[Pampero]

Hi Dave. I made my living for a few years as the National Sales Manager for Otari. I've forgotten a lot in the intervening years but people who want to enjoy the tape renaissance (if there is one) would be so much better served by spending the money on a good used R2R. Yes, the tape costs will be higher, but the buy in won't be. It will actually probably be lower. For great audible performance it is so hard to beat one of the 70s semi pro reel to reels, of which Otari was probably the preferred vehicle for broadcasters and studios. There are a lot of them out there, they are not expensive but they are hell for stout, very user friendly, easy to work, easy to calibrate even for a novice and super versatile.

They make any cassette, including the most vaunted, seem puny and compromised by comparison. You can do real live recording with them as they have plenty of headroom. And they look ultra cool in any system, though that's not the Otari's strongest suit. There are (wired) remotes available, you can still get new heads and some parts from John French, and the good news is that machines that didn't see abuse probably won't need many apart from rubber bits.

You can get 'er done for well under $1000, often for just a few hundred bucks. Act now before the supply dries up!

By the way, a properly tuned Otari will outperform an equally nice Revox (A77, B77, A700....it makes no difference) in almost very important metric of performance, most especially in respect to output (balanced +4 or switchable to -10dBm) and with measurably more headroom. Also easier to repair as a rule. Otaris are probably the best buy in this regard. If you can find a good Studer A820, that's another story. But they're not giving those away, they're much harder to find and they will take up a whole lot more real estate.

Moreover, the Otari always will have the alternate playback head, so you can play and record in two track and also playback 1/4 track tapes or vice versa depending on the configuration of the deck you buy. Smart money if you like tape.