FYI: Marantz and Marantz Professional are not the same company. Marantz sells high-end audio/video components (they merged with Denon in 2002). But in 2014 they licensed the Marantz Professional name to InMusic Brands, which also owns the ION, Numark, and Alesis brand names, and uses it on low-end components. So there is nothing "professional" about that Marantz Professional cassette deck. Aside from the name, it's identical to the ~$100 ION and Pyle decks.
You are contradicting yourself, you say that all you care is about the sound coming out of your tube system and you are snubbing a higher quality 3 head deck in favor of this cheap Marantz "double" deck??? If the goal is not to spend much and have something that will produce sound is fine but if you expect more than that then you are kidding yourself.
Had a Tandberg 3014 that was awesome. New albums were played once and recorded, then put up. Quit using it and put it up after cd's took over. Tried to use it again in the early 2000's, but all the rubber on it had dry rotted. Next time I moved I threw it away. Duh.
I wouldn't really say that. playback deck is totally different from recording. Read my info Muttley...
Any of these new decks are using pretty much identical el-cheapo Tanashin mechanisms and heads made (poorly) in China. They aren't worth $20. You'd be much better off with literally any working used deck from prior to 2010 or whenever cassette tape decks stopped being manufactured.
you know the past years, I picked up so many hifi equipments almost every thrift store I go. I was telling one guy here, I spotted a Marantz 2245 with a cassette deck and turntable. There was a lady that saw it first and she was a looking at it close and asking question to the seller. I told myself damn, I missed that. after a few minutes, she bought something else and took off. Oh my god, I didn't even bargain with the guy. I just picked it up and gave him what he's asking for. Out of curiosity I asked the seller, how come she left this? He said: well she doesn't know what is it so she end up buying the montgromery wards stereo. ..and he was asking me, is that a good stereo? OMG.. I didn't say anything and I just left...
Teac W-1200: Dual Cassette Deck w/ Recorder/ USB/ Pitch/ Karaoke-Mic-in Remote 43774033515 | eBay I bought this new in 2014 and haven’t used it yet. W-890R | TEAC
I got my RX-202 for free too! Guy on Craigslist said after he placed the Craigslist ad he realized it wasn't working. Since he was moving and didn't have time to have it repaired he said I could just have it. Other than a small scratch on the topside it looks pretty much like new. He was the original owner and said he never used it much. Came with the box and paperwork too. Had it serviced by Willy Hermann.
Actually, no. It's the cheap knockoffs of the Tanashin mechanism, as well as counterfeit "Mabuchi" motors, that are giving inexpensive modern cassette equipment a bad reputation. Genuine Tanashin mechanisms (as used by TEAC, TASCAM, Sony, and Toshiba today) are reliable and good quality. I ranted about the knockoffs in this video:
They aren't that good a quality - I saw Techmoan put some of those Tanashin mechanisms on the bench and their performance was dreadful. Like, a cheap Fisher deck from the mid-'80s had better specs than that. Also, modern heads are complete garbage.
Not everyone will screw-driver their cassette deck like others on the video. As what they are made for is to record and play and not to monkey it.
"It's a Japanese designed and built receiver with impossible-to-source transistors and a mess of trim pots and wires, tuned by a string and a prayer, but hopefully I'll be able to pawn off the brand name rebadging to another sticker shopper". Holy crow, I had that tape deck back in 1991, and never thought I'd see it on the Internet or remember what it was! Yes it had DBX, which I played with, but never really used for making tapes to play in the car and give to friends.
How do you know if the new ones are all garbage.. Do you personally bought and owned one? I don't see anything in your personal info you own one besides a trail of digital media. If youre talking about you saw it on a review, there are dozens of reviews out there that claimed wrong. Just for instance some the newer 90's cassette decks that has the dolby s a lot of people says they're good. For the money they paid for ?? those decks are "featherweight"
Just receive my CR5A back from Willy and it works like a champ, It sounds so good. Here is what was done by Willy. "Repair Accomplished: Dismantled unit and removed tape transport. Removed and rebuilt spooling motor. Cleaned armature and brushes on cam motor. Replaced back-tension belt and capstan belt. Cleaned old lubricant from capstan shafts and relubricated. Reset head stroke and zenith. Replaced cassette well lamp with LED and modified circuit to accommodate it. Reassembled transport and reinstalled in chassis. Set head height and azimuth. Checked play and meter levels. Verified wow and flutter spec with new capstan belt. Discovered broken bias pot. Replaced it with an exact replacement except for the center detent. Reset record bias and level for all three tape types. Verified that deck once again meets original specifications. Tested unit extensively both hot and cold. Machine now passes all tests." M~
That is SO cool. To have a resource like this still in existance in the year 2020, it's amazing. I wish the same resources exist that could fix up my DAT decks! You paid a small fortune for this, didn't ya? Edit: The CR5A is sexy as______!!!!!
Thanks, actually that's why I sending my decks in one by one while he is still around. This is 2020 who knows what's going to happen, below is a list of the costs to have the deck repaired. Which I think were very reasonable for what was done. Labor 5hr @ $95.00 Parts $43.00 Tax 3.87 Freight $50.00 Are what Willy charge me for this. My sunk costs: Shipping case $265.00 previously purchased. (don't bother shipping a cassette deck unless you box and protect it extremely safely. I'll post an image what my container looks like now. I now trust it to send my Dragon out and back to him. It's taken a decent "beating", however it's still extremely structural solid. Shipping to Willy $57.00 or so I forgot, I went USPS priority mail, $1000.00 worth of insurance. M~
I think I'm gonna send my other bx-300 to him. It probably needs alignment or whatever. works but every 100 hours or so, its stops by itself on playback. Thanks, Joe
That BX-300 or CR4A are probably my next and last Nak purchase. They are both (IMHO) better (If I remember correctly more features, blah, blah) than the CR5A. M~
My BX-300 is the one that I use more in the recording. Its a hairline more dead quieter than my Sony. Youll need a stethoscope to hear the difference. Any of the 2 works great for me. The recording production is just totally modern-analog. Amazing! Speaking of.. I just picked up "a new toy" 6 transport player. Pioneer CT-M6R Multi-Cassette Changer
That's a beautiful deck, use that thing. Is it still fully functional? I'd have it serviced and use the hell out of it or sell it for a ton of loot. M~
