JoelMart2017
Active Member
I have mine mostly for the vintage look but I find cassettes for 25-50 cents each at flea markets. This one of Fleetwood Mac is my favorite and sounds great on my KX-830 and Teac AN-180. 
Cassette tape decks, what is the fascination?
- Thread starter z-adamson
- Start date
armyslowrdr
I don't want one..LOL
^^ Have that same Kenwood deck. Kind of lusting after one of the Marantz.
zedex
Well-Known Member
The fascination is, i used to record and listen back in the 80s on half decent stuff. (technics)I loved it. Gave mixed tapes to my friends/family. Cd came along and that all ended abruptly.
You can buy incredible machines now which were unobtanium back in the 80s. Play all your old tapes again and the sound is fantastic. Funny. You play one of your old tapes which were forgotten 25 years ago, and 1 song will bring you back to that day 25 years ago. You remember exactly what you were doing,what you were thinking,who you were with.
And lets not mention using these incredible machines now, they are beautful. They were from a time when manufacturers gave a shit. They had style,tactile buttons, sounds,lights,meters. The tapes have a tactileness,like the better metals like TDK ma,maxell mx,sony ES. Even the good chromes were awesome. Using these tapes and recording your favorite music on them means something. If you have never done it,i guess you wont know. Watching the meters on your machine bounce from a tape you recorded. Your in control of everything that went on that tape.
Also, you can pick up music for cheap from anywhere. With a cd, good chance it wont play,a tiny scratch will make it useless. And if it does play, it will sound like shit because.....its a cd.. A tape, you can drive over it with a car,and it "could" still play Ive seen it. lol.
With tapes,especially crap ones, you can pull the tape out and let your cat play with it. Hours of enjoyment. You can wrap it around the antenna on your car. Anyone asks WTF, you tell em you did that. You tell em your borderline CRAZY and dart your eyes around. You cant do that with cd or MP3 files.....MP3 files lol. Sad.
Dont even get me started on a nice turntable, or a decent old school amp
You can buy incredible machines now which were unobtanium back in the 80s. Play all your old tapes again and the sound is fantastic. Funny. You play one of your old tapes which were forgotten 25 years ago, and 1 song will bring you back to that day 25 years ago. You remember exactly what you were doing,what you were thinking,who you were with.
And lets not mention using these incredible machines now, they are beautful. They were from a time when manufacturers gave a shit. They had style,tactile buttons, sounds,lights,meters. The tapes have a tactileness,like the better metals like TDK ma,maxell mx,sony ES. Even the good chromes were awesome. Using these tapes and recording your favorite music on them means something. If you have never done it,i guess you wont know. Watching the meters on your machine bounce from a tape you recorded. Your in control of everything that went on that tape.
Also, you can pick up music for cheap from anywhere. With a cd, good chance it wont play,a tiny scratch will make it useless. And if it does play, it will sound like shit because.....its a cd.. A tape, you can drive over it with a car,and it "could" still play
Ive seen it. lol.With tapes,especially crap ones, you can pull the tape out and let your cat play with it. Hours of enjoyment. You can wrap it around the antenna on your car. Anyone asks WTF, you tell em you did that. You tell em your borderline CRAZY and dart your eyes around. You cant do that with cd or MP3 files.....MP3 files lol. Sad.
Dont even get me started on a nice turntable, or a decent old school amp
RichTassoni
Active Member
I love recording from XM radio and only the song's I want..The fascination is, i used to record and listen back in the 80s on half decent stuff. (technics)I loved it. Gave mixed tapes to my friends/family. Cd came along and that all ended abruptly.
You can buy incredible machines now which were unobtanium back in the 80s. Play all your old tapes again and the sound is fantastic. Funny. You play one of your old tapes which were forgotten 25 years ago, and 1 song will bring you back to that day 25 years ago. You remember exactly what you were doing,what you were thinking,who you were with.
And lets not mention using these incredible machines now, they are beautful. They were from a time when manufacturers gave a shit. They had style,tactile buttons, sounds,lights,meters. The tapes have a tactileness,like the better metals like TDK ma,maxell mx,sony ES. Even the good chromes were awesome. Using these tapes and recording your favorite music on them means something. If you have never done it,i guess you wont know. Watching the meters on your machine bounce from a tape you recorded. Your in control of everything that went on that tape.
Also, you can pick up music for cheap from anywhere. With a cd, good chance it wont play,a tiny scratch will make it useless. And if it does play, it will sound like shit because.....its a cd.. A tape, you can drive over it with a car,and it "could" still play
With tapes,especially crap ones, you can pull the tape out and let your cat play with it. Hours of enjoyment. You can wrap it around the antenna on your car. Anyone asks WTF, you tell em you did that. You tell em your borderline CRAZY and dart your eyes around. You cant do that with cd or MP3 files.....MP3 files lol. Sad.
