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so why do we still have tape decks?? what's your reason?
- Thread starter fabchef
- Start date
lorne
Sonic Lizard
Many years ago a close friend recorded stuff on VHS. I found the sound surprisingly good. Years later in Japan, I acquired a very good Mitsubishi VHS machine. It had a lot of hours on it, but played VHS tape excellently through a Sony Trinitron TV. I planned to ditch cassette tape and use VHS to record on, but the machine eventually died. As DVD was coming out, I abandoned the idea. In terms of fidelity, perhaps I should have stuck with VHS. In my opinion VHS is an excellent option for analogue recording. Again in my unfounded opinion, any good VHS machine from the major manufacturers of the day will suffice. But one had better have a source of VHS tape stock, a low milage machine, and a tech person to fix it when and if it should fail. Perhaps it's more wise to seek out a high end cassette machine
Plus 'compact cassettes' are exactly as described...compact...and when you have as many hours of tape recordings as I do.. that MATTERS!
Belts and rollers for cassette players... which is all needs changing on the whole...are also amazingly widely and cheaply available...
There is a reason the Soviet 'Roentgenzidat' industry died out with the arrival of tape 'Magnetizdat' in the USSR...
TAPE IS BEST
lorne
Sonic Lizard
It has probably been said on this thread and / or many times on this forum, prerecorded tapes usually sound less good than what you can do yourself from other media. I've recorded some excellent sound from the local NHK FM frequency here in Sendai ... and of course from vinyl. (I have a couple of very good sounding tuners.) But music tapes for one or two bucks, who is to argue!Nostalgia.
That, and I still have a reasonably large clutch of compact cassettes from my teenage years:
Still enjoyable after all these years, even if the sound isn’t quite up to par of other formats.
I’ll still buy them if I see something I like. They still go for a buck or two at thrift stores here so its an affordable vice…
[Edited addenda 3/27/25]
I should have written first off: convenience. I can start and stop any place on a tape while constructing and recording a playlist. On the same tape, I can record vinyl, streamed content from my computer, CD's or FM radio. I have an excellent deck that has been checked out by a technician. In the end, the content is more important than the highest standard of fidelity. And IMHO, considering that a good deck can provide enjoyable listening, together with the fact that I have a limited budget to devote to music source, tape (of which I have a lot of stock including NOS stuff) is an excellent resource.
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Chad Michael
Dissonant Rhino
WHEEEEEEeeeee 
Lavane
Lunatic Member
I have two dual cassette decks that were given to me. The o y reason I have them at all is I still have a bunch of prerecorded tapes along with some I recorded. They all still sound decent, so I listen to them from time to time.
If I didnt still have tapes never would have taken the decks.
If I didnt still have tapes never would have taken the decks.
N2552
Super Member
Hee Haw ;-)WHEEEEEEeeeee
N2552
Super Member
My parents had a Grundig (same as top of the line Philips Matchline ) VHS video deck, that was not only capable and sold as a supurb hifi stereo quality video recording VCR deck, but also specifically marketed advertised and sold as a music only recording / playback CD quality / R2R / etc full range Hi-Fi+ analog stereo recording only deck! We tried it out that way recording some classic DDD CD's and indeed. No hiss, no 'noise' / thus dead quiet on low volume music parts in the 'track's and through the roof frequency response.! And 'they' didn't lie about it, it was that good!
Note: Philips proprietary V2000 VHS recorders, were as good at music recording, or still even better! I'm no VCR buff, but maybe this can be of some help to 'you'!
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N2552
Super Member
My parents had a Grundig (same as top of the line Philips Matchline ) VHS video deck, that was not only capable and sold as a supurb hifi stereo quality video recording VCR deck, but also specifically marketed advertised and sold as a music only recording / playback CD quality / R2R / etc full range Hi-Fi+ analog stereo recording only deck! We tried it out that way recording some classic DDD CD's and indeed. No hiss, no 'noise' / thus dead quiet on low volume music parts in the 'track's and through the roof frequency response.! And 'they' didn't lie about it, it was that good!
Note: Philips proprietary V2000 VHS recorders, were as good at music recording, or still even better! I'm no VCR buff, but maybe this can be of some help to 'you'!
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Chad Michael
Dissonant Rhino
Ooooo... more tape decks of mine
Chad Michael
Dissonant Rhino
Because I still have hundreds of 80’s records that are two sided 90 minute tapes for the car. None of the LPs were mine. I had a friend that bought everything, was a r&r drummer and listened to all kinds of music. He would copy at first play. You can hear the needle drop. His system was not great but these still resonate like analog records.
