It's so nice to hear someone who speaks fondly of cassettes. They certainly had their place. Keeping your records in great shape and portability were huge pluses for them for sure. Ease of recording was another as you mentioned. I remember patiently waiting for my favorite song to come on and pressing record. Then listening to all of my favorite tunes on my walk-man on the bus ride to and from school. Great times for sure. When the tunes got long in the tooth, I could record over them and keep going with the same cassette. No other format (other than digital) made that possible, especially at that time. Those of us who have higher end players now, know how good cassettes can actually sound. Unless you are comparing side to side with an album or digital, they are really good. Good job on the video!
Few people out there truly have a good reason to create a UA-cam channel in relation to the value they’re going to be able to offer others. You are one of those people friend.
I restore old cassette decks. Nakamichi and Pioneer and Tascam being my favorites. I bring people into my Listening Room all the time while I'm recording say a CD and I switch between source and tape and I asked them if they can tell the difference. Most of the time they cannot. The cassette medium is so underrated especially when you use quality equipment. I personally have gotten sick of the high prices of vinyl and the vinyl revolution. I have sold it all and transferred my favorite albums to cassette as well as my favorite cds. I have more storage room, I still have high quality recordings to listen to. I absolutely love cassettes. Oh and by the way I have thousands.
That's awesome Brian. sounds like you have found your sweet spot. I do agree a well sorted cassette deck can sound awesome. Thanks so much for your comment and you view.
Commendable! Some of those are quite the mechanical marvels. Storage room? Damn. Thank goodness I can fit all my collection onto a thumbdrive and just put it in my pocket.
You described my early hi fi life precisely. Buy an album and buy a blank tape or make sure I had some blank tapes at home. Record on the first play and never touch them again. Great minds, right? LOL Tapes were perfect when I was stationed on a ship because LPs weren't very convenient.
I agree. For a long time I used a Sony 4 head studio VHS machine for recording. You would have been hard pressed to tell it from a CD. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Nakamichi decks are a bit unique in that many of them don’t rely on the cassette’s felt pad in order to maintain proper tension against the head. Instead, they use a dual capstan based mechanism and surrounding the head is sort of a cage that lifts the felt pad away entirely.
Buy the record, tape it, listen with your Walkman while dreaming of Dragons and GX R 99 S.....What a sensory delight it was. My best recording was 3 ep s from Depeche mode on a maxell metal vertex with a Sony TC K 970 ES. STUNNING SOUND
Love tapes. Don't even have much nostalgia for them, other than very vague memories from late 90s early 00s but thats about it. I just love the look of cassettes and the decks when they play. with the meters and tape going around, honestly the most aesthetically pleasing music format there is. Playing a file from my computer just isn't the same.
Wow, what a great overview for someone who wants to get into tapes or it's just been 30 years. I would go in early to the local college radio station (which was always open) and copy rare / hard to find punk and alternative LPs and 7"'s to tape and listen on my walkman knock-off. I also miss my Onkyo dual tape deck with the Dolby B / C switch. Your tutorial with the meter reading to set levels really hit me with flashbacks of making sure that was just right. Fantastic video, again.
I have 200+ cassette tapes in my collection. I used to record my favorite radio show “Music from the Hearts of Space” that was broadcast live from KPFA in Berkeley, CA. My recordings date back to 1973 and the shows were usually 3 hours long so an auto-reverse recorder was a must. Needless to say I’ve converted all of those tapes to digital files for archiving and easy access but often I’ll pop one into my TEAC multi-format deck (tape,CD, USB) and those tapes still sound fat, rich and full of great memories!
I remember laughing with my friends that one day people will be talking about the sound quality of CD's because they are "warmer" and "natural". They are now closing in on their 70s. Personally, I found when I bought my first CD Player in 1986 that I preferred it over the cassettes simply because FFD was immediate and it sounded better. The only thing I liked about a tape is I could record the top 10 on FM radio.
Still have 3 working cassette decks and more than 300 tapes -- Maxell and TDK -- on which I dubbed vinyl albums from the mid 70s till the mid 80s and CDs from then till the late 90s when we had CD players in both cars.
sure brought back lots of memories. Still remember when I bought home my first 3 head deck; a Kenwood KX-1030. I really felt like I had moved up. The Kenwood was later was replaced by a Tandberg 3014. A really nice deck for the time period. And you are right about buying cases of tapes. I used to get 3-4 cases at a time if I had planned on doing lots of recording. My friends and I would look to see who (what store) had the best price on TDK SA or Maxell UDXL II C-60 or C-90 cassettes and off we would go to load up.
Here is an update on my JVC KD-V6 3 head cassette deck. It has a dead channel and needs a belt replacement. I can’t find anyone locally to repair it so for now bought a JVC TD-R441 which lets me play my 80’s & 90’s cassette. At the time, most of the blank cassettes I bought were type II. I did find a recording I made on a metal type IV of guitar music by Badem Powell and wow! It sounds so good after so many years. So glad to see the channel growing. Congratulations! Well deserved.
@@rafacq That is very similar to my KX-3510 which has been a real workhorse for me for over 35 years. The remote control is a nice addition. It has Dolby B.C & HXPro which is really nice. I saw some on eBay for around that price but much less shipping. Make sure the seller accepts returns. Let me know what you decide.
Nice overview. Kenwood decks from this vintage are truly great decks. I have a KX-5010 and a KX-9010. Both are direct drive and have a Sankyo cassette mechanism that can also be found in various Nakamichi decks. I have another opinion on some of the advice you offer. Autoreverse decks should be avoided, as the flipping of the playback head will sooner or later result in misalignment. A double deck is mostly considered inferior because it generally has just one mechanism to drive both wells. And as for Dolby C: this really only works well if your playback and recording deck are the same. It is very fiddly and sensitive to mismatches and therefore does not transplant well between decks. Dolby B is far more forgiving in this regard.
You make a valid point. I was targeting the cassette novice with this video. I am just happy people are purchasing and listening to music regardless of the format. I do appreciate your view and your comment. I like when people share their stories. Thanks so much.
Within the last year I decided to get back into cassettes to record albums off of Apple Music that I couldn't find or were too expensive in the vinyl or CD format. I first bought a NOS Denon dual cassette off eBay but sent it back due to issues. Then I got a TEAC AD-850 CD/Cassette deck brand new and it's okay but a bit limited when it comes to recording. So I got back on eBay and found a seller who brings the vintage decks in from Japan and refurbs them. This time it was TEAC V-6030S 3-Head that was not inexpensive but it is like brand new and works and sounds great. I don't bother with Dolby because a little hiss doesn't really bother me if I even notice it. My issue is with the tapes themselves, as I've gotten numerous Sony, Maxell and TDK tapes that have had drop outs or didn't sound good, and even one where the leader just snapped off. I've tried new ones from ATR Magnetics here in the U.S. but have had problems with them. But I've found that the ones by RTM in France work well and sound good, so I will stick with them. I must commend you on your video as you have done an excellent job showing and explaining the subject in a clear and concise manner. Well done sir.
@chrislj2890 I am 60 year old man living in South Asia. I read your comment and I like to tell you that there is a problem of getting good quality cassette tapes nowadays as no big company manufacture them anymore. Those days we had BASF from Germany, Scotch from UK and Memorex from USA. I didn't have the opportunity of using them much in my time at that time, but the arrival of TDK of Japan came to the front line followed by Maxell. TDK D of Japanese origin was normally very good. TDK SA, Maxell UD II, Maxell XL II and XL II-S are among the best tapes. Now as Japan also do not produce audio tapes anymore, we have to rely on our saved old tapes for playing or recording. Thank you for sharing your information!
@@janath9118I don’t realty have trouble finding NOS type 1 tapes still sealed for reasonable prices. Used to even get NOS Maxell XL-II in 60,90,100,110, and 120 minute lengths for decent prices especially when yo but a lot. Metal NOS has always come around a premium but I would get lucky every nkw and then and might get a couple in a lot with type 1 and 2 and it would work out to $10 when individually they wouldn’t got for $25-$30 and up. I’ve been lucky find excellent condition used metal tales on eBay. The seller had recorded I then back in the early 90s new and the. Stored them. Looks and sounds like new except the lack of sealed in plastic. This is all 4 or more years ago
Great video! I've been recording albums onto cassette for over 40 years. These days I regularly record CDs onto cassette because my present vehicle has a cassette player. Right now I don't have the money to upgrade to one of those newer fancy pants cars that have an in dash CD player.
I was from a poor family and lusted after the JVC range of boomboxes in the eighties, but was never able to get one. Even though I never owned a cassette player, they still fascinate me and my unfullfilled childhood desires is probably the reason for that!
@englishrogue2649 Its heartbreaking to hear it from you, because i sometimes had the same type of experiences here where i live in South Asia. At last i managed to buy a stereo radio cassette recorder (boombox) in the end in 1980-1981 when i was about 19 years of age. Do you have a boombox or others now? I hope so.......
In 1977 and 1978 , the golden era of cassettes. Cassette music was the new medial of the time. My last, under dash, 8 track player went out the window of my truck when it ate Areosmith Toys in the Attic. Like you said, we would buy an album and a blank cassette, make a recording, and put that album away. I have over 100 albums that have only been played once or twice, thanks to the cassette recorder. I have a small vintage audio store in the Trading Post (junk mall) in Pueblo Colorado. Please lets stay in touch.
This was great, Ed. God I loved cassette decks. I had so many of them. Was always looking for cassette deck nirvana. I bought a DBX 224 and put it in front of my cassette deck. I also had a 10” Akai GX630d and used the DBX on that too.
Mr. Zeidman, I thought also reel to reel was amazing. Cassettes were great for the car and for making copies of LPs. The closest I got to cassette nirvana was the Harman-Kardon TD4800. It had Dolby "S" and was a 3 head unit. I think I gave to a family member. I might have to see if they still have it. Thank you my friend.
Howdy! I heard you mention Norther Michigan near the end. I'm a Michigander as well. Thanks for explaining all the functions/buttons on the deck. I have and used decks in the 80s & 90s, then fell away. Just got back into the vintage stereo equipment again since Oct and loving it. Got into vinyl and finding great deals at thrift stores, and have recently pulled out my cassettes as well. Having fun and thanks for the info. Sad how they eliminated the cassette and cd players in cars these days.
Christopher, I think one of the commenters was from MI. Funny enough we will be retiring to the GR\Holland area next year. My daughter teaches at GRPS. I hope you have a blast on your vintage journey. Thanks for watching and sharing your story.
Nakamichi nostalgia: I bought a used 580 in 1990 and loved it. They set the bias and Dolby level for TDK tapes. Maxell XL-II's needed a lot more bias vs. TDK SA-X.
About 20 years ago, just around the time the blank tape companies stopped making chrome type II tape, my local dollar store had a bunch of TDK SA-X tapes. I bought every tape they had, well over 100 tapes. My friends though I was nuts. Now they are as rare as hen's teeth.
Eddie, Great buy. A viewer alerted me of company still making tapes here in the US that are good quality and not crazy expensive. National Audio Co. www.nationalaudiocompany.com. Let me know if you check them out. Thanks for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
I've unloaded HUNDREDS of sealed cassette tapes locally on Kijiji over the last 5 years. Maxell, Sony, BASF to name a few. SA, SA-X, MA etc etc. They are a HARD sell and it wasn't worth my time. Buyers aren't willing to pay more than $5 for a chrome tape and $10 for a metal. It's absurd because I was paying these same prices back in the early '90s. Don't believe all the "Ebay hype". You're just kidding yourself.
Antonio, That Kenwood is over 36 years old, has never been serviced, just maintained and cleaned and it works perfectly. I even did a wow & flutter test which it passed. Thanks for your comment and your view.
@@OldGuyHifi I understand that, just in general, all decks bought on line will need service, at least that's my experience. Out of 4 top level decks I bought, they all had to go and see the "doctor" . Nice and well kept Kenwood deck by the way 👌
@@antoniojustodasilva3260 Yes. You make a very good point/observation and of course it is true that most decks will need looking after. Thank you so much for pointing that out.
I never saw That's cassette tapes where I used to buy my blank cassettes. Also bought Fuji tape as well as the other major brands (i.e. TDK, Maxell, Memorex, Sony). Also bought some other brands 3M (a.k.a. Scotch), Denon, and a small batch of a brand, SKC. Also used a bunch of cheap, probably tape that had many different brands attached to them as well. Found that the chrome cassette tape sold at Radio Shack branded as Supertape was decent tape as I used a few of those. The Supertape was even made and sold in a 76 minute length for recording a full CD. Used a lot of normal bias tape and in 60 a d 120 minute length as I did a lot of recordings from broadcast FM radio with Dolby C noise reduction. I would also buy cassettes that were sold specifically with odd lengths (i.e. 54, 74 and 94 minutes) designed for recording CD's. May have to go out and eventually buy another cassette deck, one that has been refurbished as the one I have is getting a little worn out from a lot of constant use. One that auto biases for different cassettes to achieve quality recordings, auto reverse for playback, and at least Dolby B, C and possible S noise reduction. Had a Sony back in the mid 1990's that I bought new that failed on me and it ended up going to the electronics graveyard. Would like to find another Sony, similar to what I had as I liked its features and how it performed.
It is curious that you mentioned Radio Shack tape. Their metal and high bias tape was made by Taiyo Yuden which marketed "That's" tape, They also were a key player in the development of the recordable CD. They introduced the 76 min. tape. There are some good machines out there still. Just make sure you have recourse if you get it and it is a pup. Thank so much for sharing your story with us. I appreciate it very much.
