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Cassette tape resurgence ?

I think I mentioned being about to hit the "200" count for number of pre-recorded cassettes in here about a mere few weeks/month ago?

Looks like I'll be exceeding the "300" count here very soon...the affordability of these things makes collecting them very addictive...

I need to start doing some vinyl dubs onto tape soon - I have about 60 or 70 blanks waiting for some good music to be put onto them!
 
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I found this Nakamichi DR-3 in a local record shop on Friday for a reasonable price. I’ve wanted an upgrade to my Technics dual-cassette deck for a while. I have a box of old recordings of my former bands that I want to digitize. In a perfect world, I’d get a DR-1 or a CR-7 for this purpose, but this is a nice upgrade for regular listening.

I’ve been digging through my boxes of old tapes for the last days. This morning, I listened to some old demo tapes from some local metal bands ca. 1988-1992 that I probably haven’t listened to in 15 years. I think next up should be some old mix tapes.
 
Johnny B said:
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I found this Nakamichi DR-3 in a local record shop on Friday for a reasonable price. I’ve wanted an upgrade to my Technics dual-cassette deck for a while. I have a box of old recordings of my former bands that I want to digitize. In a perfect world, I’d get a DR-1 or a CR-7 for this purpose, but this is a nice upgrade for regular listening.

I’ve been digging through my boxes of old tapes for the last days. This morning, I listened to some old demo tapes from some local metal bands ca. 1988-1992 that I probably haven’t listened to in 15 years. I think next up should be some old mix tapes.
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Do you feel like doing a quick comparison between the Nakamichi and the Technics?
 
JJCalvillo said:
MT, it sounds great. Not Vinyl but didn't expect it would be. Playing mostly stuff I recorded from college buddies records, or they recorded for me. Most of it is well recorded. Listening to the Police, the cymbals and highs aren't muffled and there isn't any hiss to speak of.

This deck detects the type of tape it's playing, it's distinguished between most of the tapes being type ll and the few that are Metal. Not sure if it adjusts automatically or not, but for whatever reason sounds best w/o any NR switched on during playback. Scanned the manual and came away thinking I should put on Dolby B/C if the tape was recorded that way, but the highs get cut if I do, and I don't hear any hiss w/o the NR so I'm leaving it off. Nothing like my earlier Yamaha, or the Denon downstairs.
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Yamaha made some stellar decks and are really underrated for the sound and build quality they provide. I own 5 Yamaha decks, one of which I'm going to sell.
 
I still have my K1000, but already haven't tried it for another 5 years again....I made sure clean the heads before any recording when using the dbx compression in the past, as any flaw will be decompressed when played back...
 
Well, after spending the past few months giving my vinyl library a much needed boost, the cassette bug is back in full force for me.

The # of pre-recorded tapes I have will soon be 400 - and a few things I've picked up are rather rare titles that have been out of print for decades, with little to no info online about them, and no way to listen to them on Youtube, Spotify, etc...I love finding stuff like that.

Also been experimenting with recording a bit more - I'm really impressed with what a good deck can accomplish on Type I tape - if I'm being completely honest, such tapes beat all but maybe the very best pre-recorded tapes I have - although I think the Warner Music Group tapes I have all sound good or very good - same for some Capitol/EMI XDR tapes I have.

What can I say? I've been having a lot of fun with this format since getting my first tape deck (since being a child) last year, lol.
 
grillebilly said:
I just looked at Ebay for what my deck is worth, last serviced one like mine with same upgrades sold for $2,000 with no remote or box, mine has both and original sales receipt. Crazy!
I have been listening to it more the last few days and the SQ is surprisingly good. I need to use it more often.
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Yeah, you should! I spent a lot of time on that CR-7 & you waited long enough to get the dang thing back! And it is one of the better speced ones I’ve come across. Plus using it keeps it in better shape. Even with all my decks (>40), even if I don’t listen to them all regularly, they all get cycled in play mode or record mode to erase tapes. All the rubber needs to be flexed and rotated to keep it pliable.

