Type I cassette tapes

stuwee

Or normal postion tapes, I just found a TDK AD-90 from the 80's a friend made of 'Dog and Butterfly' ~ Heart, Japanese pressing Lp

Man, does this sound great, Steve Fossen's bass is right there in the room, Ann's vocals are just stunning. I'm used to big buck super metals, I like these type I's, very pricey as well :eek:

brgman

that brings back memories

Polkersince85

I know what you mean. Cassettes lost a lot of love when CDs came out. The Nachamichi Dragon I found at Goodwill has been getting some play time the last few weeks. Sweet thing is, my local Salvation Army has racks and racks of tapes for 3/1.00. Good stuff, too.

I still find unopened blank tapes at giveaway prices at the thrifts and buy them whenever I find some.

Tony M

I bought 250 cassettes a month or two ago for 5.00. Great albums in this collection. I hooked a player up and I played a relaxation and a couple others like Harry Chapin and it sounded fine. ( because of my clutter I guess..)

I couldn't beat the price.

Now my local Goodwill values the new blank tapes they get in. REDICULOUS pricing on them but....somebody eventually buys em!!...??

stuwee

Well, keep your eyes peeled for these AD's, especially the Audua ones which I think are from the late 70's?? These later ones should be superb as well, http://www.ebay.com/itm/TDK-AD-90-1982-SEALED-BLANK-AUDIO-CASSETTE-TAPE-/120766197231?pt=BI_Blank_Media&hash=item1c1e39edef , but at $12...Ouch! I use the same TDK Audua tape on the RtR, just an awesome tape.

heiney9

I just threw out 300 cassettes I made from the 80's and 90's. No more room and nothing to play them on anymore. TDK AD tape were made more for speech recording than audio recording they were at the bottom of the TDK line. That price is ridiculous considering they aren't all that great for audio puposes.

H9

Erik Tracy

Not like I'm trying to peddle anything, but I've got x3 Maxell XLII-S C90s and x3 TDK Type II SA90s, unopened. I got rid of my Nak cassette deck years ago and had these left over just sitting in a box...

mhardy6647

The AD was a pretty decent tape; tipped-up HF response compared to the normal TDK Type I tape of the era (the "D", I guess).

stuwee

heiney9 wrote: »

I just threw out 300 cassettes I made from the 80's and 90's. No more room and nothing to play them on anymore. TDK AD tape were made more for speech recording than audio recording they were at the bottom of the TDK line. That price is ridiculous considering they aren't all that great for audio puposes.

H9

I have to disagree with ya H9, they were the TOTL normal postion tape, and like I said, the Audua tape was used for RtR recording as well, I have several reels of those, and they are not a speech tape. I prefer the 'super metals', this just has a nice warm tone to it. I didn't make the recording, but now I want to get some to try out for something different, I was just wondering if anyone else thought the same about them.

cnh

I'll have to look through my collection to see if I have anything recorded on those. I used just about everything through the mid 80s to 90s. I'm sure there must be one or two among them.

Also, where do you guys get your 'new' tapes for recording these days?

Thanks.

cnh

stuwee

cnh wrote: »

I'll have to look through my collection to see if I have anything recorded on those. I used just about everything through the mid 80s to 90s. I'm sure there must be one or two among them.

Also, where do you guys get your 'new' tapes for recording these days?

Thanks.

cnh

Ebay and here, http://phxaudiotape.com/main.aspx?site=sZ%2b8EbSTN85dnb1ogyZjlJIfHnw3WsvA , there's some nice NOS tape there from dr.bo

Danny Tse

Ah, memories....

I always preferred Maxell and Sony blank cassettes, but I did use a TDK D-120 (60 mins. per side) to do off-the-air recordings of the program "Hearts of Space" from my local NPR stations. The tape still plays fine on my Sony "Sports" cassette Walkman (I also have a 3 head/3 motor Sony cassette deck ready to come out of retirement).

