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Cassette tape resurgence ?

Lossless said:
. I’m really considering investing into another cassette player. What are your thoughts about cassette tape resurgence and is it worth the effort?
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I really believe "Big Audio" has no intention of letting tape bloom very far, and tape or vinyl, it was recorded in digital, which as of 2019 they still have not gotten any real control of, listen to dire straits "On Every Street" album, and it becomes clear a CD can sound as good as a record, but few pull it off. But I love tone over detail and my "Nak"
sounds wonderful, tapes can be gotten at thrift stores "in the know" I have never been as happy as i was with a AT 12 shibata stylus, marantz power amp and my hafler dynaco 25 speakers, folks came for miles cause the mid ranger was out of this world, recording with a AT 12 was wonderful, autistic tech disorder rules the farm now, you can still find NAKS for 300.00 and you can get them fixed.
My greatest Despair in life is that I must live with fashion, sometimes it is in very bad taste.

nakamichi_cassette_deck_2_front_panel.jpg


http://www.sweethomeaudio.com/SHA Newsletters/June_2010_Newsletter_files/Nakamichi LX5.htm
 
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I posted early in this thread right after getting an lx-5 and have been thoroughly enjoying cassettes again. My first cassette player was around 1977-78 when I put an Pioneer Super Tuner in the farm truck. Then an Akai deck hooked up to my Marantz 2238b run out through the Panasonic thrusters. Man....those were the days. Now I look forward to hitting the thrift store just for cassettes. They are so cheap it's worth taking risks on music I don't much about or ever heard before. This is the good part because I have found new stuff I absolutely love. I've been finding music I don't have on vinyl or cd. Cheap. Of course, one thing leads to another and now have an Aiwa ad-f770. Oh yeah!!!...I'm happy.
 
MaxxVolume said:
This thread prompted me to look through a couple of boxes of audio-related things, and see what I had on hand....was pleased to find a fair number of NOS tapes. Also have some new vinyl that I can dub to cassette....FUN ! (just like The Old Days :) )

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You don’t need all those old Type II blank tapes, just donate them to my needy cause of resurrecting old outdated things.;)
 
When I started this thread I never thought it would have gotten so many replies. There must be a growing interest in old analog cassette tapes.

I’m delving into the cassette resurgence/fad a little. It will be very hard to actually place a cassette deck on my rack along side or atop my other components, but I’ll play around with some other options; Maybe a shelf or something.

I found this technics deck for $10 at my local thrift store.
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I just purchased this on eBay for $13.00 plus shipping. I bought this exact Radio Shack cassette player back in 1995 new and loved the way it sounded. What I liked most about it was it’s CSES/FLEX(Pioneers version) audio enhancement option that digitally enhanced the audio of old worn tapes.

The hard to find Pioneer CTW-604RS has FLEX and Dolby S noise reduction and can be found for around $100 used.
The way you recognize a Pioneer or Optimus CSES/ FLEX tapedeck is the 3rd button down left of the VU meter MUST indicate that feature; NOT rewind/auto play.

CSES/FLEX really does make my 30 year old cassette tapes sound remarkably better.
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Lossless said:
I purchased this today one eBay for $13.00 plus shipping. I bought this exact Radio Shack cassette player back in 1995 new and loved the way it sounded.
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HA HA HA THATS NOT A TAPE DECK, THATS A MARS ROVER, :eek: DOES IT MOW THE LAWN TOO:banana::banana::banana:
very happy for you brother, :rflmao: bet you grinned dizzy when that arrived, try to calm down and don't drive or operate machinery for a while :beerchug:

I know the feeling see this-
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/nad-1240-pre-amp-speachless.860208/
 
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I had a Nak RX-505. I made tapes from CD through external DAC, and from LP with good MC cart through good phono preamp. Friends came over to help me judge: CD and Tape thereof, LP and Tape thereof, all synced for switching A/B.

No one could say which was which. They could tell CD from LP, but not the respective tapes compared to their original sources.
 