Unfortunately it seems most all local sources of cassettes died out here, while vinyl has increased, but I still stand at over 1000 prerecorded and as many blanks, and couple hundred recorded tapes. Never thought I would ever see more tapes than vinyl in my listening room.
 
I am seeking an old tape that has the (4) screws on the corners, so it can be disassembled for purposes of transplanting a broken tape. Not sure if this is the place to say that, but maybe someone out there has something or can link me to a resource that does?
 
Techforce said:
I am seeking an old tape that has the (4) screws on the corners, so it can be disassembled for purposes of transplanting a broken tape. Not sure if this is the place to say that, but maybe someone out there has something or can link me to a resource that does?
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Look in your nearest thrift store (Goodwill, etc.). You're sure to find plenty.
 
image.jpeg image.jpeg I picked up an unusual cassette at the local flea here in eastern ct this morning. I don't suspect it has much commercial value, but I grabbed it for it's rarity and condition and I figured I would share the find with my AK compatriots. It has a combination of music and spoken word. It's related to a figure from a short lived sixties television show. His name is Maurice Woodruff. He was a somewhat famous astrologist from England. From simple visual inspection, I don't think the tape has ever been played. It has a kind of sixties age of Aquarius design look. Anybody else ever pick up any like this? I am curious as to whether there would have been a full set. I especially like the old Ampex clamshell case.
 
Bosphrous said:
Yes, any kind of standard comparison: sound quality, adjustability, features, looks, durability..,
just the typical stuff.
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Oh, ok.

I’d have to hook the Technics back up to do a proper comparison of the sound, but I can say straight off that the I did a quick comparison when I put the Nak in and it clearly sounded better. I’d need more time to explain the difference.

As for everything else, the Nak is a clear winner. The Technics is a dual-well, which already knocks it down compared to the single-well Nak. There is obvious cost-cutting with the Technics. Only the second deck records, which I know isn’t really unusual. But only one deck has a counter. Cost-cutting on the Nak is only obvious if you compare it to the further up the line decks. The DR-2 and DR-1 have two-capstan drives and 3 heads. The DR-3 is single capstan and 2 heads. The DR-1 adds adjustable azimuth control and I think a few other things.

Both decks have physical eject buttons and touch-logic transport controls. The Nak’s work more smoothly than the Technics. The Technics has soft-touch buttons for selecting Dolby and selects tape bias using sensors. The Nak has physical push-buttons for both. The Nak has a fine-tune bias control. Both have Dolby C and metal (Type IV) tape capability.

I think the Nak looks better. It has a flat front, while the Technics curves out at the bottom where the buttons are. It has a multi-color display, but I prefer the monochrome orange look of the DR-3. The Nak is heavier and feels more solid. I suspect it would be more durable under heavy use. But I will say that the two decks are roughly the same age (early 1990s), and the Technics still runs well. I bought it in a thrift store in around 2005 to replace a Sony that was purchased new in 2004, and would have probably been about one step up from the Technics at the time.

The one place the Technics beats the Nak is that it sports a removable power cord. Other than that, the original price of the DR-3 was over twice that of the Technics, and it shows. But one can certainly do worse than this Technics, especially as a starter deck.
 
For anyone who has just under an hour to listen, here's a good podcast I came across yesterday regarding the renewed interest in cassettes.

https://wxrt.radio.com/media/audio-channel/unlikely-comeback-cassette-tape

An interesting metric worth noting from the podcast description/a topic they get into - sales of new cassettes in the US hit 219,000 in 2018, up from 129,000 in 2016. This doesn't include sales of used tapes (of which is seeing growth on Discogs and such), or many releases from very small labels that Nielsen doesn't track (such as the one that the guest of the podcast runs), so true sales figures are likely quite a bit higher.

Perhaps that's still quite a small % of overall music sales (whether physical or digital versions), but still - that's a lot of format growth over a 2 year timespan :).
 
lico said:
The cassette revival has been talked about the past few years, who knows. Good tape decks can still be had for $10, so I don't think it's arrived just yet. The day you see somebody making a new 3 head cassette deck then you'll know it has.

