New Reel-to-Reel Tape Machines?!
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- Reel-to-reel tape players and recorders seem something belonging to the past but today there are actually a few new models beeing produced. Discover the top 5 with us!
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#reeltoreel #r2r #taperecorder
OK, so if you're really set on absolute sound quality, you can get older professional units for vastly less than these, quite frankly. The only reason these will be bought is simply to pose in the livingrooms of rich idiots who don't care one bit about what they even do. I guarantee that very few of the units sold will find any serious use, and those that do will only play the one demo tape that comes with them. Note that both of the first two manufacturers have time piece connections - watches are the same, only worn on the wrist.
You'll also note that both of the first two offer playback-only machines. *No* serious audiophile would *ever* buy a playback-only deck.
You are absolutely right;
these are fashion "boy-toys" for rich guys who already have their yacht.
Hey guys, No worries, there's a mouse trap for everyone...rich or poor.🪤🐀🐁...premium parmesano reggiano or not so premium. 🧀
Many (semi)pro machines have worn out heads, especially Revox and also corroded potentiometers from spraying contact cleaners for years.
It's not just buying an old machine that's better, it will need a ton of work to be better than a seemingly worse specced brand new deck.
@@puciohenzap891 What, maybe $1000 spent, to get a Revox functioning like new? Sounds like a good deal to me.
Or recondition an Ampex AG440, for the most impressive tape machine anyone could own!
The blame for this lies firmly at the feet of Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace
Thank you Ill stay with my $400 score of an Akai GX630D.
Yeah, same. Got my Akai GX600DB for €300,- :D
I bought a completely refurbished Pioneer RT707 for $1400 for recording purposes. Upon release in the 70s, it was $575, but adjusting for inflation, it's $2500 approx now.
The thing about old school technology is that the parts were designed to be replaced if broken. Easier to be serviced if you wanted to do it yourself. Replace the caps in a broken machine, replace the belts, clean the pots and pans with some Deoxit, then you'd probably have a machine that would last another 40 years before you have to replace the caps again (or teach your children to do it lol).
I do not trust new tech to be able to do this. Part of new tech is to replace the thing once a part stops working. Not worth it.
Buy refurbished. It's cheaper and will probably last you longer.
Even the beautiful Technics machines are a bargain compared to these INSANE prices.
Nice to see analogue being appreciated as more of an alternative option to digital!
The return to production of these machines is a ray of sunshine for the world of r2r, I hope that these products will do well on the market because this could mean the creation of quality machines at a lower price and a return in general of the media, which by the way is already partially back... And finally with more "human" prices maybe in the near future I will be able to afford it!
It would be possible that we could have consumer machines like these that are better than popular and old Studer and AMPEX for studios.
What an absolute load of bollocks if they are real.
Hopefully. I also would apreciate when the original master tapes are offered for a more human price. Who can effort 400€for a tape??
@@saricubra2867 Two consumer grade analog sound recorders that I have and can vouch for really good quality (Both are Sony) is the SLV-679 HF and the TC-WE475...if you are more into nostalgia and don't need something that is still made today...I like my Akai GX-4000D with high-coercivity tape (like Maxell UD-35-90 or TDK Audua) at 3-3/4 IPS 4 track stereo...an 1800 foot reel can hold over 3 hours of music...which is enough to immortalize a few years of songs of a time period...The Sony TC-WE475 cassette deck can extract more sound out from a pre-recorded cassette album if you have the azimuth set so the head gap line is at a perfect 90 degree angle to tape travel...I even spent 49 cents to get the album Enigma MCMXC AD and digitize it to a diamond true-silver CD-R. The Dolby NR....i mean...whoah! It ACTUALLY WORKS! Kind of like the heat actually working in the new VW Bug...
@@brentfisher902 I can't go below 15ips or 30ips for tape. The difference is night&day for the sound quality.
7.5ips is starting to get a little rough and the rest is all over the place. Increasing the bias or the drive level on 15ips and 30ips can sound amazing with the correct source.
These prices are ridiculous. They are not dealing with reality.
They are! Limited production.
The reality is that these new machines had to be developed, prototypes had to be built, tools to make the components had to be built, all this done for a very small number of sold units, of course they are gong to be very dear. New tape heads are hand-made, at 800+ euros a piece, two per machine.
whn you have company and employees and taxes, bills, R and D… nothing comes cheap.
Learn that before writing bullshit
@@silviosarunic3234 bonehead that is why I keep what I have. You are a real winner.
Reality is they sell.
So you're unrealistic in your limited evaluation.
there is a relationship between a fool and his money.....
