Reel to Reel Options

I always wanted a R2R deck and picked up an Otari MX55. I restored it and absolutely love it. If you like the sound of analog music, just record your favorite HD audio using High Quality tape like RTM SM900 on a correctly calibrated R2R deck and just enjoy. I personally like it better than Vinyl.  In addition, there are recordings made directly from the original master tapes and they sound spectacular.

limomangus,

A friend has a Technics reel to reel like yours and it is a very nice machine.  Two techs I know also like those machines a lot for the sound and build quality.  However, one tech notes that it is stuffed with Panasonic electrolytic caps that will, in time, leak and the electrolytic paste inside of these caps is highly corrosive; if the leaking substance reaches the circuit board traces that will take out the trace.  He recommends replacement of those caps.  Given how many are in the machine it is not a cheap job, but the machine deserves such treatment.  He got back the machine from the tech along with a bag with 134 caps; some of them had started to leak.

as long as we are discussing this:  i have a very nice reel to reel; been all fixed up to latest specs and such...not a $10K unit, but about $2K in it; worked nice 20 years ago and with the updates, expect it still will...HOWEVER...isnt a R2R only going to sounds as good as the source and the connections?  My older Yamaha receiver has tape 1/tape 2 loop in is, so i can record from sources such as a turntable, cd maybe, and fm stereo......but with those fairly crappy sources...and probably not the best line connections and noise galore...what is one to do?  I think i may have wasted $1200 on a dinosaur that wont bite....any ideas?

It would be great if a R2R resurgence happened, with both machines and tapes, similar to what has happened with vinyl. I remember being awe-struck at a Sansui deck my uncle had more than 50 years ago. Entry-level would probably not be possible, keeping people from testing the waters, and I'm sure that's a factor. Also not as much music already available like there was with vinyl. But if some company or consortium of companies decided to wake up that market I'm curious as to how it would fare. Vinyl is of no interest to me, I couldn't wait to move on from them when that was primarily what we had. But I get that there can be something special to high-quality analog recordings. I would definitely want to try R2R if some of the barriers noted in this thread were at least somewhat alleviated. 

Biggest problems with reel to reel decks are

1. they’re old and need to be restored 

2. lack of tapes - studio recordings are rare and expensive, buying used old tapes is risky. 
 

The decks are cool though. And if you get one that’s in excellent condition and you plan on recording your favorite vinyl onto tapes it could be awesome to listen to.

otherwise it’s the same concept as getting into vinyl - you end up dumping a $hit ton of money into it and it ends up sitting collecting dust because it’s a pain to use.