No new decent cassette decks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter grh
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" Make sure you can adjust the bias".

Really ? Based on what ? It can be great for recording, though.

Here's a newspaper overview of some modest models available in 1982. At this time, I was running a Luxman k-118 DBX deck.
SOUND - GOOD BUYS IN TAPE DECKS - NYTimes.com

As for '90s era, Some one buying a cassette is probably going to use it. Buying a rack system, the cassette may have never been used. That is, partially, what I was looking for with the Techincs dual-well and the Luxman auto reverse.
 
I have a Luxman deck in the studio, I use it for cassette to digital transfers all the time, sounds great. Having said that, a lot of the TEAC older stuff was really good, I had 2 x A360 decks which sounded fantastic, they did not use metal tapes however, but eventually old age got to them. I also have a TEAC DBX cassette deck, can't remember the model, used to use it as a mastering machine before DAT tape (showing my age now) it still works but needs a bit of work, only use it for the old DBX masters now.

There must be a 1000 good second hand good sounding cassette decks that were in home hifi that were hardly used, just have to check the belts and heads, but they are old now, don't pay much for them. By the way I had a Rotel cassette deck in my touring PA system years ago that I recorded the acts with, the results on this were stunning, I have mastered some of these old recordings for the bands over the years and they sound like studio recordings LOL.

Alan.
 
My 112 got used ALL the time. Lots of test mixes to check in someone's car, a tape to send home with the band so they could practice and work on parts, etc, etc.

Back in the day when every car had a cassette deck, it was THE standard medium.

That being said, virtually all the pro decks have some miles on them. I remember almost every pro studio having at least one Nakamichi Dragon in the rack and maybe a Tascam or two.

So while these were fine decks, I wouldn't expect to find one in pristine condition.

One key, clean the heads. And when you're done clean em again, and repeat.

From my own experience I've found out how little dirt on the heads can destroy fidelity.
So keep em clean!
 
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"I have a Luxman deck in the studio"

I traded my k8 in for the k-118, and while it was a better performer, it was in the first products offered under Alpine-Luxman. I had the sendust head replaced under warranty as my wood grain alcohol dissolved the filler around the actual heads. Also, they had two leaf relays in there without any bleed resistor. I put DIP sockets in there, but eventually, it hit the curb. Beware of buyouts : )
 
witzendoz said:
I have a Luxman deck in the studio, I use it for cassette to digital transfers all the time, sounds great. Having said that, a lot of the TEAC older stuff was really good, I had 2 x A360 decks which sounded fantastic, they did not use metal tapes however, but eventually old age got to them. I also have a TEAC DBX cassette deck, can't remember the model, used to use it as a mastering machine before DAT tape (showing my age now) it still works but needs a bit of work, only use it for the old DBX masters now.

There must be a 1000 good second hand good sounding cassette decks that were in home hifi that were hardly used, just have to check the belts and heads, but they are old now, don't pay much for them. By the way I had a Rotel cassette deck in my touring PA system years ago that I recorded the acts with, the results on this were stunning, I have mastered some of these old recordings for the bands over the years and they sound like studio recordings LOL.

Alan.
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Thanks. You sound like you have much talent in the area of recording, and mastering.
 
RFR said:
My 112 got used ALL the time. Lots of test mixes to check in someone's car, a tape to send home with the band so they could practice and work on parts, etc, etc.

Back in the day when every car had a cassette deck, it was THE standard medium.

That being said, virtually all the pro decks have some miles on them. I remember almost every pro studio having at least one Nakamichi Dragon in the rack and maybe a Tascam or two.

So while these were fine decks, I wouldn't expect to find one in pristine condition.

One key, clean the heads. And when you're done clean em again, and repeat.

From my own experience I've found out how little dirt on the heads can destroy fidelity.
So keep em clean!
Click to expand...


I grew up in the 90's so I am of course familiar with cassette, but many of my friends have thrown there's out. I am leaning towards the marantaz because it would be new.
 
grh said:
I grew up in the 90's so I am of course familiar with cassette, but many of my friends have thrown there's out. I am leaning towards the marantaz because it would be new.
Click to expand...

Did you bother to look at its Wow & Flutter spec ? And the other specs ?
 
Nothing the matter with new.
But the problem is the format itself and it's relative importance in todays world.
Cassette is a trend, nostalgia, a hipster thing, an underground movement, a revolt against mp3.

The decks they are making today are junk compared to decks of yesterday.