WOW ! ...Due to those asking prices i think i will keep my Revox A77 MK 4 and my Tandberg TD 20A reel to reel decks for now .
Wise choice! 😉
Ill keep my Revox B77 MkII. I wonder what specific models other people will also keep.
And I will keep my TEAC X-1000RBL because of those new Machines, Auto-Reverse is absent.
Yup -- I am keeping my Tandberg 9241XD and 3041.
When your A77 was new it nearly the price of a small car. 24k Euros will now buy you whole small car. It's not so very different
I know it's not remotely in the same league but I think I'll get my Akai GX4000D fully serviced, a recap etc and not moan about the cost ever again.
I great choice!
Someone gave me a gx 4000D that needs repair. Both reel tables need replacement due to one having the shaft bent and the other one the shaft is broken and the flywheel is missing the shaft and sleeve for 7 1/4" speed.
But it turns on. Good luck with yours.
The guy also gave me a broken technics rs 1500 i am working on that one now.
The frequency response blows ballfinger and papillon out the window :)
Becuase of your 3 part series on reel to reel machines, I was able to make an inform decision. As of May 2020. I'm a proud owner of an Otari MX 5050 BR II. Thank you.
Excellent choice!!
I have a Teac 2300S I bought in 1973 and it is still working and is in great shape. It still sounds like the day I purchased it. Great machined and priced realistically for the day.
The Teacs from that time period are built like tanks, apart from re-greasing the pinch roller arm mechanism never had any issues.
When Crosley and Victrola come out with their open reel decks, the world will end. LOL
😆
Already happened, look at Techmoans latest video
I'm HIGHLY DISSAPOINTED with specs of Tourbillon and Papillon machines! Although machines look amaizing, just compare the specs of Ballfinger (4:27) and Metaxas (9:56) machines (data for 15 ips): W&F: 0,04% vs 0,25% (!) ; FR: 30 - 22000 Hz vs 30 - 20000; THD: 55% (!) ; SNR: 68 dB vs 67 dB. So much money for so poor quality playback! W&F 0,25%, hellou! Two percent THD, c'mon! I must say there are compact cassette decks with BETTER specs than Metaxas!
What happened to producing equipment for mere mortals? Those prices are disgusting. I’ll put my 40+ year old Teac up against any of these, in a blind test.
None of those machines are worth what they want.
Hipsterism happened, their actual use value is near zero - they're mostly just a gimmick for audiophiles, that's why the prices are so high.
@@puciohenzap891 anyone who has ever actually listened to reel to reel knows it far surpasses the sound quality of any other format….not by a little, but a lot. So if you’re an audiophile and you don’t care about sound quality, why are you an audiophile?
The mere mortals have moved on to streaming etc, there is no more mass market for Reel to Reel like back in the 70's. the prices are justified, consider the effort put into their conception and fabrication, all by a very small team for a very small market.
I didn't know about this. Very interesting actually.
Cut the prices by 75% and you might be able to compete with mid 70s open reels.
I must say that reel to reels look bad ass cool . I should have bought a broken one and just put it on a shelf because they look so good .Reel to Reels have more dynamic range than records ,streaming and cds but they are so mechanical that they wear out . Old tape from Basf and other manufacturers can get brittle . The heads have to be cleaned regularly probably demagnetized . It's a lot of work .
For reference, my Sony TC-580 sold for $899 in 1972. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $6000 in today money.
My TEAC 2300S works just fine. I’ll stick with it
The pioneer RT-909 has similar or better specs than these machines. You can get it totally restored for around $2,500. Plus you can get a remote added.
Depends on the condition of all buttons, switches and bearings. These are sometimes unrepairable, restored or not.
@@puciohenzap891 these machines are pretty well completely rebuild able. They have such a following that a lot of people are making replacement parts. Not sure about bearings (although I have not heard bearings are a problem) but clutches, rollers, etc are available. Heads can be relapped, transistors and caps replaced. There is even a company that has added memory for the counter and a remote to the RT-909. These decks were well built to start with. Even a complete rebuild is less than the new machines.
zugegeben, sieht gut aus, wenn man das Gerät aber auch benutzen will und das auch noch oft , dann sieht die Sache anders aus.
Ich bin dann bei Revox gelandet und habe das nie bereut.
Ob B77 oder A77, die Geräte funktionieren ohne Probleme, und wenn mal eines streikt dann gibt es heute noch die Möglichkeit das Gerät bei Revox reparieren zu lassen, Ersatzteile
gibt es immer noch, auch wenn die Geräte teilweise schon über 50 Jahre alt sind.
