Cassette Still Lives

skrol

I finally finished tweaking up my old Pioneer CT-6R cassette deck. I replaced the belts, cleaned and lubed the mechanisms, dialed the azimuth in just right, went through the calibrations and gave it an 8 hour run. It works and sounds great.

While digging through some more of my old stuff, I found a TDK MA (metal) cassette that I had recorded with the CT-6R of Yes "Fragile" off vinyl back in 1989. What a blast from the past. I popped it into the CT-6R and gave a listen. First of all, I was surprised that the tape was still in good condition. I have had other old tapes that end up with wavering drop-outs in the highs and bleed-throughs. Not this tape. The recording is still very detailed with good tonality, not to mention that I forgot how much I enjoyed early Yes.

I had never been a real fan of the metal tapes. I usually preferred the chrome oxide tapes (TDK SA, SA-X or Maxell XL-II, XL-IIS). Is longevity one of the benefits of the metal tapes vs other formulations?

Anyone else out there still using cassettes?

Stan

phipiper10

I had a long love affair with my tapes as a collector of live shows. I still had a sweet deck too. I gave all the tapes away and sold the deck on ebay for $30

The other options are very cheap and the tapes were easily replaced.

Power to you forstill pullin the ol' tape flip! Enjoy! I never used metal tapes

XL IIs always!

nadams

My dad is rediscovering his cassettes ever since the CD player in his Subaru quit working

steveinaz

dbx II noise reduction gave cassettes (players that featured it) and reel to reels a stay of execution for a few years. It worked far better than Dolby.

SCompRacer

Yes! I have a Yamaha TC-320 cassette deck in my retro rig. No digital in this rig as it didn't exist at the time (1976). I also have a Yamaha TT attached, but out of the picture. I have a needs work 3 head Yamaha TC-720 cassette deck on the way.

http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp260/scompracer/Retro/cass_2sm.jpg

I had a Nakamichi BX-2 at home, but it is in my work system since the Denon cassette deck died.

skrol

SCompRacer, that is a nice classic rig!

SCompRacer

Thanks skrol! It ain't as pretty as Marantz gear, but it is inexpensive and sounds good. I have $195 in the pictured integrated amp, tuner and cassette deck. Speakers are Polk Monitor 7's.

DollarDave

skrol wrote: »

SCompRacer, that is a nice classic rig!

Nice setup, that Yamaha CA-800 looks familiar!

HB27

I still run Naks and Teac cassette decks in my system. Good recording qualities with chrome and excellent sound reproduction.

SCompRacer

DaveMuell wrote: »

Nice setup, that Yamaha CA-800 looks familiar!

Thanks! It ought to. Out of respect and appreciation, I never even cleaned your finger prints off it.:D I thank you again for making it available. It raised the bar for condition of the other pieces.

cnh

I just had my AIWA 3 head Cassette player refurbed by a professional. Sounds like new. Still have a couple hundred tapes. There was a time when AIWA actually made some real equipment? They're gone now, of course.

Not sure about the metal tape thing. What do you guys think, after all the specs say that Type IV tape has higher frequency responses and a lower noise floor? The other thing is that it's tough to get some 'old' recordings today? I do remember a couple of companies having limited lifetime warranties on those Metal Tapes, though?

cnh

Danny Tse

I am in the process of taking my Sony TC-K670 3 head, 3 motor closed-loop dual capstan cassette deck out of retirement. It will be serviced and bring up to spec by a professional. My favorite blank cassette of all-time is the Sony UX-Pro....the one with the ceramic tape guides. Of course, the Sony "Metal Master" was the ultimate blank cassette; I still have 3 of these sealed.

Otherwise, I still used a bright-yellow Sony "Sports" cassette Walkman with Dolby NR. Just listened to a 1986 pre-recorded tape on it 2 nights ago (using Sennheiser PX-100 as headphones)....still sounds good. I still have over 300 pre-recorded cassettes stored in 2 giant Case-Logic tape carriers.

mhardy6647

Never really cared much for cassettes or cassette decks, 'cept the ones I truly couldn't afford (N-A-K-...). I have a couple of nice ones now, but only because they were cheap or free. I don't really use 'em.

I DO have dubbed cassettes I made in the 1970s (on a Yamaha TC-511S I bought used in college) that still sound good and in many cases are music I never acquired legitimately, umm, I mean, in other formats... I mean, umm...

reeltrouble1

a couple years ago I rediscovered by cassettes, after a few short days I played a record and a SACD ending the nostalgia, keeping my memories in black white where we know they look best...............no clue where the cassettes and player are today.

RT1

lightman1

Still diggin' on my Denon DRW-580. Smooth as silk and still sounding good.
XL-IIs all the way. I also enjoy listening to my Pioneer 707 reel to reel.
Lightman
and I have been warned.

steveinaz

I had a Teac Z-6000 cassette deck in the day, and later a Teac X2000RBL reel to reel with dbx pro nosie reduction. If you do a search on vintage equipment you'll see my X2000RBL.

erniejade

I still have a onkyo, JVC, and a scott deck. ok and like 50 or 60 boomboxes. Actually there is quite a few out there that collect boomboxes! stereo2go.com NO www


Boomboxes cassette, and walkmans on that site

lightman1

erniejade wrote: »

I still have a onkyo, JVC, and a scott deck. ok and like 50 or 60 boomboxes. Actually there is quite a few out there that collect boomboxes! stereo2go.com NO www


Boomboxes cassette, and walkmans on that site

Careful......:cool:

mhardy6647

Ct-1000

cnh

That's a NICE one there!

And way above (Naka....michi...yeah those were great decks!)

cnh

mhardy6647

Sorry, that's a Pioneer TC-1000 :-P Don't mind me...

Here are the innards of the TC-1000 and the outards and innards of a Yamaha CT-1000, just for shoots and Googles.

lightman1

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Ct-1000

A tip of the hat to you, MR H.

AudioGenics

kyocera ... sparingly used ...