one reel and alows easy instant switching between two tracks and recordings. For this advantages I see that I can accept no stereo effects. .
Thank you for the Video. Yes I am interested in the A/B comparisons in a heart sinking kind of way :) The ultimate format indeed! How is the tape hiss on those tapes? Were there any signs of degradation?
The tapes are in beautiful condition. When I originally purchased them, I made sure to add leader, and auto reverse foil. Most have been played just once or twice. I keep them upright in a climate controlled storage and haven't had any issues. The few I've received from the viewer have been nearly mint, box reel and tape.
Scott, It's to bad you don't one of those tables like Micheal Fremer has that has two arms. That way you could try out a moving magnet on one of the two arms. You could also try a phono step up transformer for your moving coil. I use a peerless step up transformer. There are also loading options that can be applied on the phono input stage to get a better impedance match.
I agree, that would be amazing. With this table I could switch arms easily, each having a different cartridge but I haven't gone there yet. There are some changes coming up so that may change everything.
Tape is great but time consuming. You have to clean the heads and the pinch roller after every play. Two tracks are stored tails out and have to be rewound before every play. If you're willing to spend the time, tapes sound great but I think for most people LP is good enough and a lot less time consuming. Comparison of Heart Like a Wheel two track from The Tape Project on Studer A80 vs Grand Prix/Triplanar/Koetsu/Nagra LP playback. (The A80 cost a tenth of this LP setup.)
I've always loved reel to reel, but it just was never in the cards for me. I'm not a thrifty person. Cassette decks was as far as I got. I'll watch any new videos on your reel to reel journey
When we get to some of the Decca London, I may be able to do that. I'll certainly be using the best sounding copy I have. In this case there wasn't a quality reissue. I chose this one to highlight the end of side crowding issue.
Thanks for the explanation. I guess we will take your word for the sonic quality. You sound like you have a good ear. I hope in the future you acquire the permissions.
Experience tape like sound with horned speakers. e.g. th-cam.com/video/cwESiisp27U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=smnZnMjBTvW_pHBR on Klipsch Sevens + sub driven by PC. Don't even need analog. What is it about tape? It's the dynamics and the detail and the naturalness. Everything you get with horns. A horn guy told me it's cuz horns use natural acoustic amplification. * Tractrix horn. Not elliptical. The sub is vital.
I think anyone interested in investing cash in the reel-to-reel medium would be wise to investigate the life span of reel tape and the storage issues associated with their long-term preservation. In particular, the terms vinegar syndrome and sticky-shed should be well known but have not been mentioned much at all during this resurgence. There's a reason beyond space saving measures why vast libraries of archival tape have been preserved to hard drives. Of course, transfers to new tape would be ideal, but, as you've pointed out, that is certainly cost-prohibitive.
Good points of course, and I'll address that in a future episode. I can say that the collection I have is doing well and looks like it will outlast me with proper care.
Not with proper handling & storage of the tapes and when using a well maintained machine. Many masters from the 50's and 60's still sound fabulous today. They may not be as "fresh" as when they were first conceived, but they still sound better than any modern format so go figure! Also tape manufactured today is far more durable than some of the formulations of yesteryear. So all in all, recordings made today should safely outlive any of us.
@LetThereBeSound1 I'll add in to that, these tapes I have in my possession were picked up 30-40 years after their creation and another 30 years has passed. They have been carefully stored and are sounding better than my records. I expect they will outlast me.
@@ThePressingMatters The biggest enemy of mag tape is magentism and water. They can be pretty easily damaged and stretched by transport malfunctions or just mis-threading. They are also prone to shrinkage. But as far as wear due from just playing tapes, that is practically nil. As you said proper storage and climate/humidity control makes a difference.
@@ThePressingMatters I am a musician and a former studio owner back in the day.. i have plenty of multitrack tape as well as two track ones all stored in house in bookshelves and they do degrade.. always. 40-50 years and you may have to bake one or two even before getting anything off it if you cant air them play them through at times. I love analogue reel to reel, way way more than digital not the least when it comes to recording new music onto. But my records stored the same way will outlast any reel to reel tape and not degrade just sitting there
Thank you for your comment and experience with this. Yes, unfortunately tapes are deteriorating slowly. We've all heard of situations where one had degraded beyond a fix, like baking. I was only referring to my small experience with some well preserved consumer reels. At my age, 63, I expect they will outlast me without issue, but long term, a record is a better bet. I too prefer analog reel if given a choice. Looking forward to exploring it more, and your input is always welcome!
Respectfully, I think you've missed the point here. I am in search of the best reproduction of my favorite music. Reel to reel was the format of choice for this reason. That I am able to share some insight and excitement about seems worth talking about. Audiophilia is inherently nerdy, and reel to reel may be the pinnacle of that image. So be it. I'm having a blast.
Music performed live most especially Orchestral music or any Acoustic non-amplified live music is the purest possible your ears will ever hear - recording that to a "format" is where non-musical information is introduced whether it be subsonic, loss of highs, speed errors, clipping etc. So, the "format" that can reproduce the purest sound with minimum coloration is going to be of great interest to serious listeners. And even if people are not willing or able to acquire Open Reel equipment /media I think these comments overall speak for themsevles that many Hi-Fi aficionados are interested to expand their knowledge about mag tape and how tape sizes up against vinyl or digital media.
@@fueledbylove Thank you for this comment. This is exactly what I'm searching to achieve. I hear live orchestral music here, and I know what it sounds like. It's disappoints me when the reproduction is not even close. If I can explore a format that gets me closer, than that's what I'll do.
I haven't lived in that area for many years, and I'm sure resources have changed. I'll see if I can dig up some information, but perhaps another viewer may have some suggestions.
Yes Scott. Please continue pursuing this topic!
Thank you for the vote! I'm excited to continue!
Yes, more of these. Thank you
You got it!
Yes!- Yes please continue - always wanted a Revox B77 or Tandberg Td20a - good to learn more - thanks
I'll be delving more into the machines, perhaps trying others if available, and my own Pioneer at some point. I'll be learning as I go. Lots of great tapes to cover too.
I bought myself a B77 Mk II when I retired back in 2018. It set me back £600 and had been completely refurbished and set up for the latest blank tape. It's a 1/4 track 7.5 ips machine but it is still awesome and I would recommend it.
Very interesting, agree that tape is on the list for most of us to try but cost and space preclude it for many of us. But, YES more of this please.
Thank you for watching and commenting, and for voting for a series of these videos!
Thanks for the comparison, interesting topic. Yes more please! Your videos are always very well done and informative.
Thank you so much Richard! Great to have you here for this series. I think it will be very interesting for both the curious and experienced tape lovers.
I have two consumer level Akai reel to reels and I LOVE EM. I mainly record to them myself...vinyl or flac files. Sound is amazing. Keep on this subject please. Great video.
I'm very interested in hearing about recording digital files to tape. I have had a few comments about this enhancing the sound in a positive way. That's very interesting and I'll explore that some more as the series moves on.
Love these comparisons, please do more of them.
Thanks for watching and the vote to continue. My mind is already reeling with ideas! Lol
Thanks!
Thank you for your support Marco!