These prices are absolutely ridiculous. I refurb and sell Ampex/Studer/MCI/Otari machines. There is no way these machines command these prices. This is audiofoolery at its most insane. Even a basic Otari MX5050 will perform for playback as good or better than these overpriced machines. Just nonsense.
Thank you! I just subscribed. All of this update is like music to my ears. There is something about a tape recorder that is visually appealing like no other music reproduction machine. I am having a second look at my few old school cassette and reel-to-reel machines (dusting and giving them a workout). As it was in the heyday of these machines, I am hoping that manufacturers from other parts of the world will join the band wagon so that the price of new machines will be within the reach of the ordinary enthusiasts like me.
Can one of these companies please make a new cassette mechanism that is high quality.
they are there already. saw it on fb. i believe it was teac
eu.teac-audio.com/en-GLOBAL
@@philippejanssens9066
Teac uses bog-standard Tanashin mechanisms.
Hey Uli Behringer! Watch this! And thanks!
I have a Tandberg 9100X from 1975 and an Akai M8 from the late 60's...both in great working condition and sound fantastic.
If I was going to spend the kind of money that the companies talked about in this video are asking, I would just buy something like a Studer A800 instead for a fraction of the cost. It has the history and track record behind it. I don't care what kind of components you put in a reel to reel, they don't justify $30,000 - $75,000 price tag.
I agree!
I've got 2 8 tracks, 1/4 and 1/2", a 1/4 mixdown deck and an 8 track cassette recorder and they're all still super useful tools in sooooo many ways, key word: maintenance!
Cool!
Rock on brother, enjoy the music you like however, you like. Democracy 👍🍻
This is a joke, right? Even if you were foolish enough to pay the insanely BIG price of a new reel to reel, what would you do with it? There is no music available to play on it, right? Do you go around hunting for someone who has one or two ancient tapes that they will sell you for $1000.00 each? I have no idea who would want to buy one, or why.
Several people are saying this but it isn't true...those who buy these machines like me (not these, vintage models) buy master tape copies or simply new recordings....several companies release reel to reel 2 track tapes. Obviously not mainstream. I did a video on the topic;
ruclips.net/video/gLHcFuhWdLI/видео.html
...hunting for someone who has a couple of ancient tapes whose magnetic surface looks like a fancy business suit you slept in in a humid room for 15 hours straight or the fur of a Shar Pei dog...
As soon as I saw the video thimbnail I thought 'I bet that's expensive'...
Insane prices... And why buy a 12000 euro machine that can not record ?
Any reel to reel from Teac, Mitsubishi
That's what we're looking for! I'd settle for a7 inch R2R deck with new circuitry and new (thinner/better) quality tape formulations. This is the 2020's surely we've improved on tech since the 60's.
Why the hell would you spend all that money on something that only plays. It's a tape recorder, it should record.
Ballfinger it´s not expensive at all.....27.000 €....hahaha
Except for the Ballfinger, none of these HIGH DOLLAR manufacturers show ANY circuitry whatsoever. The best published statement about the $75,000 Tourbillon was that they "include some FOAM PADS so your bench won't amplify the MACHINE VIBRATION"....you gotta be kidding.
(Unpacking/Item 1 @ 8:38). Was surprised too how proud they were to have merged 60's electronics with 2020 mechanicals. Has there been no advancements in electronics over the decades? The outputs appear to be wired unbalanced only, despite having Canon XLR connectors. Very odd. Guess RCA phono plugs didn't look cool enough.
The wow and flutter numbers are pretty average for a relatively high-end machine from 1984. The frequency response seems very limited though. I don't see any of these going to 40,000 hertz. And I don't see glass and crystal ferrite heads.
Indeed!
*NONE of the previous* "Made in Japan" *consumer level electronic GIANTS like: Technics, Akai, Sanyo, Tascam, Sony, Aiwa, Toshiba, etc. were thinking of coming back with their own fantastic products of their own famous Reel-to-Reel recording machines ?? That's too bad ... I have to say !!! Just because their prices could be much more affordable to the normal people - not just to the extremely rich guys only !!!! :o(*
Reel
Prices will only come down with mass production. There will be no mass production.
@@shippy555 Thank you for correcting my spelling mistake. Appreciate it !! English is my 4th language :o)
@@garethonthetube > DAMN !! :o(
@@dasboot5903 Yes, sorry, I just spotted it, I wasn't having a go. Shamefully, I only speak one language so that puts me in my place. I see you've corrected it, I didn't know you could do that. Good comment too.