Really enjoyed your video and subscribed to your channel. Thanks! I had my 1988 JVC TD-R611 digifine deck serviced (new rollers, belts, etc) at George Meyers audio in LA 2 years ago, and its now in a rack next to two laser disc players (Pioneer CLD79 & DVL91), an Oppo 203 (for bluerays & CDs), and a Rega P10 turntable. Using a Marantz 8802 pre/pro, which feeds Aragon 8008 + 8002X3 amps that power Energy Veritas speakers (2.8's, 2.& 1.8's for front, center & rear channels). Sounds very nice.
Nice system. I had had a pair of Veritas 2.8s as well. I do have a pair of Energy Reference 22.2s still. I did a video on them. Thanks for the subscription and views.
What was wrong with early 80s decks? In 82 or no later than 83, I bought a fantastic deck: the Akai GX-F71. It had three heads (I consider that an essential feature), great frequency response and S/N ratio, Dolby B & C, HX Pro, an auto bias feature, and it supported type IV tapes. The front cover at the tape well also could be easily removed to provide better access for cleaning the heads, rollers, and capstans (yes, plural for rollers and capstans, because it had dual capstans -- it was not an auto-reversing deck, the dual capstans were both used when playing or recording). Obviously it was produced too early to have Dolby S, which indeed was an improvement over Dolby B/C.
Nearly all albums can have their entire content recorded on one side of a 90-minute tape. The question when purchasing blank tape length is one of intention. Where (1) 60 minutes is good for recording a short list of mixed tracks, (2) 90 minutes for recording two albums (one each side), and (3) 100 minutes to record two albums (one each side) when the album containing unusually long minutes of play time. Or, when mixing down a very long list off your vinyl.
Fantastic video! Very clear explanation of how everything works and all the features. I recently got a Nakamichi BX300 for a little over 500 Canadian, and I agree with the repair comment. Those are very unique machines, with very specific components. Cheers!
Also, I haven’t had any issues with 99% isopropyl alcohol on pinch rollers, in fact I find it helps a lot. You just have to know when to stop (when all dirt has been cleaned off) so you don’t erode the underlying rubber. I haven’t found it to dry them out, but YMMV
Late 70s to late 80s I would say. Mid 90s would be like the toy shown in this video. If you want a world class deck get a 3-head from Tandberg, Revox, Nakamichi, AIWA, Pioneer or Harman Kardon from the years I mentioned.
@@antoniovillafranca9065 Toy? Seriously? You are of course entitled to your opinion. I don't use tape any more and that was the only deck I had available. BTW, I used to work for Harman and had a CD-491 for a long time as well as a Nak 680ZX. This was just an discussion video not and endorsement of any one brand.
Hi Ed. This is awesome material. I have my share of cassettes. Mint condition. Like I mentioned to you having a Nad repaired. Will report back the results.
I never stopped playing them in my home audio! I have a Sony duel cassette that plays very good never needed belts yet knock on wood! I like the sound of cassette!
This all is excellent advice. You didn’t mention Yamaha. I have my original 1984-85 Yamaha. Just replaced the belt. Two motor, 1 Belt system. Ran test tones after. And it still sounds incredible for such an old machine. Metal tapes are the best. So expensive. I just am using Type 1. Not much for Dolby. Mine has B and C. Very little tape hiss on mine without Dolby. Debatable topic. I know. Anyway, really glad I found your channel. Liked and Subscribed. Michael
Doh! I forgot Yamaha. They made some great stuff. I should probably write stuff down. I am glad yours is still giving you good service. Thank you so much for watching, subscribing and sharing your story. I do appreciate it very much.
I started with cassette in the 80 and recorded records and then CD. My CD player had a peak search so would find the loud peak in the CD and loop it so setting the level was easy. Then once Minidisc come along I switched away from tape. Now I’m back with it again and wished I kept my deck from back in the day. But I luckily kept my high end Sony Walkmans so I still have them. I found a ES Sony deck at a thrift store but turned out to be bad so I’m still looking for something that’s not stupid eBay expensive so I can record. I also have a unopened box is Sony Ceramic Metal Master blanks. That I learned are super expensive now. Nice video
I have loads of cassette tapes in the house, blank sealed ones as well as recorded ones from all the top brands...my tape deck I'm using is a Yahama...
I miss those days. I had a couple Technics Tape decks with dbx NR and it was awesome as long as the tape encoded with dbx was played back on dbx. I had to turn the treble way down on my car stereo when I played those in my car. I almost bought a player with dbx for the car, but they were a little too expensive for me at the time. In '97, I wandered away from cassettes, replacing them with MiniDisc.
I grew up listening to cassette tapes and vinyls and still do to this day. Though I love CDs, yes LOVE them very much...BUT...there's nothing like playing or recording a cassette tape, not only for nostalgic purposes but the fun, especially with my Nakamichi CR-7A. I only use Type I tapes on the Nak and it sounds amazingly true-to-source, seriously and I'm not being bias (not a pun by the way). If one hasn't listened or record from a Nak deck, then they are truly missing out. Also, the decks do not need HX-Pro. It is THAT good!!! By the way, I love those 3M Blackwatch tapes.
My wife said you forgot to mention “The Make Out Tape”! Typically containing a lot of tracks from “The Best of Bread” album. “Baby I’m a want you . . Baby I’m a need you . . “ A lot of back seat memories there.
Just subscribed and love the content..I use two cassette decks in my system quite frequently a Yamaha KX-393 & Nakamichi CR2E and absolutely love recording to chrome & metal tapes of TDK, Maxell, Sony & that's to see how they stack up and it all sounds superb..keep up the good work..👍
5 years ago I got a vintage CD+Cassette deck Denon DN-T620 with rack ears for my studio, only to find out a few years later that I'd need Dolby C on it which it seems to be lacking. Other than that, it seems to be a decent deck.
Good video. Yeah, that's what we did in our youth. Either we copied the vinyl or CDs. Today kids have no idea what they're getting into. They see it as something cool from the past and 'Analog'. In reality prerecorded tapes sound just OK and Dolby is a must to avoid hiss. I have a few cheap dual cassette decks and they're just very average when it comes to audio quality reproduction. They require constant maintenance: rollers, head cleaning, demagnetization, etc. I would like to fix my Nak, 3 header, no DD. But getting parts for our machines is royal pain..., almost impossible. In my opinion it's one of the best Dolby C sounding machines I have had, w/o the usual breathing of compressor/expander.
I agree with you about Nak. They talk about the "Marantz" tax in vintage audio but fail to mention the "Nak" tax and then the upkeep and lack of parts. Thanks so much for commenting and give me a view.
Nice video Ed...I still listen to store bought cassettes that sound very good on my system. However, I will say this...I've been disappointed many times with defective cassettes that slow down or drag, which makes them unplayable. At first, I put the blame on the cassette deck being used but when the tape slows down on each cassette deck (I have about six different decks), I put the fault on the tape rather than the deck. Anyway, that being the case, I no longer purchase cassettes on Ebay or even in used record stores because they might be lemons!! But I have enough store boughts in my collection that sound good and play well that warrants an occasional investment at the electronics shop to make sure that they continue operate at their best...I still have a good quantity of new cassette tape by Scotch, Fugi, Maxell and BASF that I'll eventually use for recording my favorite artists...cheers!
Thanks for the upload. The best dual well cassette deck was apparently the Yamaha KX- W900U (1987-91). Of which I found and bought one and really like. Also should mention in the hall of fame the mighty Tascam 122 MKII (1987) or MKIII (1993).
Nice vid Ed! I own four decks (Nak BX-150, Dual C939, Pioneer CT F950 and a Luxman K-351). The Luxman is similar to your Sony. I’ve had all four serviced and restored. I have a lot of used and NOS tapes, my favorite is the Sony UX-Pro 90 (several cases of NOS). After getting the Luxman back a few weeks ago I have been recording some albums via ROON. No gapless so my deck will find the gaps. I use a 300B SET tube amp and the sound is very good. Collecting new and vintage gear after retirement has been a terrific hobby.
Virgil, Great channel you have. Thanks for watching and sharing. Those Sony tapes were very good. When we had the stores here in Chicago we sold That's tape (Taiyo Yuden), 3M Black Watch, and BASF. I really like the That's tape and the Black Watch. As you saw I still have 2 full cases of the 3M. The Luxman is a nice unit. It is from the era when Alpine Car Audio owned them. Not a bad thing. I am also a fan of tubes and am between tube amps right now. Looking for something that glows.
I run two Optmimus, dual well units SCT’s 55 & 56, and Tascam’s 112 for playback, and a Bang& Olufsen Beocord 1900 for recording only. Occasionally I’ll power-up a Tascam Mini-Disc (MD) unit, the MD-350 to record CDs and use a portable Sony MD unit for playback. These are all tethered to a large Soundcraft Pro Mixer. And so lots of Vinyl, FM, and CD archive recordings are done with what (I affectionately call my audio hodgepodge).
Scott, Sounds like a cool rig. You have some good gear there. I never got into MD but, I did have a Sony ES DAT unit for a while, I honestly lost interest. Thanks so much for sharing and watching.
I only had double deck tape recorders and would share tapes with friends the early early days of Napster. The other issue with recording on auto was that most tapes had a blank leader, you normally had to cue the tape before starting to record.
You are so right about Nakamichi. I decided to use them as milestone videos for my own channel, and that worked out well for my first one which was a BX-150, but then I tried to do it again with an old 480 from the early 80s. I got it going, but it cost an absolute fortune to buy and now that I'm done I'm stuck with a high hours machine that likely needs all three motors replaced. It's easy to get in over your head with that brand.
You might consider doing a 2nd part or intermediate cassette comeback talk, Aside from Dolby B/C and even S, there was dbx and Digital NR. There's 3 head recording so you can listen to your recording in real time. There's bias control. There's prerecorded Dolby C, Digilog, and CrOs tapes out there. So what I do is mix new technology with old. I mix my favorite songs using a DJ Controller, software like DJay AI and record to my Sony with Dolby S enabled (mostly). The software allows you to record a digital MP3 recording IF you own the music,. If you use a streaming service, you can't record- except to a tape deck of course! So now I have virtually unlimited songs- mixed- with the help of AI to beat match - on several cassette tapes. The quality of the sound is great with virtually no difference from a streaming service.
I didn't intend to really go any deeper. The target audience was someone who was curious and maybe considering get into it. I appreciate your passion for the format and am very glad you shared it. Thank you so much for watching and thanks for commenting.
I did the same thing last fall. Tossed about 200 tapes, all home made too. Yes. I will live! Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I love being able to hear about everyone's experiences.
@@OldGuyHifi I'm REALLY sorry to hear that! I hope they didn't just go in a landfill. FYI, A LOT of people are actually purchasing Used, already Recorded On "blank" cassette tapes like the ones you tossed out on eBay and getting CONSIDERABLE money for them if they are decent brands & types and in good shape! I recently purchased a collection of about 60 TDK SA-X and Maxell XLII-S cassettes with various vinyl albums and CDs recorded on them. The seller noted the 3-head deck that was used to record them and that it used the Auto-Bias, which gave added confidence that the tape had not been oversaturated. I checked them in my well-maintained Akai GX-95 3-Head deck and all but 2 of them were perfect and so far the ones I've used to re-record my own music on resulted in perfect quality recordings. One man's trash is still another man's treasure!
That is true. I do have several unopened NOS 10 cassette boxes of 3M Black Watch 100 min. I am considering putting up on eBay. I have others but really don't do tape anymore and the pre-recorded stuff was just collecting dust and mildew. Thanks for all your comments.
The issue with Dolby NR is that everything has to be top notch for it to work properly, or else you do end up with the slightly muted highs. Tape has to be decent quality, and also head azimuth has to be dead-on. Unfortunately, in practice, not very many decks are aligned exactly the same way. That even goes for dual well dubbing decks, and even auto reverse decks sometimes vary a bit between the A and B sides. I’ve always had to realign all my home decks and the one I used to have in the car, in order to minimize any variances. Once I did that, Dolby worked just fine between the different decks.
Thank you so much for another great video, Ed. Regarding the timer feature you talk about around the 3:50 mark, this switch simply detetmines what happens as soon as the machine gets connected with electricity. One does not necessarily need a certain timer unit for it to work. This way you can wake up with your favourite tape being played automatically. Or it will record your favourite radio show while you're away. It also can erase your own tape, in case it gets activated accidentally.
Of course your are right. I remembered that while I was editing and didn't want to reshoot that segment. Thank you for the correction. Kenwood also made receivers with an auto start timer so the whole system could turn on. Those types of units were popular in Japan. Thank you for watching and for contributing to the conversation.
Nice video. You forgot one brand that made wonderful and affordable cassettedecks and that was Yamaha. Their auto-tune function with a seperate bias control was a nice addition for a 2-head deck which resulted in perfect recordings. The KX-series from begin 90's till the end of life of the cassettedecks were superb! A lot of people ,me also in the past, had problems with dolby. Dolby only works correctly if your deck is properly calibrated and set-up. A little bit off is enough to prevent Dolby from working properly. When azimuth,recording and playback levels were not calibrated right ,Dolby sounds not that good. Nowadays you can buy some test tapes and Nak T-100 software and do it yourself with some guidance from the service manual and some youtube videos. A lot of consumer decks came out of the factory and weren't calibrated properly so after a few tapes a lot of people left it off. They blamed the dolby system but it was actually their own deck which wasn't calibrated properly. I still use cassettes to make mixtapes because it's fun, nostalgic, and takes a bit of the digital harsness away when copying from CD. The real fun begins when your source is a Hi-Res source. Tape adds some warmth to a perfect Hi-Res source which makes it wonderful combination on type 2 or type 4 tape. I embrace all the formats from the past, reel to reel, cassette, DAT,Minidisk vinyl, CD, HI-Res . Listening to music is a experience that goes behind the quality of the equipment. It's an emotional thing and analogue warmth, a little bit of hiss, Vinyl noise, etc, can all contribute for a great listening experience. Nowadays music is in the cloud, we pay every month and own nothing and the musicians are getting a very small percentage from the streams, it's a shame. That's why concerts are so expensive. I always support bands with buying hardcopy's . They deserve it !!
