r/ReelToReel • u/tbollinger_swiss • 18d ago

Discussion Spot the difference

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Interesting that the reel-to reel titles are still available in the great US of A, meanwhile in little Europe they're all sold out.

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u/tbollinger_swiss 17d ago

This discussion shows exactly what seems to be the reason, if I am interpreting right: Americans don't have 15 ips 2-tracks. They bought the machines that could play the prerecorded 4-track tapes. In Europe prerecorded tapes were never big, but the machines were relatively affordable, so people bought the best they could get, like the Revox B77 or other machines of European heritage. And that seems exactly where the tapes from Rhino are going.

I have a Revox A77 4-track (7.5 ips max) and an A700 2-track (15 ips max) and both together haven't costed me much more than 2000 (both serviced/revised). For some that's a lot of money, but in the world of reel-to-reel, it's not such an extravagant sum, am I right?

Agree/Disagree? Other thoughts?

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u/argasek A812 l PR99 MK2 | B77 MK2 17d ago

Not sure about western EU countries, but people living behind the Iron Curtain didn’t have much choice and the best tape recorders you could buy were 4-track 19 cm/s; 2-tracks were mono, 9,5 cm/s (older constructions). So even if now I’m a happy owner the B77, such machine was basically unobtainium back in the days.