The Marco-boy main system, as of August 2020

[Audio Al]

Lost count how may cassette deck's I have , Without moving I can see 7

[Marco]

I too have a cassette deck, a Technics TRS something-or-other, which I bought to recover some tracks from old tapes and convert them to digital for a friend.

Let’s just say that each recording has to go through my remastering suite to bring it up to anything like a modern standard. Fun to play with though. I’d forgotten how many hours I used to spend rewinding tapes.

Yeah, for sure. However, a big shock [read as pleasant surprise] for me was hearing what cassette decks can do, from truly top manufacturers (forget much of the mainstream Jap stuff, in that respect], and most importantly, set-up and calibrated by an expert.

Since being 'serviced', in that way, and upgraded with the superior NOS heads of a more expensive model, the Tandberg is just simply stunning!!

Previous to this, I'd never heard a cassette deck properly 'fettled' in that way, or internally biased to optimise specific tapes - and trust me the difference is veritably night & day. Therefore, if you've never experienced that before, then quite simply you've NEVER heard what the humble cassette tape is truly capable of...

I really didn't think that it would make such a difference, but I guess it's akin to buying a turntable and fitting an arm and cartridge simply so it 'works' in a basic mechanical sense, and produces some sort of sound, and doing the job right and meticulously OPTIMISING its performance

The Tandberg cost me £250, plus a further £160 on having it 'fettled', so for £410, quite honestly, I've got a music source now that doesn't disgrace itself in any way in comparison with either my CDP or T/T, which those here who've heard them will know how good they are, and which cost multiple thousands of pounds more!

Delighted? Aye, just a bit!!

This is the guy who did the work, and I can't recommend him highly enough: http://www.rdetandberg.co.uk/

Marco.

[Filterlab]

A cassette deck come on you need to try harder than that

And I bought that from eBay to do the one job. My tapes went years back as a lot to a mate who couldn’t afford a CD player.

[Andy831]

Musica - 'Keep Your Mind On Me'

Cheers Martin

[Marco]

Lost count how may cassette deck's I have , Without moving I can see 7

Snap a pic, mate, and list them in make and model number - would be interesting to see

If you don't have a Tandberg in your collection, then sell some of the 'duffers' and use the dosh to buy one - then get it professionally restored and calibrated. You won't regret it, trust me!

My recent experiences here in that respect have been a veritable eye-opener.

Marco.

[Audio Al]

Cant be assed with taking 7 photos , the list is

Pioneer CT540
Akai CSM01A
Marantz 5020
Braun C2
Aurex Toshiba PC X60AD
and the best one is a Teac Z5000 Master Cassette deck with wired remote ,

Some low end some high end

And you don't need to convince me how good tape setups can be , I know already

[Audio Al]

This is the deck mine is now using the heads from:

I have read this line several times and it makes no sence ????

What it your tape machine ? and what heads is it now fitted with , Also what tapes is it calibrated for

[Marco]

Cant be assed with taking 7 photos , the list is

Pioneer CT540
Akai CSM01A
Marantz 5020
Braun C2
Aurex Toshiba PC X60AD
and the best one is a Teac Z5000 Master Cassette deck with wired remote ,

Some low end some high end

And you don't need to convince me how good tape setups can be , I know already

Lol - hush my mouth! I meant in terms of having machines professionally serviced/rebuilt and calibrated by a trained professional, then internally biased to sonically optimise specific tapes. Have you ever had that done to any of your machines?

If not, then I stand by what I said!

Marco.

P.S Would be nice to see a pic of the Braun, if you have time

[Marco]

This is the deck mine is now using the heads from:

I have read this line several times and it makes no sence ????

What it your tape machine ? and what heads is it now fitted with , Also what tapes is it calibrated for

Lol - then you haven't read the thread properly or my signature, where the deck I use is listed.

I have a Tandberg TCD-310, but the engineer who restored it to better than new condition (bearing in mind that it's 45 years old), and when replacing the existing worn heads, fitted those from a superior model (the TCD-420), which have a flatter and more extended frequency response - and the difference isn't subtle!

All clear now, daftee?

Marco.

[Barry]

Cant be assed with taking 7 photos , the list is

Pioneer CT540
Akai CSM01A
Marantz 5020
Braun C2
Aurex Toshiba PC X60AD
and the best one is a Teac Z5000 Master Cassette deck with wired remote ,

Some low end some high end

And you don't need to convince me how good tape setups can be , I know already

The best Teac cassette deck IMO was the C1 professional machine, modified to have balanced outputs.



I have a Nakamichi machine which has been calibrated by B&W to use TDK MA metal tape. Calibration for a particular tape makes a big difference, although I still wouldn't consider cassette as a prime source medium, compared with R2R, CD or vinyl. It is however a much cheaper option.