Thanks for the article, I got a little nostalgic there. I Had a few ES Sony including TC-K909ES a beautiful and excellent piece Also an Aiwa ADF990 which was capable of some astonishing recordings. Its Autobias was god tier good. I always felt certain Nakamichi were briliant, but others a bit meh!. I used mostly Maxell's TDK and Sony. Latterly, the Sony Super Metal Master was a lovely thing with its ceramic case. I think I'd like a good tape deck again, but recording media prices and scarcity are very off putting
The issue is no one is making decent tape anymore. NOS tape is expensive and going for 20+years old. It is fun and nostalgic but, I wind up streaming misty of the time. Great comment and thx for the view.
As an 80's kid I have a soft spot for cassettes. I didn't know shit about equipment or recording back then, but anyhow cassettes were _the_ way to share music among friends - just maybe a year or two before CD's came and everything changed! Thanks for your video!
I am glad you enjoyed it Dan. I bet that does sound good. I like the sound of glowing glass. Thank you for sharing. I like to hear other's thoughts and experiences.
Just sold an excellent sony deck. Before selling, I went through all my old mix tapes about 37 years old , about 50 of them only 2 or 3 played good the rest were just no good. But all my pre recorded ones were perfect, very nice sound.
a few years ago i bought a new belt for my JVC KD 85. i figured it was 40 years old and could use a new one. i took the belt and machine down to my local electronics repair shop. got a call a couple days later. the guy would not put the new belt in. too complex for him. in fairness it did require a lot of parts removal. just a story that fits the discussion.
Yes, it's true that many decks were/are extremely difficult to service, even for basic things such as replacing the belts. If anyone is considering the purchase of any cassette deck, try to do as much research as you can before purchasing a specific model. Do a search for the Brand Name & Model # followed by "repair" or "service".
Have any suggestions to digitize my lps? I will check out that latest dac. I stopped listening to digital as my immune caused tinnitus made it too painful. Would like to enjoy my CDs/iTunes and have better audio when watching movies. I run it old style(hard wire) rca and don’t do Bluetooth. Need a dac for cd/blue ray/dvd and computer audio. It be a bonus if it had the ability to convert lps to a digital-a 2 for 1. Not even sure that’s an option. Apologies if I’m asking misinformed. I haven’t kept up all that well.
No worries. No one that I know of makes a D to A and an A to D in one box. The good news is the A to D units aren't expensive. If you want to copy analog to your PC this device will work: amzn.to/3XYH9dj. If you just want to input analog and get a digital out on coax/optical or HDMI then this unit look like it would do the job: amzn.to/3WsJXyp. As for a good inexpensive DAC I can recommend the the SMSL SU-1 at about $80, amzn.to/3LlZmKu or if you want a bit more performance then the Geshelli Labs J2 is excellent. I just did a review of their new J3 Pro. Link to the J2: geshelli.com/product/jnog2/. I hope this helps. Let me know how it all works out. Thank you so much for the view and great question.
I have a good collection of high quality cassette decks, and love them! The main issue is that type II and IV tapes have not been made in quite a few years, and will never be again. Fortunately I have a good stock of both. Good recordings can still be made with type I tapes if you know what you're doing. Cheers, Paul!
Paul, A viewer alerted me of company still making type II tapes here in the US that are good quality and not crazy expensive. National Audio Co. www.nationalaudiocompany.com. Let me know what you think of this. Thanks so much for watching and sharing.
@@OldGuyHifi Well, I got a sample and have to say that it was horrible. One problem is that modern type II tapes are cobalt based and have quite different parameters than a chrome tape. But that's not what I critisize - you need to calibrate the deck for these. The problem with the sample tape was that it had an quite unstable sensitivity and a lot of dropouts. I've read that some time ago they used NOS tape for their cassettes which should have been good quality. But the current type simply is not.
@@TLang-el6sk Sorry you had a bad experience. I only know what that viewer told me. I will take the recommendation down. Thank you so much for letting me know.
@@OldGuyHifi That's exactly what I intended: A recommendation based on my personal experience. I was quite happy to find out that type II tape is still available new. But I wanted to try out the tape before ordering a large supply. And that is also what I would recommend everyone to do before buying greater quantities of these tapes. When testing the sample tape with the disappointing results I was digging a bit and found a statement that NAC once had good quality tape from old stock but switched over some time ago.
Ed. Thanks for the advice. I have a nice vintage Harman Kardon deck that occasionally stops and shorts the outputs. Don’t know if it is worth repairing but I hate to give up the dozens of recorded cassettes i have. Are the new Pyle decks any good or is buying on eBay worth the risk?
Stay away from anything with the Pyle name on it. Their stuff is shit. If you search eBay, and there are some deals to be had there, make sure the seller offers returns and the units say "repaired, reconditioned, tested," etc. Stick to brands like Teac, Akai, Tascam, Denon, Yamaha, HK, Pioneer, Sony ES, and you should be fine. Also make sure it has Dolby "C" that way you would be getting a later model and better sound. Let me know how you make out. Good luck and thanks for watching and commenting.
I have a Kenwood KX 3510. Records tapes ok without distortion but has distortion on play back of any tape. Several other people on line have had the same problem with this deck. So I just record with the Kenwood only and use a Pioneer Cassette deck to play back the tapes. Kind of a strange problem.😟
@@OldGuyHifi I tried a lot of things. I bought it off of E bay so it could be anything. It is almost like the output is too much for the amplifier. There is no output level control knob. I just record with it which works fine and play the tape on a different deck.
I like tapes for the nostalgia and the tactile sensation of opening the case and seeing how they are built. I was born in the 70 and bought vinyl if I could afford it over albums on cassette. And I would also make a tape copy and make mix tapes which was the real great thing about cassettes back before recordable CDs and mp3. It a shame that swapping mix tapes with friends isn’t a thing anymore. It was always special if you had a couple good friends to do that with because you would try to create a mix that had music that you liked that you might want to turn them on to if they weren’t also a fan. If they were in another state even better to get that tape in the mail. It’s almost like getting to hang out with them even though they are far away. One thing my friends and I liked to do was insert clips or samples of non-music audio in between tracks. You couldn’t do it every track because it was to gimmick-y that way because the music is still the focus and over doing it took away from that. You also didn’t want to make them too long for the same reason. But if you and your friend saw a particular movie together and then got the vhs and watched that at the others house a bunch of times ( which is 😮what we did before you could binge watch like now) until you knew certain line by heart you would record that short clip of Chong saying “Dave’s not here” right before a track of “Why Can’t This Be Love” of 5150 by Van Halen, the first album without David Lee Roth in the band. If you were good and wanted to spend extra time your would get it so the end of one track could blend really well into the interstitial clip and then that into the next track so it was a smooth transition from end of one track to the funny clip into the next track. We did this with or one more techniques like timing and cross fading. It was always so satisfying to get one of those transition to sound so smooth perfectly timed with a clip that thematically matched the music where it added so much to the experience of listen to music your heard a 100” times before. And if you played those mix tapes to death you would eventually associate those clips with the tracks that if you heard the same song today would be expecting to hear the clip afterward.
Tripp, That's an awesome story and what a great memory. Music can bind us together and build friendships that can last forever. I am so glad you shared that. Making tapes was a lot of fun and quite rewarding. I love the sneaking in a clip now and then trick. Classic. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you subscribed. Thx.
I used to do the same thing with albums, but with a reel-to-reel tape. Preserved the albums and listened on tape. I no longer have reel-to-reel. I still have a box full of cassette tapes that I also recorded. 👍🏼🎶😎
Maybe it is time to buy an old deck and listen to those old tapes? I also had a reel to reel machine but wound up only using it occasionally. I had a Studer-Revox PR99 MKIII that was very nice. Thanks for tuning in Norman. I do appreciate it.
@@OldGuyHifi My reel tape deck was an Akai, circa 1972. I bought a Nice quality cassette deck by Teac, 1990. Enjoying your content. You are good explaining different functions of equipment. Appreciate your videos. We started our audio journey in the same way. My first piece of gear was also a portable cassette deck/recorder. I smiled when you said your first cassette tape was Sgt Pepper. Funny how we remember those things. My first tape was Cream’s Disraeli Gears. 👍🏼🎶😎
Great machines. It's curious how we don't forget the things that made an impact on our lives. That little portable of mine was a big part of my audio journey. Thank you for sharing. It's fun.
I just want a decent quality reliable cassette player that I can use to play back old cassette recordings of music I've made years ago so I can record them into a computer or other digital device to remaster them and preserve them in a digital format before my tapes degrade to a point the music would become lost forever!!!! That deck you have is very nice!!! I would like to have a fully restored and serviced deck similar to yours, or any high-end late 80's-mid 90's deck. ---‐---------------------- UPDATE: I typed my above post right after I just started watching your video and before I finished watching the whole video. Now that I've seen it in it's entirety, you hit directly on many of the points I just mentioned above with tips on what to look out for when shopping for a used deck and what decks and brands of decks you recommend!!!! Thank you so much for making this very helpful and informative video.
Even back in the day I only used tapes to record vinyl albums so I could play them in the car. No surprises that the players were designed to eat tape and I sure as hell couldn't afford anything more expensive. I *get* vinyl, even if it's a money pit, and I get reel-to-reel for the serious collectors, but cassettes went the way of the dodo for a reason. The humble CD is the only physical media for me but horses for courses - enjoy cleaning those heads !
hi if i get cassette's i go to tapeline in the uk the thing is alot now have the make of tape all over the cassette and you can't see the tape moving i was lucky i got hold of a tascam 238 that was in a bad way i can service all my gear yes you are right them high end decks are right pain to fix up i gone in to to pro side gear like betacam decks there is a liner audio track on the tapes wow the betacam tape sound very good the cost of new cassette's is now got silly
Thanks for the view and comment Bob. BTW I love cats too. We used to use 4-head Hifi VHS machines as audio recorders. The tape moves fast enough that you didn't need any noise reduction. The audio quality reviled CD and DAT and you got 2 hours of record time. Thanks for stopping by.
Ricardo, Me neither until recently. I got rid of my cassettes because I hadn't touched them in years. I still have all my LPs. Thx for tuning in and commenting.
Some people are getting back to cassettes, but there’s no tape industry (at least here in Brazil, where I live). I pay a lot of money for new old stock tapes, even Type I. New fabricated tapes are low quality. So I’m dealing with used tapes. It’s not the same thing, it doesn’t sound good as new tapes, but anyway, I’m really enjoying my tapes with today’s music. It just sound different, and this is amazing.
Ivan, I am sorry to hear that. There is a link in the video's description to a company here in the US that still makes good tapes. Maybe they can help. National Audio. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
Greetings from West Michigan. I really enjoyed the video. I suggest a video that explains how to do the connections for "streaming." Please... Thanks, RG
I'll try. I guess I'm interested in doing what you did. Stream music to the tape deck to record. But what connections do you make? USB, Line In, Line Out, etc? Roger
I understand. Most of my equipment has a "line" out, "record" out or a "tape" out. If you gear doesn't no worries as a simple "Y" cable from your source device will work. Avoid using a "Per-amp" out as the signal will track with the system's volume. "Tape/record" out is the best choice if you have it. Let me know if that is a workable solution for you. Thanks so much.
i use a modified 3 head tape deck to make my tapes and a home made for listening. i always use an eq to make the sound match my ears response curve. our ears are very sesitive around 3 kilohertz so i use an eq to lower those frequencies and boost the 10k and up to make up for my ears poor response at those higher frequencies.
Michael, You make a good point. I cut a dB or 2 at 2KHz to soften/warmify the vocal region. I just made that word up. At my age I have nothing above 12KHz any way so I don't worry about. My regular system has a warmish (another one, he's on roll) sound anyway. Thank you so much for you view and comment. I love to hear about everyone's thoughts.
Hi ... I'm New in your Channel and yes for me the cassette make a comeback. I have more than 500 cassettes...I have purchased a TEAC W1200 wich is a very pièce of crap.. but I have a technics that I have purchased for 40 € who works more better... I love cassettes and vinyles and minidiscs and DAT and CD's of course....All thé physical formats. Thanks for your review
Mireille, I also love many of the physical formats. Wow! 500 cassettes! That is quite a collection. I am so glad you enjoy your music. Thank you so much for your view and comment.
Tape ist just the very best analog way for audio content. Had a collection of several hundreds of records back then, was always very careful with those and as well just recorded them on tape and stored them away. For a long time i was convinced, records were the ultimate audio source, because of the high dynamic range and all that .. until one day when i learned, that the source of ALL those so dynamic sounding records in my collection was actually... TAPE! 😅
Tape was always the recording and mastering medium. In some cases there are studios that still master to tape. I appreciate your view and comment. Thank you.
I've had good luck with JVC auto-reverse decks. Azimuth is bang-on both sides no matter what. I won't do it by standard practice, but even recording done on reverse, plays back perfectly fine on other decks for both sides. I never even thought this was possible until I lucked out with a JVC auto-reverse deck from 1985 that just does it. I even fine adjusted the Azimuth using several test tapes. It's my old reliable workhorse daily player. When I wanna just listen...and not have my audio fucked up on the b-side, wrecking the experience. 😏
That's great that you found the "deck of your dreams." Just kidding. Sounds like a nice unit and I am glad it works for you so well. I appreciate you sharing that. I also appreciate the view. Thank you.
I know. I have 2 unopened cases of 3M Black Watch 100 min. Metal tapes. I have seen them on eBay for $30.00 ea. Crazy! Maybe I should sell mine? Thanks for watching and commenting.
