and you are dead on.. fantastic.

And yes, early on I actually had a reel to reel that I used... BUT... I did not have good speakers to go with them. However... our High School did and I can remember after our concerts, which were recorded, our band director would set up the reel to reel with the 'good speakers', (for those days), and it was amazing... to me then anyway.

When my home burned down in 1991 a few things survived the fire, very few... but amazingly enough what did survive were MOST of my old 16mm and 8mm film, (home movies), AND... those old band tapes that our instructor had given me when he retired. I have not been able to play them because I no longer have a reel to reel player but I think you've inspired me... I can probably pick one up very cheaply on eBay. - JamesJM