I think the last time I heard anything on reel to reel was back in school so that’s been a while. Whether I’ll ever get into them is doubtful (more for cost reasons) but then you never know and I’m fascinated to see more like this, Scott.
Hi Robert,
I think this is going to be very interesting. I can already tell I'm very excited to learn more, hear more comparisons and discuss other aspects of this. It's great to have you here!
@@ThePressingMatters Scott, I’d also be interested to see some of that other audio equipment you’ve got in storage 😊
@robertmorgan9205 Ok, I'll show you the other stuff one day!
Would love to hear more side by side tape vs lp comparisons, especially for jazz, blues, or rock tapes!
I'll do my best to find more in other genres. I've got a few I'll tackle. Thanks for the vote of confidence!
Exact comparison could be tricky. Studio recordings may be (are!) not fully compatible to tape recorder which can be available for people now.. On other side turntable sound is at it's best when we play on top quality turntable perfect new LP or in ideal condition .
Yes - Fascinating as someone who grew up eating a Tandberg or Revox - good to know there is interest - thanks
Great, I would love any insights on the machines or any observations as we go along on this series! Thanks so much!
Very interested in continued comparisons between tape and LP. The words you used to describe the LP on the mercury are exactly the reasons SACD was hoped to be the next evolution (analogue quality without the impact of the medium). Keep up the good work.
Thank you,
There will be more coming up! I hope to be able to comment on SACD at some point. If it close or better than the best analog, it does raise some interesting questions. I myself was a big fan of the Mercury CDs and I wish I had kept them.
Definitely do the same comparison on the Firebird Suite. I think that piece will highlight the transients of many types of orchestral instruments.
Oh I will! I'd love to do it for the Dorati on Mercury, but no tape has surfaced yet! But the Ansermet will be very interesting as well.
Please, more comparisons of r2r and vinyl! I also have a Pioneer RT707 and many pre-recorded tapes that's sitting in my closet for the last 20 years. So you could talk me into getting it refurbished with more tape reviews. Thanks Scott.
Hi James!
I will keep you updated on the Pioneer - I really hope it's not a fortune to fix it.
Any way I will be covering lots of aspects and of course tape to disc comparisons.
Thanks for letting me know your interest in this topic. Let's get you excited to play tapes again!
Bravo Scott! And YES there is interest! Duh! 😉 Where are all my tapeheads at? Well done sir!
I look forward to continued support of this amazing format. In fact, after you have had your fill with 1/4-Track tape, I will arm you with one of my 1/2-Track decks so you can experience 15ips production tape copies which are the *ULTIMATE* analog experience ! ! !
OMG THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!
@@ThePressingMatters I will provide you a box of Adult Depends Diapers. You will need them! 🤣
I have been using tape for more than 40 years now on domestic and professional applications. Oz introduced me to the master of reel to reel restorations, Gio Currado from Italy and I have commissioned 2 Revox decks already. I keep my tape decks collection running and serviced and actually have over 20 units in my possess ion. My passion is recording.
Yes I made an error in the video, but Gio is credited in the description of the video. I might look into a Revox if I can afford it. Seems to be the choice among those in the know!
I would definitely like to see and hear more! My own experience with prerecorded R2R is that sometimes you get beautiful and stunning sound quality, but also I have ended up with some true stinkers in terms of sound. While true “the pressing matters” in the vinyl world, I think it’s safe to say that “the duplication matters” in the tape world.
Absolutely. There were a few duplication houses at least. I saw Bel Canto for two wonderful sounding Mercury Living Presence tapes. Amped was the big one of course. I used to have some others. I did have one pop stinker, that once I dj the comparison, I'll bring up.
This will be a fun diversion!
Great video as usual, it is nice seeing someone addressing reel to reel. If they are in good shape they typically sound fantastic. You should enjoy the RT-707 when you get it back, they are great little machines. You are also right, you can still find the tapes reasonable if you are willing to hunt a little, estate sales, garage sales. Currently have a dining room table full of London blue back classical and opera reels that came from a garage sale a couple of weeks ago.
Thank you for your comment! I'm hoping the Pioneer will be in service soon and that it can compete with the Revox. I've already started looking at auctions for some tapes! There's been a very good response to this so you'll see more on this topic! Thanks for watching!
Great topic, goddamn! ♥️
Glad you like it Andrew! Next one on this topic is coming soon, and I think it's going to be eye opening!
Please, more reviews. Thanks so much.
There will be soon. Going through some new tapes to pick some gems! Thanks for watching!
I bought a Pioneer RT707 on eBay that was completely rebuilt with new caps and resistors about 8 years ago. They are super reliable and sound gorgeous. There are several people on eBay who rebuild RT707. Send your old unit and they will ship it back rebuilt. I have 200 prerecorded R2R tapes and play them several times a month. I love my Linn LP12 but R2R tapes are an equally enjoyable experience. I look forward to more comparisons. Thanks.
Thanks!, I'll look into it if our friend can't get it rebuilt. The next video is in the can, will be out on Sunday!
Fun! I've always wanted to add reel-reel tapes to my collection/system, but it's a challenge re: space and funds. I'm interested in hearing more comparisons.
That's understandable. I think if you put your feelers out there you may find a decent deck for not too much money. . I'm going to be hitting up the auction sites for tapes so we might have a bidding war! Lol
Thank you Scott for offering this subject. We always considered “reel” tape to be superior audio to vinyl if the hiss wasn’t bad (and rarely was it bad).
I did a lot of home recording on reel-to-reel from 1968 to 1974 but no longer have a functional machine for playback. This was basic Scotch tape on 5-inch reels for amateurs. My fear is the tape has degraded. Would love to hear my family again from long ago, but can’t pay big money for a player! Alas, it may be lost...
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment and I hope you find the series interesting. I'm very excited to get rolling on this!
I understand the importance of what you have in those tapes. There are places that digitize older media for you but I've never heard of them handling reel to reel. Maybe someone here can offer some advice or help.
YES! If you want to spend time on any more Mercury recordings you might have, I'll be especially thrilled.
Yes! I know I have Prokofiev Concerto with Janis and although I haven't compared yet it sounded spectacular. I believe Balalaika Favorites is here as well as Respighi The Birds. Might be more! Can't wait!
@@ThePressingMatters I look forward to more. I think it was your reviews of some of the Living Presence vinyl re-issues that first brought me to your channel. When my dad passed away, he left me his record collection, which included quite a few original 50s and 60s Mercury LPs. They are all pretty beat up and crackly, but I'll never part with them because they bring back memories of the early 1970s when he used them to introduce me to classical music. Our mutual favourite was Dorati's recording of the 1812; Dad had 2 copies, because he'd worn the first one out. He let me have the older copy to play on my cheap suitcase record player. Lowest of the lo-fi, but it was such a thrill to my 10-year-old self.
I once owned an Ampex 755A R2R tape deck. Ampex's were notorious with their belts. Changing them and often was a real pain.
@@barfoonisland2003 Definitely a format with some considerations. It's not easy to find parts and service.