Recording the first play of an LP is what I used to do too. Meanwhile my Teac cassette deck has been gathering dust and spiders in the basement for decades. I have absolutely no desire to return to those days but I can see how it might be interesting to cassette noobs.
Recording the first play. Does that date us? A lot of small indie and alternative bands sell cassettes at their shows so it might be enticing younger folks to check out tape. Thanks so much for tuning in and commenting.
After having learned the practice with cassettes, some people went through a phase of dubbing LPs onto CD when optical drives were ubiquitous. While I understand the concept of buying an bum and sparing it plays, I never saw the point of making copies of my own LPs; I just play them, infrequently, on decent equipment and after cleaning them. But I have dubbed a few recordings that were not already in my library. We all did, right? One issue with playing and making cassettes is the lack of any decent new machines. Everything is used, without warranty, and somewhat prone to various expensive and/or tricky-to-fix failures. I have a Denon DR-M10HR, a pretty decent machine, with a faulty capstan motor. It won't start on its own and runs very slowly but can be persuaded, by poking it in the speed pot, to run at chipmunk speed. I suspect the motor is available, but getting it out will be a PITA. Meantime I have no backup and will have to rely on my Nak CD 1. It sure would be nice if a few manufacturers would return to making decent cassette decks so we wouldn't be at the mercy of the used market. I don't see that happening.
The problem is that there is not a big enough market for cassettes to entice someone to get back in the player business. I am sure it would require all new tooling etc. I appreciate you sharing your experience and thanks for your view.
Talking of tape....I would appreciate an episode on your thoughts on the now defunct medium, DAT (Digital Audio Tape).which I thought was amazing tape fidelity format...Thanks.
I used a portable professional Tascam DAT recorder in the mid-90s to capture on-location or in-the-field Sound Clips and Foley sound EFX recording for film & TV...everything from construction sites with jackhammers to cattle/cow moos & a horse whinny, owls, crickets, and frogs, to crashing waves and seagulls, etc. We also used a 1/4" Fostex Model E-2 Reel-2-Reel Mastering tape machine for music mastering and film soundtrack mixdown. The E-2 is a 2-channel machine with a unique 3rd "Cue" track, i.e. used for SMPTE Time Code sync, or director's notes, etc. For Cassette tapes, I'm using a very nice and fully refurbished/serviced Akai GX-95 3-Head deck. Despite what anyone wants to claim, it really is pretty much indistinguishable from a master analog tape or digital/CD recording. Engineer, Anthony Grimani, at Dolby Labs at the time, proved this when they conducted group blind listening tests during the development of Dolby C noise reduction. There is a relatively recent UA-cam interview featuring Anthony Grimani where he recounts this. As a young musician, the compact cassette was a relatively inexpensive way to record practice or performances. It was a great way to almost instantaneously hear what/how you were playing and correct/improve your technique...similar to what digital photography and how it allowed you to instantly see your image and correct exposure and composition in real time rather than waiting for analog film to be processed. Some Cassette Decks had Stereo Microphone inputs, and I used an Audio-Technica Stereo Microphone to record many of our band's practices and performances (I was a drummer & saxophonist). The portability aspect of the format was also HUGE at the time. As you mentioned, we could now record a full Vinyl LP on just one side of a cassette tape and take them with us in the car or anywhere using a Sony Cassette Walkman or similar portable player. I had a Sony WM-101 Walkman auto-reverse portable cassette player that was barely larger than a compact cassette case and it had Dolby NR as well! But making custom "MIXTAPES" of our favorite music and/or recording local Radio Programming, and then being able to play them back almost anywhere and at any time was IMPO the greatest aspect of the compact cassette (at that time). These types of Mixtapes were a boon for long road trips, air travel, and vacations/holidays. We could now just record and compile just our favorite songs from an entire LP (or from Multiple LPs, and later from CDs) onto a single tape, or record special radio live broadcast performances, interviews, guests, etc. Local or College radio stations usually had a variety of "shows" or music sets that showcased a specific genre and/or often times "underground" or unique music. Santa Monica, CA's KCRW and San Diego's 91X were popular radio stations in the SoCal area (and KCRW is still going strong, with streaming as well). If you lived in the Los Angeles area in the late 70's through the 80's, there was a late night radio program on 84.7 FM "KMET" (and also syndicated nationwide) by a radio DJ called the "Dr. Demento Show" which played exclusive, unique, wacky, eclectic, obscure, and "questionable" music and comedy content that you would otherwise not hear ANYWHERE else. As a youngster in this era, the Dr Demento radio shows were seemed to be taboo and almost shocking, LOL. The compact cassette allowed us to record those unique shows and much more and play them back any time or share them with family and friends, etc. FYI, the "Dr. Demento Show" episodes are now available on a website of the same name, and many are also posted here on UA-cam. But then CD-R & CD-RW disc burning became possible, and shortly after digital "MP3 Players", the ubiquitous iPod, and Napster came along and changed our music listening, sharing, and consumption forever. But it still blows my mind how amazing and low noise a well-recorded cassette tape using microscopic magnetic particles rearranged by on a moving substrate by a physical record/playback head, as well as the fidelity of a vinyl LP using physical cut grooves and a stylus pickup can sound given the physical natures of these mediums!
I remember Dr. Demento. He was syndicated here in Chicago. I agree, a well recorded cassette can sound very good. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
You can still get 'chrome' tapes - i.e. Type II tapes - albeit not in chromium dioxide (CrO2) formulation. Maxell XL II and TDK SA are 2 examples. Best tapes in my opinion. It's Type III that disappeared a long time ago.
Type III wasn't really used in the U. S. The idea was that it would combine the low-frequency response of Type I with the high-frequency response of Type II. I think that it was the introduction of Type IV (Metal) which was better that ended Type III tapes.
Dolby NR most certainly does remove high frequencies by nature. Hiss is an audio frequency of white noise. You can verify this with spectral analysis and your ears alone. The biggest problem with Dolby NR is, a tape deck can't just remove the hiss. It has to dampen a wide range in the analog domain. However, other non-Dolby systems allow you to do it digitally now in real time. It can analyze the 2-3 seconds of hiss before the music plays, calculate what it needs to remove and just removes that... leaving the majority in tact. Of course, It still removes frequencies, but it's much less perceivable unlike when you turn Dolby NR on. It doesn't matter if it's Dolby A, B, C, or even S, you hear it instantly. To my ears, Dolby NR sounds like you've put a muffler on your speakers.
I have a Sony TC WE 435 that still performs well. In the 70s and 80s I used my dad’s Hitachi cassette deck to record. I mainly used them to make miscellaneous tapes, not to preserve albums :)
Hello too you... I really enjoyed yout video, and Im sure to follow you in the future. My sutuation is this> I used to have Audio Research (D70 / SP8) geat since mid 1980's. And only now changed for an Extraudio X250T integrated amp... It is a revelation my AR 14 speakers...from late 1970's. I listen to stream (Tidal) on a Cambridge streamer and I m more than happy. However I miss a good tape to complete the setup. I used to think of R to R...but maybe a Cassette Deck would be good?
Eric, Thank you for watching and subscribing. Sounds like you have a very nice system. Good for you. If you are thinking about tape go with cassette as reel to reel is the most expensive format on earth. A decent well maintained machine can run upwards of $2,000.00 to $5,000.00. Tape is getting very expensive. A good refurbished cassette machine can be had for $300.00 to about $800.00 on Ebay. I would be curious to hear what you decide. Thanks so much for sharing.
@@thepuma2012 Ummm...95% of "good" recordings/music have less than 12dB of Dynamic Range anyway! You're lucky if a recording has 15dB of dynamic range...so it's almost a moot point. With that level of DR, the 95% of the noise (SNR) is buried or masked in the music. FYI, I'm a musician (drummer/percussion/saxophonist) with what you might call a "high end" home recording studio. In addition, almost every "audiophile" in this demographic over 40+ years old can't hear much above 15kHz, or at least their sensitivity to those high frequencies is considerably diminished. See the Fletcher-Munson/Equal Loudness Curve. I'm not saying that everyone should abandon CDs or good quality digital streaming and switch exclusively to using cassettes, LOL, but IF you had/have a decent cassette deck and recorded with good quality tape that was set with the proper tape Bias and Levels, the sound quality and SNR is very respectable! For example, while working on the development of Dolby C Noise Reduction at Dolby Labs, engineer Anthony Grimani proved that using a decent quality cassette deck with good tape and proper Bias & Recording Levels was INDISTINGUISHABLE from the playback of the same music via its R2R analog master tape or a digital CD of that music which was confirmed through Blind Group Listening Tests. A wide variety of "experienced listeners" could only GUESS which was which, LOL. There is a relatively recent interview on UA-cam featuring Anthony Grimani where he recounts this. (He now makes very high-end loudspeaker systems and acoustic treatment products). I could demonstrate the same today using a well recorded "audiophile" CD such as Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" or Roxy Music's "Avalon" recorded onto a cassette tape using my Akai GX95 cassette deck. The best music to demonstrate or try to pick out the differences is a well-recorded solo piano track or the dynamics and harmonics and decay of percussion instruments, especially cymbals.
Very interesting and you make some very points. Yeah, I got nothing above about 12kHz. I think met Anthony when I was at Harman. It was some CES event and it was just quick introduction at a large social event. I wish I had, had a chance to talk to him. Thank you.
Dear sir...cassettes come back again pls... release songs in cassettes to remember olden golden memories... pls release soon in all countries...tnk u..
: First-time viewer. Cool vid. Has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like David Letterman? If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't know the difference.
Thanks so much for watching. Please like and subscribe. ALERT**
I just recently made a tape.
I piped some digital sources through an external DAC. Then into a tubed pre-amp. Then straight into the tape deck.
@@rosssmith8481 I bet it sounded real good. Thanks for watching and sharing that.
I still have my cassette deck. I need to plug it and see if it still works!
Like & sub?
NO.
@@VEC7ORlt Why not?
It's so nice to hear someone who speaks fondly of cassettes. They certainly had their place. Keeping your records in great shape and portability were huge pluses for them for sure. Ease of recording was another as you mentioned. I remember patiently waiting for my favorite song to come on and pressing record. Then listening to all of my favorite tunes on my walk-man on the bus ride to and from school. Great times for sure. When the tunes got long in the tooth, I could record over them and keep going with the same cassette. No other format (other than digital) made that possible, especially at that time. Those of us who have higher end players now, know how good cassettes can actually sound. Unless you are comparing side to side with an album or digital, they are really good. Good job on the video!
Thank you Ryan. I had 2 36 tape cases in my car most of the time. I appreciate the kind words. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@Ryan96se Yes, those were the good old times!
Thanks for sharing your fond memories!
Few people out there truly have a good reason to create a UA-cam channel in relation to the value they’re going to be able to offer others. You are one of those people friend.
Thank you for the kind words Mr. Ryan.
I restore old cassette decks. Nakamichi and Pioneer and Tascam being my favorites. I bring people into my Listening Room all the time while I'm recording say a CD and I switch between source and tape and I asked them if they can tell the difference. Most of the time they cannot. The cassette medium is so underrated especially when you use quality equipment. I personally have gotten sick of the high prices of vinyl and the vinyl revolution. I have sold it all and transferred my favorite albums to cassette as well as my favorite cds. I have more storage room, I still have high quality recordings to listen to. I absolutely love cassettes. Oh and by the way I have thousands.
That's awesome Brian. sounds like you have found your sweet spot. I do agree a well sorted cassette deck can sound awesome. Thanks so much for your comment and you view.
Commendable! Some of those are quite the mechanical marvels.
Storage room? Damn. Thank goodness I can fit all my collection onto a thumbdrive and just put it in my pocket.
@@VEC7ORlt Ah yes but the artwork is a bit dull.
And sound quality
@stargeezer Thank you for sharing your experiences!....
You described my early hi fi life precisely. Buy an album and buy a blank tape or make sure I had some blank tapes at home. Record on the first play and never touch them again. Great minds, right? LOL Tapes were perfect when I was stationed on a ship because LPs weren't very convenient.
Mike, Thanks for your service. Looking back, cassettes were everywhere and everyone had a way to play or record them. Thanks for sharing sir.
I have 1 and never used it anymore. If you want a good quality on tape use a stereo video recorder or md.
I agree. For a long time I used a Sony 4 head studio VHS machine for recording. You would have been hard pressed to tell it from a CD. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@OldGuyHifi I used an old beta machine back in the day
We used to use 4 head Hifi VCRs as recorders. The got close to Reel to Reel in sound quality.
Nakamichi decks are a bit unique in that many of them don’t rely on the cassette’s felt pad in order to maintain proper tension against the head. Instead, they use a dual capstan based mechanism and surrounding the head is sort of a cage that lifts the felt pad away entirely.
Some of the top line Teac, Harman and Tascam units did something similar. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
Buy the record, tape it, listen with your Walkman while dreaming of Dragons and GX R 99 S.....What a sensory delight it was. My best recording was 3 ep s from Depeche mode on a maxell metal vertex with a Sony TC K 970 ES. STUNNING SOUND
Marco, those music memories and experiences is what gives life it's textures. Thank you so much for sharing.
Love tapes. Don't even have much nostalgia for them, other than very vague memories from late 90s early 00s but thats about it. I just love the look of cassettes and the decks when they play. with the meters and tape going around, honestly the most aesthetically pleasing music format there is. Playing a file from my computer just isn't the same.
Agreed. However, if you want sexy mechanical stuff, reel to reel is amazing. Thanks so much for watching and commenting.
@@OldGuyHifi True, reel to reel probably edges it out a bit Tbh
@FunzieOne Yes, I also agree with your view!
