• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Remember how we said cassettes weren't coming back?

Bahamayellow said:
I received a old denon cassette player from a friend and hooked it to my system and couldn't believe my ears. I pulled all my tapes from the garage that had been there for 22+ years and they sounded great. Now I look for cassettes while I'm looking at albums to buy. There are a lot of sealed tapes out there at great prices. I have also seen a jump in tape prices on the really popular stuff like hard rock and rap.
Click to expand...

This was exactly my recent experience. A pretty high end tape deck dropped into my lap because it needed new belts. I did the repair and then curiosity got the best of me and I thrifted a few cassettes for it. It was really impressive so I now hunt cassettes as well as records :-)
 
runnin' said:
And I think that is the key. Memories. Nostalgia. These are things that go hand in hand with growing older. Cassettes as a format suck. They have less than perfect frequency response. They have hiss that has to be masked with your various Dolby circuitry. It's not user friendly getting to track 9, and then track 3, etc. They do wear out, and the players have lots of moving parts to wear out.

But. Memories. Nostalgia. Groovy feelings. This is what is being sold here, and older folks with disposable income will be marketed to to take their money with any device they want.
Click to expand...
Nostalgia is a big part but a properly recorded tape on a good deck can sound as good as an album.I always used dbx when I made mine.
 
Last edited:
hjames said:
I should get brownie points!
I actually worked for Saxitone Sound -
(at their Rockville store, not the original place at 1776 Columbia Rd in DC)
Anyone into cassettes and tape in those early days has probably seen the print ads ...
Click to expand...

Yes, remember Saxitone Sound for many years. I have even bought tapes from these fine gentlemen. And their customer service and prices were top notch! I love this post, AK at it's finest.
 
just dave said:
Nostalgia is a big part but a properly recorded tape on a good deck can sound as good as an album.I always used dbx when I made mine.
Click to expand...
Cassette tapes can't get anywhere near 20 Khz. Do you know what the signal to noise ratio of cassettes is? Is it much above 60db? Cassettes are inferior to the old reel to reel decks, and I remember people touting recording music on VHS or Beta, because it was superior to cassettes. At the end of the day, people will prefer what they choose to, and that's the marketplace.
 
runnin' said:
Cassette tapes can't get anywhere near 20 Khz. Do you know what the signal to noise ratio of cassettes is? Is it much above 60db? Cassettes are inferior to the old reel to reel decks, and I remember people touting recording music on VHS or Beta, because it was superior to cassettes. At the end of the day, people will prefer what they choose to, and that's the marketplace.
Click to expand...
With a good tape and deck using dbx you could.
 
Just for fun I pulled out the specs on my Teac V-800X. (the V-900X was TOTL but for some reason didn't have a fine bias control so I got the 800X). With metal tape the frequency response was 30 - 20kHz. Signal to noise with dbx was 92dB. I'm sure this surpasses what vinyl was capable of and I never noticed any difference between the tape and the album it came from.
 
Frequency specs are always at -20db. Some manufacturers would cite at 0 also. There is not much music above 16k. It isn't like tape decks brickwall at 9k with no sound above. My DBX decks have a dynamic range of 110db. CD is normally 100db.
 
Tom Brennan said:
Thrift is a ****ing verb now?
Click to expand...
calvin-and-hobbes.jpg
 
And how many metal tapes are out there? Decks that can handle metal tapes? And how about the lousy signal to noise ratio? Going from track 2 to track 12? Tapes breaking or getting bound up in the deck? Let's face it, you've gotta have some other reason to want cassettes these days, and it ain't high fidelity.
 
I have not listened to a cassette in probably two years since I no longer have a deck but the tapes I have are all factory and always stored correctly, they sound as good as they did when new. I also have probably 15 sealed factory cassettes floating around here, bet they sound killer also. I think it's a good thing that younger people are getting into them, hate to see stuff wasted that still has life as many cassettes are not degraded. You can usually tell a well kept collection just by how the cases look and the tapes themselves. Worst I have seen was a pad missing and that is a easy fix

Heck I even have 8 track tapes still. Just dragged out the Panasonic IC deck and listened to a freshly opened (last year) Blue Cheer - New Improved! 8 track and it sounded pretty good. I just hate when it changes tracks in the middle of a song. That tape alone commands around $40-50 still in nice shape
 
MannyE said:
Well, as much as we put the final nail in coffin of the cassette, I had NPR on this weekend (Friday maybe?) and guess what? A story about how cassettes are making a comeback. All the same language I was hearing about LP was in the package they aired.

Maybe they will come back!
Click to expand...

I've been on the boombox site (boomboxery.com) for many years. Cassettes never died there and old/used Maxell XLIIs & TDK SAs are still sought after.

That I can understand. More interesting is the resurgence in people using them to actively record new material to listen to and with it an uptick in vintage cassette deck use.
 
Northwinds said:
I have not listened to a cassette in probably two years since I no longer have a deck but the tapes I have are all factory and always stored correctly, they sound as good as they did when new.
Click to expand...

A couple years back I came across some driving tapes I made in the late 80s. One was on a TDK MA-90 and recorded with an a/d/s/ C4 deck.

If not for the occasional tick & pop I would not have been able to guess the source media nor that playback was from a cassette.

I was also reminded from a tech standpoint I really enjoyed the format with the clunks & servo control whirs in the machine.
 
soundmotor said:
A couple years back I came across some driving tapes I made in the late 80s. One was on a TDK MA-90 and recorded with an a/d/s/ C4 deck.

If not for the occasional tick & pop I would not have been able to guess the source media nor that playback was from a cassette.

I was also reminded from a tech standpoint I really enjoyed the format with the clunks & servo control whirs in the machine.
Click to expand...

One of my last decks was a Atelier Braun C2/3 and it was a great deck. Heavy as hell for a slimline front loader
 
I stupidly got rid of two printer paper boxes full of classic heavy metal and have since come across a Nakamichi 505. Damn the luck !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom