Yes, I believe they are hard to find.
This https://focusrite.com/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-2i2
Or this https://www.korg.com/us/products/drs/mr_2000s/
Would fill the bill nicely...
THE BEST CASSETTE DECK EVER
- Thread starter dantera
- Start date
Yes, I believe they are hard to find.
This https://focusrite.com/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-2i2
Or this https://www.korg.com/us/products/drs/mr_2000s/
Would fill the bill nicely...
grillebilly
Empty Head
The CR7 has automatic azimuth adjustment but AFAIK doesn't do it on the fly.
Many consider it a better deck overall. Maybe Perry can chime in.
http://www.theaudioarchive.com/TAA_Tape_Nakamichi_CR-7A.htm
Many consider it a better deck overall. Maybe Perry can chime in.
http://www.theaudioarchive.com/TAA_Tape_Nakamichi_CR-7A.htm
The CR7A has automatic azimuth only for recording (like many decks have). Azimuth is manual for playback on the CR7A (also like all other decks). Only the Dragon has automatic playback Azimuth (NAAC). Playback wow and flutter is very good on the CR7A (.027%), the only deck that is better is the Dragon (.019%). The CR7A is an awesome deck, I have owned one in the far past. I personally think the Dragon’s playback is better and auto reverse is a bonus. Either deck is at the top of cassette performance.
I highly recommend the JVC TD-V711 if you can find a good one. I have been digitizing my old tapes for a while now with it and it works as if its still 1989!
I bought it new back then and every time I need it it has come through. It has not be re-capped and has the original belt and pinch rollers. No issues whatsoever and it sounds fantastic!
The engineering on these JVC "Super Digifine" components from the late 80's was something really special. I have read that they are less finicky and easier to service than the Naks as well.
No auto azimuth but in my case, most of what I'm dubbing was recorded on it to begin with. Rock solid.
I bought it new back then and every time I need it it has come through. It has not be re-capped and has the original belt and pinch rollers. No issues whatsoever and it sounds fantastic!
The engineering on these JVC "Super Digifine" components from the late 80's was something really special. I have read that they are less finicky and easier to service than the Naks as well.
No auto azimuth but in my case, most of what I'm dubbing was recorded on it to begin with. Rock solid.
twiiii
Lunatic Member
I have to agree the 1000 zxl was probably the best recording cassette deck out there and just maybe the Dragon was the best Playback deck. I guess if you are into cassettes having them both would be the pinnacle of performance. But I have never been a cassette lover. I used my 581 and 682's as tools tom play back other tapes and to make copies for others. I used my 550 occasionally for remote recordings and at first to make tapes for the car stereos because I could compress the signal while recording. I also used the 550 in company vans on trips. running head phones. I sold my 2001 1/2 Ram Diesel in April and all the cassettes went in the trash. So maybe some day there will be 581 and 682 for sale. But not now. I use my 10X iPhone with the new Ram Diesel. WHY THE 1/2 on the 2001. Rear disc brakes in addition to other upgrades.
Agree, I owned a really nice ZXL1000 for a couple of years, made a couple of dozen recordings but always played them back on the Dragon. Maybe it was the auto reverse but mostly because it made the recordings sound their best. The ZXL sounded really, really good but not worth keeping around as I was not planning on recording any more cassettes. The ZXL brought some serious coin!
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Poll has different goals from thread title. Plus the poll is missing the best playback machines.
jimbo2k
AdcomGFT500,2GFA535,BandO,RX2.,MMC3,C101.L810's
Don't know if I would call it the best. I have had mine longer than any otherdeck i have owned, and I Have had many. There always was a a connection between it and my BX 300s. They made tapes that sounded good on each other. The Naks are long gone but the D6c remains for now. Just replaced all the rubber parts for the third time since new. It's done me well as a live recorder.
Simply the best
comish4
comish4
There were many great decks made back in the day Nak being one of the best but as Zebra Blvd stated in his post there were many other companies that made fantastic decks Hitachi, Aiwa, and Onkyo . Look at an Onkyo Ta 2090 if you can find one,the ta2080 is one of the best recording decks I have ever owned. The Hitachi d980 was just one hell of a deck built to do everything right. Jvc and HK built some great decks also don't sell these decks short you will be making a mistake set your budget then start your research there are many great suggestions here imagine what it was for us trying to select a great deck 40 years ago. Good Hunting
Ain't that the truth!
I remember my head spinning!
I wanted to buy them all, but was kinda hard on E-1 pay.... $165 a month
I've looked at a new tape deck that has come out recently, I seriously doubt they're built to the same level as those fine-arse decks of years past.
Just lift up a new one and you'll know what I mean.
Long ago companies were very competitive in trying to capture a following. Some manufacturers were known to sell some pieces at a loss to capture buyers.
Try to find a company willing to try that kind of marketing strategy! Now they all squeeze a nickel till the buffalo farts!