Dont even get me started on a nice turntable, or a decent old school amp
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
+100 ! This explains the attraction perfectly....well done !The fascination is, i used to record and listen back in the 80s on half decent stuff. (technics)I loved it. Gave mixed tapes to my friends/family. Cd came along and that all ended abruptly.
You can buy incredible machines now which were unobtanium back in the 80s. Play all your old tapes again and the sound is fantastic. Funny. You play one of your old tapes which were forgotten 25 years ago, and 1 song will bring you back to that day 25 years ago. You remember exactly what you were doing,what you were thinking,who you were with.
And lets not mention using these incredible machines now, they are beautful. They were from a time when manufacturers gave a shit. They had style,tactile buttons, sounds,lights,meters. The tapes have a tactileness,like the better metals like TDK ma,maxell mx,sony ES. Even the good chromes were awesome. Using these tapes and recording your favorite music on them means something. If you have never done it,i guess you wont know. Watching the meters on your machine bounce from a tape you recorded. Your in control of everything that went on that tape.
Also, you can pick up music for cheap from anywhere. With a cd, good chance it wont play,a tiny scratch will make it useless. And if it does play, it will sound like shit because.....its a cd.. A tape, you can drive over it with a car,and it "could" still play
With tapes,especially crap ones, you can pull the tape out and let your cat play with it. Hours of enjoyment. You can wrap it around the antenna on your car. Anyone asks WTF, you tell em you did that. You tell em your borderline CRAZY and dart your eyes around. You cant do that with cd or MP3 files.....MP3 files lol. Sad.
Dont even get me started on a nice turntable, or a decent old school amp
While I haven't read the entire thread it's a sure bet that being able to listen to the music one has already collected is a big reason for cassette. Same for LP, R2R and CD.
As for the current fascination with cassette - nostalgia, plenty of cassettes for almost nothing at thrifts, and Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2. That pair of films reminded people of how cool it was to listen to cassettes. It even motivated me to dig out my old Sony Walkman and discover that Super Trooper on a cassette ripped from vinyl sounded pretty darned good. At the moment Duke Ellington's "Ellington at Newport" is sounding really good playing on my Nakamichi 600.
Hmmmm. I wonder what it would sound like if I had a . . . well, no, maybe I shouldn't push my luck.
As for the current fascination with cassette - nostalgia, plenty of cassettes for almost nothing at thrifts, and Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2. That pair of films reminded people of how cool it was to listen to cassettes. It even motivated me to dig out my old Sony Walkman and discover that Super Trooper on a cassette ripped from vinyl sounded pretty darned good. At the moment Duke Ellington's "Ellington at Newport" is sounding really good playing on my Nakamichi 600.
Hmmmm. I wonder what it would sound like if I had a . . . well, no, maybe I shouldn't push my luck.
RichTassoni
Active Member
Not that cassette is better but it's a different format of music to listen to and I do about 90 percent of my recording from XM radio and I'm getting some very good sounding recording from TDK, OR ,MAXELL tapes. And the best part is I get to pick just the music and song's I want. I've been doing it for a long time and enjoying it.
BirdLives
Super Member
I can sum up my love for the cassette genre in one simple word: Nakamichi.
I firmly believe Nakamichi produced as high a quality of product as ANY manufacturer of consumer electronics. Their tape decks are stellar and have withstood the test of time; they are the benchmark of high-qualify cassette decks. Their audio quality is exceptional and must be heard to be believed...
I firmly believe Nakamichi produced as high a quality of product as ANY manufacturer of consumer electronics. Their tape decks are stellar and have withstood the test of time; they are the benchmark of high-qualify cassette decks. Their audio quality is exceptional and must be heard to be believed...
RichTassoni
Active Member
To sum it up if you're thinking of getting into it now some won't understand it the way someone like myself who,s had cassette decks for 30 years. And the one's I have now are high end from the early 90,s that record and sounds great. Love my mix tape recording from XM radio.
JoelMart2017
Active Member
So true. I tested a buddy's Nakamichi on my Kenwood system and it sounded so much better than my KX-830, so much that i want to get a better tape deck. Cassette tapes sounded so clean and vibrant on the Nak, I was surprised on how good it was.
Merlot1970
New Member
I like any format that makes music, with the exception of MP3. Never could stand it.
Well, Don't have to worry about digital compression, In fact, A boost in volume is sometimes welcome. Next, Analog sound, A nice clean cassette sounds wonderful. Cost was another positive, But seems tape is headed to vinyl territory, People want them again. Secret is out!