THORENS TM 1600. A machine with a play ONLY function (??!) And costing "only" 12 thousand euros?
This is a contradiction to the idea of a tape recorder. I wonder how many naive customers will buy it?
Yup! It's a tape recorder that cannot record - LOL!
I'll keep my Pioneer Rt909 thanks anyway
I'll stick with my teac/tascam and Grundig
You can never have the numbers again on a niche market item unless you have two things;reasonable prices and service techs everywhere. It's the same for us US collectors....you become your own tech or give up even more money to a competent tech.
Revox 2016 prototype project dead and was never life thanks to Volker ;)
I was fortunate to find a beautiful Teac at a resale shop, with factory shipping box. It's a six head machine and works perfect. I also still have my old Akai portable that served me well for many years, but is more primitive, no longer works and I can't find anyone who wants to fix it. I'm playing audio tapes I inherited that were recorded back in the 50's and they sound amazingly good.
Nice!
Although I restore and sell vintage reel to reel tape decks, I can see the value in these high price decks. $30, to $50 k for a high quality tape deck is really not that much considering the studio I worked at paid $62,000 for a brand new Ampex ATR-24. I don’t understand the playback only thing.
@Kevlar Obviously these are designed for the audiophile in mind, as there are better sounding 2 track decks that record at 30 ips. The Ampex ATR is simply the best sounding deck I have ever mixed down to, and I have used them all, Studer, MCI, Sony, Otari and many others. I’m not sure you could “improve” anything on an ATR 102 1/2” deck.
@Kevlar A good friend of mine and engineer prefers the MCI JH-110 over the Ampex ATR. We actually did a shootout once at the studio I worked at between the MCI, ATR and a Studer. The differences were less subtle than we expected. The MCI had amazing bottom end at 15 ips. The Studer was punchy and had very detailed midrange. But I felt the ATR at 30 ips was just wonderful.
Troppo belli e costosi...
Il mio Akai 747 e il Teac 3440 funzionano ancora benissimo e mi danno tante soddisfazioni. Ciao
Bravo!
Papillion = Wow & Flutter 0,25% ??? very bad, like a cheap Cassett-Tape-Recorder
True...
I have, UHER Royal De Luxe for sell in working condition for sell. Where can I find a potential customer? I'm from Mumbai, India.
Best is ebay or Facebook groups..or maybe here!
@@anadialog thanks dear
If the price of open reel blank tape was "reasonable" (like it was in the 70's) I'd consider getting one.
A very good point about real blank tapes prices !!!!
If these machines are €10000 plus, tape is the least of my worries..(30 mins of tape at 7.5ips is €59 at thomann)
I bought a few reels of new tape a few years ago when they were under $30 per reel. I anticipated that the prices of tape decks and tape would only keep going up.
Using pre-used vintage Maxell tape is perfectly acceptable. It doesn't "sticky shed" like some other old tapes.
Blank tape is, if you take inflation in consideration, at pretty much the same price point as back in the day.
....You should support the tape manufacturers by buying new tape, vintage Maxell tape is sometimes even dearer than new tape now, go figure... and the new tape formulations perform even better than any vintage tape. I buy "pancakes", these are tapes without flanges, i get rid of the old used tape and replace it.
I still have dad’s old Sony reel to reel from the late 60’s. Still works great.
Might be better and cheaper to do up an old recorder . . . new heads, bearings and pinch wheel etc.
About s/n: Tandberg TD-20A SE had 80db without any noise reduction system.
Impressive!
We have to be very careful with the numbers, the SNR depends on the tape used to mesure and also the method of mesure. If you analyse only the floor of noise during play with empty tape, the noise are below -90dB where the signal can be more than 10dB, so, in this case, the difference between the top of signal and floor of noise are 100dB (mesured with TP-1000). But with the tape recorder, the SNR is measured in reference of THD, because the tape generate naturaly harmonic, the difference between top of signal and top of harmonic are low than floor of noise, than explain why the values of SNR of tape recorders seam to be goodless than numerical system.
I would rather find me a nice vintage Japanese reel-to-reel machine and get it serviced I would take a Japanese machine any day over a German machine just my two cents
Indeed!
Call me when something sub-$1,000 comes around 😬
Good luck with that lol. Back in the 70s, you'd be hard pressed to find a reel to reel for $500. That's about the equivalent of $2500 or so today.
revox i don't think so they are just trying the market place 14 inch spools are hard to find there are place's that sell used one's at £50 each
i have a scully 14 inch reel to reel in he home's i just don't think so
All these are great. But, quite expensive. I'm glad to have the classic teac A2340R refurbished. It does the job. And more.