Interesting video. I became a two cassette deck guy by the late 1970's and enjoyed copying tapes, recording off air concerts and editing them. Eventually the open reel format "bug" bit me. I started shopping for a R2R deck and in 1982 got the best deal on a Teac X-3 machine. The dealer offered me either two or four track and had to explain the difference. Two track seemed to provide better fidelity but I opted for the four track unit. He also threw in the smoked dustcover with my X-3 for an additional $40. Total cost was $329. It's a very good "basic" R2R deck and I've used it for over forty two years with little maintenance issues. I wasn't sure I wanted to take the R2R plunge with a monster Studer, Revox or Uher and the Pioneer RT-701 was too much $$. Forget the "one motor" Akai GX-4000D, it looked like junk. So I sprung for the X-3. I've used a Pioneer RG-2 expander with my X-3 since 1982 and it does open up the dynamic range a bit more. A nice addition to my hifi system.
Awesome history there, I really enjoyed hearing about this deck. I will look into it more. I think you're going to enjoy this series. The next video will be out tomorrow!
This is certainly interesting, but I just don't see myself getting into it. I don't ever recall seeing these tapes around in the wild, but I do recall seeing the reel to reel decks in second hand stores. I don't see them in second hand stores anymore. Looks like a more difficult to find specialty item, but it may be as rewarding as antique recordings. 👍👍👍
It's something that I had hoped I could talk about here, and this fortunately came together in a way o couldn't have imagined.i hope you'll follow along - it should be fun and interesting for sure!
@@ThePressingMatters It wouldn't be the first time that it takes me a while to warm up to a new interest. Tape is a part of audiophile history, so I'd like to know more about it. Depending on time, I'll try to follow along. By the way, I had the ultimate audiophile experience yesterday. I bought the Fender Stratocaster guitar that I told you about for a really good price. Fender hand built this one really well; it sounds really good. It is so much fun playing it with different amp settings. 😻
Glad to see you pursuing this. Oz knows tape for sure, and of course I’d love to see some more of these comparisons. 15IPS is the pinnacle of course, but a lot more considerations. One suggestion, if Oz would accommodate it; try to buy one of his 4 Refurbed Revoxs vs putting ANY $$ into that 707… you’ll have a much better sounding machine at the end of the day:)
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm not sure how much I can afford to put into the format. I certainly have a decent amount of media. I'll have to see what the verdict is on the Pioneer. Perhaps if I can get it to working condition for little money, I can sell or trade up towards a better deck. They do go for decent money these days.
Very interesting video. Thanks! I’ve always liked the open reel tapes. I have only one commercially pre-recorded from the 50’s. It’s so impressive. In fact playing it prompted me to have my machine checked because it distorted on the more intensive parts. My AKAI 4000DS mkII is not the best around but hopefully a good deal will come around.
Great to have you here. I hope the videos and the comments section will be a source of information for those who wish to explore this, or just watch from the sidelines.
My A77 is sitting unused and, even though it's been recapped, is not at the level that I would want. I bought it second hand from a colleague at the BBC back in the 1980s. When I retired, seven years ago, I got myself a fully refurbished B77 Mk II. Now that is a beast and is set up in my system and running perfectly. It has been adapted from the peculiar Revox power lead to a standard IEC power lead but other than that is all original specification.
That sounds amazing! I'll have to take a closer look at the B77! Thanks for watching and commenting!
yes, more reel to reel! 15 ips is the best audio I've ever heard (guessing 30 was even better)
I've just been told that Oz will bring a 15ips set up here at some point, if only for a demo. I know he has many master tape copies and Analogue Productions Living Stereo tapes!
@@ThePressingMatters As 15ips is basically the master tapes and not the commercially available iteration to do a fair comparison with vinyl, at the very least, you need a test pressing.
@@ianz9916 The commercial 4 track tapes are already surpassing the vinyl playback in some cases. I'll be discussing some possible reasons why but I expect the 15ips to totally outclass the vinyl.
30 better highs. 15 better lows. Engineering trade off. The best bass would be at cassette speed!
The one thing you should ALWAYS notice when comparing ANY lp to reel tape, is that lps have a spotlit "whitish" coloration;; always! Reel tapes have a warm rich sound, even compared to lp. This "whitish" coloration of lps is always there, as the former TAS Editor Harry Pearson pointed out in an old article where he compared the reel tape of the factory prerecorded Fritz Reiner, Lieutenat Kije reel tape with the shaded dog lp. He likened the lp playback as listening to a marching band parade with the windows closed, and the tape sounded like a parade going by with the windows partially open. That "whitish" spotlit coloration is always there, and a comparison with a reel tape, always reveals it. Which is one reason why I like tape better. It's my favorite medium. I will be drawn to even playing a cassette versus an lp. I like them better than lp, but of course I have extraordinarily high quality cassette playback.. Except for dynamic range, which is actually getting closer and closer to lp, MUCH closer as I mod, I cannot say that lps outperform cassettes in any significant way. Now those who've only heard cassettes in a car, played on a boombox or maybe a 2 or 3 hundred dollar cassette deck are probably saying "What the heck?" But factory prerecorded cassettes played back with extraordinary cassette playback equipment can sound like Heaven on Earth. Even on Nakamichi decks, (which are not THE KING) many people prefer cassette sound to cd and lp. .
Reel to reel is the ultimate for sound quality of any format; and not by a small margin either, especially if you're used to hearing factory prerecorded tapes played back on a modified Studer studio machine. Cassettes should be looked at as Reel to Reel JR.. They work on the exact same principle as the greatest medium for sound quality (reel to reel). The only difference is the tape moves at a slower speed and is narrower. A great cassette deck, at one half the speed always outperforms reel to reel's 3 and 3/4 ips speed. At 7 and 1/2 ips, reel to reel really gets going for sound quality. And it leaves most cassette decks behind. But if you have cassette decks of the highest precision and are highly modified, you can forget you are not listening to a pro level reel to reel. And cassettes are very inexpensive to acquire. And very often they beat the same lp recording, for sound quality. And also the cd.
Tape, whether it is reel to reel or ultra high quality cassette playback, has such a smooth warm liquid sound, with unbelievable continuity. The music is not chopped into segments by ticks and pops or the unnaturalness of that persistent whitish coloration of lps. No ticks and pops at all, and tape is more analog, and more analog sounding, than any format. The more I improve my cassette playback sound, the more I think that maybe tape is capable of more low level detail and subtle nuances than any other format. Of course the detail is there electromagnetically instead as wiggles in plastic, or bits on a cd. For bass reproduction, nothing touches tape as different formats go. When TAS or Stereophile (forgot which) compared the old MOFI UHQR lp of The Beatles Sgt. Peppers with the actual master tape, reel tape brought out of the vaults; the reel tape trounced the lp, which was played back on a $100,000 plus turntable setup. Totally crushed it, and the area of the most improvement of all, they said; was the bass response. Much clearer, deeper, tighter, faster, dynamic, weighty. In addition to prowess with low level nuance, and bass, reel to reel and even high quality cassette playback has another forte; Openness, spatiality, and big instrument size. Instruments sound miniaturized and somewhat slow on average cassette playback. But not like that at all on something great.
