Does anyone use their cassette deck anymore?

[Tripqzon]

peak limiting

Record companies forcing the use of way too much compression and peak limiting at the mastering stage. You're right, most new commercial rock CD's sound like complete ass.

http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/8A133F52D0FD71AB86256C2E005DAF1C

Excellent article there, also there's http://www.loudnessrace.net but I can't access it right now...

TP

I enjoyed reading the article at the first link of your posting. It Only reinforces what I thought was happening. I was beginning to wonder if my cd player was not capable of handling the level of newer cd's.

It really irritates me that record companies have the gall to charge what they do for cd's when they know they are putting out garbage. That is one of the major reasons I've changed what music I listen to. I like to be able to use the dynamic range of my amplifier to get a cleaner and more open sound. I find that Jazz and blues cd's are not recorded as loud and they sound excellent for the most part.

Thanks for the links. I will keep trying to get to the other site.

Paul

P.S. Some of you may find this amusing, but if you get the opportunity, listen to a band called Bela Fleck And The Flecktones. Check out the cd's "Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo" or "Three Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". I find it to be very clean and very dynamic IMO. Quite a change from the rock cd's I've heard recently. If anyone is familiar or has already heard this band or either of the above mentioned cd's, I would love to know your thoughts.

By the way, I also put them on cassette for a more analog sound. :thmbsp:

Paul

 

[TRC]

I still use cassette deck's.. but I don't use Dolby. If you use a QUALITY chrome.. or even a QUALITY normal bias tape (TDK or Maxell..) and record it right.. you don't need Dolby IMHO.. And I agree.. any pre-recorded cassette will suck. They're just not designed for quality. They're designed cheap to make the record company money.

I've sold audio equipment at various stores through the years.. and invariably gotten lots of compliment's on my tapes.. either by other salespeople or customers. When I sold audio gear at the mall.. One of the other salesmen asked, "How do you get that much bass out of a cassette?" At another store.. someone asked how my cassettes were able to produce "such crisp high's". The point of all this being.. if you use a QUALITY deck and a QUALITY cassette to record onto.. you can attain some VERY impressive results..! Plus of course.. it help's if you know what you're doing..lol.
No.... cassettes & decks are NOT dead. Not IMHO..

I have 4 Tascam 112B's, Marantz 5010B (Very smooth limiter..), Teac V-900X (built in dbx), Aiwa F990 (Yes that's right.. AIWA..!) The best thing they ever made IMHO.. Sony TC-WE805S dual well, but independent transports..so if I'm recording live.. and the tape is about to run out.. I can start up the next one.. with no interference from / to the other tape. AND.. it actually sounds decent..! Not bad for an inexpensive Sony..
I have other's.. but they need work. Of course, not to mension all the Open Reel deck's I have..

Cassette's Are Not Dead.

TRC

 

[Toasted Almond]

I hear you on the Aiwa. I had an F660 and I thought THAT one was sweet. 990 must be sweet.

Aiwa tried to get serious about audio right around the turn of the century, but all the DD receivers were blowing up, or not working right out of the box. That was it for their half-hearted attempt. They always made good cassette decks way back into the late 70's.

TA

 