I agree cassettes are really cool but is it worth paying 20 plus dollars on a used rare cassette even if it looks to be in near mint condition
Wow, what a great overview for someone who wants to get into tapes or it's just been 30 years. I would go in early to the local college radio station (which was always open) and copy rare / hard to find punk and alternative LPs and 7"'s to tape and listen on my walkman knock-off. I also miss my Onkyo dual tape deck with the Dolby B / C switch. Your tutorial with the meter reading to set levels really hit me with flashbacks of making sure that was just right. Fantastic video, again.
Chris, as always thank you. I appreciate you commenting and sharing your experiences.
My favorite deck of my 3 is the Sony TC-K555 which I bought new in late 1982. Still great sound quality and absolutely reliable.
If you remember in the video I said not to count out Sony. They did make some great machines. Thanks again.
I have 200+ cassette tapes in my collection. I used to record my favorite radio show “Music from the Hearts of Space” that was broadcast live from KPFA in Berkeley, CA. My recordings date back to 1973 and the shows were usually 3 hours long so an auto-reverse recorder was a must. Needless to say I’ve converted all of those tapes to digital files for archiving and easy access but often I’ll pop one into my TEAC multi-format deck (tape,CD, USB) and those tapes still sound fat, rich and full of great memories!
Jack, We got Hearts of Space here in Chicago too. Also Musical Star Streams. Great memories. Thank you sir.
I remember laughing with my friends that one day people will be talking about the sound quality of CD's because they are "warmer" and "natural". They are now closing in on their 70s. Personally, I found when I bought my first CD Player in 1986 that I preferred it over the cassettes simply because FFD was immediate and it sounded better. The only thing I liked about a tape is I could record the top 10 on FM radio.
I guess "What is old is new again." Not sure about warm sounding CDs. Lol.
My pleasure! Thank YOU for talking about this still viable medium.
You are welcome. Thank you for contributing to the conversation.
Still have 3 working cassette decks and more than 300 tapes -- Maxell and TDK -- on which I dubbed vinyl albums from the mid 70s till the mid 80s and CDs from then till the late 90s when we had CD players in both cars.
Mark, I am glad you commented. Many of us used cassette so much because of it portability. Thanks for the view and comment.
sure brought back lots of memories. Still remember when I bought home my first 3 head deck; a Kenwood KX-1030. I really felt like I had moved up. The Kenwood was later was replaced by a Tandberg 3014. A really nice deck for the time period. And you are right about buying cases of tapes. I used to get 3-4 cases at a time if I had planned on doing lots of recording. My friends and I would look to see who (what store) had the best price on TDK SA or Maxell UDXL II C-60 or C-90 cassettes and off we would go to load up.
Here is an update on my JVC KD-V6 3 head cassette deck. It has a dead channel and needs a belt replacement. I can’t find anyone locally to repair it so for now bought a JVC TD-R441 which lets me play my 80’s & 90’s cassette.
At the time, most of the blank cassettes I bought were type II. I did find a recording I made on a metal type IV of guitar music by Badem Powell and wow! It sounds so good after so many years.
So glad to see the channel growing. Congratulations! Well deserved.
Thank you my friend. It has been an experience. I got your email.
@@OldGuyHifi I found a Kenwood KX-5530 in pretty decent shape for $150, unfortunately they want $50 to ship it. I’m undecided.
@@rafacq That is very similar to my KX-3510 which has been a real workhorse for me for over 35 years. The remote control is a nice addition. It has Dolby B.C & HXPro which is really nice. I saw some on eBay for around that price but much less shipping. Make sure the seller accepts returns. Let me know what you decide.
Nice overview. Kenwood decks from this vintage are truly great decks. I have a KX-5010 and a KX-9010. Both are direct drive and have a Sankyo cassette mechanism that can also be found in various Nakamichi decks. I have another opinion on some of the advice you offer. Autoreverse decks should be avoided, as the flipping of the playback head will sooner or later result in misalignment. A double deck is mostly considered inferior because it generally has just one mechanism to drive both wells. And as for Dolby C: this really only works well if your playback and recording deck are the same. It is very fiddly and sensitive to mismatches and therefore does not transplant well between decks. Dolby B is far more forgiving in this regard.
You make a valid point. I was targeting the cassette novice with this video. I am just happy people are purchasing and listening to music regardless of the format. I do appreciate your view and your comment. I like when people share their stories. Thanks so much.
Within the last year I decided to get back into cassettes to record albums off of Apple Music that I couldn't find or were too expensive in the vinyl or CD format. I first bought a NOS Denon dual cassette off eBay but sent it back due to issues. Then I got a TEAC AD-850 CD/Cassette deck brand new and it's okay but a bit limited when it comes to recording. So I got back on eBay and found a seller who brings the vintage decks in from Japan and refurbs them. This time it was TEAC V-6030S 3-Head that was not inexpensive but it is like brand new and works and sounds great. I don't bother with Dolby because a little hiss doesn't really bother me if I even notice it.
My issue is with the tapes themselves, as I've gotten numerous Sony, Maxell and TDK tapes that have had drop outs or didn't sound good, and even one where the leader just snapped off. I've tried new ones from ATR Magnetics here in the U.S. but have had problems with them. But I've found that the ones by RTM in France work well and sound good, so I will stick with them.
I must commend you on your video as you have done an excellent job showing and explaining the subject in a clear and concise manner. Well done sir.
Thank you Chris. I do appreciate it.
@chrislj2890 I am 60 year old man living in South Asia. I read your comment and I like to tell you that there is a problem of getting good quality cassette tapes nowadays as no big company manufacture them anymore. Those days we had BASF from Germany, Scotch from UK and Memorex from USA. I didn't have the opportunity of using them much in my time at that time, but the arrival of TDK of Japan came to the front line followed by Maxell. TDK D of Japanese origin was normally very good. TDK SA, Maxell UD II, Maxell XL II and XL II-S are among the best tapes. Now as Japan also do not produce audio tapes anymore, we have to rely on our saved old tapes for playing or recording.
Thank you for sharing your information!
Thank you. BTW 3M is from the US. St, Paul Minnesota. I used to be a customer of theirs.
@@janath9118I don’t realty have trouble finding NOS type 1 tapes still sealed for reasonable prices. Used to even get NOS Maxell XL-II in 60,90,100,110, and 120 minute lengths for decent prices especially when yo but a lot. Metal NOS has always come around a premium but I would get lucky every nkw and then and might get a couple in a lot with type 1 and 2 and it would work out to $10 when individually they wouldn’t got for $25-$30 and up. I’ve been lucky find excellent condition used metal tales on eBay. The seller had recorded I then back in the early 90s new and the. Stored them. Looks and sounds like new except the lack of sealed in plastic. This is all 4 or more years ago
@@OldGuyHifi Thanks for the information!
Great video! I've been recording albums onto cassette for over 40 years. These days I regularly record CDs onto cassette because my present vehicle has a cassette player. Right now I don't have the money to upgrade to one of those newer fancy pants cars that have an in dash CD player.
Nothing wrong with driving a car with a cassette deck. Hell my newest car is 11 years old. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I was from a poor family and lusted after the JVC range of boomboxes in the eighties, but was never able to get one. Even though I never owned a cassette player, they still fascinate me and my unfullfilled childhood desires is probably the reason for that!
I understand. They can be fascinating and frustrating as well. Thank you for tuning and especially for commenting.
@englishrogue2649 Its heartbreaking to hear it from you, because i sometimes had the same type of experiences here where i live in South Asia. At last i managed to buy a stereo radio cassette recorder (boombox) in the end in 1980-1981 when i was about 19 years of age.
Do you have a boombox or others now? I hope so.......
In 1977 and 1978 , the golden era of cassettes. Cassette music was the new medial of the time. My last, under dash, 8 track player went out the window of my truck when it ate Areosmith Toys in the Attic.
Like you said, we would buy an album and a blank cassette, make a recording, and put that album away. I have over 100 albums that have only been played once or twice, thanks to the cassette recorder.
I have a small vintage audio store in the Trading Post (junk mall) in Pueblo Colorado. Please lets stay in touch.
I would like that. My email is in the description of all my videos. Thank you Lou.
Really, really enjoyed this video. Thanks for making it.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you.
This was great, Ed. God I loved cassette decks. I had so many of them. Was always looking for cassette deck nirvana. I bought a DBX 224 and put it in front of my cassette deck. I also had a 10” Akai GX630d and used the DBX on that too.
Mr. Zeidman, I thought also reel to reel was amazing. Cassettes were great for the car and for making copies of LPs. The closest I got to cassette nirvana was the Harman-Kardon TD4800. It had Dolby "S" and was a 3 head unit. I think I gave to a family member. I might have to see if they still have it. Thank you my friend.
Howdy! I heard you mention Norther Michigan near the end. I'm a Michigander as well. Thanks for explaining all the functions/buttons on the deck. I have and used decks in the 80s & 90s, then fell away. Just got back into the vintage stereo equipment again since Oct and loving it. Got into vinyl and finding great deals at thrift stores, and have recently pulled out my cassettes as well. Having fun and thanks for the info. Sad how they eliminated the cassette and cd players in cars these days.
Christopher, I think one of the commenters was from MI. Funny enough we will be retiring to the GR\Holland area next year. My daughter teaches at GRPS. I hope you have a blast on your vintage journey. Thanks for watching and sharing your story.
Nakamichi nostalgia: I bought a used 580 in 1990 and loved it. They set the bias and Dolby level for TDK tapes. Maxell XL-II's needed a lot more bias vs. TDK SA-X.
About 20 years ago, just around the time the blank tape companies stopped making chrome type II tape, my local dollar store had a bunch of TDK SA-X tapes. I bought every tape they had, well over 100 tapes. My friends though I was nuts. Now they are as rare as hen's teeth.
Eddie, Great buy. A viewer alerted me of company still making tapes here in the US that are good quality and not crazy expensive. National Audio Co. www.nationalaudiocompany.com. Let me know if you check them out. Thanks for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
I've unloaded HUNDREDS of sealed cassette tapes locally on Kijiji over the last 5 years. Maxell, Sony, BASF to name a few. SA, SA-X, MA etc etc. They are a HARD sell and it wasn't worth my time. Buyers aren't willing to pay more than $5 for a chrome tape and $10 for a metal. It's absurd because I was paying these same prices back in the early '90s. Don't believe all the "Ebay hype". You're just kidding yourself.
@@thefreestylefrEaK I never thought about selling them, as I am a big cassette fan. I just like having a nice supply for the future.
@@OldGuyHifi
If you haven't already, you should put this Link in your video's Description as well as a "Pinned" comment.
I did but. then got several comments that folks were having problems the quality of the tapes the purchased there.
May I just had that any tape deck you, from any vintage, will need service, new rubber parts and calibration. Thanks for the video.
Antonio, That Kenwood is over 36 years old, has never been serviced, just maintained and cleaned and it works perfectly. I even did a wow & flutter test which it passed. Thanks for your comment and your view.
@@OldGuyHifi I understand that, just in general, all decks bought on line will need service, at least that's my experience. Out of 4 top level decks I bought, they all had to go and see the "doctor" . Nice and well kept Kenwood deck by the way 👌
@@antoniojustodasilva3260 Yes. You make a very good point/observation and of course it is true that most decks will need looking after. Thank you so much for pointing that out.
I never saw That's cassette tapes where I used to buy my blank cassettes. Also bought Fuji tape as well as the other major brands (i.e. TDK, Maxell, Memorex, Sony). Also bought some other brands 3M (a.k.a. Scotch), Denon, and a small batch of a brand, SKC. Also used a bunch of cheap, probably tape that had many different brands attached to them as well. Found that the chrome cassette tape
sold at Radio Shack branded as Supertape was decent tape as I used a few of those. The Supertape was even made and sold in a 76 minute length for recording a full CD.
Used a lot of normal bias tape and in 60 a d 120 minute length as I did a lot of recordings from broadcast FM radio with Dolby C noise reduction. I would also buy cassettes that were sold specifically with odd lengths (i.e. 54, 74 and 94 minutes) designed for recording CD's. May have to go out and eventually buy another cassette deck, one that has been refurbished as the one I have is getting a little worn out from a lot of constant use. One that auto biases for different cassettes to achieve quality recordings, auto reverse for playback, and at least Dolby B, C and possible S noise reduction. Had a Sony back in the mid 1990's that I bought new that failed on me and it ended up going to the electronics graveyard. Would like to find another Sony, similar to what I had as I liked its features and how it performed.
It is curious that you mentioned Radio Shack tape. Their metal and high bias tape was made by Taiyo Yuden which marketed "That's" tape, They also were a key player in the development of the recordable CD. They introduced the 76 min. tape. There are some good machines out there still. Just make sure you have recourse if you get it and it is a pup. Thank so much for sharing your story with us. I appreciate it very much.
Really enjoyed your video and subscribed to your channel. Thanks!
I had my 1988 JVC TD-R611 digifine deck serviced (new rollers, belts, etc) at George Meyers audio in LA 2 years ago, and its now in a rack next to two laser disc players (Pioneer CLD79 & DVL91), an Oppo 203 (for bluerays & CDs), and a Rega P10 turntable. Using a Marantz 8802 pre/pro, which feeds Aragon 8008 + 8002X3 amps that power Energy Veritas speakers (2.8's, 2.& 1.8's for front, center & rear channels). Sounds very nice.
Nice system. I had had a pair of Veritas 2.8s as well. I do have a pair of Energy Reference 22.2s still. I did a video on them. Thanks for the subscription and views.
What was wrong with early 80s decks? In 82 or no later than 83, I bought a fantastic deck: the Akai GX-F71. It had three heads (I consider that an essential feature), great frequency response and S/N ratio, Dolby B & C, HX Pro, an auto bias feature, and it supported type IV tapes. The front cover at the tape well also could be easily removed to provide better access for cleaning the heads, rollers, and capstans (yes, plural for rollers and capstans, because it had dual capstans -- it was not an auto-reversing deck, the dual capstans were both used when playing or recording). Obviously it was produced too early to have Dolby S, which indeed was an improvement over Dolby B/C.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. I was making generalizations.