Interesting that so many Ansermet titles were shown. Maybe my best sounding cassette of alll is the old Ansermet Nutcracker. It sounds like it was recorded directly from the master tape onto cassette in real time. The London or Decca FFSS lps cannot touch it for sound quality. And I'm not even so sure the FFSS reel tape sounds as clean.Something unusual went on with this cassette. It's the factory prerecorded cassette case that is the one that has the rare cover picture. It's the rarer one that is about 1 in 30, if you look on ebay. Often there isn't one. Earlier in the year I found one still sealed on ebay.and bought a second one, because I knew how good it was. I will be playing it this Christmas.
Maybe the fastest appreciating piece of gear in all of audio is the Pioneer RT 909 reel deck. 8 years ago, the going price on ebay was S700; they're now going for prices like $2,800 and more. In the forums someone or soneone(s) were saying that the RT 909 playback of prerecorded titles were one of the best. Pioneer reel decks have been known to be hard to get parts for. Same with Tandberg. Tandberg.The Tandberg TD 20 reel deck was a true cut above, and would have been a dream for reel deck enthusiasts if not for its reputation for unreliability. Tandberg, the company, has been out of audio for many years. Among the easiest to get parts for are the Revox machines. Our local Laserium used one as the sound source, with 38 JBL speakers spanning the circular roof of the Planetarium according to Laserium protocol. Would really like to know what JBL models thety were. Wouldn't it be funny if they were JBL vintage model 100s, which are probably second only to Bose at people making fun of their sound..The new ones I hear are not harsh like the old ones could sound. Maybe some of those JBL 100 critics would be in shock for days , thinking the Laserium sound was the best sound quality they ever heard heardnot realizing they were hearing 38 JBL speakers.
I once compared original Steppenwolf lps, ABC black label and the later yellow/orange label lps to the ree7 and 1/2 ips reereel tapes and there was no contest. You really have to hear Steppenwolf on tape. I think Acoustic Sounds came out with some Steppenwolf. I'd really like to hear one. They do a very consistently great job on the mastering.
Be very interesting for you to compare the LP to the reel to reel. Eugene List and Ivan Davis were both gifted American pianist. Ivan passed a few years ago and lived in south FL.
Oh I didn't know where or what happened to Ivan Davis. I have another LP on London Phase 4 that features him as well. Both were very fine pianists. Looking forward to this series!
@@ThePressingMatters Ivan recorded six or seven albums for London Phase 4...think I have all of them. Also three or four albums early in his career for Columbia Masterworks.
@mr.classicalmusic5607 I probably have three on London. Some of their finest sound.
I have a perreaux 3150 and I definitely recommend that you get that beast fixed. It will drive anything including maggies with ease, and sound great doing it.
That's exactly what I was doing with it! I had Maggie 1.6 with that and Audio Research preamp. It was heaven.
Looks like you bit the bullet! Congrats. Looking forward to your insight Scott
Yes! I'm particularly proud of tomorrow's premiere video on this subject:
th-cam.com/video/OLp8mEJ0LZw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=QX8wrlijj6xjQUPS
Hope to see you there!
I've been enjoying my Pioneer RT-707 for a few years, and I think you will love it's performance as well as it's appearance. I would definitely be interested in more r2r shootouts, as well as discussion about the format. Thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for watching and the vote for more on this topic! I did love my Pioneer and I hope I can get it up and running again. It's very nice looking too, but what a beast! So heavy!
I would love to see some comparisons between the two formats
I'm a collector myself, not that much classical music, but I've got some tapes and some vinyls and would love to get some tips or references :)
I working in the next one as we speak. It will be a pop title rather than classical. I think you'll enjoy it!
@@ThePressingMatters oh how cool, thanks a lot :)
It's almost ready. I think you're going to love this one.
Interesting to see the open reel format still in use here. My late father bought a Philips machine in the early 1960s before I was born, and kept it in the living room next to a Dansette. I'm still unsure why he bought it, as he rarely used it, but it looked nice. In my teens I gave it a whirl and found a rather nasty mains hum which I didn't know how to fix, so I left it alone, although its audio quality at 3.75ips (top speed) was pretty good.
Very cool story, thank you!
yes please continue. You could also use the Wilma Cozart mastered cds of these recordings as a comparison (I bought all 3 boxed sets of Mercury Living Presence cds)
I really need to do that too. As I said in another reply, I let my individual copies go when I decided to go all analog. I wish I would have kept them.
I'll probably end up there again!
This is a great topic. Scott, I am curious if you know how fast the Mercury Gershwin reel tape was duplicated. Was it 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 4 to 1? I can comprehend a 1 to 1 copy sounding better than the vinyl, but a 4 to 1 would probably be missing some top end and low bass. It would be great to see you compare some pop/soul/rock/jazz music consumer reel to reel tapes of the 60s and 70s album to their concurrent LP pressings. Thanks for another enjoyable video.
I honestly don't know how this tape was done. It was made by Bel Canto rather than Ampex. The other Mercury I played was just as good. Different companies might have had faster or slower duplication. I'd like to know more about this too.
I have very little in the genres you mention. Most of what I have are classical, folk, broadway and light pop. I'll see what else I can access!
@@ThePressingMatters - As an idea, perhaps you may have access to some of Barbra Streisand's early-mid 60s Columbia reel tapes. I think up to a certain point, they were done at 7 1/2 ips.
@@themotownboy1 Oh, I have located most of my collection but there's one box missing and it had some great stuff in it including a few early Streisand tapes. I know it's in the vault, but things got mixed up at one point and I'm getting it organized again. I'd love to do one on Barbra. I bet those tapes shine and yes they were 7.5ips
I thought about getting into reel to reel and was looking for a machine for 6 months. Sanity returned . The machine are generally expensive and are over 40 years old.Most people recommend a higher end machine to show the benefits. Recorded material is expensive and hard to find. I then remembered the disadvantages of cassette tapes. I then realized i probably would be using the reel to reel to record my vinyl album so i bought a tascom da 3000 instead.
I completely understand hesitating on this format. The only reason this is viable is that I have some software with some more coming in, and that I have this Revox on loan. I don't know yet if my Pioneer can be fixed and if I will have been spoiled by the Revox. I'm sure Oz would sell one of his for the right price.
It's definitely not a decision to make lightly. However so far I am very impressed with the sound. I do happen to like the classical and pop recordings from the time this format was active.
The modern machines are definitely out of reach. I can't go there. I'll play with the vintage stuff while I can and see where things go.
Very interesting. I’d love to get in to tape. It is the holy grail. But, I just don’t have that kind of money. In particular, servicing the decks seems to be like buying an old Bentley. Best of luck and keep us informed - maybe it is possible? Get the 15ips Gillian Welsh reel 😬
Thanks for your comment. It looks like I will be exploring this through a series of videos, and I'll work through deeper comparisons of tape and disc equivalents. There will be the day my own Pioneer deck comes back and I can compare machines in that case. It also looks like I may have some exposure to the 2 track 15ips format, at least for a demonstration here in my system. Gillian Welsh would be amazing!
I find this interesting and would enjoy seeing more comparisons. I do have an Otari MX5050 and a dozen 15ips tapes. Sounds great. Haven't aquired any 7 1/2 ips tapes yet. I find them hard to find. I mostly see 3 3/4.
Yes, the 7.5 are the best of the vintage tapes. I really don't bother with 3 3/4. I will get to experience 15 ips soon so stay tuned. Next vid will be out this week!
