We love analog reel-to-reel tape recorders and use them regularly to convert old reel-to-reels to audio CD.
I recently came across this SynthGear blog post that contains an old advertisement for a Sony TC-377: 1973 Ad for Sony Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck. Some of the text reads: This could be the tape deck you’ll leave your great-grandson. This is a classic ad because, indeed, I think many people have done just that; not just with the TC-377, but with all different types of analog reel-to-reel tape recorders.
A customer recently sent us this picture of her Sony TC-558.
Here’s a picture of one of our own: a Teac X-3R.
Why are these passed down from generation to generation, and say, cassette decks are not? Is it purely looks, frequency response or some tactile fascination? I hope you will help us answer this question in our comments below.
If you have an old reel-to-reel tape machine, feel free to post a picture of it to our Facebook Wall. We’d love to see it and hear how you came into possession of it. Or send it to us via Twitter.
If you are interested in our nationwide reel-to-reel format conversion services in Colorado Springs and Denver, please see our website for more info.
View Andy R's profile
Can you help?
i have a audio tape I record 47 years ago on portable tape recorder. I was in Germany and sent it to my sweetheart, now my wife. We haven’t listened to it since, but I want to see if I can get it put on a CD so I can play it for her this Christmas. It’s narrow tape, and the size from the box seems to be 65m.
Roger Harrison
Roger, we love to hear about how people used these old reel-to-reel recorders! We have been transferring a lot of 3″ reels to CD lately; many of our military personnel used them during the war in Vietnam to mail an audio recording home to their family. We can convert these to Audio-CD, wave, MP3 or just about any format you need. Give us a call at 719-477-9600 or email at info [at ] audiofilesolutions [ dot] com. Thanks!
Nice blog! I can offer several answers to your question about why reel-to-reel machines are passed along more than cassettes. I think, for starters, all your theories are valid somehow or another. But more significant is the legacy factor: Modern reel-to-reel recording (with AC bias) dates back to WWII; cassettes were invented in 1964. R-to-R was already far superior to cassette in performance; cassette was invented mainly for speech use. So even though cassette eventually overtook R to R as a consumer format (thanks to convenience, Dolby and chrome/metal tape formulations), a much, much larger legacy of R to R tape recordings existed, because of R to R’s superiority over cassette for serious recording, and because R to R has been around much longer. Also R to R machines were built for durability; cassette decks tended to aim for budget-conscious markets and thus were more likely to be built on the cheap. So R to R recorders last much longer, and anyone with a collection of R to R tapes naturally wants to keep the playback hardware.
But I really, really relate to the tactile fascination at an emotional level! That holds true for me. I grew up in the 1970s and ’80s with various reel-to-reels I acquired used (see http://www.spmaudio.com/beginnings.html, and I really enjoyed loading and threading reels of tape. Popping in a cassette never gave me that satisfaction. (Similarly, I had my hands on a manual-thread 16mm film projector a few times as a kid, and that was WAAAY more fun than dropping in a DVD today!)
The coolness factor of threading tape is definitely there for me too. But I still remember going to listen to my first high end cassette deck with Dolby C. The shop had the most of any in town–I think 3 or 4–the rest were Dolby B. I plugged in and out of each one with my best headphones, AB-ing them intensely. I never had the money to get one, but I’ll always have an emotional attachment to those 4 cassette decks.
I have three reel to reel tape recorders. A Philips, and Two Sony machines, a TC 399 and a TC 440. I got the Sony machines from a popular online auction site. I like the machines purely for the fact that they are robust and they sound great. I use them on a regular basis, as I am not a fan pf digital media. I like to cling onto the more traditional media, I just love it
Hi, I have a Sony TC-558 reel to reel in almost mint condition with lots of tapes. I wonder if i can send you pictures of it and also wonder what it would sell for today.
Thanks george
George, lucky you!! Why not keep it and hand it down to your kids/grandkids? If you have to sell it, compare it to other reel-to-reels on Ebay that are similar. You may even find someone else selling the same thing. That should give you a good idea of an asking price.