Another great video Ed. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!
What's old is new again! Except me.
I like getting ready to go out while listening to cassettes because you can play both sides of an album without having to change sides.
That is a very astute observation but, it only works if the deck can auto-reverse. Thank you for watching and commenting.
Nearly all albums can have their entire content recorded on one side of a 90-minute tape.
The question when purchasing blank tape length is one of intention. Where (1) 60 minutes is good for recording a short list of mixed tracks, (2) 90 minutes for recording two albums (one each side), and (3) 100 minutes to record two albums (one each side) when the album containing unusually long minutes of play time. Or, when mixing down a very long list off your vinyl.
Very good rule of thumb. I used to stay away from anything longer than 100 min. as the tape was so thin it would bind or get eaten in my car stereo.
Fantastic video! Very clear explanation of how everything works and all the features. I recently got a Nakamichi BX300 for a little over 500 Canadian, and I agree with the repair comment. Those are very unique machines, with very specific components. Cheers!
Also, I haven’t had any issues with 99% isopropyl alcohol on pinch rollers, in fact I find it helps a lot. You just have to know when to stop (when all dirt has been cleaned off) so you don’t erode the underlying rubber. I haven’t found it to dry them out, but YMMV
Thank you so much for commenting and for watching.
We used to use distilled water to dilute de-natured alcohol, which seemed to work. It was very gentle.
@@OldGuyHifi Sorry, I didn’t see this! It’s my pleasure tho, I loved the video
@@OldGuyHifi Oh, good idea! I’ll try that the next time I have to de-gunk a roller or two ;)
I TOTALLY agree. Late 80's to mid 90's decks are the ones to get!
Michelle, Thanks for watching and commenting. BTW, I loved the Avengers when I was a kid.
Late 70s to late 80s I would say. Mid 90s would be like the toy shown in this video.
If you want a world class deck get a 3-head from Tandberg, Revox, Nakamichi, AIWA, Pioneer or Harman Kardon from the years I mentioned.
@@antoniovillafranca9065 Toy? Seriously? You are of course entitled to your opinion. I don't use tape any more and that was the only deck I had available. BTW, I used to work for Harman and had a CD-491 for a long time as well as a Nak 680ZX. This was just an discussion video not and endorsement of any one brand.
Hi Ed. This is awesome material. I have my share of cassettes. Mint condition. Like I mentioned to you having a Nad repaired. Will report back the results.
Sounds great!
Great explanation. Thanks for sharing your experience
Thank you so much.
I never stopped playing them in my home audio! I have a Sony duel cassette that plays very good never needed belts yet knock on wood! I like the sound of cassette!
Your enjoyment is all that matters. Ignore the naysayers. Thanks for watching and sharing your experience.
This all is excellent advice. You didn’t mention Yamaha. I have my original 1984-85 Yamaha. Just replaced the belt. Two motor, 1 Belt system. Ran test tones after. And it still sounds incredible for such an old machine. Metal tapes are the best. So expensive. I just am using Type 1. Not much for Dolby. Mine has B and C. Very little tape hiss on mine without Dolby. Debatable topic. I know. Anyway, really glad I found your channel. Liked and Subscribed.
Michael
Doh! I forgot Yamaha. They made some great stuff. I should probably write stuff down. I am glad yours is still giving you good service. Thank you so much for watching, subscribing and sharing your story. I do appreciate it very much.
New subscriber, just saw you and Kevin discussing on the sky lab video, A lot of takeaways, thank you and I enjoyed this video also❤
We had so much fun that day. Thanks for subscribing and commenting.
I started with cassette in the 80 and recorded records and then CD. My CD player had a peak search so would find the loud peak in the CD and loop it so setting the level was easy.
Then once Minidisc come along I switched away from tape. Now I’m back with it again and wished I kept my deck from back in the day.
But I luckily kept my high end Sony Walkmans so I still have them. I found a ES Sony deck at a thrift store but turned out to be bad so I’m still looking for something that’s not stupid eBay expensive so I can record.
I also have a unopened box is Sony Ceramic Metal Master blanks. That I learned are super expensive now.
Nice video
For some reason UA-cam redirected this to a different folder I only just found out about. I promise I was not ignoring you.
I have loads of cassette tapes in the house, blank sealed ones as well as recorded ones from all the top brands...my tape deck I'm using is a Yahama...
Just had my Nakamichi ZX-9 repaired, recapped and tuned. The repair cost was $600. Sounds great now.
I had a 680ZX, not as good as yours but a great unit. Thanks for watching.
I miss those days. I had a couple Technics Tape decks with dbx NR and it was awesome as long as the tape encoded with dbx was played back on dbx. I had to turn the treble way down on my car stereo when I played those in my car. I almost bought a player with dbx for the car, but they were a little too expensive for me at the time. In '97, I wandered away from cassettes, replacing them with MiniDisc.
dBX war a great system but not widely adopted. That is a great memory. Thank you for sharing it.
I grew up listening to cassette tapes and vinyls and still do to this day. Though I love CDs, yes LOVE them very much...BUT...there's nothing like playing or recording a cassette tape, not only for nostalgic purposes but the fun, especially with my Nakamichi CR-7A. I only use Type I tapes on the Nak and it sounds amazingly true-to-source, seriously and I'm not being bias (not a pun by the way). If one hasn't listened or record from a Nak deck, then they are truly missing out. Also, the decks do not need HX-Pro. It is THAT good!!!
By the way, I love those 3M Blackwatch tapes.
Thanks for visiting the channel.
My wife said you forgot to mention “The Make Out Tape”! Typically containing a lot of tracks from “The Best of Bread” album. “Baby I’m a want you . . Baby I’m a need you . . “ A lot of back seat memories there.
Yes! She is right. My best make out tape had Donna Summers and Robert Palmer and Grover Washington Jr. plus others. Please tell her I said thank you.
Just subscribed and love the content..I use two cassette decks in my system quite frequently a Yamaha KX-393 & Nakamichi CR2E and absolutely love recording to chrome & metal tapes of TDK, Maxell, Sony & that's to see how they stack up and it all sounds superb..keep up the good work..👍
Thank you so much. I appreciate your view and comments.
5 years ago I got a vintage CD+Cassette deck Denon DN-T620 with rack ears for my studio, only to find out a few years later that I'd need Dolby C on it which it seems to be lacking. Other than that, it seems to be a decent deck.
Good video.
Yeah, that's what we did in our youth. Either we copied the vinyl or CDs.
Today kids have no idea what they're getting into. They see it as something cool from the past and 'Analog'. In reality prerecorded tapes sound just OK and Dolby is a must to avoid hiss. I have a few cheap dual cassette decks and they're just very average when it comes to audio quality reproduction. They require constant maintenance: rollers, head cleaning, demagnetization, etc.
I would like to fix my Nak, 3 header, no DD. But getting parts for our machines is royal pain..., almost impossible. In my opinion it's one of the best Dolby C sounding machines I have had, w/o the usual breathing of compressor/expander.
I agree with you about Nak. They talk about the "Marantz" tax in vintage audio but fail to mention the "Nak" tax and then the upkeep and lack of parts. Thanks so much for commenting and give me a view.
Nice video Ed...I still listen to store bought cassettes that sound very good on my system. However, I will say this...I've been disappointed many times with defective cassettes that slow down or drag, which makes them unplayable. At first, I put the blame on the cassette deck being used but when the tape slows down on each cassette deck (I have about six different decks), I put the fault on the tape rather than the deck. Anyway, that being the case, I no longer purchase cassettes on Ebay or even in used record stores because they might be lemons!! But I have enough store boughts in my collection that sound good and play well that warrants an occasional investment at the electronics shop to make sure that they continue operate at their best...I still have a good quantity of new cassette tape by Scotch, Fugi, Maxell and BASF that I'll eventually use for recording my favorite artists...cheers!
I appreciate your comment Mr. Martinez. Thanks so much for watching.
Thanks for the upload. The best dual well cassette deck was apparently the Yamaha KX- W900U (1987-91). Of which I found and bought one and really like. Also should mention in the hall of fame the mighty Tascam 122 MKII (1987) or MKIII (1993).
Those are/were great units for sure. I appreciate your view and comment. Thanks so much.
Nice vid Ed! I own four decks (Nak BX-150, Dual C939, Pioneer CT F950 and a Luxman K-351). The Luxman is similar to your Sony. I’ve had all four serviced and restored.
I have a lot of used and NOS tapes, my favorite is the Sony UX-Pro 90 (several cases of NOS).
After getting the Luxman back a few weeks ago I have been recording some albums via ROON. No gapless so my deck will find the gaps.
I use a 300B SET tube amp and the sound is very good.
Collecting new and vintage gear after retirement has been a terrific hobby.
Virgil, Great channel you have. Thanks for watching and sharing. Those Sony tapes were very good. When we had the stores here in Chicago we sold That's tape (Taiyo Yuden), 3M Black Watch, and BASF. I really like the That's tape and the Black Watch. As you saw I still have 2 full cases of the 3M. The Luxman is a nice unit. It is from the era when Alpine Car Audio owned them. Not a bad thing. I am also a fan of tubes and am between tube amps right now. Looking for something that glows.
I run two Optmimus, dual well units SCT’s 55 & 56, and Tascam’s 112 for playback, and a Bang& Olufsen Beocord 1900 for recording only. Occasionally I’ll power-up a Tascam Mini-Disc (MD)
unit, the MD-350 to record CDs and use a portable Sony MD unit for playback. These are all tethered to a large Soundcraft Pro Mixer. And so lots of Vinyl, FM, and CD archive recordings are done with what (I affectionately call my audio hodgepodge).
Scott, Sounds like a cool rig. You have some good gear there. I never got into MD but, I did have a Sony ES DAT unit for a while, I honestly lost interest. Thanks so much for sharing and watching.
I only had double deck tape recorders and would share tapes with friends the early early days of Napster. The other issue with recording on auto was that most tapes had a blank leader, you normally had to cue the tape before starting to record.
Cueing up was normal back then and today also for some.
The goofy thing is some brands had 3 second leaders and others up to 6 seconds. Thanks so much for watching my friend.
Great video - thank you 😊👍
Thank you so much. I appreciate the view and the comment.
You are so right about Nakamichi. I decided to use them as milestone videos for my own channel, and that worked out well for my first one which was a BX-150, but then I tried to do it again with an old 480 from the early 80s. I got it going, but it cost an absolute fortune to buy and now that I'm done I'm stuck with a high hours machine that likely needs all three motors replaced. It's easy to get in over your head with that brand.
They were great in the day but, now... Thanks for watching and commenting.
I bought a used Nak 580 in 1990 for $275. It sounded and worked really well but even with its excellence, I don't miss the format.
You might consider doing a 2nd part or intermediate cassette comeback talk, Aside from Dolby B/C and even S, there was dbx and Digital NR. There's 3 head recording so you can listen to your recording in real time. There's bias control. There's prerecorded Dolby C, Digilog, and CrOs tapes out there.
So what I do is mix new technology with old. I mix my favorite songs using a DJ Controller, software like DJay AI and record to my Sony with Dolby S enabled (mostly). The software allows you to record a digital MP3 recording IF you own the music,. If you use a streaming service, you can't record- except to a tape deck of course! So now I have virtually unlimited songs- mixed- with the help of AI to beat match - on several cassette tapes. The quality of the sound is great with virtually no difference from a streaming service.
I didn't intend to really go any deeper. The target audience was someone who was curious and maybe considering get into it. I appreciate your passion for the format and am very glad you shared it. Thank you so much for watching and thanks for commenting.
Good stuff. You’re a natural at this. I probably through my little “briefcase” of tapes away a year ago. Mostly home recorded. I’ll live.
I did the same thing last fall. Tossed about 200 tapes, all home made too. Yes. I will live! Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I love being able to hear about everyone's experiences.
@@OldGuyHifi
I'm REALLY sorry to hear that! I hope they didn't just go in a landfill. FYI, A LOT of people are actually purchasing Used, already Recorded On "blank" cassette tapes like the ones you tossed out on eBay and getting CONSIDERABLE money for them if they are decent brands & types and in good shape!
I recently purchased a collection of about 60 TDK SA-X and Maxell XLII-S cassettes with various vinyl albums and CDs recorded on them. The seller noted the 3-head deck that was used to record them and that it used the Auto-Bias, which gave added confidence that the tape had not been oversaturated.
I checked them in my well-maintained Akai GX-95 3-Head deck and all but 2 of them were perfect and so far the ones I've used to re-record my own music on resulted in perfect quality recordings.
One man's trash is still another man's treasure!
That is true. I do have several unopened NOS 10 cassette boxes of 3M Black Watch 100 min. I am considering putting up on eBay. I have others but really don't do tape anymore and the pre-recorded stuff was just collecting dust and mildew. Thanks for all your comments.
The issue with Dolby NR is that everything has to be top notch for it to work properly, or else you do end up with the slightly muted highs. Tape has to be decent quality, and also head azimuth has to be dead-on. Unfortunately, in practice, not very many decks are aligned exactly the same way. That even goes for dual well dubbing decks, and even auto reverse decks sometimes vary a bit between the A and B sides.
I’ve always had to realign all my home decks and the one I used to have in the car, in order to minimize any variances. Once I did that, Dolby worked just fine between the different decks.
Thank you so much for another great video, Ed.
Regarding the timer feature you talk about around the 3:50 mark, this switch simply detetmines what happens as soon as the machine gets connected with electricity.
One does not necessarily need a certain timer unit for it to work.
This way you can wake up with your favourite tape being played automatically.
Or it will record your favourite radio show while you're away.
It also can erase your own tape, in case it gets activated accidentally.