I’ll stick with the Pioneer RT909 which matches their specs
Prices are fair. If you look at what a top machine cost in the 1980s, it would be over $100K today. $20k for a new machine is fine. And it will perform way better than a refurbished machine.
Well, these are not top machines, some don’t even record and in general we are missing the technology to produce high quality components so actually any new machine will always have a low quality profile regardless of the investment.
@@anadialoghuh? These machines walk all over restored vintage machines. Your comment is nothing like what you said in the video - WTF is wrong with you?
I love my Akai GX 400D and Teac A7300 from the 70's.
CONFUSED.... TECHNOLOGY JUMPED AHEAD 40-50 YEARS ,BUT COMPARE TO VINTAGE GEARS -AKAI/TEAC/TECHNICS etc
by comparing specs (FR RESponse) the current ones kind a behind
Because the whole magnetic tape industry is dead....at its apex a metal tape on a good deck could have rivaled with reel to reel it was that good!
@@anadialog THANKS MAN
I have had direct experience with the metaxas tape recorder, it was the mk1 and did not meet spec or perform well at all, it had to be returned...a bit of a horror story that ended ok thanks to Mr Gore at analog rules. As a studio tech with decades of experience servicing tape machines I continue to advise my clients to purchase properly overhauled used machines, Ampex, Studer etc. Parts are readily available for Ampex machines and service is straight forward...that said bring on the new machines and we'll put them thru the paces!
I have an MM 1000 & 440, which one day ( when I am finished with my regular work) I want to get restored & functioning ....nothing like relays , tape and VU's to stir a passion for real music being recorded live to tape ......
Sadly...expected, thanks for sharing That!
Okay, they're nice looking, and with master tapes (which are probably not very easy to come by, especially for an album actually worth listening to) they'll probably sound amazing. But what else will you play on it? Can you buy new releases? I think Techmoan showed a site with like 12 albums, most of them classical music, on about 300$ per title. That's all?
Were there old music released on this format back in the days? Or everyone just recorded stuff from the radio with these? Or pirated the neighbours' record collection?
If you gonna record an album from an external source (CD/vinyl/lossless etc.) to R2R tape, is it gonna sound better than the source material? Of course not... tape noise is still an issue for example, so is wow and flutter. Can you even buy new blank R2R tapes anymore? It's even hard to find new, good quality compact cassettes nowadays...
So, what's the point, really? Especially on those prices... it's a fun toy, but a waaay overpriced one.
Yes there were contemporary music titles released back then, even the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, Lionel Ritchie, Supertramp etc of course collector's items by now.
Nowadays I like recording from hi-res files to Reel to Reel, sweetens up the sound somehow.
You really need to try it to believe it. Make a recording from a high rez file, play it and than get back to me …
I have two Pioneer RT 909s they are both excellent machines. it would be a cold day when I forked over 24k for one of these new machines. Like someone else said they are for the rich people who don't play them, who don't know how to operate them and have then sitting there just for show.
I didn't know reel-to-reel machines were currently made. Nice to know. Horrible value for money compared to vintage gear that can be serviced, kept alive and used for the remainder of the century and beyond for us more budget-minded musicians and music listeners, but still.
As expensive as they are, there are so many people for whom these prices wouldn't even elicit a shrug as they hand over their platinum credit cards, so there is naturally a market for them. I'd much rather have one of these than a Ferrari if I had silly money like that.
Will this top-end market resurgence of new R2R machines gradually inspire others to do the same in other market segments, I wonder? 🤔
Great video as always.
What I miss is a budget model. Though I really like R-to-R technology I find everything made today ridiculously expensive - I mean 12000€ for a tape PLAYER. I am not saying we should get into Crosley territory, but it would be nice if there was something like an Akai or Tandberg or whatever value-for-money brand you can remember.
Surprising. After new Turntable and New Decks Tape, now new Reel-To-Reel Machines. All that remains is now to appear new video cassettes S-VHS. WOW!!! *I'm waiting for new video cassete S-VHS.
I love my two vintage reel to reels, I only paid less $600 for the both of them in excellent shape and both came with the metal reels! My Pioneer RT 701 was $180.00 shipping was $80.00 excellent condition, Teac 3300-10 with 2 large Teac metal reels, & owners manual in near mint condition $190.00 plus $90.00 shipping, both off E-bay about three years ago! You do need to learn how to do the preventive maintenance on them! Even if I won the lottery I would never buy any new stereo equipment, it just looks cheap for the high price your paying!