RichTassoni
Active Member
I agree I've always loved the sounds of cassettes it's a sound all it's own just as vinyl with a good cartridge is wonderful and CDs also. I'm 59 so I grew up with cassette I think that's some of us like them so much. Now I hope your right about cassette coming back companies could make some really nice decks and they might even be able to improve on cassettes although I'm very happy with them. But it's getting harder to get parts for these older decks. My opinion is companies really could make some money here, but it's about supply and demand there not going start making them if they don't think they will sell. I guess some serious researching buy companies would be needed to know if people will purchase them. Is this aria ready to welcome cassettes back again as another music format. I would love it lets keep our fingers crossed and hope they will, but I don't think it's going happen any time soon.
JoelMart2017
Active Member
I would like to see companies make parts for the vintage decks, these were over built compared to today's standards. I like the vintage look.
RichTassoni
Active Member
I wouldn't even think the machinery to make these parts is around anymore, it would be asking Ford to make new parts for your 1985 Ford there not going start making a couple parts just like old cassette decks it's just not cost effective for the company, even though we can get some parts for older cars but they might come from China. As for cassette decks if you find another deck of the same a repair shop could steal a part from one deck to fix the other. Again I'd love to see cassette decks come back, if they did man we could probably buy some nice decks between 350.00 and 500.00 brand new. We'll we can all just keep wishing.I would like to see companies make parts for the vintage decks, these were over built compared to today's standards. I like the vintage look.
To make anything of quality, tapedeck wise, the cost would be in the thousands (my Nak was $1350 new in 1979). Moving parts and any engineering effort = 7,000$ at least.
RichTassoni
Active Member
Yup, I think the old saying goes if you replaced every part on your car part by part verses when you bought it new it would cost you 3 times as much. I've purchased 2 great working high end cassette decks 1 JVC TD V621 AND a Dennon 800 A, plus 2 cheaper one's that work good. Hey if one go,s down I'll try to get it repaired and use the other deck and hope it can be repaired, I have to many tapes that I'm just trying to have a backup plan and that maybe that's all we can do. Also the vintage repair shop in my town will repair them, IF, he can get the parts. But he has also stressed that he dosent really deal with them if dosent have to.
I am fascinated by them because i grew up with them. But as it happens, they are better than cd players, reel-to reel etc for a few reasons:
1. A decent cassette deck will usually outlast a cd player and are much easier to fix when they break.
2. In day to day life a cassette will outlast a cd simply because they are less susceptible to scratches, moisture, dust etc.
3. Analog sound is better than digital sound. That`s an easy one.
4. A cassette deck also records, a cd player only plays. Cd recorders are expensive and a lot more finicky than a cassette deck.
5. The sound from a cassette deck is way more predictable than what you might get from a digital source, but that`s only an opinion.
6. Cassette decks and cd players are still the most convenient way to store and play music on the long term. I store most of my songs on a hdd, but i have to be 100 times more careful with handling and preserving digital data than analog sound(cassettes, vinyl.)
A few days ago i finished recording a tape on my unrestored(factory belts), found in the bin, 1987 denon dr-m12hx. As expected, the cassette(tdk type I) sounds great without the use of Dolby. That cassette will be ready to play back again 20 years from now. The deck will also be good to go with a few bits replaced(belts, capacitors etc). Can you honestly say that about your totl cd player/recorder or digital recording stored on hdd/ssd ???
As a conclusion, when it comes to preserving important music and photos, use tape and paper, don`t rely on digital or you might lose that precious picture with your grandma (=^.^=)
1. A decent cassette deck will usually outlast a cd player and are much easier to fix when they break.
2. In day to day life a cassette will outlast a cd simply because they are less susceptible to scratches, moisture, dust etc.
3. Analog sound is better than digital sound. That`s an easy one.
4. A cassette deck also records, a cd player only plays. Cd recorders are expensive and a lot more finicky than a cassette deck.
5. The sound from a cassette deck is way more predictable than what you might get from a digital source, but that`s only an opinion.
6. Cassette decks and cd players are still the most convenient way to store and play music on the long term. I store most of my songs on a hdd, but i have to be 100 times more careful with handling and preserving digital data than analog sound(cassettes, vinyl.)
A few days ago i finished recording a tape on my unrestored(factory belts), found in the bin, 1987 denon dr-m12hx. As expected, the cassette(tdk type I) sounds great without the use of Dolby. That cassette will be ready to play back again 20 years from now. The deck will also be good to go with a few bits replaced(belts, capacitors etc). Can you honestly say that about your totl cd player/recorder or digital recording stored on hdd/ssd ???
As a conclusion, when it comes to preserving important music and photos, use tape and paper, don`t rely on digital or you might lose that precious picture with your grandma (=^.^=)
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dinger
Active Member
I used to record the King Buscuit live shows when they come on the radio at night. It was so cool to have a live recording of your favorite band no-one else had. Been through a bunch of decks over the years and never had much trouble keeping them running.
Here's my current pair.
Here's my current pair.
