This is a B-Stock item. "B" stock reels have minor cosmetic blemishes, which may only be notable up close or with the light at a certain angle. No blemishes impact performance.
This reel has a light scratch, less than a 1/4" on the flange. Difficult to see if you are not looking for it. This is the first 7" "B"-stock reel offered. They are rare!
Our Risk-free purchase policy is still honored for our factory second sale however you will pay for return shipping for sale items. There are no restocking fees ever at RX Reels.
Note that this reel can be shipped in either the A or B flange orientation. The "B" orientation will be sent unless you request "A" during checkout or by emailing info@rxreels.com immediately after ordering
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Driven by customer demand and guided by industry expert and author Ken Kessler, our 7" reel shares many of the same specs as our 10.5" Studio reel but is made to showcase the 2x2 pure carbon fiber without a finish applied.
Our 7" reels have a solid aluminum hub and each flange is made of 13 layers of pure high quality aviation grade carbon fiber with a satin finish. These reels simply blow away any plastic or aluminum reel that was made back in the day. If you have precious vintage recordings, quality master recordings and are worried about tape scrape damaging them or you are looking for the most solid take-up reel possible, this is it.
"I must say that I have never seen any spools built like the RX spools, nor did I expect to see performance gains of the level which both the 10.5-inch and now the 7-inch delivered." -Ken Kessler, PS Audio Copper Magazine
"We were staggered. Running a finger over the spooled tape reveals no unevenness, no ridges. It made me think of (and I compared them to) fresh blank tape as it arrived from the factory. For this alone, anyone who uses 7-inch spools on a regular basis should purchase at least one for critical playback of treasured tapes." -Ken Kessler, PS Audio Copper Magazine
A Hi-Fi Choice magazine "Recommended" 5- star product. "Bearing in mind that you will be using it with every tape you play, I consider that the high price tag is fully justified. Not only do these reels look great, they additionally help to bring out the best performance from your tape deck." Neville Roberts, Hi-Fi Choice Magazine
(See Hi-Fi Choice review in photos above).
Features:
Benefits:
Carbon fiber flanges are strong yet light to resist bending, warping and scratching. Because they are very rigid and don’t flex, they spin truer, which reduces motor wear, and some say that the reels sound better as a result.
Hubs are made to 1/1000ths specifications under ISO 9000 certification standards to ensure precision and balance. This improves tape alignment and packing.
Flange cut-outs have a function-first design to ease tape threading.
Hubs have nano-grip texture to improve tape threading without risk of damage to the tape.
All products sold within the United States are shipped via Fedex or UPS. Due to current service delays, we do not offer shipping via the United States Postal Service. Orders are typically shipped within 1 business day.
You will have the ability to select the speed of shipping service at the time of checkout using our discounted rates.
At this time, international shipping is to select locations only. Rates will display for areas we currently serve.
It took seven months to find the right combination that we were looking for. A way to not only make the reels look better, but to be better. Carbon fiber provided the right balance of strength to weight ratio. It's two times stiffer than steel and five times stronger. We wanted a flange that was rigid, but not too heavy.
Carbon fiber is not inexpensive. However, the second breakthrough was due to our location in the Pacific Northwest. Turns out there is a lot of new, high-grade raw carbon fiber material that is discarded in the manufacturing for the military and aviation industries. Much of this is perfectly good, but perhaps not big enough. It gets scrapped. We upcycle that unused material and turn it into our reels.
Carbon fiber comes in many grades. The highest quality is aviation grade carbon fiber and that is what goes into our flanges.
Benefits of our Carbon Fiber Flange: They don’t warp and resist bending.That means they won’t scratch your deck. Our flange cut-outs are made with a function first design to make tape threading easier. Because they are very rigid and don’t flex, they spin truer, which reduces motor wear, and some say that the reels sound better as a result.
Our reels are made to last a lifetime and it starts with the hub, which are custom made to our specifications. Most commercially available hubs are designed to be inexpensive to produce. They weigh about 23 grams and only three screws hold the flanges to the hub. Our solid aluminum hubs are precision made to tolerances below two thousands of an inch. Each flange is held to the hub with twelve screws for a secure fit.
Benefits of Our Precision-Made Aluminum Hub: A well balanced hub and securely fitted flanges creates a reel that spools tape exceptionally well to protect your investment. The quality difference is easy to see. Here is what industry professionals say about RX Reels:
"Making advanced reels from CNC-machined hubs and carbon fiber flanges pays off in terms of appearance and sound quality via lower wow and flutter."
The Absolute Sound
"The RX Reels are among the mechanically best I've ever seen. In use they provide the most even take-up I've experienced. In every case, the tape spooled to the same flat perfection you usually only see when you open up a factory-fresh blank tape."
Ken Kessler - Soundstage!HIFI
"Thanks to RX Reels careful balance, fast-winding is quieter than with lesser articles due to a considerable reduction in vibration - which is itself a good thing, for the life of your deck's reel motors. The lack of physical noise during playback isn't the only audible benefit - I also found that the stereo image was more solid and better defined. Quite frankly, it's highly unlikely you'll find a better spool for your deck."
Martin Pipe - Hi-Fi World 5 Star Recomended Product
"I now understood how using an RX Reels spool could result in sonic improvements... I had a sense of a slightly wider soundstage with clearer instrument imaging in comparison with using a standard spool fitted with aluminum flanges and a plastic hub."
Neville Roberts - Hifi Journalist
"This makes the task of threading a tape so much easier. Worth it for that alone."
Dave Denyer - The Reel-to-Reel Rambler
