Cassette resurgance

[ReggieB]

Is it me, or is there a resurgence going on in the cassette player market?

A year or so ago, it almost seemed that you couldn't giveaway a cassette deck - and there were some very nice decks (e.g. two head Naks) going for less that £50 on ebay, and only the occasional super deck (Nak Dragon for example) getting sold for hundreds of pounds.

Now, there seem to be quite a few decks for sale over £100. For example, this Aiwa AD-810 deck (http://r.ebay.com/eXU8RU) is 2 to 3 times the price I'd expect to have seen it at a year ago.

[walpurgis]

Gawd knows why if that's true. I don't like the things. I seldom want to record anything anyway, but I'd sooner rely on my trusty MiniDisc deck, which sounds far better than any cassette deck I've ever come across.

[struth]

I think theres always been a market for the good ones, but yes, the lesser ones have picked up too. Some of the asking prices are optimistic at best. Good ones though can be very good.

[Clifford.T Ward]

There is a revival but I don't think it is quite for the reasons some people think.It is that young people find the idea of cassette technology tendy at the moment and as such that has brough others back to the idea of using them as a sound medium

[walpurgis]

Remember the joys of sorting out jammed, tangled and broken tapes? :)

[Spectral Morn]

Aiwa made some nice cassette decks, but reliability was at times patchy. When I first worked in the audio trade back in the late 80s to mid 90s, when tape was still popular, no other brand came back so regularly + it was easy to always get b and c grade stock, basically faulty and fixed Aiwa gear.

In regards to reliability - as best as I can recall - Akai was good, Yamaha, and Nakamichi's were pretty reliable - Nak CDs, Music Bank in particular not so much. Didn't sell Nad so no idea, sold very few Rotel's so can't remember, Proton, don't recall. Marantz not so many.

Basically if someone wanted a tape deck for their system it would be Aiwa, Akai and Nak.

I own two Nak's.

[Clifford.T Ward]

Proton made a rare gem the 740 excellent in most areas but only a two head

NADs 6300 has legendary status amoung some ...it's ok but not quite what they say it was

Pioneer have good decks so do TEAC

People talk up NAKs but to be honest they can be over rated especially as regards to value for money.

I have a very impressive Onkyo three head dual capstan.

Marantz made some pretty looking decks

There is definatly a revival but it is patchy depending upon where in the world you are.

[struth]

Ive got a Tandberg. Its pretty good imo

[Clifford.T Ward]

Yes Tanberg made some nice machines too.

[Audio Al]

Cassettes never went away for me :D

Probably have about 20 machines a couple of portable players and a cassette walkman ( Trendy Me :) )

And 100's of cassettes and yes they get played , Included on my boot sale hunt days although they are few and far as I don't buy Ktel or best of only proper albums ;)

[Arkless Electronics]

Gawd knows why if that's true. I don't like the things. I seldom want to record anything anyway, but I'd sooner rely on my trusty MiniDisc deck, which sounds far better than any cassette deck I've ever come across.

Yep. I didn't like them even when everyone had one and they were the only form of portable music... They just don't cut it as a decent hi fi source IMO. The best I've heard, and for which I'll make an exception, was the Nak CR7E which is simply in another class to all others IMHO.
I have a couple of up market Tandbergs (about £600 new in 1980!), a cheaper two head Tandberg and a NEAL 103 which needs a new pinch roller (the British NEAL is actually very good! For a cassette deck).
It must be 10 years or more since any of them was switched on....

[Arkless Electronics]

There is a revival but I don't think it is quite for the reasons some people think.It is that young people find the idea of cassette technology tendy at the moment and as such that has brough others back to the idea of using them as a sound medium

Yeah it'll be hipsters thinking it's retro-trendy:D

[The Black Adder]

I've got loads... All of which are for the BBC Micro. :)

[Sherwood]

I have a Sony Pro Walkman and the smaller version too.

Both are/were excellent and made fine recordings, mainly compilations for the car. In fact, the only way I could listen to some early cds was by recording them to tape which seemed to take some of the harsh edge off those disks.

However, when I took up long term posts in Africa in the mid to late 90s I realised I had to shift to recordable CDs. If you leave a cassette in the car in Namibia, even if the car is under shade, you end up with an unplayable stringy mess.

Geoff

[Spectral Morn]

Yes Tanberg made some nice machines too.

Never seen one, except photos.

Yes Teac decks aren't bad. Re Nak's yes some are overrated but the CR5, CR7 and Dragon aren't in my view, they are about as good as tape got in regards to the machines I have heard, played with.

[The Black Adder]

The Trio decks were good.... I still have mine and it's a corker.

I still have a cassette player in my car... no CD or any of this wifi linkup pish which seems much more complicated than a single slot CD or a cassette IMO - lol Proper old skool.

I like cassettes but I couldn't get back in to them seriously, I did try a year or so back but I just never had the passion for it.

[Arkless Electronics]

Never seen one, except photos.