Of course your are right. I remembered that while I was editing and didn't want to reshoot that segment. Thank you for the correction. Kenwood also made receivers with an auto start timer so the whole system could turn on. Those types of units were popular in Japan. Thank you for watching and for contributing to the conversation.
Nice video. You forgot one brand that made wonderful and affordable cassettedecks and that was Yamaha. Their auto-tune function with a seperate bias control was a nice addition for a 2-head deck which resulted in perfect recordings. The KX-series from begin 90's till the end of life of the cassettedecks were superb! A lot of people ,me also in the past, had problems with dolby. Dolby only works correctly if your deck is properly calibrated and set-up. A little bit off is enough to prevent Dolby from working properly. When azimuth,recording and playback levels were not calibrated right ,Dolby sounds not that good. Nowadays you can buy some test tapes and Nak T-100 software and do it yourself with some guidance from the service manual and some youtube videos. A lot of consumer decks came out of the factory and weren't calibrated properly so after a few tapes a lot of people left it off. They blamed the dolby system but it was actually their own deck which wasn't calibrated properly. I still use cassettes to make mixtapes because it's fun, nostalgic, and takes a bit of the digital harsness away when copying from CD. The real fun begins when your source is a Hi-Res source. Tape adds some warmth to a perfect Hi-Res source which makes it wonderful combination on type 2 or type 4 tape. I embrace all the formats from the past, reel to reel, cassette, DAT,Minidisk vinyl, CD, HI-Res . Listening to music is a experience that goes behind the quality of the equipment. It's an emotional thing and analogue warmth, a little bit of hiss, Vinyl noise, etc, can all contribute for a great listening experience. Nowadays music is in the cloud, we pay every month and own nothing and the musicians are getting a very small percentage from the streams, it's a shame. That's why concerts are so expensive. I always support bands with buying hardcopy's . They deserve it !!
kereping the pinch rollers and those other parts clean is important too! If they get gunked up that's why tapes get eaten
Yes. Do you remember the Disc Washer CPR cleaner? Thanks for the view and comment.
Thanks for the article, I got a little nostalgic there. I Had a few ES Sony including TC-K909ES a beautiful and excellent piece Also an Aiwa ADF990 which was capable of some astonishing recordings. Its Autobias was god tier good. I always felt certain Nakamichi were briliant, but others a bit meh!. I used mostly Maxell's TDK and Sony. Latterly, the Sony Super Metal Master was a lovely thing with its ceramic case. I think I'd like a good tape deck again, but recording media prices and scarcity are very off putting
The issue is no one is making decent tape anymore. NOS tape is expensive and going for 20+years old. It is fun and nostalgic but, I wind up streaming misty of the time. Great comment and thx for the view.
As an 80's kid I have a soft spot for cassettes. I didn't know shit about equipment or recording back then, but anyhow cassettes were _the_ way to share music among friends - just maybe a year or two before CD's came and everything changed! Thanks for your video!
Finland in the house! Thanks for watching.
@@OldGuyHifi Finland will always be in the house - as will be cassettes! All the best and keep it up! :)
Parhaat terveiset ja kiitos!
Thanks for the video. I still play cassettes through a tube amp. They sounds good to me!
I am glad you enjoyed it Dan. I bet that does sound good. I like the sound of glowing glass. Thank you for sharing. I like to hear other's thoughts and experiences.
Just sold an excellent sony deck. Before selling, I went through all my old mix tapes about 37 years old , about 50 of them only 2 or 3 played good the rest were just no good. But all my pre recorded ones were perfect, very nice sound.
I did the same thing last year. I sold off a couple of decks but kept the Kenwood just in case. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I used to buy new or used records, tape them on cassette and play them in my car, it was a good way of "breaking in" a new album.
Me too. That's a coincidence. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
That TDK tape you showed on your picture was a TDK D60 from 1979 and I still have a few of them
I found that image in a clip art gallery. I did even notice. Great eye! Thanks for watching and commenting.
a few years ago i bought a new belt for my JVC KD 85. i figured it was 40 years old and could use a new one. i took the belt and machine down to my local electronics repair shop. got a call a couple days later. the guy would not put the new belt in. too complex for him. in fairness it did require a lot of parts removal. just a story that fits the discussion.
Yes, it's true that many decks were/are extremely difficult to service, even for basic things such as replacing the belts. If anyone is considering the purchase of any cassette deck, try to do as much research as you can before purchasing a specific model.
Do a search for the Brand Name & Model # followed by "repair" or "service".
Have any suggestions to digitize my lps? I will check out that latest dac.
I stopped listening to digital as my immune caused tinnitus made it too painful. Would like to enjoy my CDs/iTunes and have better audio when watching movies. I run it old style(hard wire) rca and don’t do Bluetooth. Need a dac for cd/blue ray/dvd and computer audio. It be a bonus if it had the ability to convert lps to a digital-a 2 for 1. Not even sure that’s an option. Apologies if I’m asking misinformed. I haven’t kept up all that well.
No worries. No one that I know of makes a D to A and an A to D in one box. The good news is the A to D units aren't expensive. If you want to copy analog to your PC this device will work: amzn.to/3XYH9dj. If you just want to input analog and get a digital out on coax/optical or HDMI then this unit look like it would do the job: amzn.to/3WsJXyp. As for a good inexpensive DAC I can recommend the the SMSL SU-1 at about $80, amzn.to/3LlZmKu or if you want a bit more performance then the Geshelli Labs J2 is excellent. I just did a review of their new J3 Pro. Link to the J2: geshelli.com/product/jnog2/. I hope this helps. Let me know how it all works out. Thank you so much for the view and great question.
I have a good collection of high quality cassette decks, and love them! The main issue is that type II and IV tapes have not been made in quite a few years, and will never be again. Fortunately I have a good stock of both. Good recordings can still be made with type I tapes if you know what you're doing. Cheers, Paul!
Paul, A viewer alerted me of company still making type II tapes here in the US that are good quality and not crazy expensive. National Audio Co. www.nationalaudiocompany.com. Let me know what you think of this. Thanks so much for watching and sharing.
@@OldGuyHifi Well, I got a sample and have to say that it was horrible. One problem is that modern type II tapes are cobalt based and have quite different parameters than a chrome tape. But that's not what I critisize - you need to calibrate the deck for these. The problem with the sample tape was that it had an quite unstable sensitivity and a lot of dropouts. I've read that some time ago they used NOS tape for their cassettes which should have been good quality. But the current type simply is not.
@@TLang-el6sk Sorry you had a bad experience. I only know what that viewer told me. I will take the recommendation down. Thank you so much for letting me know.
@@OldGuyHifi That's exactly what I intended: A recommendation based on my personal experience. I was quite happy to find out that type II tape is still available new. But I wanted to try out the tape before ordering a large supply. And that is also what I would recommend everyone to do before buying greater quantities of these tapes.
When testing the sample tape with the disappointing results I was digging a bit and found a statement that NAC once had good quality tape from old stock but switched over some time ago.
Great video! It makes sense that tapes,Cds and vinyl records are coming back because streaming services are getting worst and worst
Good point. Thank you so much for commenting and tuning in.
And its not for free mostly
Just found you today and subscribed. Cool show, thanks for sharing
Paul, Thanks for the sub and comment.
Ed. Thanks for the advice. I have a nice vintage Harman Kardon deck that occasionally stops and shorts the outputs. Don’t know if it is worth repairing but I hate to give up the dozens of recorded cassettes i have. Are the new Pyle decks any good or is buying on eBay worth the risk?
Stay away from anything with the Pyle name on it. Their stuff is shit. If you search eBay, and there are some deals to be had there, make sure the seller offers returns and the units say "repaired, reconditioned, tested," etc. Stick to brands like Teac, Akai, Tascam, Denon, Yamaha, HK, Pioneer, Sony ES, and you should be fine. Also make sure it has Dolby "C" that way you would be getting a later model and better sound. Let me know how you make out. Good luck and thanks for watching and commenting.
I have a Kenwood KX 3510. Records tapes ok without distortion but has distortion on play back of any tape. Several other people on line have had the same problem with this deck. So I just record with the Kenwood only and use a Pioneer Cassette deck to play back the tapes. Kind of a strange problem.😟
I have not had that experience. Have you tried the summons stuff like cleaning the heads, etc?
@@OldGuyHifi I tried a lot of things. I bought it off of E bay so it could be anything. It is almost like the output is too much for the amplifier. There is no output level control knob. I just record with it which works fine and play the tape on a different deck.
I like tapes for the nostalgia and the tactile sensation of opening the case and seeing how they are built. I was born in the 70 and bought vinyl if I could afford it over albums on cassette. And I would also make a tape copy and make mix tapes which was the real great thing about cassettes back before recordable CDs and mp3. It a shame that swapping mix tapes with friends isn’t a thing anymore. It was always special if you had a couple good friends to do that with because you would try to create a mix that had music that you liked that you might want to turn them on to if they weren’t also a fan. If they were in another state even better to get that tape in the mail. It’s almost like getting to hang out with them even though they are far away. One thing my friends and I liked to do was insert clips or samples of non-music audio in between tracks. You couldn’t do it every track because it was to gimmick-y that way because the music is still the focus and over doing it took away from that. You also didn’t want to make them too long for the same reason. But if you and your friend saw a particular movie together and then got the vhs and watched that at the others house a bunch of times ( which is 😮what we did before you could binge watch like now) until you knew certain line by heart you would record that short clip of Chong saying “Dave’s not here” right before a track of “Why Can’t This Be Love” of 5150 by Van Halen, the first album without David Lee Roth in the band. If you were good and wanted to spend extra time your would get it so the end of one track could blend really well into the interstitial clip and then that into the next track so it was a smooth transition from end of one track to the funny clip into the next track. We did this with or one more techniques like timing and cross fading. It was always so satisfying to get one of those transition to sound so smooth perfectly timed with a clip that thematically matched the music where it added so much to the experience of listen to music your heard a 100” times before. And if you played those mix tapes to death you would eventually associate those clips with the tracks that if you heard the same song today would be expecting to hear the clip afterward.
Tripp, That's an awesome story and what a great memory. Music can bind us together and build friendships that can last forever. I am so glad you shared that. Making tapes was a lot of fun and quite rewarding. I love the sneaking in a clip now and then trick. Classic. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you subscribed. Thx.
I used to do the same thing with albums, but with a reel-to-reel tape. Preserved the albums and listened on tape. I no longer have reel-to-reel. I still have a box full of cassette tapes that I also recorded. 👍🏼🎶😎
Maybe it is time to buy an old deck and listen to those old tapes? I also had a reel to reel machine but wound up only using it occasionally. I had a Studer-Revox PR99 MKIII that was very nice. Thanks for tuning in Norman. I do appreciate it.
@@OldGuyHifi My reel tape deck was an Akai, circa 1972. I bought a Nice quality cassette deck by Teac, 1990. Enjoying your content. You are good explaining different functions of equipment. Appreciate your videos. We started our audio journey in the same way. My first piece of gear was also a portable cassette deck/recorder. I smiled when you said your first cassette tape was Sgt Pepper. Funny how we remember those things. My first tape was Cream’s Disraeli Gears. 👍🏼🎶😎
Great machines. It's curious how we don't forget the things that made an impact on our lives. That little portable of mine was a big part of my audio journey. Thank you for sharing. It's fun.
I just want a decent quality reliable cassette player that I can use to play back old cassette recordings of music I've made years ago so I can record them into a computer or other digital device to remaster them and preserve them in a digital format before my tapes degrade to a point the music would become lost forever!!!!
That deck you have is very nice!!! I would like to have a fully restored and serviced deck similar to yours, or any high-end late 80's-mid 90's deck.
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UPDATE: I typed my above post right after I just started watching your video and before I finished watching the whole video. Now that I've seen it in it's entirety, you hit directly on many of the points I just mentioned above with tips on what to look out for when shopping for a used deck and what decks and brands of decks you recommend!!!! Thank you so much for making this very helpful and informative video.
I am so glad you were able to get something from the video. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
@@OldGuyHifi You're welcome!
Even back in the day I only used tapes to record vinyl albums so I could play them in the car. No surprises that the players were designed to eat tape and I sure as hell couldn't afford anything more expensive. I *get* vinyl, even if it's a money pit, and I get reel-to-reel for the serious collectors, but cassettes went the way of the dodo for a reason. The humble CD is the only physical media for me but horses for courses - enjoy cleaning those heads !
You are so right. Thanks for watching and commenting and hopefully subscribing.
I used to record my college classes and other stuff like that one a lot of tapes and still have a great deal of them.
hi if i get cassette's i go to tapeline in the uk the thing is alot now have the make of tape all over the cassette and you can't see the tape moving
i was lucky i got hold of a tascam 238 that was in a bad way i can service all my gear yes you are right them high end decks are right pain to fix up
i gone in to to pro side gear like betacam decks there is a liner audio track on the tapes wow the betacam tape sound very good
the cost of new cassette's is now got silly
Thanks for the view and comment Bob. BTW I love cats too. We used to use 4-head Hifi VHS machines as audio recorders. The tape moves fast enough that you didn't need any noise reduction. The audio quality reviled CD and DAT and you got 2 hours of record time. Thanks for stopping by.
Not the greatest technology but i am pleased the amount of respect you;re giving it (-:
Thank you. I am a frim believer in any format can bring joy as long as you are listening to your favorite music. Thx.
LOL 😆, I never gave up on cassettes, nor did I part with my albums when cds arrived either!
Ricardo, Me neither until recently. I got rid of my cassettes because I hadn't touched them in years. I still have all my LPs. Thx for tuning in and commenting.
Some people are getting back to cassettes, but there’s no tape industry (at least here in Brazil, where I live). I pay a lot of money for new old stock tapes, even Type I. New fabricated tapes are low quality. So I’m dealing with used tapes. It’s not the same thing, it doesn’t sound good as new tapes, but anyway, I’m really enjoying my tapes with today’s music. It just sound different, and this is amazing.
