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Cassettes!!!!!!

goatlocker said:
I used to record cassettes off record albums to either play in my car or barrowed albums from friends. Great fun. I liked using TDK tapes. I still have quite a few recordings stored away, along with a TEAC dual 3 head deck. Plan on pulling it all out and setting up with the rest of my vintage gear in a new listening room im putting together out in the barn. The deck needs new belts though. Hope thats all that's wrong with it. It looks pristine. Have always kept in it's original box since putting it into storage.
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TDK and BSAF normal bias Studio Series tapes were my favorite. I still have nice sounding BSAF tapes recorded from LP's and TDK that I used to record from CD's.
 
BASF Chrome Tape @ duplication.ca

They are the best out there. I’ve got a car built back in 2001 that has the stock cassette deck. Went back to recording tapes about five years ago.
 
Cassettes are making a comeback to a certain extent. Still nobody making decent new decks however. I doubt we'll ever see that again. Although the supply of good, (higher-end or at least better grade), used decks at a reasonable price is starting to dry up.

I listen to and record cassettes quite often and have four decks. The sound can be very close to CD if using quality decks and good tapes. Plus, the overall sound is different and appealing in many ways. I have one setup in my office to the RCA's of a mixer which is connected to a computer via USB. I make recordings of digital files, YouTube videos, etc directly to it. I use the USB input gain on the mixer to adjust recording levels so I don't have to play with the deck itself and can also apply EQ and other enhancements while recording. If anything...it's fun.
 
Lucky Pierre said:
I am looking for a good cassette deck right now. I have 300-400 cassettes I took out of storage. They are about half and half prerecorded and copies/mixes/etc. I have A LOT of really good, obscure 80s and 90s music on tape.
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IMO, the best bet is to find a 90s higher end Sony tape deck and have it re-belted. They are pretty easy to work on(relatively speaking), very reliable, and they sound pretty good.
 
I was on my phone with my first response, and forgot to mention my favorite deck for primary record and playback. It's a TEAC R-919X. Mine is still in storage also. Looking forward to putting it back to work. These came out with the last of the higher end decks when CDs were taking off. These have all the engineered upgrades available then, and one would have to spend quite a bit more on a top tier audiophile deck to get same or better SQ otherwise. These are a bit rare though, since these weren't in production so long with the CDs pushing cassettes out of the way. Google the reviews on this model if interested in finding one.

Here's one on eBay now, that's being sold for parts. Good specs list in description though. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teac-R919X...138067?hash=item2a9ae22413:g:IhEAAOSwnCFaRYg7
 
I always swore by TDK, especially the non-chrome variety AD-X.

I found all my dual-well decks were quick to die. I'm currently using a Yamaha drawer deck that was part of a mini-system.

A few years back I sold off a bunch of my manufactured cassettes at a record swap for $1-3 each. But those always sounded like crap.

Burger Records out of Orange County, LA releases lots of new recordings on cassettes only.
 
I have a few Memorex dbs normal bias tapes that sound great and have held up very well. I used some to record from barrowed CD's years ago.
 
Lucky Pierre said:
I am looking for a good cassette deck right now. I have 300-400 cassettes I took out of storage. They are about half and half prerecorded and copies/mixes/etc. I have A LOT of really good, obscure 80s and 90s music on tape.
Click to expand...

Last year I found a Harman-Kardon TD-262 cassette deck for $30. 20-20kHz ON ALL TAPE TYPES!

There are lots of cassette deck options out there to be scored - good luck hunting!
 
I still have two Nakamichi decks. I pull out of storage from time to time. I have about 100 cassettes I keep for use in my Ram 2500 diesel, And the Telarc and my dubs to Maxell UD chrome tapes are way more than just acceptable. With advanced Dolby noise reduction formats the sound is as enjoyable as most reel to reel tapes if not more so. Will they match as CD, no, outperform a LP most definitely. They can be easily destroyed, too. So I just use them in the truck. CD's Dvds and LPs are preferred listening at home with a special broadcast on FM.
 
I'm still pissed that the movers lost a box containing ALL my friggin' cassettes. Now, I have two players with no tapes to play.
 
Until my son decided to blow the motor in my minivan, it had both CD and cassette. Cassettes are, in general, 90-110 minutes in length that I would use. I have hundreds of mixtapes I made starting in the mid-90's when I was procuring tape like crazy working for Radio Shack. CD's are only 79 minutes in length. It was kinda cool to make mixtapes and listen to them, especially given my eclectic taste in music. If I ever get a car with cassette, I might revisit them. The problem is many of the tapes were made before I had Polderbits to remove unwanted noise, so I would probably be forced to go back and rerecord them to keep from being run batty.
 
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