I can only settle for TEAC X-2000R and X-1000R.
Do you know if the old reel tapes are compatible with the new machines?
In the last 6 or seven years i got a Teac A-3300S for free, a Teac A-3300SX for five euros+35 for the missing head cover, a Akai GX-630D with ten maxell metal reels for 35 euros, a Revox A77 for 45 euros, another A77 with new heads for 120 euros, a Teac X-2000R with 15 TDK metal reels for 200 euros, a Sony TC-766-2 for eighty euros. Sounds improbable? No, just had to be there at the right time... But i will not calculate the time needed to restore them, luckily i have acquired the know-how.
@@sudhirsumongkol8972 If you mean playback, yes if the speed and track format is the same. For recording it depends which tape, some might need a re-calibration of the level, bias and record equalisation
I refurb old professional tape machines and they will easily outperform this overpriced hipster junk. I have a gaggle of MCI and Otari machines for sale.
I have parts to build three new Stephens 821B machines, minus the heads. I’ve debated building them, the problem is that as long as the refurb machines are reasonably priced and reasonably available, I doubt I could break even. A head set is around ten grand from what I recall. I might build an 8 track one inch for myself. Though I do run a 821B 24 track in my studio as well as an Ampex 440C two track.
Eight to fourteen modulation is your friend....This message brought to you by the Church Of Darwin and Scientific Methods...
I can get a modern vinyl player for $20 but I can’t get a reel for reel for less than 50k??? It’s 2021..what happened to advancement in technology and being able to mass produce tech.
🤣
Say bye-bye to your records with the $20 record player - LOL!
@@IOOIIIV wait why’s that?
@@SundayVibesmusic Because those cheapskate turntables have an atrociously high tracking force which will wear your records out. They also sound like garbage. Records are expensive, these days, and are subject to wear and tear. You're not getting the most out of the groove if you use cheapo crap like Crosley. The cheapest Project record player will give you a much better turntable experience.
For the record, I'm just a CD guy, not a Vinyl guy, so what do I know!
@@IOOIIIV oh ok that makes sense. Also just to clarify I do not own a vinyl player..just saying I see cheap versions everywhere but I can’t even get a cheap reel to reel. Also I get your point from a music standpoint. In context my original comment didn’t explain at all why I wrote it. I’m a musician and a producer..and as a Lofi artist sometimes we use reel to reel to get a vintage feel. However because they are so expensive not many producers own one. Literally all we want them for is for the crackles and imperfections they add to recordings..it’s to add nostalgic vibes to a track. I have pretty awesome plugins and digital gear that will do the job..but it’s still pretty cool to own a hardware that will add that vintage feel to a track. Now days it’s not necessarily needed for what I would use it for but for studio purposes only it adds a cool look to see such a vintage gear along side modern electronics
Why in the world would a studio want a "play back only" machine at any price????????? Even if it only cost $1000.00 bucks? What use would it be in the studio? If each of these machines were a 4 track recording machine, studios would need 4 or 5 of them to record a good LP like from the 1960's. I don't get it??????? I have 3 (four track) machines for less than $5000.00.
Thanks for the 3rd leg. When I come into much $ one of those Ballfinger recorders will be mine.
Whatever happened to "Metal" tape"
"Thank you the God's I've kept our dbx Teac X20R bidirectional machine (Farther 😇 past down to us)..And Still (working) I use it as our sound passthrough via Onkyo 3030 A.V. receiver ..done some G.R.P. label, some Four play CD recordings on it to!
"Sounds just heavenly 😇🎼🎵🎶
d 🤕🗺🇪🇺💜
Thanks for uploading the video I am from India and have passion for the old world analog technologies hope the resurgence of the reel to reel will bring the audiophiles of the current generation a taste of the old world charm as the resurgence of the LP discs but the price of the machines must have to brought down so that large number of interested persons can afford to buy .
I still poses two reel to reel one made by the famous German company TELEFUNKEN which used vaccum tubes ( Magnetophon 96 manufactured in 1963 / 64 ) & the other one was from the Japanese company SONY ( model TC 366 a solid state machine of 1970/71) both the machine are still very much in playworthy condition though some replacement of a few parts will surely rejuvenate the performance all were the beautiful machines of the bygone era again thank you & please take care of yourself during the ongoing pandemic.
Cool, thanks!