More, please. Obsolete formats are inherently interesting, but also the recordings issued around 1955-1965 (before baby boomer rock took over the industry) are also interesting
I'm keenly interested in this period of music too so this will be fun to take a deep dive into what was available on tape. I'm starting to assemble some catalogs for a bigger picture. Thanks for the vote to continue!
In these times people were not concentrated on lowest and highest harmonics as today anbecause gear was limiting it's amplification due to interferences of hum and noise . For that reason were applauded wideband systems, often callled "concert" - in my opinion best of them deserved it .
Great interesting topic, please go for it ! I bought a Revox a77 mk4 by „accident“ for 100€ 5-6 years ago. After maintenance by a Revox technician for 400€, this 4tr machine transformed into an incredibly sound machine, when run with 7.5 ips 4tr prerecorded reel to reel tapes from e.g. Colombia, Ampeg or Barclay Crotchet. Tape sound is like a drug. Everything is more visible and pronounced,
even in comparision with records from Acoustic Sounds and Impex imo. Revox in Europe has the great advantage, that all replacement parts are still 100% available and knowledged technicians are around. Here in Germany (where I come from) well done maintenance of Pioneer, Tascsm or Otari tape machine is way more challenging in contrast to Studer, Revox or Telefunken tape machines.
Wonderful comment, thank you! I'm hearing what I imagine you are on a similar machine. I think mine may be earlier incarnation. It will be great to have your input as we go along here!
I would be interested for you pursue this area more Scott. I own two Studer Revox B77's one domestic 4 track and one pro-sumer 2 track 15ips with IEC output to suit todays "new" tapes, they are both excellent ways to listen to analogue sound from the past and present without the vinyl restrictions imposed at the cutting stage
That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to hearing 15ips with one of these machines. For now, I'm really excited about 4 track 7.5. The next video is already done and should be out tomorrow!
It's going to be great to have your insight and experience here as I go through this journey.
Wowsers man, another Grand Slam! 🤟
Fantastic! I'm glad you liked it and I consider this comment a vote for more! 😀
Scott, you got me to thinkin' (smell of wood burning)...
In 1970, a buddy of mine, a few years older, was working at Tower Records in Hollywood, CA. He was a natural soft-sell salesman. He met a lot of folks from the recording industry. He met someone that was in the business and was a regular customer of his when buying LP's. He had upgraded his entire home audio system so he offered my buddy his old Ampex tape deck. It was old but it must have been a top of the line consumer deck when new and it was immaculately maintained. My buddy had a very good stereo system at the time: McIntosh tube electronics and original JBL speakers. Anyway long story short. My buddy got his hands on an English import tape reel of Led Zeppelin's 1st LP. To this day I remember the SOUND of that tape. I have not heard anything like it to this day. I have heard and owned many different versions LP and CD of that album. The sound quality/musicality of that tape was remarkable.
Whoa! That's a very interesting story!
@@ThePressingMatters I have seen Led Zeppelin live 4 times including one night of their 4 night (I think) gig at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood with Alice Cooper. I believe that was Led Zep's first Los Angeles area appearance. Anyway, I have never heard Led Zeppelin sound so good as that tape in my buddy's "sound room" at the time over live appearances and different home set-ups with different version CD's and LP's... It's crazy I know.
@@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm Oh I can believe it. A tape of that pedigree on that kind of machine should surpass anything.
This would be a fascinating series. I have an Onkyo OR deck and it works great and is built like a tank. I have probably 20 OR tapes, all 4-track. My observations match yours in that the dynamics are handled better and there is more detail. The high level of tape hiss is very noticeable at first but it's steady-state noise and my ear 'hears through' it just a few minutes in. I do have some later RCA OR tapes that are re-releases, budget ones I think, that have orange labels on the reels and those don't sound so great. As soon as levels get near 0 dB audible overload creeps in and then goes off the chart, most likely inferior oxide formulation.
Thanks for your comment Jose!
You described this better than I did. The hiss is not a problem. It disappears as your ears and brain become accustomed to it. It's so much less intrusive than the eccentricities of vinyl records.
This was quite amazing to me and I'm really psyched to continue collecting the tapes and reporting on them here.
I used to have some of the orange label RCA tapes. I'm pretty sure they were the budget, slow speed tapes and they were poor sounding.
Scott, I'm very interested! We need to be thankful for you having such well-connected friends. We may need to change the name of your channel to - Because Scotty Matters ❤
Yes, I owe a big debt of gratitude of people like Oz for making things happen. I'm really excited about this subject and there's a lot to cover! Stay tuned and thank you for your support and encouragement!
My Revox is also languishing needing some love, like most people I never bought pre-recorded tapes but recorded John Peel at the BBC most nights and comedy broadcasts
Oh those tapes might have some great stuff on them. Maybe you'll get inspired to have the deck brought up to speed, so to speak!
Glad to have you onboard for this!
Hi Scott. I would like to know more about tape vs vinyl. Very interesting. Thanks.
Thanks for watching and commenting, Todd. Glad you enjoyed this topic!
Thanks for addressing reel to reel. More of this. :) But, instead of only comparing prerecorded tapes you’d to consider taping content from 96/24. You’ll be surprised of the new perspective tape creates on a dead digital recording.
Yes, this is an area I'm interested in as well. Oswaldo has told me about this effect.
Thanks for the suggestion and the vote to continue down this path!
Oh muh God, this is right up my alley. I don't need any more of these, well, lets say I am not looking currently. At one point I had about 30 machines and twenty years ago I had about three so that collection took time to grow, but before moving I had to shed a few of them, including an Otari MX5050 BII, 3 Teac A-2340 decks and a AKAI GX-4000D most made me $$$ and went to good homes but I had to give away or toss out the A-2340s which were in good shape.
There is more to this story, stand by. okay here we go...
With factory reels I prefer the sound of 2-track, they are all recorded at 7.5ips and if I choose a 4-trk tape I try to go for the higher speed also, but 4-trk at 3.75ips isn't bad, a lot of my "rock" tapes were cheaper at the slower speed. I also try to acquire Quad reels because they deliver true discrete 4-channel audio and i have a little JVC 4 Ch. system set up for those.
I have a lot of decks still, I have a Akai GX-365D just for spooling "tails-outs" tapes cuz it has 15ips, great for getting a smooth and even pack on rewinds.
I located some very good deals on used machines using Craigslist. I got a TOTL AKAI GX-747dbx from a guy on CL and he charged me a couple of hundred for it, and it had the reel clamps and one metal reel, one lil button the reel size was missing which I found on ePay later. Nothing wrong with the transport or electronics, it had a common fault caused by failing little belts for the tensioners, an easy fix.
One day there was an ad for some reel to reels, this person need to clear out a room at a Self Storage place. So I called and he told me to meet him over there but I would have to take everything, or nothing so I said how big is this room? He said not big, just about 6 by 8 feet and his Uncle had stored records, tape machines and tapes in there. I figured I would be able to get it all in my big Buick station wagon. When I saw what was in that room I tried my best to remain calm and mildly interested in the contents.
