The greatest consumer cassette tape deck ever produced?*

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Cowboy Kim, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    There are a few US based companies that take some original Technics or Teac R2R decks and modify them, i.e. rebuilding them for resales.

    I am still using my trusty ten-year old Rega Planet 2000 CDP. Rega is really the few remaining "truly" British audio components makers that have decent distribution and product support networks in the US these days.
     
  2. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Right! Whatever happened to the TDK and Maxell brands of tapes?
     
  3. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Technics SP series turntables and the RS 1500 series open reel, were very popular radio station choices. And were generally of top caliber performance and reliability and very well liked by station owners, managers, engineers, and operators.. ReVox A and B 77 open reels and the PR 99 tape machines are common broadcast station favorites, many stations used them and usually as commonly seen as the Otari MX 5050 line open reel machines. Studers like the old B 67 and A 80 did get used by many stations left of the dial owned by Colleges and Universities and some very high budget commercial stations. But a lot less commonly seen than ReVox machines.
     
  4. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    TDK has been long out of the tape business, and also the last TDK tape products were sold while the TDK Tape division was under the IMation banner. Maxell no longer makes tape save for the UR cassette line and maybe some VHS. UR cassettes and their Communicator and Duplicator series are made in Indonesia by Panggung.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2017
  5. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    For a long time, Maxell was a division of Hitachi IIRC ...
     
  6. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    However, the Rega CD player laser, mechanism, and affiliated electronics are bought in and not UK manufactured. Everybody's CD player lasers and mechanisms are Asian sourced as are DVD and Blu-Ray mechanisms.
     
  7. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Yes, it was and Hitachi sold Hitachi Maxell tapes under the Hitachi and the Lo-D brands as well.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  8. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Of course Rega does not disclose the sourcing of these parts ...

    Toshiba, Sony and Philips were for a long time the global suppliers of CD/DVD drives but Philips quit the business a while back ...
     
    sunspot42 and McLover like this.
  9. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    BTW, any meaningful resurgence in the interests for cassette decks will have implications for the design of receivers and preamps, as tape loops have been banished from most over much of the past ten years. I have been trying to upgrade my preamp for my study but have been having problems finding any modern preamp with at least one tape loop ...
     
    William Bryant, sunspot42 and JNTEX like this.
  10. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Good point. Although I suspect any "resurgence" in the cassette tape will take the form of the vinyl "resurgence" - morons buying Crosley-like garbage and then playing $25 half-speed mastered, virgin metal tapes on it (with no Dolby noise reduction).

    Cassette - the new pet rock of the audio world.
     
    domfjbrown likes this.
  11. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Cassettes are a medium to enjoy if you still have it. I don't think it's a medium worthwhile to pursue if you have to go out and find a good deck and decent tape to
    play or record on. I still have a nice deck and a few cases of high quality tape, but if it weren't for that, I would not even think about tape. That's my honest opinion.
     
    kevinsinnott and missan like this.
  12. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Strongly :agree:. Cassette deck requires much more maintenance than an open-reel deck ...

    If I had not had quite a few of them, I would not have rushed out to buy one now.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2017
  13. Higlander

    Higlander Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Florida, Central
    I have owned both, and Open Reel was Easier to maintain, and clean, mainly due to the much larger size of parts.
    At its best cassette can be fairly quiet, even more so than my open reel (running no noise reduction) but just found open reel at 7.5 2 track to be more open and clear sounding, as if it was not even straining to do high frequencies even at decent levels.
     
  14. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    FYI

    If you want the straight scoop about what the best cassette deck is, or how reliable a cassette deck is, or want graphs, and technical information, go to tapeheads.net and ask there. There are a few engineers, technicians, people who repair cassette decks and other very knowledgeable people will be able to substantiate their view with hard core facts.


    M~
     
    shirleyujest and kevinsinnott like this.
  15. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    :righton: I have heard about the website though I have never checked it out ...
     
  16. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    You should if you want to "know" about things and get the information from the guys that repair, and modify them. There is a ton of information over to help a person make an informed rational decision about cassette decks.

    M~
     
  17. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Interesting....Mmmmm.... intriguing.
    A store that sells used cassettes in 2017. And blanks. Except no one makes Type 4 cassette any more and
    And no one makes new cassette decks anymore.

    Used cassettes are usually in bad shape. They are mostly played through cheap dirty car tape machines and walkmans. All of us here regularly clean and demagnatize are machines. Unfortunately most of the public didn't. And why buy a cassette of Power Windows when I can get the superior version on CD or vinyl for that matter? And I can make cassettes that sound better than anything they have in their shop.

    Although I wouldn't say no to a early 90's Chrome cassette of Iron Maiden (1980-1988). I'll take the cassette over the remaster disaster any day of the week.
     
  18. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Tascam still makes cassette deck!
     
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    [​IMG]

    Tascam CD-A580 Cassette, USB & CD Player/Recorder ...
     
  20. 56GoldTop

    56GoldTop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nowhere, Ok
    Format drawbacks aside, OMGosh, I love the look a that deck. If, today, they made a statement Dragon (with gear and eq mod) or CR-7a with that style fascia... I'd sell my neighbor's kids to get one.
     
  21. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    CD-A580 SPECIFICATIONS
    Cassette Tape
    Track System Stereo
    Head Structure Record/playback head x1, Erase head x1
    Tape Type Cassette Tape (C-10 – C-90)
    Supported Cassette Tape
    Playback Normal (TYPE I), Chrome (TYPE II), Metal (TYPE IV)
    Recording Normal (TYPE I), Chrome (TYPE II)
    Pitch Control ±10% (Playback Only)
    AUDIO PERFORMANCE
    Wow and Flutter 0.3% (W.RMS)
    Frequency Response 50 ~ 12.5kHz ±4dB (Chrome)
    50 ~ 12.5kHz ±4dB (Normal)
    S/N Ratio
    59dB (Maximum input level, A-weighted)
    IN/OUT
    Nominal Input and Output Level (RCA) 4.5dBu (0.46V) Impedence more than 50k ohms

    No Dolby any type, no auto calibration in 2017, W&F 0.3%, 50 ~ 12.5kHz ±4dB

    $479.99 street price.

    :rolleyes:
     
    nosliw likes this.
  22. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Unfortunately, when there are little or no competitions in the market place, decks with lousy specs can command a steep price ...
     
    TarnishedEars likes this.
  23. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    Just put an offer in on a deck I'll use for playback only. Harman/Kardon TD-192, for $25 plus shipping. We'll see. I only have two tapes (came with box sets) and just want something to play them back reasonably well.

    Now if only I could figure out how to get analog out from my Anthem D2 to my PC for recording...
     
  24. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Ask an engineering prof at ND, just saying ... :D
     
    toddrhodes likes this.
  25. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    It's total junk, tho. Doesn't even have Dolby. Can't record on metal tape. Frequency response is 50-12.5kHz with chrome tape, which is garbage. A generic Sony Walkman from 1983 could best this thing.
     

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