I love how these new companies act like recording is a "feature" or an "upgrade". Jackass's buy this. NOS modded will crush these machines for MUCH cheaper. Ball finger is made by an engineer who's last product was an award winning lamp. Not sure what that has to do with reel to reels but sure. For the price, I would (and already did) buy an Otari 5050 Bii2, modded tape path with all custom bearings and switchable tape head output to a Earhart Audio Nina SE all tube tape stage. Total cost, 7k. And I promise you, it will stomp that 20k Ballfinger into the ground.
Honestly I am shocked by the Ballfinger specifiactions: how can be that with all modern technologies and knowledge they didn't succeed to at least match the 30 years old TEAC X2000R performance? WRMS 0.03% vs 0.06% at 19cm/s speed... Realy?! With all modern digitally controlled logics? And what can you say about the frequency range? 30-40.000Hz vs 30-20.000Hz at 19cm/s... How could this happen? Is this another of those misteries like the Egyptian pyramides no one is able to replicate today? Were we helped by aliens to design our tape recorders too? And who is going to pay that mountain of money for such a misery? Can't even look at those playback-only things with one only head! Such a misery...
My great grand uncle got a Nashville hal! Of game award for being the first in the whole I'm to record his own full records individually in Scotland and played 13 instruments but he only played 7 different instruments on recordings he did and he would get send reels from worldwide for him to play !music on and would send gr8! Back by friends in the navy and all local Scottish young guitar players said it was the biggest honour to learn from a pioneer rather than Johnny cash and Willie Nelson as they have bands but nah Thomas Fraser Shetland is a pioneer
None of this investment in fancy tape transports makes sense. There's no market for this oversized junk. But you know where there is a market and DESPERATELY needs investment in quality tape transports and back to quality miniaturization? Cassettes. There's NOTHING on the market that does that format any justice and it's the only way to take analog sound with you on the go.
It's a shame the Chinese won't build a reel-to-reel deck... I'm sure they could keep the price well under $1000. Knowing the Chinese, maybe even $100!
I have no idea why their specs are so low. My Otari can do 20-39k (+/-3 db) with a new ATR tape. Even better is the Sony TC 880-2 which is well known to achieve 45k+ on the high end. No wonder why typical beat-up 40+ years old OTARIs are now listed for 3000-10000 USD on Ebay, 10,000+ for basic Studers and 20,000+ for Ampex and other pro machines (MCI, Scully, Nagra, Telefunken...). We need to ask Otari to start making R2Rs again. You can save money by buying a used Otari or Technics 1520 and upgrade the tape path and heads (with extended frequency heads by Fluxmagnetics). According to the Tape Project, you can get them to sound almost like the pro machines (Ampex, their main studio machine) for a whole lot less.
Who is ever going to buy one of those, when for 10 times less one could get and original R2R machine, like the ones many of the rock bands from the 60s and 70s recorded their hits on...?
@Rob Mikels Yes...Oh yes...le corq psniferrez. If you want to enjoy music in good analog...reel to reel or vinyl is the wrong answer...HiFi VHS is where it's at. The signal is recorded at over 200 inches per second using the rotating heads on the video drum using analog frequency modulation...the signal to noise ratio is very close to approaching a CD and the frequency response is higher than all but the best top-of-the-line HX-Pro cassette decks...And the best part is when you use the EP/SLP slow speed 6 hour mode...the picture quality gets worse but the sound stays perfect, so you can have a 6 hour mixtape for a party and not worry about someone spilling beer all over vinyl that has low hours of use on it or kicking over the turntable..
Seems like last time I looked , Analog Production has a Led Zep album for 450 dollars ( new) on R2R tape.
Good to see the reel to.reels back on the market again.
Although a little pricey for the average person.
I heve my thoughts which not often are disputed ( not at all?). I think R2R recorders within many past years went through bumnpy road. At begining it was mairacle of magnetic recording and actually only after recorders were discovered started developments of magnetic tapes. So magnetic tapes technology was always a bit late to developements of electronic. They were not strong , were hard for heads , not very thiny thus good touch of heads was provided by mechanical pressing them to head. Result was wear of head, magnetic residuum in the track. over loading by stress and tape deformation .
All that brought conclusion that tape recorders were not reliable. At that time producers made great progress in parallel construction of machines and technology of tapes.. That in my opinion justifies why good class tape rocorders dated after 1970 were already better than their tech data Producers were simply scared to present best data while they were not sure about tape used by owner when competition was only waiting to proof no adequacy.