Yes Teac decks aren't bad. Re Nak's yes some are overrated but the CR5, CR7 and Dragon aren't in my view, they are about as good as tape got in regards to the machines I have heard, played with.

+1

[struth]

Never seen one, except photos.

Yes Teac decks aren't bad. Re Nak's yes some are overrated but the CR5, CR7 and Dragon aren't in my view, they are about as good as tape got in regards to the machines I have heard, played with.

Tandbergs cassettes are pretty good. Even look good imv. Might not be the match of other formats, but it has a pretty decent sound. Nostalgia never did anyone any harm

[agk]

That sinking feeling you'd get as the music seemed to go inverted for a moment before dying and then splicing the thing back together with cello tape. Cassette should probably stay dead.

[martinjohn308]

I bought a Nackamichi 581 with a NR 200 noise reduction unit new in 1982 from Unilet in south east London.
I had it serviced twice in all that by B & W as they were the Nakamichi agents. The machine was a 3 head unit a first class machine as with earlier units the transport were made in alloy unlike the latter ones in plastic. A very good machine sold it last year to a guy in Norway he told me he had 16 Nakamichi machines !

Regards,

Martin

[TheMooN]

Never seen one, except photos.

Re Nak's yes some are overrated but the CR5, CR7 and Dragon aren't in my view, they are about as good as tape got in regards to the machines I have heard, played with.

My favourite Nak was an ZX-9 , however my favourite 'cassette ' machine is my Sony Elcaset EL-7

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDSYjTKBRYI

[Spectral Morn]

My favourite Nak was an ZX-9 , however my favourite 'cassette ' machine is my Sony Elcaset EL-7

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDSYjTKBRYI

Never seen or heard a ZX-9 or an Elcaset. Read good things, but no first hand experience.

[ReggieB]

I had a Cambridge cassette player for very long time and thought it was great. It was one of these:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/66/4d/a8/664da8329451c014acbc51013897cbec.jpg

I believe it was built by NAD for Cambridge.

However I brought a Nakamichi DR-3 (2 head) player a few years ago for a ridiculously cheap price on ebay (less than £50). I had thought I'd never be able to afford a Nak! It's very much at the bottom end of the Nak range but I was still amazed at how much better it was than the Cambridge.

The Cambridge has long gone, but the Nak is still in my number two system in my Office/Study. It's now mainly used to play audio books, that I have a large collection of - built up over the years I worked as a Pre-Sale engineer and was therefore on the road a lot. There is no cassette player in my main system. Oh and my minidisc player is in the number two system too (it's where my old hi-fi goes to die)

[ReggieB]

To be honest - the main problem nowadays is getting decent blank cassette at a reasonable price. There are companies still making them (an example (http://nationalaudiocompany.com/Audio-Cassette-Tapes-C1.aspx)), but the prices for old stock chrome cassette seem ridiculous to me.

[337alant]

Yes poor tape is a problem, last year I bought some NOS TDK SA 90s but it wasent great and does not Bias evenly between the channels I also bough some Sony tape which was also not consistent at all frequency's, this was frustrating for me as I was trying to calibrate the Bias & record levels of my deck :scratch:, I have good calibration tapes so I know the deck is OK on playback.
The best tape stock I got that really sounded good was the Maxell LXII, this is wonderful tape :).
I have had several Cassette decks over the years and still have a Nak BX150e which is just OK, Ive allways thought of Cassette as a substandard but very likable sound, until I bought a knackered Tascam 122 mk2, after fixing that I have to say the sound quality is very good indeed and I have started using it again :eyebrows:
Tape hiss is still a problem with Cassette and I do not like what any type of Dolby does to tape so I dont use it.
There is something about the sound of tape to me that just makes it the ultimate analogue format IMO particularly from R2R

Alan

[dave2010]

I still have my Sony Deck - I think it was the highest in their range at the time. It was next to impossible to tell the difference between a tape and a CD from which the tape had been made.

I also bought a Sherwood deck for my dad and that was similar. Indeed on some types of music it did sound just a tad better.

I agree that on the whole tape was fairly poor - but then we had all the usual - portables, Walkman etc. which grabbed the tape, chewed the tapes up, loads of tape hiss.
Having said that, we still use a tape player for listening to speech tapes.

If I find time in the next day or so I'll do a photo of my Sony deck.

I didn't get into Mini Disc until very late in the day. I have heard lots of Mini Discs since (bought off eBay) and most don't compare with the sound I expected from my cassette deck - though that could be because of the material which was recorded.

[Clifford.T Ward]

Tape can be great and you don't need a Nak to explote it. There are many good decks and with the right tapes you can make great recordings that are of very high quality. There are good decks around for good prices some may need a bit of work but, there are plenty of parts around on the net if you look .

[paulf-2007]

Still use my technics direct drive top loader to play tapes. Why would I want to record anything from vinyl or cd when I have the vinyl and/or cd. It got plenty of attention at Scalford a couple of years ago when audio al loaned me some speakers......don't ask.