Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?


Wondering why more people aren't into reel to reel if they're looking for the ultimate analog experience? I know title selection is limited and tapes are really expensive, but there are more good tapes available now than ever before.
People refer to a recording as having "master tape quality",  well you can actually hear that master tape sound through your own system and the point of entry to reel to reel is so much more affordable than getting into vinyl.  Thoughts? 
scar972
  @pch300 

you missed the point I was trying to make, or I did a very poor job of describing it
The point was not to record your LP to tape,and A-B against the LP,  the point was to compare the commercially released LP, played back through a high end table and phono stage, and compare to same commercially  released 7.5 ips tape played back through a reworked deck with high end tape playback electronics (not the high neg feedback electronics that all tape decks have).

And secondly, we are not talking 15ips master dubs. We are talking about the the tape releases made by ampex, united stereo tape, and others back in the day.

if you A-B the LP on a high end table and phono pre to the tape on a reworked deck and high end tape playback electronics, not always, but usually the tape is much better, more open, more dynamic, greater imaging, etc .

for those interested, its not hard to modify a phono play back circuit.
The RIAA curve has 3 time constants to make the curve, the NAB and IEC curve have two. Its usually about 5 bucks worth of caps and resistors and presto, you have a tape playback preamp......
and if you are really on a  limited budget, you can pick up one of the EAR or Marantz 7 tube clone phono stages from  china for under 500 bucks, and use that as your tape plackback eq. you do not need to spend multi-kilo bucks unless you want to go all out on tape playback, no different than going all out on LP playback or hi rez, digital file playback. ..

hope this helps.






Bottle head DIY has pretty much all the info you might need on bypass of head electronics on the deck and can often result in a dramatic improvement as cited above
Very high cost plus very limited selection makes the firmst, however technically desirable, of very limited value. I’d rather have a huge selection in perfectly good fidelity at much lower cost. It’s about the music! If I can get into a tune playing on my car radio, I can live without the cost and selection compromises of RTR 
The Modjeski quote reveals why his Music Reference amplifiers are so trouble and maintenance free, unlike many of the more well-known and owned tube brands. RM was doing repair work in a shop while still in High School, and learned how NOT to build an amp.