[asynchronousman]

~~~~~P.S. Some of you may find this amusing, but if you get the opportunity, listen to a band called Bela Fleck And The Flecktones. Check out the cd's "Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo" or "Three Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". I find it to be very clean and very dynamic IMO. Quite a change from the rock cd's I've heard recently. If anyone is familiar or has already heard this band or either of the above mentioned cd's, I would love to know your thoughts.

By the way, I also put them on cassette for a more analog sound. :thmbsp:

Paul

Bela and his band were supposedly the "guinea pigs" for an early digital system that did not get transcribed to any other digital format and was lost. You are right that they have an excellent sound and are very conscious about it. I have enjoyed anything I've heard by them. Unfortunately, I hear the band has broken up?

 

[Tony75]

Won't take much to get to 50 decks. I just went around the house to count them all and I came up with 49 working decks that all get use. Only about 10 of these are not connected at the present time, but they get rotated in and out of the various systems around.
As you may have guessed I love the things, there would also be at least 15 more in storage either awaiting parts or motivation. I suppose you could call this some kind of addiction.
I thought about typing out all the model numbers of the working decks but it would be a fairly boring read and a really annoying typing session.
What I like about the things is that they are very common on curbside pick up days and I love repairing most of them, some AIWAs though should just be left for the crusher :bash:
Sometimes I give them to people who need them, others I just can't bear to part with.
With 49 of them you never have a dull moment with maintainence, just think of all the head cleaning, plus there are usually a few that are giving trouble at any one time, that's the joy of these old decks, always something to do.
I always use Dolby B as I can't be bothered changing settings between tapes, I find it better to standardise to one form.
Favourite brands from a repair and use perspective would have to be TEAC, Sansui, Sony and Technics. Pioneers are a mixed bag, mostly reliable and all good sounding but some are a real pain to work on, Marantz decks usually give me a lot of trouble mechanically. AIWAs? they have their own problems, I have 6 of these and only one working one (2 should be able to be repaired when I can get round to it)
That's enough for now
Tony

 

[merrylander]

Still have a few, a Yamaha K-1000 (dolby and dbx) in the bedroom system, a modern Toshiba dual in the main system and a Yamaha K-350 in the shop system. A Mitsu 640 spare and a non-descript Sharp dual gathering dust. I had made a lot of tapes when I owned the Ford Probe as it only had cassette, now with the Impalas both having CD and cassette there has not been as much need for tapes. Since Thanksgiving is over I imagiine the local classical station will start in on Christmas music non-stop so taking along CDs or cassettes will be necessary. Heck, I am going to have to use CD's even in the shop system. Why some idiot thinks we need 24 hour carols for a month beats me. Soon be time to get out the electric Bah Humbug sign.

Rob

 

[THOR]

Haven't owned one since CD players became reasonably priced, don't own a CD player anymore either, every so often we find a cassette in some box of junk or drawer, we immediately toss it in the trash

 

[Don McR]

I stopped using my tape deck well over a decade ago and don't miss it at all. While the quality of cassette recorders and tape got to the point of being very good, there was one issue that they could never address. That is, the continual degradation of the recorded signal with each playback. A combination of tape wear and demagnetization meant that the noise levels increased and the bandwidth decreased with every use. Immediately after recording, the tape sounded fine and very close to the original. Years later, they sound like all of the highs have been erased with hiss levels that Dolby can no longer mask.

I still have most of the tapes I recorded, and every once and a while, pull them out for reasons of nostolgia. It only takes a short time before I can no longer bear the sound degradation and back in the closet they go.

 

[hotgas]

To me, cassette is indeed dead! I no longer use it even I have 3 systems with different brands. I occasionally use a handheld Marantz PMD221, which I bought for 2 bucks, to record my guitar playing or to tap phone conversation of my teeny daughters and their mom.

 

[dr*audio]

I also have ~200 tapes I've made over the years.

Do you have an external DBX unit or is it incorporated into your deck?
If it is external, is it something that you have to use during the record and playback process?

They are external units: DBX224. I also have an NX40 which is much cheaper and I don't recommend that one because it easily overloads. You can buy a DBX224 or DBX122 (the older version) for less than $100 on E-Bay. You have to use it on record and playback, but it results in a recording with inaudible hiss level. It won't work on previously recorded tapes that aren't DBX encoded.

 

[dr*audio]

I like the BIC two speed models from the late 70's/early 80's, they were pretty sharp looking and boasted some very good specs. I bought a top line BIC T-4M for only $25 a few years ago, that was non-working. I sent it to someone who used to do warranty repair work and he was able to straighten out the mechanical issues, but it still didnt sound right, as if it needed further calibration. I just havent had the time since to get the deck back to 100%, but I would like to, hopefully in the near future.

