Will it still play I wonder?
 

I no longer have a R2R machine but still have this. Tape looks in good condition but probably will have some print through by now. Attachment 54417Attachment 54418

I can try it. :thumbsup:

Hard to say, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for old prerecorded tape. When my reel deck was working ~ 9 years ago, all the old prerecorded tapes I had were mediocre sounding, at best, if not just bad. Whereas I also had a collection of needle-drops some guy did onto Maxell UD 35-90 tape (really good tape), and those were absolutely wonderful sounding.

The new prerecorded reel tapes being produced today are on a completely different stratosphere of quality and price ($300-400+ a pop). I recently heard a demonstration by Doshi audio, and it's made clear that tape, not vinyl, is the analog standard at the high-end.

Makes sense, analogue master tapes copied to tape cuts out the 'middle man' the vinyl transfer. I always loved the sound of R2R so I'm glad to see it returning albeit at an elevated cost.

Not my experience -- mine still sound great - with one exception. The James Taylor Sweet Baby James side 2 was pretty bad; yet side 1 sounded great.

Even though I have not performed an immediate A/B, the one that I believe can hold a candle with my LP box set is the Doors LA Woman.

I have approx. 100 7 inch which I recorded years ago -- I have not tried any of those as just not interested to tell you the truth.

I'd bet the Ray Conniff prerecorded would sound good. Don't know 'til you try it.

Best Sirs,

Bob

Thanks Bob, thats made me determined to play it. The hunt is on for a suitable R2R machine. I'll report back (though I have a feeling I could easily get hooked into tape again).
Cheers, Allan

Wow - feeling a little like an archeological dig around here.:yes::yes:https://apollo.imgix.net/content/upl...op&w=900&h=600

A friend who's a devout RTR fan owns a LOT of vintage prerecorded tapes. I don't believe he had an issue with any of them.

Sound quality is actually quite impressive for all of the ones that I've heard.

If they find a Studer machine in that dig let me know [emoji23]

There’s an A810 waaay back in the distance. :)