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Cassette decks. How good can it get?

I know some guys are going to just want to say a bunch of negative stuff about tape decks and tell me how bad they sound.  There is a lot of music that comes out on tape only (you usually get download too) so I have been acquiring quite a stack of cassettes.  I have a couple of Nakamichi decks BX100 and BX300. The 300 is not working and was thinking of trying to repair.  I am wondering how good of sound you can get out of cassette?  Has anyone taken the leap up to something like the much more expensive Nakamichis or other brands even.  I enjoy the sound. Mainly it's the background noise more than anything but even that is somewhat tolerable.  

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Showing 2 responses by terry9

terry9
2,243 posts
 

I have two Nakamichi CR-7’s, one gear and one belt. Belt is better. But with my current vinyl setup, there is virtually no wear, and little reason to tape.

CR-7 is a 3 head machine with an auto setup feature, which is very convenient. Also an azimuth adjustment for playing tapes from lesser machines. It does not have the cast frame of the 1000 (and, I understand, the Dragon).

Even with metal tapes, there is a small loss of quality with cassette, but it’s not bothersome to me. Best of all are the ceramic body cassettes, but they are pretty much unobtainium now.

 

terry9
2,243 posts
 

@officerat So I understand. I looked for some time before I bought a big stash of good tapes, and that was many years ago.

EDIT: Depends on how deep your pockets are. Just looked on Ebay, and it seems you can get used ones for about $40, new for $200.

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