I will not tell you what to do with your money, but I will tell you what I did about two years ago after pondering the same question. I gave the whole kit and kaboodle to a museum. Machines, tapes, the lot. Can you spell tape oxide shedding on old tapes? $400 tapes that don’t sound better than Hirez on Qobuz were a factor too. It is true that at top, RtoR cannot be beat, but it often disappoints. In short it is an imperfect medium and for me after years of fooling with it, I decided it was time to move on.
Are audiophile R2R tapes worth the money if you do not have a professional R2R deck?
I gave myself a vintage Technics RS-1520 R2R tape deck for Christmas (more or less 50 years old, but apparently still in very good shape). I had found a couple of old tapes from the 1950s in my attic, and thought this would be a nice sentimental journey. Then I read about sites that sell master tape copies, on 2 track format and 15 ips speed for $400-and-up. Before I fall into a new rabbit hole, I would like to ask this illustrious forum about their own experience with high-end R2R recordings on their own semi-professional decks, preferably in direct comparison with the corresponding vinyl.
On a tangent: I plan to "hot-rod" the old machine, going directly from the replay head into my own preamp (Supratek Grange) instead of using the internal preamp of the RS-1520. Any experience with such a mod?
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I have heard a variety of prosumer and pro machines in home audio and professional applications over the years. Some had hot rodded preamp set ups. Great sound but the objective for me is access to more, not less content and the price as well as limited catalog make this a non-starter for me, though I've thought about it more than once. Ultimately, the cost of the "software" will far exceed the hardware, even if you bought a pro machine that has been refurbished. Probably makes sense to hook up with somebody who is deep into this to get some direction- I know there were commercial safeties for sale at one point, and there is no doubt an underground market for dubs (not that I'm encouraging that- I used to be a copyright lawyer). Good luck |
See this previous post on this subject: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/open-reel-curious I have been an audiophile for more than 55 years now, IMHO 15ips R2R tape can be the ultimate sound source, albeit very expensive. I have had people listen to my R2R system and say; "sounds like live music". |
My R2R, 7-1/2 IPS are my highest Noise to Signal and yet my best sounding content, everyone picks tape over lp after picking lp over cd here. But the artists/content is limited to the era when they stopped making pre-recorded tapes, so I rarely play my tapes. 15 IPS is far superior to that, but I purposely stay in the pre-recorded 4 track world which is 7-1/2 IPS. My friend has two Otari’s, and has acquired a collection of expensive tapes over the last few years. Just as billstevenson said, my friend’s Led Zeppelin Tape is the best reproduction I ever heard, I thought I was hearing what they heard in the studio when creating the music. Previously unlistenable portions became the coolest stuff I ever heard. Others, even tape versions of his/my favorite albums, the quality varies, great/darn good/ ok/ not so great, no-where worth the price ...... You need to make friends with others who are totally into it, and can lead you to providers of superior tapes.
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