1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 196868-169390

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?

 
reimarc
inna
8,240 posts
 

I don't know about reels but Maxell Metal Vertex cassettes that I use can seemingly last forever. Some of them have 500-600 plays on them and they sound as good as new, as far as I can tell, a little noisy when rewinding but I rarely do it, anyway. I also use LAST Factory tape head preservative before each play, and of course the head is always cleaner than in fact it has to be.

Cost of a refurbished Otari or even Studer and Ampex can be about the same as the cost of a high end cartridge, that means low if you've got the funds. As Bill said, cost of master tape dubs is another matter, well, depending on what you buy and how many.

In any case, this tape endeavour is for a very dedicated audiophile, you have to be truly engaged.

myles_b_astor's avatar
myles_b_astor
135 posts
 

All good suggestions above. It's best to refurbish, lubricate, check the shape/alignment of the heads and replace if/as necessary the PS caps. You'll need the 2 EQ setting mentioned  and be sure to properly load the heads if using an outboard tapestage. You might consider having John French redo the head block and put in Flux Magnetic heads for the best sound.

 

Here's a list I just published of the top 75 15-ips tapes currently available.

 

https://www.audionirvana.org/forum/the-audio-vault/all-things-reel-to-reel/195199-end-of-2025-best-of-15-ips-tape-finally

kennyc
3,101 posts
 

@myles_b_astor - nice list, thanks for sharing 

More to discover