Years ago, after giving up my Teac X1000R in favor of keeping up with the "new" technologies, I decided I wanted to dust off my old reel to reel tapes again. Of course, with the exception of a $7,000 Tandberg unit, I saw reel to reels where a thing of the past. I found a Technics RS-1506US from a man in Mich. We made a deal for $500 and it was shipped to me.
I have to say this unit is all I had hoped and more! When this unit was on the market many moons ago, I looked at it as the one I wanted but I couldn't afford it at the time, so I bought the Teac. This unit's sound quality even at 3 3/4 or 7 1/2 ips is OUTSTANDING! Taping from CD to this unit at 15ips is sheer DELIGHT though cost prohibitive since blank Maxell tapes run about $30 each.

For me, I had forgotten the "warmth" afforded by analog recording and this deck's recording quality even after all of these years is leaps and bounds above CD itself! To record from CD's onto this deck and replay the recordings gives a new high in sound listenability! BRAVO to Technics for building such a fine machine which has lasted for over two decades and STILL delivers FANTASTIC sound quality!!!

Fantastic Recording & playback quality, even @ 3.75 ips! At
7.5 & 15 ips it betters or rivals Revox pr99 & b77.

Must use spacer pads for 10.5" reels. Requires a large space
for proper placement & use.

Phenomenal unit. What a pleasure to behold. Sound quality in
my opinion is as good or superior to most DAT/MD devices. It
is hard to duplicate the intangible quality of an analogue
machine. The difference between live & reproduced music is
almost imperceptible. Had it not been for the noise floor,
reproduction would certainly be superior to DAT/MD units. I
am completely enamored with this machine. If you ever get a
chance to own one, you will realize what has been lost in
this digital age.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer rt909, 707, Teac x10, 1000r, Revox a77, b77 & pr99.
Sony MD (es) & Tascam DAT units.