95% are TDK SA90 bought in ten packs at Tower. The carry cases have long since rotted away.
95% are TDK SA90 bought in ten packs at Tower. The carry cases have long since rotted away.
gizzyman47
Addicted Member
They are just cool vintage machines. Love the way they look when playing and are great conversation pieces when someone unfamiliar to them sees them.
ToyDoctor
Active Member
It's not all about nostalgia, you can easily get a CD and play it and expect amazing sound, because after all, it's "so much better" than any other format, but without a real nice amp and speaker set up, it will leave you flat. I have many decks, but the next project is to record some of the albums where there are no klunkers and play them on my RT 707 using auto-reverse. Some of the new gear makes me cringe and can only provide background noise.
perryinva
IS it vintage????
Funny how you never hear anyone say “I have a ton of home recorded CDs and I have a CD player so I can listen to them.” Or “I came across a stash of these great recorded CDs”. As many found out, recordable CDs just don’t last, like cassettes did. For the few of us that still play and record on tape, it’s a process that includes a hands on tactile experience selecting the tape, setting the levels, setting up thr source, etc; in other words, using the equipment instead if just playing it.
While no one would ever call the current cassette resurgence an actual revival, like vinyl, it is still amazing to me how many people actually embrace cassettes and often top quality tape decks and really use them. The rise in prices, of the media, but mainly of the higher end decks, has easily surpassed the rise in prices of turntables (as a percentage of what they used to sell for) over the last 15-20 years. And while the market is small, the number of people that want them is still high enough that they still sell at what I consider high prices, especially for the TOTL Nakamichi, Revox, & Tandberg decks but also Teac/Tascam, Aiwa, Akai, Sony, Pioneer & Technics. Of course, many of the purchases are to people that own many decks. Virtually every deck I service is just one of a couple that the owner has.
While no one would ever call the current cassette resurgence an actual revival, like vinyl, it is still amazing to me how many people actually embrace cassettes and often top quality tape decks and really use them. The rise in prices, of the media, but mainly of the higher end decks, has easily surpassed the rise in prices of turntables (as a percentage of what they used to sell for) over the last 15-20 years. And while the market is small, the number of people that want them is still high enough that they still sell at what I consider high prices, especially for the TOTL Nakamichi, Revox, & Tandberg decks but also Teac/Tascam, Aiwa, Akai, Sony, Pioneer & Technics. Of course, many of the purchases are to people that own many decks. Virtually every deck I service is just one of a couple that the owner has.
There is also the simplicity of putting on a tape and letting it go, instead of putting on 5 records (10 sides) of a box set.
Thank goodness for 10 1/2 reels holding 3600 feet of tape.
infullview
Super Member
I love being able to put on a tape that has my hand selected favorites with no commercials and not have to fuss with it for 1 1/2 hours
SingleAction
Active Member
Why do I still have open reel decks today? It's mostly just nostalgic.
I've had reel decks going back to my teens in the 60s. Later on, I sold them when I worked for Lafayette Radio Electronics. The frosting on the cake was having a family friend who was a recording engineer in a NYC studio, and I had the opportunity to sit in during live recordings.
Today I have 3 decks, Otari MX5050BII-2, Teac A-2300S Teac A-4300SX. I have loads of recorded tapes and 60s pre-recorded album I listen to on occasion. I've gotten very lazy these days and prefer audio formats that require less labor playing, and also sound very good on my sound system, like CDs and cassettes.
I've had reel decks going back to my teens in the 60s. Later on, I sold them when I worked for Lafayette Radio Electronics. The frosting on the cake was having a family friend who was a recording engineer in a NYC studio, and I had the opportunity to sit in during live recordings.
Today I have 3 decks, Otari MX5050BII-2, Teac A-2300S Teac A-4300SX. I have loads of recorded tapes and 60s pre-recorded album I listen to on occasion. I've gotten very lazy these days and prefer audio formats that require less labor playing, and also sound very good on my sound system, like CDs and cassettes.
Like owning and caring for an old vintage car or muscle car, mag tape in any format really does not make any logical sense but it’s fun to get them to function in top form. They can sound very good and a kick to play with. There is something about watching an open reel machine go round and round that makes you believe you made it in life. Sometimes when I’m streaming music with friends over I’ll let my reel to reel run tape just to impress them. I often hear them comment how nothing beats analog tape…ha!