Ivan, I am sorry to hear that. There is a link in the video's description to a company here in the US that still makes good tapes. Maybe they can help. National Audio. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
Greetings from West Michigan. I really enjoyed the video. I suggest a video that explains how to do the connections for "streaming." Please... Thanks, RG
Roger, If I could ask a favor? Could you elaborate on your idea? Thank you.
I'll try. I guess I'm interested in doing what you did. Stream music to the tape deck to record. But what connections do you make? USB, Line In, Line Out, etc? Roger
I understand. Most of my equipment has a "line" out, "record" out or a "tape" out. If you gear doesn't no worries as a simple "Y" cable from your source device will work. Avoid using a "Per-amp" out as the signal will track with the system's volume. "Tape/record" out is the best choice if you have it. Let me know if that is a workable solution for you. Thanks so much.
Thanks, I will.
i use a modified 3 head tape deck to make my tapes and a home made for listening. i always use an eq to make the sound match my ears response curve. our ears are very sesitive around 3 kilohertz so i use an eq to lower those frequencies and boost the 10k and up to make up for my ears poor response at those higher frequencies.
Michael, You make a good point. I cut a dB or 2 at 2KHz to soften/warmify the vocal region. I just made that word up. At my age I have nothing above 12KHz any way so I don't worry about. My regular system has a warmish (another one, he's on roll) sound anyway. Thank you so much for you view and comment. I love to hear about everyone's thoughts.
@@OldGuyHifi i hpoe i dont lose those high frequencies. i like the sparkly clear sound
Hi ... I'm New in your Channel and yes for me the cassette make a comeback. I have more than 500 cassettes...I have purchased a TEAC W1200 wich is a very pièce of crap.. but I have a technics that I have purchased for 40 € who works more better... I love cassettes and vinyles and minidiscs and DAT and CD's of course....All thé physical formats. Thanks for your review
Mireille, I also love many of the physical formats. Wow! 500 cassettes! That is quite a collection. I am so glad you enjoy your music. Thank you so much for your view and comment.
Tape ist just the very best analog way for audio content.
Had a collection of several hundreds of records back then, was always very careful with those and as well just recorded them on tape and stored them away.
For a long time i was convinced, records were the ultimate audio source, because of the high dynamic range and all that .. until one day when i learned, that the source of ALL those so dynamic sounding records in my collection was actually... TAPE! 😅
Tape was always the recording and mastering medium. In some cases there are studios that still master to tape. I appreciate your view and comment. Thank you.
I've had good luck with JVC auto-reverse decks. Azimuth is bang-on both sides no matter what. I won't do it by standard practice, but even recording done on reverse, plays back perfectly fine on other decks for both sides. I never even thought this was possible until I lucked out with a JVC auto-reverse deck from 1985 that just does it. I even fine adjusted the Azimuth using several test tapes. It's my old reliable workhorse daily player. When I wanna just listen...and not have my audio fucked up on the b-side, wrecking the experience. 😏
That's great that you found the "deck of your dreams." Just kidding. Sounds like a nice unit and I am glad it works for you so well. I appreciate you sharing that. I also appreciate the view. Thank you.
20:24 lol crazy what metal tapes sell for now
I know. I have 2 unopened cases of 3M Black Watch 100 min. Metal tapes. I have seen them on eBay for $30.00 ea. Crazy! Maybe I should sell mine? Thanks for watching and commenting.
Cool, have subscribed.
Thank you so much.
@@OldGuyHifi My pleasure bro. If you can do the same for me that would be great, thanks.
@@harveysvintageaudio I just did. Let's keep in touch. Thx.
@@OldGuyHifi Absolutely, thanks again.
Recording the first play of an LP is what I used to do too. Meanwhile my Teac cassette deck has been gathering dust and spiders in the basement for decades. I have absolutely no desire to return to those days but I can see how it might be interesting to cassette noobs.
Recording the first play. Does that date us? A lot of small indie and alternative bands sell cassettes at their shows so it might be enticing younger folks to check out tape. Thanks so much for tuning in and commenting.
After having learned the practice with cassettes, some people went through a phase of dubbing LPs onto CD when optical drives were ubiquitous. While I understand the concept of buying an bum and sparing it plays, I never saw the point of making copies of my own LPs; I just play them, infrequently, on decent equipment and after cleaning them. But I have dubbed a few recordings that were not already in my library. We all did, right?
One issue with playing and making cassettes is the lack of any decent new machines. Everything is used, without warranty, and somewhat prone to various expensive and/or tricky-to-fix failures. I have a Denon DR-M10HR, a pretty decent machine, with a faulty capstan motor. It won't start on its own and runs very slowly but can be persuaded, by poking it in the speed pot, to run at chipmunk speed. I suspect the motor is available, but getting it out will be a PITA. Meantime I have no backup and will have to rely on my Nak CD 1.
It sure would be nice if a few manufacturers would return to making decent cassette decks so we wouldn't be at the mercy of the used market. I don't see that happening.
The problem is that there is not a big enough market for cassettes to entice someone to get back in the player business. I am sure it would require all new tooling etc. I appreciate you sharing your experience and thanks for your view.
Talking of tape....I would appreciate an episode on your thoughts on the now defunct medium, DAT (Digital Audio Tape).which I thought was amazing tape fidelity format...Thanks.
Great idea. Maybe I will. Thx
I used a portable professional Tascam DAT recorder in the mid-90s to capture on-location or in-the-field Sound Clips and Foley sound EFX recording for film & TV...everything from construction sites with jackhammers to cattle/cow moos & a horse whinny, owls, crickets, and frogs, to crashing waves and seagulls, etc.
We also used a 1/4" Fostex Model E-2 Reel-2-Reel Mastering tape machine for music mastering and film soundtrack mixdown. The E-2 is a 2-channel machine with a unique 3rd "Cue" track, i.e. used for SMPTE Time Code sync, or director's notes, etc.
For Cassette tapes, I'm using a very nice and fully refurbished/serviced Akai GX-95 3-Head deck.
Despite what anyone wants to claim, it really is pretty much indistinguishable from a master analog tape or digital/CD recording.
Engineer, Anthony Grimani, at Dolby Labs at the time, proved this when they conducted group blind listening tests during the development of Dolby C noise reduction. There is a relatively recent UA-cam interview featuring Anthony Grimani where he recounts this.
As a young musician, the compact cassette was a relatively inexpensive way to record practice or performances. It was a great way to almost instantaneously hear what/how you were playing and correct/improve your technique...similar to what digital photography and how it allowed you to instantly see your image and correct exposure and composition in real time rather than waiting for analog film to be processed.
Some Cassette Decks had Stereo Microphone inputs, and I used an Audio-Technica Stereo Microphone to record many of our band's practices and performances (I was a drummer & saxophonist).
The portability aspect of the format was also HUGE at the time. As you mentioned, we could now record a full Vinyl LP on just one side of a cassette tape and take them with us in the car or anywhere using a Sony Cassette Walkman or similar portable player. I had a Sony WM-101 Walkman auto-reverse portable cassette player that was barely larger than a compact cassette case and it had Dolby NR as well!
But making custom "MIXTAPES" of our favorite music and/or recording local Radio Programming, and then being able to play them back almost anywhere and at any time was IMPO the greatest aspect of the compact cassette (at that time). These types of Mixtapes were a boon for long road trips, air travel, and vacations/holidays.
We could now just record and compile just our favorite songs from an entire LP (or from Multiple LPs, and later from CDs) onto a single tape, or record special radio live broadcast performances, interviews, guests, etc.
Local or College radio stations usually had a variety of "shows" or music sets that showcased a specific genre and/or often times "underground" or unique music. Santa Monica, CA's KCRW and San Diego's 91X were popular radio stations in the SoCal area (and KCRW is still going strong, with streaming as well).
If you lived in the Los Angeles area in the late 70's through the 80's, there was a late night radio program on 84.7 FM "KMET" (and also syndicated nationwide) by a radio DJ called the "Dr. Demento Show" which played exclusive, unique, wacky, eclectic, obscure, and "questionable" music and comedy content that you would otherwise not hear ANYWHERE else.
As a youngster in this era, the Dr Demento radio shows were seemed to be taboo and almost shocking, LOL. The compact cassette allowed us to record those unique shows and much more and play them back any time or share them with family and friends, etc.
FYI, the "Dr. Demento Show" episodes are now available on a website of the same name, and many are also posted here on UA-cam.
But then CD-R & CD-RW disc burning became possible, and shortly after digital "MP3 Players", the ubiquitous iPod, and Napster came along and changed our music listening, sharing, and consumption forever.
But it still blows my mind how amazing and low noise a well-recorded cassette tape using microscopic magnetic particles rearranged by on a moving substrate by a physical record/playback head, as well as the fidelity of a vinyl LP using physical cut grooves and a stylus pickup can sound given the physical natures of these mediums!
I remember Dr. Demento. He was syndicated here in Chicago. I agree, a well recorded cassette can sound very good. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
You can still get 'chrome' tapes - i.e. Type II tapes - albeit not in chromium dioxide (CrO2) formulation. Maxell XL II and TDK SA are 2 examples. Best tapes in my opinion. It's Type III that disappeared a long time ago.
Type III wasn't really used in the U. S. The idea was that it would combine the low-frequency response of Type I with the high-frequency response of Type II. I think that it was the introduction of Type IV (Metal) which was better that ended Type III tapes.
Took a lot of CD's and recorded them cassette as my car at the time only had a cassette player and did not own any portable CD players.
Dolby NR most certainly does remove high frequencies by nature. Hiss is an audio frequency of white noise. You can verify this with spectral analysis and your ears alone. The biggest problem with Dolby NR is, a tape deck can't just remove the hiss. It has to dampen a wide range in the analog domain. However, other non-Dolby systems allow you to do it digitally now in real time. It can analyze the 2-3 seconds of hiss before the music plays, calculate what it needs to remove and just removes that... leaving the majority in tact. Of course, It still removes frequencies, but it's much less perceivable unlike when you turn Dolby NR on. It doesn't matter if it's Dolby A, B, C, or even S, you hear it instantly. To my ears, Dolby NR sounds like you've put a muffler on your speakers.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Tape was not perfect, but then what is?
I have a Sony TC WE 435 that still performs well. In the 70s and 80s I used my dad’s Hitachi cassette deck to record.
I mainly used them to make miscellaneous tapes, not to preserve albums :)
I did that a well. Making tapes for the car or boom box was all part of the journey. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I do appreciate it.
Hello too you... I really enjoyed yout video, and Im sure to follow you in the future. My sutuation is this> I used to have Audio Research (D70 / SP8) geat since mid 1980's. And only now changed for an Extraudio X250T integrated amp... It is a revelation my AR 14 speakers...from late 1970's. I listen to stream (Tidal) on a Cambridge streamer and I m more than happy. However I miss a good tape to complete the setup. I used to think of R to R...but maybe a Cassette Deck would be good?
Eric, Thank you for watching and subscribing. Sounds like you have a very nice system. Good for you. If you are thinking about tape go with cassette as reel to reel is the most expensive format on earth. A decent well maintained machine can run upwards of $2,000.00 to $5,000.00. Tape is getting very expensive. A good refurbished cassette machine can be had for $300.00 to about $800.00 on Ebay. I would be curious to hear what you decide. Thanks so much for sharing.
tape is never gonna to come close in dynamics, signal to noise ratio and frequency response. to good quality streaming, or CD. so why....?
@@thepuma2012
Ummm...95% of "good" recordings/music have less than 12dB of Dynamic Range anyway! You're lucky if a recording has 15dB of dynamic range...so it's almost a moot point. With that level of DR, the 95% of the noise (SNR) is buried or masked in the music.
FYI, I'm a musician (drummer/percussion/saxophonist) with what you might call a "high end" home recording studio.
In addition, almost every "audiophile" in this demographic over 40+ years old can't hear much above 15kHz, or at least their sensitivity to those high frequencies is considerably diminished. See the Fletcher-Munson/Equal Loudness Curve.
I'm not saying that everyone should abandon CDs or good quality digital streaming and switch exclusively to using cassettes, LOL, but IF you had/have a decent cassette deck and recorded with good quality tape that was set with the proper tape Bias and Levels, the sound quality and SNR is very respectable!
For example, while working on the development of Dolby C Noise Reduction at Dolby Labs, engineer Anthony Grimani proved that using a decent quality cassette deck with good tape and proper Bias & Recording Levels was INDISTINGUISHABLE from the playback of the same music via its R2R analog master tape or a digital CD of that music which was confirmed through Blind Group Listening Tests. A wide variety of "experienced listeners" could only GUESS which was which, LOL. There is a relatively recent interview on UA-cam featuring Anthony Grimani where he recounts this. (He now makes very high-end loudspeaker systems and acoustic treatment products).
I could demonstrate the same today using a well recorded "audiophile" CD such as Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms" or Roxy Music's "Avalon" recorded onto a cassette tape using my Akai GX95 cassette deck.
The best music to demonstrate or try to pick out the differences is a well-recorded solo piano track or the dynamics and harmonics and decay of percussion instruments, especially cymbals.
Very interesting and you make some very points. Yeah, I got nothing above about 12kHz. I think met Anthony when I was at Harman. It was some CES event and it was just quick introduction at a large social event. I wish I had, had a chance to talk to him. Thank you.
Dear sir...cassettes come back again pls... release songs in cassettes to remember olden golden memories... pls release soon in all countries...tnk u..
I wish I could. There can have good memories. Thx,
: First-time viewer. Cool vid. Has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like David Letterman? If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't know the difference.
That will go on the Top 10 list from the home office in Lebanon, IN. That hilarious. You made my day Joe. Thanks so much.
😂😂😂