Reel to reel

Happiness is a good working reel to reel recorder.

Recently, I purchased 4 blank 10 inch reels of tape. Initially I planned to record at 7.5 for the sake of economy, but an audiophile demon caused me to set the speed at 15; "The devil made do it".

Recording at 15 IPS causes "hyper awareness, this had better be good"; clean and demagnetize heads, go through record collection, select only the best. As everyone knows, sometime your favorite record has cuts you don't like, be ready to hit the "pause" button.

In regard to the results, no matter how magnificent, the playing time was too short; after I got comfortable, and into the music, it stopped. If only I had a butler to put on another reel; or ten machines in a row, plus remote controls to start another machine as soon as the music stopped on the one before.

Thank you for your thoughts on recording Orpheus10.  I believe I will stay with 7.5 ips as well when I make my playlists.  15 ips does use up a lot of tape in a short amount of time.  I'm sure the difference in speed will be of little consequence when recording my favorite LP's or HiRez (dsd or flac) music files.  Recording a playlist is mainly for convenience and the pure joy I get when I hear my favorite music coming from that big tape deck with the turning 10.5" reels and busy VU meters.

Of course, playing pre-recorded tapes at 15 ips is a different animal.  I'd guess that speed is required to experience the full dynamic range of a dupe of a Master/Safety master.  I finally mustered the courage to order my first one.. once it arrives and I get a chance for a first listen, I anticipate it will either be a revelation or a bit of a let down.  But I prefer to be optimistic as most who have experienced a Master tape dupe played back at 15 ips through a proper r2r deck and a system worthy of same, are duly impressed.   btw:  The recording I ordered I have on LP and CD, so an a/b/c comparison should be fun and quite revealing.  It will help me decided if the high cost of this format is worth the entry fee.   I will report here when i have experienced my first listen.

Gusser, I'm looking forward to hearing about your results. Taking all things into consideration, 7.5 is the best speed.

Agreed!  I will report asap.  

I've been going back and forth between TT and reel today, and discovered something no one else has mentioned. This is specifically in reference to 2 track, not 1/4 track; that's because the head is wider.

When comparing tape sources: cassette deck, 1/4 track, and 1/2 track; note the different size tape heads. These heads have different qualities that I call "forcefulness" for lack of any other term. Why this "fact" has not been noted and given a name is beyond me, but I will describe it's effects on audio. The largest, the 2 track heads create a "forcefulness" in the audio that might be akin to a more powerful amp, because it makes the speakers appear to be larger.

This more forceful sound also corrects "room anomalies". As I was going back and forth between the reel and the turntable, I had to change the preamp for the turntable. Inna and I have the same problem; one channel sounds louder than the other "from the listening chair". No; one channel is not louder than the other, it just sounds that way because of the room. If you have twin volume controls, one has to be turned up in order to compensate for this.

The "forcefulness" of the 2 track reel audio, overcame this "anomaly". When I went back to the turntable, I had to turn the left channel up in order to center the sound stage.

The quality I speak of, would be even more pronounced in a reel that used 1 inch or 1/2 inch tape. Is there anyone qualified to speak on this issue?