But just to settle the "fight", Sony's ES-I is the best Type-I cassette. Ever.

heiney9

stuwee wrote: »

I have to disagree with ya H9, they were the TOTL normal postion tape, and like I said, the Audua tape was used for RtR recording as well, I have several reels of those, and they are not a speech tape. I prefer the 'super metals', this just has a nice warm tone to it. I didn't make the recording, but now I want to get some to try out for something different, I was just wondering if anyone else thought the same about them.

RtR is a different media. I was heavily into cassettes in the 80's and 90's and those D and AD tapes were nothing special. I admit to rarely using a Normal position tape, but I did try many of them and they didn't hold a candle to the likes of the TDK SA and SA-X.

I also used Maxell UD tapes which here normal positon and the Maxell XLII and XLII-S were tons better. I had several Nak's over the years including the Dragon and several Pioneers and I wouldn't be caught dead using a normal bias tape.

I experimented for several years with different brands and different formulations and always used High Bias tape or Metal Oxide tape. It was much, much better at capturing the dynamics, had less saturation and flatter freq. response compared to an Normal bias tape of the day.

I can't speak of RtR tape as I never really got into it.

Again just my opinion and we can certainly agree to disagree.

H9

cristo

I find Maxell XLI-S tapes to be the best normal bias tapes I've come across.

skrol

My tape selection was usually based on the deck used and the source material. I didn't like Sony tapes in general for my Denon decks. The TDK SA and SA-X and Maxell XLI-S, XLII and XLII-S were very good but I got the best results from the Denon HD-7 and up .

I would choose the SA-X if I needed a little more emphasis on the highs.

My Pioneer deck liked Sony and TDK the best.

[Deleted User]

Polkersince85 wrote: »

I know what you mean. Cassettes lost a lot of love when CDs came out. The Nachamichi Dragon I found at Goodwill has been getting some play time the last few weeks. Sweet thing is, my local Salvation Army has racks and racks of tapes for 3/1.00. Good stuff, too.

I still find unopened blank tapes at giveaway prices at the thrifts and buy them whenever I find some.

Lucky dog ! The Dragon was one of those pieces I always wanted back in the day. I'd still buy one just to look at if the price was right. Cheers. :cool:

heiney9

nap wrote: »

I'd still buy one just to look at if the price was right. Cheers. :cool:

I've often thought about buying another just as an art/conversation piece. I loved my Dragon and would still have it if cassettes were even a tiny bit practical

H9

mhardy6647

heiney9 wrote: »

I've often thought about buying another just as an art/conversation piece. I loved my Dragon and would still have it if cassettes were even a tiny bit practical

H9

10-4.

There were some pretty ones... I've yet to have the disposable cash to snag a Dragon or any good Nakamichi (I have a couple of lower-end Naks, courtesy of my favorite vintage emporium). I do have a couple of the snazzier Pioneers. Perfectly competent cassette decks, yet still "more hat than cowboy", if you catch my drift(*).









* Speaking of "All hat, no cowboy"...

pitdogg2

heiney9 wrote: »

RtR is a different media. I was heavily into cassettes in the 80's and 90's and those D and AD tapes were nothing special. I admit to rarely using a Normal position tape, but I did try many of them and they didn't hold a candle to the likes of the TDK SA and SA-X. H9

I must agree here. TDK sa/sa-x were my hands down favorite UNTIL I bought a Denon HD-M 90 man those were one sweet tape but the 8.00ea. price was hard to swallow in those days. My deck was the Yamaha top of the line single non reversing KX something can't remember now. All I know is it cost 300.00 and i sold it for 30.00 5 yrs after CD's came along.

god the momerories....I can remember recording CD's I wasn't sure of buying and if it was on the deck for more than a week I bought it.

mhardy6647

For the record - I wasn't impugning all Yamaha cassette decks; just the TC-1000... which isn't at all bad; just more show than go (y'know?).

cnh

For what it's worth there are some interminable threads at Audiokarma that discuss the merits and demerits of Nakamichis. The upshot, being that they are not necessarily the end all and be all of cassette decks--along with the pros and cons of the type of magnetic heads you have in a unit from glass, to ferrous, to Amorphous, to...fill in your fav.

