Decent tape deck

[Danyel537]

Hi All.
Looking for some advice.
I would like to find a budget cassette deck that sounds good, preferably silver face to match my other equipment.
Not Nakamichi $$$.
I have a Pioneer CT-F9191
Beautiful deck but don’t want to use this as my main deck.
Also have a Pioneer CT-F6161, just bought this one (mainly for the looks) to add to the Pioneer collection but it sounds pretty average.
Lastly I have a Denon DRW-750 which sounds ok.
What would you guys recommend as a everyday deck?

 

[kermit z]

Have you gone thru the decks and cleaned up and demagnetized the heads? Have the belts been replaced? You have 3 decks, so I would start there. Trying to find a budget deck that will sound better than what you have will be a challenge, and, JIMOP a waste of money. Why not use the 9191? Will you be using it daily in your system? I would then go with the Denon if your trying to save the 9191 for another purpose

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Nakamichi LX-3, the 2head version of the LX-5 so shouldn't break the bank. Had one yrs ago, great deck with looks to match. Much of the controls are hidden behind the door/panel on the right front giving it a clean look.




I see this one on eBay states it's working

 

[FabRik8r]

Tape decks need to be used on a regular basis, or else they will need service again. I have a Nakamichi Dragon that I got about 11 years ago ... it needed a rebuild when I got it, and at about 10 years, it needed it again. That was mostly due to "saving it" for special times of playing. I was using my LX3 as my daily driver. I had to make a decision, and sold the LX3 when I had Willy Hermann rebuild that Dragon. Now, it is my daily driver. I have a Pioneer deck on a guest room system and try to regularly run a tape in it, even if I'm not listening.

What I'm hoping to communicate is that collecting tape decks you don't use enough, is wasting your money, and keeping you from experiencing a better deck. I'll vote for having one tape deck that is really nice, that I like and use, over having 3 decks that are average and will stop working at one point. Live and learn. I've been doing this since the 70's and this is what experience has taught me. It just took me decades to soak it in and accept it.

 

[Danyel537]

Have you gone thru the decks and cleaned up and demagnetized the heads? Have the belts been replaced? You have 3 decks, so I would start there. Trying to find a budget deck that will sound better than what you have will be a challenge, and, JIMOP a waste of money. Why not use the 9191? Will you be using it daily in your system? I would then go with the Denon if your trying to save the 9191 for another purpose

Thank you for your reply.
The 6161 needs new belts, just bought the unit last week and waiting for new belt to arrive.
I haven’t demagnetised the heads yet.
That might make a big difference.
The 9191 is IMO a piece of 1970’s art and it matches my SX-850.
I want to use this sparingly so it will last , replacement heads are not available.

 

[Bone Yard]

Just keep your eyes open for a local sale, over the last five years I've gotten a nice stack of decks, I only get the higher-end now, and all were dirt cheap. I expect to do a good cleaning and belt swap on any new arrival. I feel like you need something better than the Denon but around the same age range. I've got Onkyo's, AIWA's and AKAI that do a great job with sonics and have more modern features than your Pioneers.

Onkyo's always surprise me, they were never on my radar but the last one was only 12 bones and it works great, I think it's a TA-2050 (it's out in the shop). Unfortunately it has a small 80's footprint and I have it on top of their huge T-9, A-5 Stack.

There's no easy answer, there were lot's of great decks, personally I'd get something with features that I want like music search and advanced recording/playback tools.

 

[jayvis]

I want to use this sparingly so it will last, replacement heads are not available.

Use and enjoy that thing as much as possible while you can. It's like buying a sofa and being afraid to sit on it. Remember these damn things?

 

[oldvinyldude]

It takes a lot of use to wear out heads. Back in the day, I ran my modest Yamaha quite a bit, perhaps a couple of hours a day, for many years. No discernible head wear. Heads can surely wear out, but lack of use causes more problems than just running it regularly and freely, even if it wears on the heads.

 

[twiiii]

If your talking cassette then you want Nakamichi. I had mine over 30 years and the only issue I had was keeping the heads and tape path clean. I was lucky the level controls and switches never became noisy or intermittent. I had a 550, 581z, and a 682 z. It would have been nice to have a 1000 XZL or a Dragon., they were just to much money for the results I required. I only had cassette machines to make tapes for my friends and my automobiles. If I wanted great sound from tapes I was professionally using my Ampex Studio machines, and occasionally my HS 2 track B-77 Revox. All using DBX decilinear noise reduction. I added a 4 th head to the Revox so it could play back 1/4 trk stereo tapes. O ther wise I used my AG 500-2/5 HS machine, but it could only handle 8.25 inch reels. It was for sure a better machine than the Revox. But like most Ampex machines made in the 60's and early 70's required a lot more daily maintenance.