One side was all R2R decks and the other had several boxes and bins, these were almost all Organ records well over a hundred of them but there was also lot old 10" microgroove LPs in a bin with a bunch of blank Ampex 7" NIB tapes. The other boxes had mostly 7" used tapes that Uncle had made, yes, all Organ music. He really liked Organ recordings but I wasnt too keen on them. There was some 10" metal reels too and other stuff like old 5" reels in a box and some dust covers.
The best part of the deal was there mostly in plain sight, a stack of Pioneer decks, with a nice dash of vintage Teacs with an Akai or two thrown in as well. All this stuff barely fit in my Wagon, it was chock full when I had it all loaded up.
A few months later I won an auction for a Tascam 22-2, this is a small 2-track deck, meant as an affordable mix-down of multi-track recordings - and it works well for playback of any 2trk factory tapes - like I really need this, not. BUT that purchase was just the tip of the iceberg as the seller was eager to thin his "herd" at that time and he had some formidable Japanese Tech ...cont.
Sounds like you might be someone that would make a great guest! I may do a group panel at some point with Oz, myself and other tape enthusiasts. Let's see if we can get this series running! I already have the next episode thought out and it's going to be fantastic!
@@ThePressingMatters Sure! I would be glad to contribute what I can.
I haven't found reel to reel to be very cost-prohibitive and I am not a "rich person" though I have been very fortunate obtaining my gear for not much $$$ - I have had my moments bidding more than I ought for certain "gems" of the factory produced media and some rarer one-off kind of tapes. Hey, I'm only human!
I just browsed eBay for tapes. Kind of lame stuff, pretty beat. Glad I grabbed mine when I did.
@@ThePressingMatters Really? Most of the factory reels, well, titles that I was really looking for I purchased from ePay sellers.
Try finding quadraphonic reels anywhere else, granted most are priced above what I want to pay but I get a deal now and then.
The rest of my reels are flotsam and jetsam I happened to find at the Goodwill-type used places, various flea markets and like you. some gifted to me by friends.
EX: of an unexpected major find - I found a still sealed RCA 4trk Reiner/ Scheherazade in a Goodwill once. My cost was less than the old price sticker that was on the shrink but I would have paid more than 8.99
I love when that happens!
Another wonderful, prescient video, Scott. Sadly, the audiophile grail is a step too far for most. Thanks for bringing us all the information and sound comparisons. Yes, more please.
@@AudiophiliaChannel It’s not a step too far if you refrain from the recorded (master) tapes. You’ll be having a great time using an e.g. AKAI 4000DS creating your own tapes from a digital source. The 3D image and lush a reel to reel gives you will surprise.
YES!!! Please go ahead! 🤙🏻🤙🏻
I'm going for it. Might be a new video very soon. I have a great idea to shoot tomorrow
@@ThePressingMatters👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You have opened the audiophile Pandora’s box! 😊
Ain't that the truth! It will be fun and so far isn't costing anything. We'll have to see what happens with the Pioneer and if it's worth the cost to fix or look elsewhere.
Very interesting, thank you for doing this well thought comparison between vinyl and tape reproduction. From the start I believe that the tapes have the edge in terms of dynamic swing, channel separation and low end energy and pitch definition.
I have few tapes around, both 2 track 15", true reference that I play when searching for Nirvana, and also 7" at 7,5 and 3,75, but alas, the machine for these needs a service and that seems harder to find here in the South Island of New Zealand.
Lastly, I find it ironic that the high end turntables (cartridge/arm and phono stage) costs few times more than the arguably top Reel to Reel machines (Studer A 820, Nagra T, Ballfinger,...)
You're welcome! I'm so glad you found this interesting. Your experience with tape is much appreciated. It's so nice to discuss this topic with other enthusiasts. Stay tuned for more!
Unfortunately both of my reel to reel decks need servicing. I have the RCA 4-track Chicago Symphony Scherezade. Just phenomenal. Only gripe is the bass drum doesn't have the extension/impact of modern recordings.
I picked up a few gems pre ebay cheap. A couple Miles Davis reels and a very rare Blue Note-Jimmy Smith The Sermon. When Liberty owned Blue Note, they released about a half dozen titles on reel to reel. Extremely rare to find.
I think I'll be poking around eBay to see what's up these days with reels. Classical should be cheap, rock and jazz will be $$ if available at all.
Maybe you'll get inspired to have your deck looked at!
Tape is amazing. I've heard R2R's of MIchael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Yes, and Queen here on TH-cam that even with TH-cam's compression, obliterate the best vinyl rips I've heard of each respective recording.
I'll be hearing some 15ips "master tapes" soon, of popular artists like you've mentioned. Looking forward to sharing what I've learned!
nice overview. If you decide to get further into tapes and tapes vs. LP comparisons, get a tube tape head pre=preamp to run the signal from the tape heads to achieve the desired level of gain. Listening to tape through the stock tape deck electronics is akin to listening to a LOMC cart through the phono stage on a 1970s receiver. Once you change the signal path, you'll get really surprised. You can do this for not a lot of cash. the EAR phonobox (real or clones) can be adapted as well as the Marantz 7 phono stage clones from China. The clones from China are inexpensive enough you can order two. One for NAB EQ and set up the 2nd for IEC if there is a desire to get into 15 IPS IEC tapes.
Very interesting info, thank you. I'll run it by Oz. I didn't realize this but it makes a lot of sense.
Great video, have a few dozen classical 4-tracks, most sound fantastic and average price on them were maybe $7. Dynamic range on the best ones is astounding for a consumer format, IMO.
Yes, I agree! If you can get hold of a vintage machine in good shape, the cost of media is a relative bargain!
I'll take this as a vote for more videos on this topic!
@@ThePressingMatters More please! And thanks.
Hi Scott, This is a fascinating subject to explore. I remember seeing a High Fidelity magazine from the late 1950's advertising the tape of the Heifetz/Mumch/BSO recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto and the price was $29.95. For comparison, the equivalent lp price was $4.95 so these tapes have always been quite pricey. I have only had a chance to hear a few of them and never under the type of conditions you outlined. At the time, I thought that once my ears adjusted to the slight hiss, the sound was pretty stunning. As an aside, perhaps you should someday do a video tour of your vault!
Wonderful comment and a great picture of how this was perceived at the time. It was a very expensive proposition that only a small segment enjoyed. Looking forward to doing more videos on this topic!
Definitely explore the reel to reel. So many things to try. I am curious to know what happens to the recording quality when one records to reel from different sources, cd, vinyl, streaming?
This has been mentioned to me by Oz, the owner of the Revox. He said when recording digital to tape, the result is a more pleasing sound. I suppose it's a euphonic distortion. I'll be doing something on that phenomenon soon!
Thanks for watching!
Oh yes Scott please proceed 😎
Alright! I will!
Oh yes please do this I have a Teac deck and would love for you to do this thanks
There will be more tape discussions soon, including more comparisons, best sounding tape editions, the return of my Pioneer deck from the shop, and a look and listen to 15ips tapes☺️
I bought a revox b77. The only tape i have so far is fleetwood mac rumours. I have never heard any of my 300 or so records sound better. Perhaps this particular tape is that good. I have other tapes in the mail and will know soon.
Awesome, please keep me in the loop
That's an expensive rabbit hole Scott!
