Cassette Decks - educate me please

[realysm42]

Gents, I need your help!

I've got around 700 tapes I want to back up (being shipped over from England as we speak). Some of them are probably already ruined (I think my oldest tapes are from 1997 or thereabouts) but I want to back them up in the best fidelity possible. When I was a kid using tapes as my main medium, I wouldn't have known what a good tape deck was if it hit me in the face!

So can you guys tell me/point me in the right direction of what a good tape deck for doing the ripping job would be (and that is still available for not stupid money) please? I'll sell the tape deck afterwards, it's literally just for the job. I know that cassette tape is a pretty shite format to begin with, but some of these tapes are rare and I want to make sure I do the best job possible of preserving them for everyone's enjoyment.

Is there anything else I need to be aware of (I've briefly read about demagnetisation and adjusting azimuth - are they important)?

Any help gratefully appreciated.

[Kvaal]

A good japanese deck will do the job. The NAD 6325 (and some other NADs) is a good sounding deck built with "play trim" which makes it possible to adjust the playback. But most decks sounds good in playback mode. Get a computer with proper software (Audacity) and a good soundcard with "line in" connection.

[lovejoy]

I don't think you could ever really beat a Nakamichi. I was always a big fan of tape but I was always of the opinion that pre-recorded tapes were a waste of time and sounded awful. That was until I heard one of my (small collection) of pre-recorded tapes on a DR2. It completely floored me. I'd never thought such good playback was possible, and then when I got to making my own recordings on one I was equally impressed. I owned a Nak up until about a year ago at which point I needed to start clearing clutter for a house move so it got shifted on, but I still miss the good old days of tape.
The DR range were the last of the Nakamichis and so probably the best chance of picking up something in decent working order (unless you want to go completely crazy and buy a Dragon). Quite a few on Ebay at the moment, so as long as you can find a good working one, you'll not be disappointed.

[stuartypoorty]

If you are looking for a playback deck only, a mid range Aiwa, Denon, Nakamichi, Pioneer, Sony or TEAC should fit the bill. There are bargains to be had: in the last fortnight 2 Nakamichi CR-5As surfaced on fleabay, looked in good nick too. The 680 ZX has a good reputation.
I'd suggest Nakamichi as I use them, they are reliable and B&W service them in the UK.
Your software could be more problematic, are the cassettes pre recorded or blanks and how were they stored since you last used them?
Alternately, come over to www.tapeheads.net introduce yourself and see what the members suggest, might even be a deck or two up for grabs.

[Barry]

If your tapes are pre-recorded, then you need to use a machine from a manufacturer who adhered strictly to the Philips Blue Book specification. To my knowledge only Philips (obviously), Sony and Nakamichi did (though I have a feeling that Aiwa might have done as well).

As Stuart has recommended, get a 2-head Nakamichi: they are very well built and can still be serviced by B&W, though I'm not sure if they do it in Australia.

If you made the tapes yourself, ideally you ought to play them back on the same machine used to make them. This could well be impractical, as you may have used several machines, non of which may have been optimised for the tape used. In this case, just get yourself a good 2-head cassette player: anything from a major Japanese manufacturer will do (as would machines made by B&O and Tandberg).

The common denominator for these two considerations is Nakamichi.

[realysm42]

Very helpful, thanks gents.

[StanleyB]

As someone who has stripped many a cassette deck apart and put them back together, I would suggest that you look at a direct drive deck with three heads, at least three motors, auto tape bias, Normal, Chrome, and Metal tape options, Dolby A/B/C, easy accessible heads for cleaning purposes. You also need auto and or manual azimuth adjustment.
You have no idea at the moment what method of recording was used on each tape, and if the same machine was used. So you'll need the playback machine to be reasonably adjustable in order to limit the chances of a poor duplication.
Stay away from Philips decks. But also consider Harman Kardon, JVC, Pioneer. The Pioneer CT9 and CT-A1, Aiwa XK-S9000 are two of the best cassette decks ever made. Both will walk all over the Nakamichi Dragon, and every other Nakamichi for that matter.

[Arkless Electronics]

Nakamichi CR7E. Nothing comes close.

[Virtual-Symmetry]

Any of the 480 series Naks sounded superb to me

[Arkless Electronics]

Even a fairly basic r2r will piss on any cassette deck of course... just to put things into perspective.

[Virtual-Symmetry]

Yes but Martin has 700 Audio Cassettes not Open Reel tapes.

[337alant]

Iv'e just brought this Tascam 122 mk2 back to life and I am loving it its the best sounding cassette deck I have owned kicks the sh*t out of my Nak BX150E :D




https://c5.staticflickr.com/2/1645/26124700100_47606d8db6_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FNxVaN)IMG_2578 (https://flic.kr/p/FNxVaN) by Alan Towell (https://www.flickr.com/photos/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Alan

[topoxforddoc]

Iv'e just brought this Tascam 122 mk2 back to life and I am loving it its the best sounding cassette deck I have owned kicks the sh*t out of my Nak BX150E :D




https://c5.staticflickr.com/2/1645/26124700100_47606d8db6_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FNxVaN)IMG_2578 (https://flic.kr/p/FNxVaN) by Alan Towell (https://www.flickr.com/photos/69508926@N05/), on Flickr

Alan

Alan,

I heard one of these at ANT4066's house in Ruislip, before he moved to Cheshire. It had all of the ANT4066 mods and sounded just fabulous at 3.75 IPS. Top class cassette deck. :)

[topoxforddoc]

I would keep an eye out for a top class Nakamichi e.g. a CR7, Dragon, ZX9 or a RX505E. Buy a decent one, which has been serviced and it will give you great transcriptions of your 700 cassettes. If you decide to sell it, I would be surprised if you made a loss. A grew months ago, someone on PFM had a serviced CR7E for only £450. If I didn't already own a Dragon with ANT4066 mods, then I would have bought it in a flash.

[realysm42]

Great advice, thanks all; will report back.