Good blank stock is an issue, I see from the link above you can still buy some new type II chrome cassettes, are those re-spooled or something?. I think environmental regulations make them hard to make now. I'll collect blank stock type II cassettes whenever I see them.
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Maybe I'm mistaken, but perhaps it would be cheaper/less financially risky for certain companies (especially ones that never left the tape game) to get into reproduction parts for some of the good old machines out there than to make a brand new 3-head deck? Low cost is part of the appeal of cassettes for many, but many good machines are getting older, and will eventually need parts that are difficult to source (certain rubbber parts that aren't belts, motors, heads, etc.). A cheap fixer upper deck, and a few hundred $ or so in parts is going to be a much easier pill to swallow for a lot of folks than a brand new, "built like a tank" 3 head deck coming out that would probably cost $1500-2000+ if it were to have the kind of quality found in the finer machines of yesteryear.

In my area, "good $10 decks" are non-existent. Maybe $25-30 for a beater deck at Goodwill that's missing knobs or other parts (and may or may not work). I've also noticed prices going up on 3-head decks, and the local used stereo shops are having trouble keeping a good supply of tape decks in stock.

I don't think good tape stock is an issue. Good type I tape is being made again - we'll see about type II, as a lot of good NOS is still available for now.
 
kevzep said:
You have to be a subscriber....
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Thank kev. I had two windows up and posted in the wrong window.

I hope there's a cassette resurgence. And I hope it ain't a fluke. I don't think it is.

Americans are less social and a majority haven't made a new friend in the past decade. Maybe that's adding to the population in the audiophile hobby. I'm only now becoming an audiophile... I was always a buy and throw away. Out with the old, in with the new. Nowadays I hate the new. I'm hooked on the old.

Then I discovered this youtube video titled "The Cassette Tape Revival Is Pointless".

No offense to this young man but I never felt so offended and insulted by his pov. He's so young, but claims he's old and wise. And he's basically ordering all of us to stop listening to cassette tapes because he said so. As if we're all badgering him about it every day. Talk about someone who just doesn't get it.

To counter his main point... "Why would you want to listen to cassette tape, having to rew and ff to everything you want to listen to.

I guess that's the mentality of the new generation... short attention spans. His loose description of music appreciation sounds like he's advocating "bouncing around from one song to another, one album to another...ff into the song... never listening to one song beg to end. To me, that feels more utilitarian. Yuk.

What I realize about cassette tapes is they make you listen to the music. I can only wonder how many times this guy cuts out of a song on CD and whips to another song... then a minute later onto something else before he turns it all off and watches South Park reruns.

And by the looks of his videos (all modern pop music), his tastes look extremely unappealing and uncultured. Forgive me if I'm just old, but I can't listen to any of these new boy bands and diva singers. I just don't hear any passion in the music. Even country music went all "American Idol" on us. Remember when Madonna was talented? Where did her talent go? Her spirit?

Maybe the cassette resurgence is an escape from the modern music that has degenerated down to everything sounding the same. All bad.

One has to wonder, has this young man and his ilk ever listened to Abbey Road from beginning to end without interruption? That's the way it was intended to be listened to. The idea that those guys labored over what to put where on the album, then mix it together in a story, only to have this guy bounce out to a Taylor Swift song he describes as "godlike sound".

I highly doubt this kid knows about the storytelling in rock albums. Would it be horrible torture for this young man to sit him down and make him listen to a chrome/metal cassette of Uriah Heep or Stevie Ray Vaughn from beginning to end?

As the saying goes, "To each his own".

Cassette resurgence. I'm so in.
 
Well said, Reelist. I think I may have seen that video you've mentioned - I personally love the way cassettes (and to a lesser extent, vinyl) more or less "force" you to listen to an album the way the artist intended it - and I'm of the Gen Y/"Millennial" demographic, FWIW.

I will say, I do get pretty divided opinions among my peers for getting into cassettes. Some think it's great, and others ask "why!?". I'm still awaiting an opportunity to show some folks in the latter group how good a nice machine can sound.
 
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