Maybe, maybe not. I think vintage is affordable. I have the deck already (just needs a tune up) and tapes are out there. Many are coming back onto the market as their owners downsize.
But high end modern stuff? Forget it. But I will get to hear it and report on it too.
Thanks for watching. More coming soon!
My parents had a Hanson-List half-track 7-1/2 IPS reel that only had the "Piano Concerto in F" performance because that is all that would fit on a 7" reel. I played it countless times as a young child. Sadly, I only have that performance on CD today.
Not sure why I never bought vinyl copies of the prerecorded reels in my collection, I only have CD's to compare to reels. I can say that the 7-1/2 IPS prerecorded reel tapes that did not degrade (thanks, Ampex!) generally sound a little better than the CD pressings. For example Quincy Jones "Smackwater Jack" sounds a little more open and alive on 7-1/2 IPS reel-to-reel than the MFSL CD. The Kenny Burrell's "Midnight Blue" is another album that sounds really good on 7-1/2 IPS reel.
That's a fascinating comment! It seems like maybe your parents had a two track 7.5 deck and tapes? I know RCA did some of these and perhaps the first Mercury did too. That would explain the short program. Do you recall if it was one direction only, or did it have to be reversed?
I think the Mercury CDs are very fine, but I stupidly let them go.
I wouldn't mind a revisit, but I need a good player first.
@@ThePressingMatters Yes, it was a two-track stereo tape that only played in one direction. The tape recorder we had when I was five years old was a Pentron 9T-3C, which is a mono machine. So I was only hearing half the audio! When I was nine, my parents supported my love of tape and bought a Wollensak 1280 Stereo tape recorder. Then I got to enjoy both tracks of that and several other half-track tapes. 😀
That's a great story! My parents got a Magnavox console in "62 or so. Stereo, tubes of course, but just radio and LP. Tape would have been a treat!
I am very interested in hearing more about your journey into reel to reel music. I myself transfer highres flacs onto 10.5 inch reels on my AKAI GX- 630D to play in my kitchen when cooking. The medium seems to add an analogue warmth to the dgital recordings, that is very pleasing to the ear. Course it could be my imagination i suppose.
Yours is the second comment here and not the first time I've heard of this phenomenon. I'm definitely going to look into this and try it myself.
Thanks so much for the vote to continue this series!
Hi Scott. You mentioned 2 track tapes at 3:20, I presume they run at 7.5 IPS?
Yes, that's correct.
I don’t think reel to reel players will ever be making a comeback again You’re right about the hobby is a rich man’s game and the machines need constant attention and work! The few tapes you can get are hundreds of dollars! If a person can afford the money involved that’s great but I’ll stick to vinyl
They sort of did come back in a very niche way. Probably The Tape Project sparked some limited interest in high end machines or restored classics built to play the new 16ips 10' reels. A small handful of titles for these particular listeners. I wouldn't think the number of enthusiasts on that level number more than a few hundred.
Vintage 4 track is accessible enough. We'll see where it leads!
Studer A80 doesn't need continuous work. The work comes in cleaning the heads and the pinch roller which has to be done after every play.
I used to have a lot of reel tapes but have sold most of them off. But i do have some left. Plus some 4 channel quad reels.
I'm enjoying the reel to reel experience, but I'm not sure how invested I can be in it. I'm running out of space for physical media. Going to have to sell off some of it soon.
If the record catalog would be as big as on vinyl I would go into this direction, I can imagine that the tech is better as with everything we have to deal with vinyl
It's true, if you're not into classical, and a narrow range of things from a short window of time, you're out of luck. But many of the very best titles from this era can be found with a bit of luck!
@@ThePressingMatters I'm into Pop/Rock/Metal 70-90s so Vinyl is my best choise and even that is expensive enough when you want early presses in NM/M 🥴
I guess i have spend 40k the last 2 years building my collection 🥴😭😀
@77MovieFan Don't forget to save as well :-)
As I always say, reel-to-reel tape is, on paper, the best thing to hit the home audio market and superior to vinyl. Let's face it, we are usually judging records on how close they get to the master tapes. (I am a massive record fan, don't worry. They still mostly sound wonderful.)
But they never got the mass production of reels right. (Ironically, the ones from the 50s kill the Columbia House reels from the 80s.) The fact that the average mass-produced record sounds as good as it does when it has so many more inherent compromises is amazing. I think they never really settled on what reel-to-reel should be in the consumer space. It should have remained a high-end audiophile format duplicated 1:1 at 7.5 IPS. And probably two-track, at that.
Having said that, there are many excellent reels out there. And not just the 7.5 IPS tapes. I have heard some great 3.75 tapes. There are many variables.
Great video! Yes, make more, haha.
Great comment, so informative! Thank you for watching!
I know it's going to be hit or miss, case by case, but I think it will be fun to explore, and shed some light on different aspects, machines, and more
It's how close you can get to live sound.
Thank you for another excellent video≥. M ore such comparisons would be great, especially as reel-to-reel is stir out there being made, albeit expensive ones. Another channel compared the Super Audio CD, pricey vinyl and reel-to-reel on ELEPHANT by THE WHITE STRIPES and the results qwere also very interesting and informative. We cannot have enough of this kind of information and you always do such a great hob ob all your videos. :0)
Thank you, Nicholas, it looks like it's been a very positive response to this so I will be continuing down this path.
Interesting story about The White Stripes, I had no idea about that comparison!
Thanks for watching!
Looking forward to your breakdown of Gillian Welch’s The Harrow and the Harvest. 😊 Dave Rawlins does all the copies 2nd gen off the master.
I'll see if I can get my hands on it. Maybe Oz can work his magic!
That was a joke - the original lp is stunning - they have their own lathe and direct mic recordings. Their tape copies are probably as low gen as it comes. Dave Denyer did a review and Micheal Fremer visited the studio
A Revox is stunning. My tape venture was a 3 head Nakamichi in the early 80s. As good as it gets for 1 7/8ips
@@audiotomb I know. But I know Oz has lots of buddies into the high end tape world so maybe we can get it. I'd love to hear it.
We are planning to move the discussion to 15ips at some point, and I'll have a deck here for that. Right now I really want to do a series of 4 track tape comparisons.
4 track for the masses
2 inch for the higher end studios
Amazing how many masters were done on 1/4 , 1/2 tape
@@audiotomb i know! I always thought that was odd, a master being on 1/4" tape. Somehow it can work in the right hands!
In times of popularity R2R it was probably the best medium available for home use and had got mass popularity. This (in my opinin of course) could be the reason behind issuing studio tapes with best quality recordings to alow owners to enjoy quality not comparable to home radio recordings made with a bit accidental equipment and owners expectations were not so sublime as today
Because stating "best quality" suppose to be understood as "best when playd with the same studio machine" I got quite old exceptional recordings from professional recording company which just abandoned them. They are not originaly taged and assure 4 hours on one tape in stereo, they play perfect and I am happy to preserve them but when I compare them to reality perceived from tapes recorded by me in home conditions with my R2R which is aligned to best results they do not compete. . May be beacuse I aligned all system to R2R and turntable? Or may be there are small differences i recordings due to my turnatable and cassette somehow add surprising lowest tones? . That is why in my conditions I do not recognize any purchsed recordings quality as the best for me . Anyway pleasure of using those original beautifull reels with tags as you show is obviously unbeatable .
