Reel to Reel Options

I grew up around RtR decks, my brother had one (2-track 3.75/7.5 ips A77, 1971) he brought back from ‘nam (via Heidelberg Audio Club) which I inherited along with a boxload of recordings. Deck was working until I picked it up, set it down, and one of the aged, fragile trimpots - speed control one - broke and I went down the refurbishment/rebuild trail with the help of Peter Mony at Nagravox, Australia.

Deck worked incredibly well, then I found another, cheap, 4-track 3.75/7.5 and rebuilt THAT.

I’ve “worked with” John French in replacing heads - he’s one of if not THE best person for refurbishing and/or mounting/aligning them.

Then I found a handful of B77 decks, including a 7.5/15ips 2 track I rebuilt, recalibrated and sold to a studio. Then I did the same with one PR99 Mk3.

Along the way I kept a B77 4-track 3.75/7.5 and a PR99 Mk3 (2-track, same speed) and am in the process up updating the PR99.

All told, I’ve done all electromechanical “stuff” (recapping, replacing trim pots, cleaning connectors, rebuilding brakes, adjusting pinch roller pressure even going so far as to learn how to glass bead-blast the spindle) on a dozen decks including installing new boards from Revox (now Premium Hi-Fi) as well as from Audvance Audio. It keeps me busy and I still play the tapes my brother made and have put several of my LP’s on them, bought some prerecorded tapes (the Angel series classical are some of the best audio I’ve ever heard).

When a tech tells you a basic calibration/cleaning will cost around $600 and up, it’s worth every penny. I can tell you I probably, as an amateur, put in around 100 hours in overhauling one deck. I had a receipt from one guy showing he spent around $1200 to have an B77 4-track rebuilt around 2015 every hour, part was detailed in the invoice. He bought the deck NEW for that much money about a dozen years earlier (my numbers may not be exact but they’re close enough).

I rebuilt all, again, with one exception, with the backing of Nagravox. I did ONE 4-track B77 on my own, sourcing parts, learning about types of bearings, more electronics than I ever did in HS in the early-mid 1970’s and as a hobby, while it is not a money maker, I’ve managed to break even to the point I’ve kept the 2 decks I’ve got. Peter Mony’s kits are the BEST, 

That said… depending on what you want one for, there are a boatload of scammers out there, you can do a deep dive like I have or keep your eyes open on the USAudioMart, ePay and Fakebook marketplace and local audio sellers but you need to have a tech around to at least run the deck through its paces and check the calibration and alignment before you really get into playing/recording with an unknown quantity.

Interestingly, Revox is NOW producing a B77 Mk3 and it’s priced somewhere over Ten grand, IIRC. I’ve seen some of the upgraded models of the PR99 (out of Switzerland, seller I forger the name of offhand) for upwards of $20k.

This is the most expensive way of playing music around - short of hiring a string ensemble, full orchestra or supergroup band for a bar mitzvah yourself.

You can probably get a “decent” working deck now for anywhere from 1-2k, 

Find a place that sells them, go listen to them. Bring some LPs to compare. then listen do digital, streaming. For high-quality audio, I’m hard-pressed to say LPs sound as good - GENERALLY (there are SO many variables involved), but for something like ELP’s first album, I have it on CD, LP (original and later reissues) and 7.5 IPS audiotape (original) and I (and my musician son) find the tape sounds MUCH better.

Just my 35 cents (that’s the original 2 cents plus Bidenflation).

It would be great if a R2R resurgence happened, with both machines and tapes, similar to what has happened with vinyl.

The way so many are talking here its as if they don't know about the Tape Project.

I'm another vote for the Technics RS15xx/17xx Reel to Reels.  I had a 1500 2-channel half track for many years, bought on the recommendation of a studio tech.  Three speeds, 2&4 channel playback and an isolated loop tape path. Wonderful machine... gave it to a friend of mine when I moved from NY to LA; ended up buying a Revox PR99 Mk3 on the other side (of the country).  The Technics had a reputation of being difficult to repair.  The Revox innards were modular, so easier to service, but from a user's standpoint Technics is the way to go, particularly if you can find a 1520.  I wouldn't thumb my nose at a Nagra IV-S (not SJ), if I found the right deal, either.

I’ve heard several of the Tape Project releases and they are very good.  But they cost $500 each and most of their very limited catalogue has been sold out.  Some other reissues by other vendors are even more expensive.  I doubt that a very substantial renaissance will ever occur, so we can only hope for better digital reissues.  To me, much of the problem is that what is offered by streaming services is lousy mastering.  I suspect that music companies are simply giving the public what it wants, which is highly compressed “loud” masterings so those interested in good sound quality have to search for better versions.  Same goes with vinyl offerings, many don’t sound very good.

I had a good friend (since deceased) who was very into r-r, and he settled on Otari.  But really, this is such an esoteric catagory and decent tapes are so expensive and limited in scope that it’s hard to justify the price of entry.  Yes, they sound amazing, but seriously, you’ll spend THOUSANDS to listen to a handful of good recordings.

OTOH, find an old Webcor in decent condition, scour your local thrift shops for commecrial r-r tapes, and you could have some fun.  Otherwise, I wouldn't go down this rabbit hole.