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Reel to Reel: Treasure or Trash?

My late father gave me an old Crown 800 reel to reel machine and a collection of jazz tapes. Other than the sentimental value, the thing is ugly and huge and will need some $$$ to repair/restore. Could this thing sound any good with a little TLC? How would I use it? Does anyone care about this format anymore or am I just wasting time and money?
joel_clurmanf183
hiwaves
43 posts
 
I still use reel to reel. How many tapes do you have and what condition are they in ??
rec
327 posts
 
I have had reel to reels in my system since the mid 60's. I still enjoy the wonderful analog sound they produce. I also have a DAT and CDR for digital. While the DAT and CDR make exact copies of digital I think something is lost when you use analog as the source. I do make cd copies from lps for the car but when I want that analog sound for my home system I listen to lps or my reel. New blanks are still available and it's not too difficult to find used reels at good prices. You can also find pre-recorded reels out there but they are starting to become expensive. Good luck.
joel_clurmanf183 OP
1 posts
 
Rec -- thank you. The main thing for me is the sentimental value of the machine. Does anyone know if the Crown 800 is a good one? Is it worth anything if it is repaired? Also, if I don't have many tapes or wish to go and find them, what the hell would I do with the machine? Would it be useful or musical to archive LPs? Thanks for the advice.
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