For all reasons I perfer to listen to tapes - with highest quality of listening tapes may contain lot of music in compact form. Now I learn listen back to mono standard because it is practical - it doubles the titles on one reel and alows easy instant switching between two tracks and recordings. For this advantages I see that I can accept no stereo effects. .
Thank you for the Video. Yes I am interested in the A/B comparisons in a heart sinking kind of way :) The ultimate format indeed! How is the tape hiss on those tapes? Were there any signs of degradation?
The tapes are in beautiful condition. When I originally purchased them, I made sure to add leader, and auto reverse foil. Most have been played just once or twice. I keep them upright in a climate controlled storage and haven't had any issues. The few I've received from the viewer have been nearly mint, box reel and tape.
@@ThePressingMatters Amazing !!! Enjoy!
I have a decent vintage Akai r2r setup here.
Awesome! Any time you wish to contribute to the comments, your insight is welcome!
Thanks for watching!
Scott, It's to bad you don't one of those tables like Micheal Fremer has that has two arms. That way you could try out a moving magnet on one of the two arms. You could also try a phono step up transformer for your moving coil. I use a peerless step up transformer. There are also loading options that can be applied on the phono input stage to get a better impedance match.
I agree, that would be amazing. With this table I could switch arms easily, each having a different cartridge but I haven't gone there yet. There are some changes coming up so that may change everything.
Or an arm with a detachable headshell.
I have been trying to find me a nice reel to reel. My brother in law has a nice one he does not use anymore and I am working on getting it.
Good luck. Please keep me updated!
It's VERY rewarding!
Tape is great but time consuming. You have to clean the heads and the pinch roller after every play. Two tracks are stored tails out and have to be rewound before every play. If you're willing to spend the time, tapes sound great but I think for most people LP is good enough and a lot less time consuming. Comparison of Heart Like a Wheel two track from The Tape Project on Studer A80 vs Grand Prix/Triplanar/Koetsu/Nagra LP playback. (The A80 cost a tenth of this LP setup.)
I've always loved reel to reel, but it just was never in the cards for me. I'm not a thrifty person. Cassette decks was as far as I got. I'll watch any new videos on your reel to reel journey
I think it will be fun to follow along, even if you are not a user of the format. Thanks for watching and commenting!
A comparison with a reissue like an ORG 45RPM would be most meaningful imo.
When we get to some of the Decca London, I may be able to do that. I'll certainly be using the best sounding copy I have. In this case there wasn't a quality reissue. I chose this one to highlight the end of side crowding issue.
Where is the music, I’ve listen to your narration, where is the comparison ?
There can not be copyrighted music in the video without a copyright strike. I will try to provide files in the future
Thanks for the explanation. I guess we will take your word for the sonic quality. You sound like you have a good ear. I hope in the future you acquire the permissions.
I will, I've already set it on motion for some of these tape and LP comparisons.
Experience tape like sound with horned speakers. e.g. th-cam.com/video/cwESiisp27U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=smnZnMjBTvW_pHBR on Klipsch Sevens + sub driven by PC. Don't even need analog. What is it about tape? It's the dynamics and the detail and the naturalness. Everything you get with horns. A horn guy told me it's cuz horns use natural acoustic amplification. * Tractrix horn. Not elliptical. The sub is vital.
I think anyone interested in investing cash in the reel-to-reel medium would be wise to investigate the life span of reel tape and the storage issues associated with their long-term preservation. In particular, the terms vinegar syndrome and sticky-shed should be well known but have not been mentioned much at all during this resurgence. There's a reason beyond space saving measures why vast libraries of archival tape have been preserved to hard drives. Of course, transfers to new tape would be ideal, but, as you've pointed out, that is certainly cost-prohibitive.
Good points of course, and I'll address that in a future episode. I can say that the collection I have is doing well and looks like it will outlast me with proper care.
its just that tape wears down faster.. sound degrades faster
Not with proper handling & storage of the tapes and when using a well maintained machine. Many masters from the 50's and 60's still sound fabulous today. They may not be as "fresh" as when they were first conceived, but they still sound better than any modern format so go figure! Also tape manufactured today is far more durable than some of the formulations of yesteryear. So all in all, recordings made today should safely outlive any of us.
@LetThereBeSound1
I'll add in to that, these tapes I have in my possession were picked up 30-40 years after their creation and another 30 years has passed. They have been carefully stored and are sounding better than my records. I expect they will outlast me.
@@ThePressingMatters The biggest enemy of mag tape is magentism and water. They can be pretty easily damaged and stretched by transport malfunctions or just mis-threading. They are also prone to shrinkage.
But as far as wear due from just playing tapes, that is practically nil. As you said proper storage and climate/humidity control makes a difference.
@@ThePressingMatters I am a musician and a former studio owner back in the day.. i have plenty of multitrack tape as well as two track ones all stored in house in bookshelves and they do degrade.. always. 40-50 years and you may have to bake one or two even before getting anything off it if you cant air them play them through at times. I love analogue reel to reel, way way more than digital not the least when it comes to recording new music onto. But my records stored the same way will outlast any reel to reel tape and not degrade just sitting there
Thank you for your comment and experience with this. Yes, unfortunately tapes are deteriorating slowly. We've all heard of situations where one had degraded beyond a fix, like baking. I was only referring to my small experience with some well preserved consumer reels. At my age, 63, I expect they will outlast me without issue, but long term, a record is a better bet.
I too prefer analog reel if given a choice. Looking forward to exploring it more, and your input is always welcome!
Why not just listen to the music if it is of acceptable quality, rather than the format? This absolutely reeks of nerdism.
Respectfully, I think you've missed the point here. I am in search of the best reproduction of my favorite music. Reel to reel was the format of choice for this reason. That I am able to share some insight and excitement about seems worth talking about.
Audiophilia is inherently nerdy, and reel to reel may be the pinnacle of that image. So be it. I'm having a blast.
Music performed live most especially Orchestral music or any Acoustic non-amplified live music is the purest possible your ears will ever hear - recording that to a "format" is where non-musical information is introduced whether it be subsonic, loss of highs, speed errors, clipping etc.
So, the "format" that can reproduce the purest sound with minimum coloration is going to be of great interest to serious listeners. And even if people are not willing or able to acquire Open Reel equipment /media I think these comments overall speak for themsevles that many Hi-Fi aficionados are interested to expand their knowledge about mag tape and how tape sizes up against vinyl or digital media.
@@fueledbylove
Thank you for this comment. This is exactly what I'm searching to achieve. I hear live orchestral music here, and I know what it sounds like. It's disappoints me when the reproduction is not even close. If I can explore a format that gets me closer, than that's what I'll do.
@@ThePressingMatters 👍👍 Scott. If there was a whiff of nerdism in my post, I'm not apologizing! 🤓
No need my friend! We're all nerds here, it comes with the territory 😀
I love in the Boston MA area
Can you recommend a competent place to repair reel to reel and elcaset units please ?
I haven't lived in that area for many years, and I'm sure resources have changed. I'll see if I can dig up some information, but perhaps another viewer may have some suggestions.