In a space on a shelf, there lived a reel-to-reel deck. Not a poor, cheap, broken reel deck, finished with rust or a dusty smell, nor yet a plain, unremarkable reel deck with nothing to write home about: it was a vintage Pioneer, and that means quality.
The RT-909 had an open-reel design for two perfectly round reels, like doors or portholes, with a glowing blue tape counter and Fluroscan meter in the middle. Resting amongst the reels and the lights was a beautiful field of knobs and controls. There were bunches of volume controls and patches of buttons for play, rewind, record, and stop. There were even some rabbit holes for headphones and microphones.
Behind the controls and the two reel hubs, which accepted the conventional 7-inch reels and professional 10.5-inch reels, there lay a gleaming silver faceplate - vintage electronics were fond of silver. The best features were all on the front side (facing it), for this is where most visitors start. But around the back, it also had a modest audio input and output, along with a nice name tag to share its brand, its model, and its birthplace.
This reel deck was a very well-to-do deck. Pioneer had lived at the forefront of vintage audio for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable. With things like exceptional headroom and flexibility, convenient automatic reverse and repeat playback, tape-saving 3.75 ips speed, and other fantastical features, the RT-909 took the open-reel format another important and impressive step ahead of anything available before.
This is the story of how the Pioneer RT-909 had an adventure and found itself recording and playing things altogether wonderful. It may have gained the jealousy of its fellow reel decks, but it also gained the esteem and love of audiophiles everywhere.
Thank you for joining us! If you're interested in owning or learning more about this beautiful reel-to-reel deck, you may do so at our vintage electronics online shop here. And if you'd like to skip among our collection of other fun and informative videos, you are more than welcome to visit our YouTube channel here.
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