Real to Reel - looking to try and want to guidance
 

Everyone
I was looking to try reel to reel but don’t know where to start. I checked out some used decks on EBay and at Reel to Reel Heaven. I was hoping to find something in the $500-$1000 range for the deck. I’m not sure if this is a realistic price point or not. Are there any vendors or brands I should check out? Anything I should stay away from? What should I look for? What’s the best place to purchase tapes? Thanks in advance.

I would suggest the Revox B77 in that price range, worth paying a little more for a deck that's been recently serviced.

Old B77's most certainly need a full re-cap. Unless you trust your source and know you're buying a genuinely refirb'd deck I'd stay away.

OP. You need to tell us your intended use. If you're looking to spin those expensive master tapes you're going to need a 2-track deck that has IEC eq.

If you just want a casual deck, sort of record your own music, then a 4-track deck would be in order.

The main brands are going to be Pioneer, Teac, Tascam, Technics, Otari, probably a couple others. Stay away from Dokorder.

Studer is just about out of everyone's league these days. There are a few new manufactures, but they are insanely expensive.

I'd be very, very, very skeptical of the offerings on eBay. There are so many rip-off artists on that site.

Now comes the hard part, your budget. For $500 to $1000 your going to get a deck with soo many issues and problems that it wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Tape has become popular again, so those of us with good quality decks aren't selling, and those with good decks for sale want real $$$.

Good luck.

If you think vinyl is a deep hole just take a gander at the Grand Canyon of reel to reel.
I love the format but just can’t justify forking over the coin to make RtR a viable source for me. For $500 to $1000 you’ll get a low to mid range deck in need of a major overhaul, or a deck that has been ‘serviced’ by an amateur.

I’m looking for something for master tape listening. I will not be doing any recording. While I love digital for the simplicity. I love the audio sound quality of vinyl and tape. From everything I have read and heard, good reel to reel sounds awesome.

Any place people would recommend to pick up a used refirb’d unit?

If your budget is what you stated in post#1, drop the idea. It ain't gonna happen.

What would an appropriate budget need to be?

It’s been awhile since I last checked, but I would look for something like an Otari MX 5050BII, Revox B77mkII, or Technics RS-1520. There may be others I’m not familiar with. They are newer decks (bit still over 30 years old) and are available with 2 Track playback heads and 15 ips. You will find prices vary from $5000 to $15000 for fully refurbished decks, depending on the extent of the work and desirability of the deck Heads should be new or lapped, all belts and idlers replaced, repro electronics refreshed or replaced with new, etc.

Yep. Pretty much covers it. Sorry OP, it's just an expensive game to jump in to. Try JCorder he may have a refirb'd base model Technics in the 5-7K range.

If you go the eBay route, a Tascam BR-20 is a great deck. Superb tape handler. I got mine for a grand 12 years ago. If you can score one for a sub 3K price grab it. You'll probably need to send it in for a full service, but we can talk about that when the time comes.

The Otari's are really good decks too. There used to be a bunch of them for sale cheap a few years back, but like I said before, tape has become popular again, so prices have skyrocketed.

Everyone
Thanks for the info and responses. I didn’t realize the expense required to dip my toe in the pool. I keep seeing used decks for $500-2,000 so I thought I was in the right ball park. I will keep my eye out for some of the decks everyone recommended to see if I can find a deal. $5,000 to try it out is a little steep.