Today there's more money being spent to figure out the market, build to a price point, pay people the least amount they can to build it, move plants all over the world to make .35 more cents per unit, pay for advertising, potential BS lawsuits, pay a CEO their exorbitant pay....
In having to pay all those steps, to bring a piece of gear to market, that money has to come from somewhere. It's coming from the quality of the gear that just gets by to make a sale.
And there was some esoteric gear back then too.
Sorry not sorry.
OK, I'm fine now...
Sorry bout dat.
Some of the reason why folks are buying all those DD TT's from years past.
Man those are some incredible units.
Can only imagine what it would cost to bring a comparable Yamaha GT-2000 TT nowadays to market if it were to be started from scratch... I know I wouldn't be able to afford it.
Yea it can be done by looks but, not at the same level of everything that went into the original.
Didn't take me long to get off the original OP's thread point...
I remember my head spinning!
I wanted to buy them all, but was kinda hard on E-1 pay.... $165 a month
I've looked at a new tape deck that has come out recently, I seriously doubt they're built to the same level as those fine-arse decks of years past.
Just lift up a new one and you'll know what I mean.
Long ago companies were very competitive in trying to capture a following. Some manufacturers were known to sell some pieces at a loss to capture buyers.
Try to find a company willing to try that kind of marketing strategy! Now they all squeeze a nickel till the buffalo farts!
Today there's more money being spent to figure out the market, build to a price point, pay people the least amount they can to build it, move plants all over the world to make .35 more cents per unit, pay for advertising, potential BS lawsuits, pay a CEO their exorbitant pay....
In having to pay all those steps, to bring a piece of gear to market, that money has to come from somewhere. It's coming from the quality of the gear that just gets by to make a sale.
And there was some esoteric gear back then too.
Sorry not sorry.
OK, I'm fine now...
Sorry bout dat.
Some of the reason why folks are buying all those DD TT's from years past.
Man those are some incredible units.
Can only imagine what it would cost to bring a comparable Yamaha GT-2000 TT nowadays to market if it were to be started from scratch... I know I wouldn't be able to afford it.
Yea it can be done by looks but, not at the same level of everything that went into the original.
Didn't take me long to get off the original OP's thread point...
tom3
Super Member
I'd suggest for playing old well used cassettes you'd want a pretty basic deck. Seems like the high end decks are pretty picky about tape quality while the basic, mechanical control decks will play about anything. I have a Sansui 2000, their most basic?, that has a motor and flywheel that look industrial and that machine plays anything, good recorder too. Nothing fancy, just works. My daily driver is a Technics auto reverse that is nice to use but gets pretty glitchy with not perfect tapes.
TomB19
Active Member
I will upset some folks by citing the Harmon Kardon TD-391. My buddy had one, back in the day.
In 1989, I spent a weekend with the Dragon of the moment (on loan).
My deck was a TOTL Sony ES (I still have it) of the time.
We compared those three decks for hours on end, over the course of a weekend. We recorded and played many, many hours of music.
I came to the conclusion all three sounded indistinguishable with Sony Metal Master tapes. Not just indistinguishable from each other, indistinguishable from the source. My speakers of the day were crap but I had a pair of Sony CDP-MR999 headphones (still have them, too) that are pretty revealing. I'm telling you, cassette can be bloody brilliant.
I would say the CD-391 sounded the best on low end tapes with my Sony sounding the worst, Nak similar to the HK. Even here, there wasn't a lot between these decks.
Subsequently to that, I had an opportunity to borrow a TD-392 and took it to my friend's house for an evening to compare to his 391. We weren't able to tell the difference in SQ. Both were amazing.
Sony had a world beating tape counter, though. It was indexed in minutes and seconds.
To this day, I think about the hours we pumped into that comparison. It makes me smile, every time someone explains their brand of CD/Cassette/Turntable blows away all other brands. I don't think they are all the same but there is a lot of great gear out there and many flags in the hall of giants.
In 1989, I spent a weekend with the Dragon of the moment (on loan).
My deck was a TOTL Sony ES (I still have it) of the time.
We compared those three decks for hours on end, over the course of a weekend. We recorded and played many, many hours of music.
I came to the conclusion all three sounded indistinguishable with Sony Metal Master tapes. Not just indistinguishable from each other, indistinguishable from the source. My speakers of the day were crap but I had a pair of Sony CDP-MR999 headphones (still have them, too) that are pretty revealing. I'm telling you, cassette can be bloody brilliant.
I would say the CD-391 sounded the best on low end tapes with my Sony sounding the worst, Nak similar to the HK. Even here, there wasn't a lot between these decks.
Subsequently to that, I had an opportunity to borrow a TD-392 and took it to my friend's house for an evening to compare to his 391. We weren't able to tell the difference in SQ. Both were amazing.
Sony had a world beating tape counter, though. It was indexed in minutes and seconds.