All this become irrevelant when standard of tapes became equal and top. Thinny strong not deforming, good contacting. No more mess with types. Recorders were improved beyond imagination and tape just got in touch with them at the end of era. It resulted that my tape made in 1984 recorder I checked on 9,5 cm/s with tapes from 1978, my own concept speakers and pro sound meter and found sufficiently working to 18 kHz. In air - not on screen!! With no noticeable noise. In tech data originaly producer of my machine granted at 9,5 cm 12 kHz and 52 dB. Today with excellent tapes technology and excellent semiconductors and experience found in old R2Rs it is 100 granted that new tape recorder with ease will be top class.
Interesting that so many of these are playback only machines!
You'd think that in this day and age recording machines would be in greater demand for analog music production.
These must be marketed towards archival institutions working with legacy recordings for digitization.
I used to work in the State Library which has thousands of reel to reel tapes.
Yes, but also end private users that just want a cool looking player to play their master tape copies...
@James Doolittle Also a section of the original waveform to Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon was erased at MFSL by mistake because of being put on a machine that was capable of recording...And don't even get started about the visited side of the moon..NASA taped over the moon landing footage too...Magnetic recording lasts such a long time the biggest thing that shortens its life is human error...Also don't forget that time you stuck the floppy disk of the spreadsheet you needed for work in the morning onto the refrigerator with a magnet or put a cassette tape next to the 15 inch subwoofer in the car...
These prices are insane, I own a JH24 and paid way less… I would love to support these companies but not at these prices 🤐
I have a Tandberg TD20A including the remote. Unfortunately some small caps have burned on the tape drive board, which affects the button action. Not that easy to replace as I have yet to find the part list of this board..
My opinion: Ballfinger for 24thousand=bullshit, Metaxas for 45-75 thousand=bullshit, Thorens playback for 12 thousand=bullshit, Analog Audio Design is MY FAVORIT!!! REVOX? WTF? JOKE? BULLSHIT!!! plus FAKE SNAKEOIL
If I got the money, I might choose between the Ballfinger M063 H5 (Pb/Rec) or Analogue Audio Design TR-1000 (Pb/Rec).
However, i am more curious which oone of these two I named would sound better and would give me the best results when i try to record my own music with it.
What next a tape deck for £200,000 absolutely RIDICULOUS! This damn earth is loosing it big time. Hang on hun just gonna sell the villa and the BMW to buy a fooking reel to reel 😂😂😂😂😂
You know what other reel to reel had wow & flutter rated at better than .25%? The Ampex 600. In 1954.
Currently I'm at the point where you introduced the second player and I'm laughing hysterically (metaphorically speaking) and I'm wondering, will you be introducing a player that costs 1000€ 🤣🤣🤣🤣 We'll see
You can also buy a SonoruS ATR 10 Tape Reproducer with Vacuum tube playback electronics !
Nice, still pricey and no recording capabilities...but nice
@@anadialog I love your Revox A810, but you need butterfly heads !
You mean Studer...I used to think so but butterfly are better for crosstalk but not overall incredibly better...
So, ummm..... can anyone explain to me why people are buying these machines when you can get a used refurbished Studer or Ampex two-track recorder which should sound VASTLY SUPERIOR for the same money or less?
Great idea! Make videos while you're on vacation so you can write it all off as a business expense. Nice! Just kidding, thanks for the video! 😎
😆
Wonderfull machines all of them but for serious analog studio and people that can afford them. I think some needs to talk to Nakamichi. They are still around making car stereo gear but I would love them to come back with a new dragon and somer more affordable cassette decks XD
Me too!
Someone need to make a high end consumer Dat machines with superior sound
No DAT please.. a very good analog circuitry will be so good. Metal or chrome tapes.
Well... what's the use of a playback only tape machine? To me, that can be said in just one word: NOTHING. I use these machines to make nice compilations of my own music... pre-recorded tapes are VERY limited, most are of those "high end music" (read: boring) so that's in fact a non-issue. So, just give me my Studer A807 which I restored myself... it can at least record tapes! And... sounds fantastic!
This will be nice to get new ones, but these must be better than my vintage STUDER A62. The Ballfinger looks awesome 👍
2:43 - For the design of their reels they copied the old Mongoose/Sugino "snowflake" style BMX sprocket.
Very interesting.
Having the inconvenience of a turntable and the extreme price of tape.
Let`s not forget terrible availability of quality music.
But it sound great. Il like it.
$$$$ 75,000 .. Why? If there was a recording model approx $5k so many recording studios would buy one & run everything from pro tools/ logic to it
1960's technology just doesn't cut it anymore. Reel to reel tapes and tape decks are a pain in the ass to work with. Modern day uncompressed digital audio is the way to go.