It's just not profitable to make a quality deck in today's market.

It's been brought up by myself and others that the 90s was the peak of cassette technology. DAT was in play, but for the most part only proffessionals owned and used them.

The rest of the world was using cassette as a portable music medium.
People were making cassette mix tapes off of CD to play in their cars, etc.

So in conclusion, if dealing with cassette, get a high end studio or consumer deck of the day.

They were high quality, robust units designed to work for a long time.

Not the cheap chinese junk of today.

Yes, you might have to replace the belts and other rubber, but that's easy enough to do. (You or a tech)
 
No, I doubt that this job requires a high end deck. We don't know how many of what, or, anything. We might get an idea from how they are labeled : )
 

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So you're saying for his particular needs a disposable deck will be fine?

Maybe so. If the goal is to just digitize some music on cassette, fine.

But me, if im gonna spend money, I want quality.


Just my opinions of course. I am an authority on nothing.

:D
 
Quality has nothing to do with high-end. One might expect some measure of quality with high-end, though - beside the color of the day.

This Sony, here, dates to '72. It needs a lube from the dry Arizona air. haha It is quality compared to my old Vector Research vcx-300, maybe. You have to compare to one of your 45-year old cassettes.

"So you're saying for his particular needs a disposable deck will be fine"?

No, he just needs a player that can cover NR tracking and the piano don't sound like vibrato. Unless the source tapes came from demanding material on a High-End deck, I think the lowly Technics RS-t55r that I recommended in his other thread would be fine. I'm listening to the play side with my test tape from the last Luxman on DBX and a tape from my Luxman k-8 days - Dolby B. The output section with the DBX tape at a constant +8 distorts, but hay. Playing the old Maxell UR at Classical music levels the Dolby tracking sounds great
 

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Cassette-decks are crap. I've spend years using them when I had no other option because of money issue. I was young then. Even a Nakamichi + DBX can't stand the comparison with an average mp3 recorder of nowadays.
To get a good sound on analog tapes, speed and track width are mandatory. The casette is the exact opposite for both.
 
laurend said:
Cassette-decks are crap. I've spend years using them when I had no other option because of money issue. I was young then. Even a Nakamichi + DBX can't stand the comparison with an average mp3 recorder of nowadays.
To get a good sound on analog tapes, speed and track width are mandatory. The casette is the exact opposite for both.
Click to expand...

The poster doesn't want good sound on tape, he wants to digitize what is already on cassette. Sorry you have all those cassette scars : )
 
All of my local Goodwill stores have pretty great Dual Cassette Decks all the time for less than $10-20. I wouldn't even think of going on eBay for them.
 
The resale shop can be good, if its around the class-act neighborhood. You can take the buds and a tape down there and plug it in and see how bad the heads are.

On my Technics, the play side just has a full size play head. Where else can you get that ? Oh, it looks like there are two optical sensors to reverse - it's quick. So, the novice mp3 maker can toss two tapes in there and record the whole play through. There's no guarantee that a reverse will perform the same and when I pulled this off the floor and cleaned out the dust bunnies it sounded different. Later in the day I ran trough those reverse tests and it sounded good.
 
how much are you looking to spend? If you can't find a satisfactory "new"one, I would

I agree with the other posts that say get a top end deck "from the day".











grh said:
Is there no such thing as new decent cassette deck? Every new deck on amazon or wherever has mixed reviews, with some people giving 4 or 5 star reviews, and others giving 1 star, and saying never buy. I am only trying to buy something that will allow me to convert tape to digital, using rca connectors, and my pc. I am looking at this, but there are so many negative reviews. https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PT659DU...8&reviewerType=avp_only_reviews&sortBy=recent
Click to expand...
 
youngn said:
I agree with the other posts that say get a top end deck "from the day".
Click to expand...

I would suggest getting a Nakamichi 480 and servicing it to what ever level is required. These were robust,and high quality (dead flat frequency response from 20Hz to 20000Hz as measured by my Klark Teknik spectrum analyser) with an excellent tape transport system.
I have had mine for 36 years, and has performed flawlessly up until now ,where the rewind mechanism is intermittant and needs servicing.
Ther is one on e-bay for $67 AUS (plus $72 AUS postage) that doesn't play back. So for what I think would be a reasonably modest outlay to service, you would end up with one hell of a tape deck.
 
P.S. Just found one on e-bay from the U.K.-fully serviced and restored to original condition for $332.81 GBP = $431.06 US
 
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