To this day, I think about the hours we pumped into that comparison. It makes me smile, every time someone explains their brand of CD/Cassette/Turntable blows away all other brands. I don't think they are all the same but there is a lot of great gear out there and many flags in the hall of giants.
OldPolishGuy
Active Member
Advent 200,201,202? Old machines for sure and very basic but well built. A buddy of mine had one of the early Advents and connected external Dolby units to it. Good sounding machine and worked well. I almost bought one but got a Tandberg TCD310 instead. Should've saved-up more money and bought a Nakamichi instead. OPG.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Big issue, cassette is not a master medium, unless it's church sermons or voice material. A one acceptable generation situation. Too many additive speed and azimuth issues on a cassette from cassette to cassette. If a cassette deck was built to the way I wanted one built, it would also make a Dragon look cost cut. My ideal is, one inch thick deckplate of stout die cast aluminum, 3 or 4 AC motors, direct drive, overbuilt headblock capable of very stable azimuth alignment, all critical adjustments from front panel, all electronics on plug in cards. And a mechanism which would also not require a pressure pad. Would weigh as much as a ReVox A or B 77 open reel machine, or NAB Broadcast cartridge tape machine. Would also have 2 track Stereo, one direction headblock available as a secondary format for those who want better S/N ratios without using NR systems on a separate plug in headblock. I proposed ITC build such a beast with wider than 2 normal Stereo tracks, and a cue track, one direction Stereo as a NAB cartridge machine alternative, and also use 3 3/4 IPS.
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MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
I currently have two decks that give excellent results....a Pioneer CT-F1250, recently restored & calibrated, and a Teac R-888X 3-motor, 3-head unit with dbx. I believe both would take The Pepsi Challenge against most other decks.
zedex
Well-Known Member
The CR7 "does not" have auto azimuth record or playback. It has auto tape calibration and manual play head azimuth.
The Dragon has auto play head azimuth.(NAAC)
The ZX decks like ZX7 and ZX9 have manual Record head azimuth.
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TomB19
Active Member
Even just playback alignment puts the Dragon above other decks in that regard. I forgot about the auto azimuth features of the Dragon.
When I was a bench tech, it was clear which models would hold an alignment and which would not just by looking at the work queue and sales volume of various decks. We didn't sell Nakamichi and I've never serviced one so I have no insight into the reliability into that mechanism but I suspect Nak did a good job.
One of the things I like about my Sony is that it has never been, nor needed, alignment. I've aligned a few Harmans in my day. With so many other strengths of HK, I think it's worth it and it's not like it was problematic.
Back in 1985, I recall there was a brand, I don't recall specifically, that came misaligned from factory. After a few complaints, I aligned every unit prior to being sold. I think I did about 75 of them.
My Sony ES deck in my workout room system isn't connected and hasn't been since the 1990s. It would be interesting to break out a new metal tape (Yes, I still have several *cases* of unopened TDK MA-R and Sony Metal Master, among others) and do some testing with 24 bit material straight from a DAC. I suspect it would reveal some limitations, however, cassette was more than up to the job of the source of the era, back in the 1980s.
Advent 200 probably shouldn't make that list, it's nothing like the much solider 201/201A models. Built by Nakamichi (the 201's are based on a Wollensak transport, miles different than the Nak design) and was not generally considered reliable.
Never seen a 202 in the flesh... might have to hunt one of those down for the museum.
John
Never seen a 202 in the flesh... might have to hunt one of those down for the museum.
John
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Pedro Morais
New Member
For old tapes it is IMPERATIVE, i repeat IMPERATIVE to have a deck with PLAY TRIM !!!!!
It adjusts bad biased tapes by amplifiying or lowying treble section (bias related EQ) during playback.
This is done BEFORE Dolby circuits, so Dolby can work properly.
I strongly recommend Yamaha two Heads for playback they are top Highend, bought a Yamaha KX-260 and i can´t tell Type 2 cassetes recorded back in 1993 from CD.
(Some things are better, others are worst, ever slightly less sharpness, detail and accuracy but more pleasing sound more treble with less sheen, like a studio valve master processor.)
This deck changed my thought on cassetes.
Sound stage of the Yamaha is impressive, so many layers, Holografic as all other sources, and detailed micro dynamics,(singer retains dryness and sharpness, monoaural focus and frontness in a background echoing soundtrack, and this is done with razor sharp separation) absolute zero intermodulation distortion.
Just connect it to a digital 24 bit 96Khz portable recorder like Tascam, Sony or Zoom, or a good DAC on a PC, adjust PLAY TRIM by ear, and you're good to go.
P.S. It still records very well, but biasing a tape is a long process, for recording i recommend 3 head with MANUAL bias and rec gain with display assistance, but not all automatic, cause you may need to tweak it by ear for Dolby on some tapes.
(I've high end sytem with valve preamp Audio note M7 copy, QUAD 405 mod 3 with 500VA power supply, Proac studio 125, all with silver cables and russian paper in oil capacitors, and an acoustically treated room.)