Fred, I know what is wrong with it. I used to do warranty repair for BIC also. They had a bad run of Dolby ICs in those Decks, LM1011N is the part number. If the Dolby IC is bad, the highs will roll of when the Dolby is turned on, but be ok with the dolby off. I think this could even be heard when monitoring the source. They are no longer manufactured, but you may be able to find some NOS.

 

[BeatleFred]

Hi Warren:

Thanks for mentioning that! Its been quite a while since I had last tried the T-4M so I dont recall if I had the Dolby on or not, though I am inclined to think it was off, as I dont really feel the need to use that feature. I think I will try the deck out tomorrow and see how it sounds, and I will report back to you. The T-4M is quite a machine, its a shame to let it go to waste sitting inactive. (Ditto my Accutrac 4000 turntable)

Regards,

Fred

 

[soundhd]

Nope!

 

[tcdriver]

cassette

I use my cassette deck mostly to play back the prerecorded cassettes that I own. Very occasionally I dub a LP or CD on to cassette to play back in my car. The best I can tell, the cassette is a quickly dying format. 8-tracks anyone?

tcdriver

 

[Tripqzon]

dbx unit

I also have ~200 tapes I've made over the years.

Do you have an external DBX unit or is it incorporated into your deck?
If it is external, is it something that you have to use during the record and playback process?

They are external units: DBX224. I also have an NX40 which is much cheaper and I don't recommend that one because it easily overloads. You can buy a DBX224 or DBX122 (the older version) for less than $100 on E-Bay. You have to use it on record and playback, but it results in a recording with inaudible hiss level. It won't work on previously recorded tapes that aren't DBX encoded.

Thanks for the reply. I assumed you would have to use it for record and playback, and thanks to you I know for sure.

I'd been looking at the 224 on ebay, but just haven't taken the plunge yet. Too many other financial priorities this time of year.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[gonzothegreat]

I have tons of tapes but seldom listen to 'em. If I want to record something, I run the audio into my PC's soundcard and run soundforge. Easy to edit out glitches, station IDs and other junk. Also no more worrying about the tape getting stetched, mangled or flaky. No worries about running out of tape in the middle of the show either. If I want to record something on the go (say a radio concert in a distant city) I have an external USB soundcard with s/n of about 67dB. Good enough IMHO. I've used minidisc too but transfering it to the PC is a pain and can lose some quality due to compression (ATRAC?)

Prerecorded tapes were usually crap but there were certain tapes that always sounded good on my WMD-6c ($250 pro walkman). Asia's first and second album come to mind. Other than that, I listened to tapes of LPs (usually audiophile pressings). I still have most of the tapes I made 20 years ago. Some I just plain wore out (like my copy of DSTOM, Wish You Were Here and The Wall) and they should have been tossed after the 100th play but they got me through school without resorting to chemicals...

 

[webbb]

regarding dbx

"Thanks for the reply. I assumed you would have to use it for record and playback, and thanks to you I know for sure.

I'd been looking at the 224 on ebay, but just haven't taken the plunge yet. Too many other financial priorities this time of year."

I happen to have a 224 that I got at a used Pro Audio store a long time ago for $50. Have never used it myself beyond checking that it worked, because my other units are still fine. I guess I don't need it as a backup that much after all. How about $20 + ship for you. You realize you will have to use it to play any tapes you make with it, or else they will sound like (modern rock on FM). But it does knock out the hiss and lets you record at a little bit lower levels on your tape, getting better response for the highs.


Oh, and Cassettes Are Not Dead.
I use one every day to time-shift a radio program that does not come on anymore when I am driving. I also admit to having 400 or so - OK, probably more - tapes from either records I had or borrowed, or Prairie Home Companion on the radio, or live band gigs. They fit nicely in shoe boxes.

 

[twintwelve1484]

I have tons of mp3's and piles of CD's, but I find myself listening to my old dbx-encoded cassettes and scrounging thrifts for LP's more than anything, lately. CD's just invariably piss me off, for reasons I can't quite quantify. mp3's are fun and portable (I have an archos), but lack a lot of the fun qualities of analog, the main one being the 'ritual' of actually handling something in order to make music.

Maybe that's it. Maybe it's the ritual that I like. Putting the cassette in...cleaning the heads...rewinding....labeling....handling the LP by the edges...getting the Discwasher and the D4 out and carefully cleaning.... Yep...it's the ritual that I've missed, and the ritual brings me back to these old formats.

Just last night, I found the VERY FIRST Maxell LN (white body, yellow/orange label!) I ever bought, when I was 14, to use in my pre-Technics top load Panasonic cassette deck with the "new" Dolby system. I originally recorded ELP's "Trilogy" on it, and later at some point, re-recorded the same using DBX encoding.

Plays back wonderfully. Only a few dropouts in the entire tape, this after 28 YEARS...

 

[rca2000]

I've got one(cassette deck) that i wonder if it is worth repairing..

It is an sct-33 from realistic. Appears to have been their top-line unit in '82-83.Says three heads, solencid logic, etc. Double-dolby(whatever that means) band c.

Problem is, ALL of the belts have died. Now, i am not even sure what size to get, to replace them. Is this deck very good, does anyone have any experience with it?

 

[DaWoofer]

I just pit my Kenwood KX-1030 back in line and must admit it. Its better than I thought it would be. CD's arn't all there are cracked up to be. A good recorded tape is just great with me.