Not much of an expert on these since I could never afford the upper tier in Grad School so I had a decent AIWA and recently I was given a reasonable Technics 2 well deck with DBX, Dolby B, and C for 'free'. It's reasonably heavy and made in Japan--probably late '70s. Probably not the best, but certainly not the worst. And who among us, but the most 'avid' of collectors is going to get involved in a bidding war over a cassette deck these days? lol

cnh

sk1939

I never really got into cassette tapes although for some reason or another I've collected quite a few cassette decks:

Sanyo RD-5370
MCS 3551
JVC TD-X201X

The main reason I never got into cassette decks is the maintenance required, and the tendency for tapes to get chewed.

P.S. The Dragon looks quite nice, but most Nak and Lux stuff does.

mhardy6647

sk1939 wrote: »

I never really got into cassette tapes although for some reason or another I've collected quite a few cassette decks:

Sanyo RD-5370
MCS 3551
JVC TD-X201X

The main reason I never got into cassette decks is the maintenance required, and the tendency for tapes to get chewed.

P.S. The Dragon looks quite nice, but most Nak and Lux stuff does.

You're not alone :-)

My issue with them is that most of them just don't sound good enough. At the time, though, they were adequately practical and far better than nothing to enable one to make perfectly legally-compliant archival backup copies of copyrighted recorded media :-)

For want of anything better to do, I'll state my position on Nakamichi cassette decks and move on. A tape recorded on and played back on a top-tier Nakamichi deck in good tune will be the best-reproduced cassette recording practically available. The decks' tune (head alignment, e.g.) is critical, though... and the dang Naks were finicky. Nakamichi decks were (are) kind of the trophy wives (or BMWs, if you prefer) of cassette decks. Gorgeous and top-performing, but expensive to buy, expensive to retain, and very high maintenance.

skrol

Back in the day I wanted to give Pioneers digital cassette deck a serious listen. http://www.retrothing.com/2009/12/pioneers-last-cassette-deck.html
It just missed its opportunity. Anyone have experience with these?

The other late arrival to the consumer market was Dolby S.

sk1939

They really don't sound any different than any other cassette decks. I think Sony's last cassette decks were quite good. Speaking of digital, anyone ever get into DAT or perhaps MD's (something else I never got into)?

mhardy6647

I owned several Sony cassette decks back in the olden days - Sony made some very good value cassette and reel to reel decks. Not to mention Elcaset :-)

skrol

sk1939 wrote: »

They really don't sound any different than any other cassette decks. I think Sony's last cassette decks were quite good. Speaking of digital, anyone ever get into DAT or perhaps MD's (something else I never got into)?

Technics had a cool deck that used VHS tapes. I may still have the literature around for it. I'm such a pack rat.

Here it is... http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SV-P100.html

mhardy6647

skrol wrote: »

Technics had a cool deck that used VHS tapes. I may still have the literature around for it. I'm such a pack rat.

[/i]--- Here it is... http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SV-P100.html ---

Technics SV-P100 :-)

http://vintagetechnics.co.uk/accessories/svp100.htm

George Grand

Denon cassettes and Tandberg machines.

sk1939

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Technics SV-P100 :-)

Interesting excerpt from the sub-article on the Sony PCM-1

Graphs and oscilloscope measurements comparing signals recorded by a 38cm/s reel recorder and that of a PCM-1 + VTR used at length by Sony and throughout the press showed the immense and clean superiority of the latter.
It took however quite a long time for recording engineers (and audiophiles) to accept digital not as technically better (that was obvious, even then) but as better sounding.

And some ears still aren't convinced of that, thirty years later : the gradual and soft distortion of analogue tape recorders still remains far more human than the simply radical on / off clipping possibilities of digital...

mhardy6647

George is (not unsurprisingly) right - Tandberg made bitchen cassette decks (not to mention reel to reels).

The Denon tape I can't vouch for - but I don't doubt it, either.