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[COLOR=#4d4dff][B]bimasta[/B][/COLOR] said:
but the respective tapes compared to original source.
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there is for me, a more natural sound, more healing from analog, even on tape, even my tapes of analog have woods and trees and rolling fields in them, but I have made cd's work fine for me,
but it cost a lot of money and years of tuning.
for me a high end switching amp made cds work. real frigging growl in the upper lows, tho some times I just throw a cd in the trash, the producer was a drunk, or god knows what. cds are way harder to produce, and the recording industry is full of losers. I know, i have worked in it and been close to supers stars, and they even complain.
sometimes the difference from a "Roadie" and a producer is just a chair.
 
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There is allot of equipment that will record cassettes perfectly, although it does help if you know where to find new BASF Chrome Extra II cassettes. I have found that the AT301EP cartridge on a C.E.C. 8003 turntable using a Schiit Mani provides a clear strong source as long as the vinyl was recorded properly. Then there was many cassette recorders made in the 90’s that perform as well as a NAK or Aiwa because I’ve owned both. Then many of the top of the line AVR’s from the 90’s were designed for recording purposes which reduce line noise distortion.
 
Djcoolray said:
There is allot of equipment that will record cassettes perfectly, although it does help if you know where to find new BASF Chrome Extra II cassettes. I have found that the AT301EP cartridge on a C.E.C. 8003 turntable using a Schiit Mani provides a clear strong source as long as the vinyl was recorded properly.
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HEAR BREAK --- i was in a chain store tonight and they had tons of vinyl ALL DIGITALLY REMASTERED I have a AT600
shabata, those records sound little different then CD's
 
GRACE RUBY said:
HEAR BREAK --- i was in a chain store tonight and they had tons of vinyl ALL DIGITALLY REMASTERED I have a AT600
shabata, those records sound little different then CD's
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BUMMER.....

With today’s marketing a person has to do an internet search of the individual recording numbers on the back of the record. I have found myself buying recordings from Europe at a considerably cheaper price to include shipping.
 
half inch cr2 tape at 30 inches per second to record one instrument in a band was as good as good could ever hope to be.
 
yonder said:
Now I look forward to hitting the thrift store just for cassettes. They are so cheap it's worth taking risks on music I don't much about or ever heard before.
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This is another reason I love cassettes - I've already discovered a handful of new/new-to-me artists that I'm really enjoying through making blind purchases of stuff on tape.

Once thing I noticed while record store shop-hopping yesterday - the cassette sections are starting to grow a bit, and now they're being organized by genre (whereas it was all mixed up prior) - at least in my neck of the woods, the movement seems to be gaining some steam.
 
Taketheflame said:
This is another reason I love cassettes
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I used to buy "Real Time cr2" that was from master tape to slow recorded tape
BOY !!!!!! talk about a lush feel, really did my nerves a blessing to listen to them.
very nice experience
they were hard to find, some where i have them, including Bruce's "Tunnel of love"
 
@the OP, I just recently purchased someone's Classical/Jazz CD collection, and received 70 cassettes of the same. So I picked up a Harmon Kardon TD 4400 cassette deck from Canuck Audio Mart for $65 to play them. Very nostalgic, and some great music. Doesn't have quite the sonic quality as my other formats, but it's fun using it, and hearing it, and adds to my available music. (I don't stream).
Cheers.

Dave
 
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Since creating this thread a few month's ago Iv'e invested a small amount in a cassette deck and some thrift store tapes. Compact cassette tapes are nice novelty, but don't come close to the audio quality of good vinyl or today's Hi-Res digital music. Tapes are a decent analog source but I'm not feeling the tape hiss, the calling card of the vintage analog cassette tape sound. Therefore, my newly acquired Optimus CT-55 tape deck gets the back back seat/closet in my Hi-Fi music chain.:no:
 
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Lossless said:
Since creating this thread month's ago Iv'e invested a small amount in a cassette deck and some thrift store tapes. Compact cassette tapes are nice novelty, but don't come close to the audio quality of good vinyl or today's Hi-Res digital music. Tapes are a decent analog source but I'm not feeling the tape hiss, the calling card of the vintage analog cassette tape sound. Therefore, my newly acquired Optimus CT-55 tape deck gets the back back seat/closet in my Hi-Fi music chain.:no:
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To eliminate the hiss, you need to move away from Dolby NR and into DBX. I have 4 dbx equipped Yamaha decks and their SNR ratio is 95+db . There is no hiss. I've recorded some CDs onto a Chrome tape and my family and friends could not distinguish between the CD or the cassette copy.
 
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