I had no idea you could buy a new cassette deck.

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Ilusndweller, Apr 7, 2021.

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  1. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Elaborate please.
     
  2. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    At a time cassettes are becoming popular again, there's never been so few quality blank tapes available new, especially after Maxell seem to have discomfort them, or at least are making very significantly less of them. A shame.
     
  3. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    There are still a few making them today. National Audio Company (NAC) is been around since the 70's. All their cassettes are Made in the USA from media all the way to the jacket. This is their late 2020 model in hi fidelity. They are coming out with type II anytime now. I been using their tapes on high fidelity for decades. Still sounds great! Plus there are more even in Europe.
     
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  4. vwestlife

    vwestlife Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    The mechanism and heads are fine. It's the motor, flywheel, and belts that are lackluster in modern cassette decks. I recently worked on a Sherwood cassette deck from the late '80s that used the typical Tanashin boombox mechanism, but bolted two flywheels together back to back (!) and used thicker belts to improve its speed stability. Something like that could easily be done today. And over on TapeHeads, Pacific Stereo is selling motors that are compatible with the Mabuchi design used by all modern cassette equipment, but claim "extremely high quality" performance. I'd like to try retrofitting one into a cheap deck to see how much it improves the wow & flutter.

    And for those comparing it to a Nakamichi DR-2... if a deck that cost $750 back in 1992, and thus over $1400 today with inflation, doesn't majority outperform a deck that costs $499 new today, then something is seriously wrong with it!
     
  5. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    I have a Tascam 102 that I use as one of my recorders only. But I have to be really extra careful with using the right cassette tapes. TDK, Maxell, NAC and a few other cassette tape makers are exceptions. I can easily get dropouts or noticeable wow and flutter if the tape has a even a slight drag during playback or recording which is really evidently on playbacks. Not like when I record in the vintage decks especially on the BX-300, The old pioneer CT-F high end models,, even lower and some JVC. They have a super large flywheel and big motors. I lot of people doesn't like that motor because they can be noisy at low-volume. Well to me there is always a pros and cons to a good deck unless your using probably a dragon or upper class (which I never owned one).
    Anyways going back to the Tascam.. If the recording is successful, just being honest, I am very surprise to hear the playback results especially on a nakamichi deck or most 20-20khz japanese decks.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
  6. CDV

    CDV Forum Resident

    I would not use inflation as an excuse for the high price of the modern Tascam deck. Electronics usually only gets cheaper and more powerful.

    The first Walkman TPS-L2 was sold in the U.S. for about $200 in 1980. Following the inflation logic, a comparably equipped walkman should be priced at $500 in 2010 or more than $600 in 2021. Yet, the last walkman sold in the U.S. was sold for $30 in 2010, it was much smaller than the TPS-L2, had built-in radio with digital tuner and worked for 35 hours from one AA cell.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2021
  7. vwestlife

    vwestlife Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    But cassette decks are largely mechanical, not electronic. A typical mechanism can have anywhere from around 50 to over 100 parts.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. CDV

    CDV Forum Resident

    This does not negate the fact that historically prices on AV equipment have been falling down while features and performance improved. The electronic parts are not seen because ICs have replaced hundreds and thousands of discrete components.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2021
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  9. vwestlife

    vwestlife Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    A new Technics SL-1200 turntable cost $549 in 2001. Even accounting for inflation ($815 in today's money), that's less than half the cost of its modern equivalent ($1599).
     
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  10. CDV

    CDV Forum Resident

    So Panasonic is gouging the price just as Tascam for its "iconic" turntable. If people still buy it, why not. Although in terms of technical sophistication this price is even less justified than the Tascam's.
     
  11. Mainline461

    Mainline461 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tamiami Trail
    I just purchased a Tascam CD-A580 ( Tascam CD-A580 Professional CD player/cassette recorder with USB dubbing at Crutchfield ) which has a cassette deck. I bought it to transfer my old rock band's demo cassettes to USB.

    With this unit I got a couple of unintended bonuses: The CD player has noticeable better fidelity than the NAD C538 I have in my "stereo room"; night and day difference. Also I threw in one of my many many pre recorded tapes that haven't been played in years and was immediately transported to nostalgia land. I must say I can't believe how good the cassettes sound in this unit. Now this is coming from a person that has never owned anything above a Sony dual well auto reverse unit.

    Speaking of those Sony's, I had two; one never played (new) and one with moderate use. Tip: These things go bad like bananas. A decade or more had passed since I played them and neither of them worked. The new one wouldn't even power up and the used one, the auto reverse went spastic in both wells. Evidently these units go bad without use.

    Lastly, I never thought I could rekindle any fascination with cassettes, but I'm having a time listening to tapes on this machine. It's no Nakamichi, but it's nice there is still something new you can buy with at least some quality. Thank goodness it's not auto reverse ... auto stop is enough tech on this cassette deck for me.
     
  12. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Apparently it's not that bad.....TEAC W-1200 review posted a few days ago.

     
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  13. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    The #20 not the assembly but just the roller housing is wobbly on both of my 2 decks. What if I replace it with brass roller hubs?
     
  14. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA

    Not bad, actually piqued my interest.

    M~
     
  15. DaleClark

    DaleClark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    Who made the MCS JC Penny tape decks? I saw a used one recently that looked like a higher end deck with MCS brand. This one had rack handles.
     
  16. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    I recently got a Nakamichi CR-2A off of eBay for $100 refurbished! (He included the repair order). It cost him $100 to refurbish it and he then sold it for only $100! (I’m not sure why he bothered.) It sounds incredible and functions perfectly. I’m quite happy with it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2021
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  17. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    If it sounds good then that was a pretty good deal. If you need the manual let me know, I do have several hard copies that I can scan in.

    M~
     
  18. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    Thanks, kind of you.
     
    macster likes this.
  19. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    Wow and Flutter 0.25 % (WRMS)
    Don't buy it.
    The high end decks from the 80's and 90's had 10 times better wow and flutter performance.
    We are talking about bog standard clones of Tanashin cassette mechanisms in these units.
    Oh, and it doesn't record onto metal tape.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2022
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  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Dolby C was horrible...highs, what highs?...gone
     
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  21. Vinny123

    Vinny123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I had a Sony 615S w Dolby S. Excellent deck. The S blew B and C away.
     
  22. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    B is fine if level matched, and tape machine meets stringent standards for mechanical and electronic performance, and aligned properly and set up correctly.
     
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  23. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Give me a good Technics older machine or a Wollensak tank transport in terms of actual performance and holding that performance with age. And being maintainable, the old Technics RS-676 is arguably my favorite cassette deck ever built. And also my machines must play held guitar and piano solos without audible flutter. DNR is a filter. Dolby is encode/decode. DNR for me is not acceptable. Dolby B done properly is fine.
     
  24. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    did you get your deck completely re-cap?
    I was just wondering for that's what I wanna do to my deck.
     
  25. VinylMan07

    VinylMan07 *Almost* but *not entirely* an Audiophile

    Location:
    Brazil
    You can, and the better ones are actually very good. But they are crazily expensive. Not worth the money, you end up spending more or less the same thing for a much better specked used deck.
     
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