Cassettes still rock!

I've just recently wound my way back to my cassette collection, (I have hundreds and hundreds).

I've had a blast listening and doing quite a bit of recording.  Glad I kept a bunch of sealed blank tapes.

Maybe not the best in reproduction, but what a good time!

I was a Nakamichi dealer from the middle 70's until they imploded and can attest to Willy's statement(s).

IMHO, nothing was made or sounded as good as a properly working Nak!  There were a few that came close (some Tandberg, Revox, Akai, Tascam/Teac), but a Nak is a Nak...

There is a really good documentary on Amazon Prime titled:

Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/cassette-a-documentary-mixtape

If you REALLY want to go crazy try looking at prices of genuine Nakamichi tapes on eBay.

I have several hundred sealed blank cassettes left over from one of the last stores I owned.  A lot of various brands.

I was on E-Bay just looking to see what some of them were selling for.  I have a couple of cases of the Teac CRC-90 tapes that look like tiny reel to reel tapes.  I auctioned off 2 tapes that were still sealed, but had small tears/rips in the wrappers.  They sold for $130!  People are crazy for some of these...

I've spent all day with my cassettes!  I won a huge auction on E-Bay for around 125 recorded on once, (well according to the seller, but all of them are in excellent condition, tapes & cases).  Included were Maxell XLII90, XLII100, XLIIS90, XLIIS100, TDK SA90, SA-X90, SA-X100.  I paid next to nothing for all of these.  The tape gods were certainly smiling on me that day.

I have a commercial/professional tape degausser that came out of a recording studio, that does a fantastic job at cleaning these up.

I'm now on my third recording of the day.  So far these have been perfect.  Hopefully most will be the same.

Boy, I sure love this.  Hands on and very rewarding.  What a BLAST!!!

Anyone have (or used to have) a Harmon Kardon CD-491 deck?

I have a CD-391 deck.  Bought it from the original owner along with a HK590i receiver for like $75 for both.  Units were in mint condition and I use them in one of my record rooms.

Excellent cassette deck.

BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, blank TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassette can fetch?  

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=TDK+SA90+BLACK+Limited+Edition+cassette&_sacat=14962

Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.

I always preferred Maxell to TDK, although I have a bunch of TDK.

Being a dealer, I think I sold almost every brand of tape, at one time or another.

My Favorites:

3M BlackWatch
Denon 
Fuji
Maxell 
Nakamichi
TDK
That's

Least Favorites:

BASF (awful)
DAK (double awful)
Memorex
Radio Shack/Realistic
Recoton
Scotch


The Nakamichi tape was just hand picked TDK, (from the middle of the pancake reel.  Supposed to be more uniform).  It was fine, but IMHO, no better than the TDK equivalent. 

Got a couple blank Fuji will try recording on them later.

I've had excellent luck with Fuji tapes.  I have lots of them.  One of my favorites.

The best tapes, (getting specific) that I have ever tried:

Sony Metal Master (Ceramic Shell)
TDK MA-R  (Metal Shell)
TDK MA-XG (Metal Shell)
That's Suono

BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, unused TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassettes can fetch? I've got a few, maybe someone will be interested in buying them, but I don't know how much to ask for them.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=TDK+SA90+BLACK+Limited+Edition+cassettes+&_sacat=14962

I posted a wanted ad a week ago on Craigslist for Nakamichi decks. Like I had stated above, I was a Nak dealer for many years and owned quite a few, but over the years and with various life situations, I had to sell most of them.

My Nak rep, (he sold other gear too), retired a few years ago and I picked up a very clean LX3 from him for $100. He had others, but I didn’t have the money at the time.

Over the past few days, I bought a (9/10, but not working) LX5 that took me a couple of hours to work on and it runs like a champ now for $50 and just purchased a (8/10) 680ZX that had a complete Willy Hermann service, (he had the receipt) back in 2009, for $300, that runs like new.

Must say, Nak fever hit me hard, but I think I’m cured, (for the time being anyway).

(I don’t mean to make light of the COVID19 circumstance...Sorry!)

@uberwaltz

Sweet! I think you’ll really like them.

Was that lot the 46 minutes tapes?  I bid on those, but it got to be a little too much money for me.

@uberwaltz...I prefer the 46 minutes tapes also. I have probably more of them than anything else. However, I have noticed that the newer albums tend to be longer.

Back in the day, most albums fit on a 46 minute tape no problem. I just recorded a couple that cut off the last song (or two). Even some 90 minutes tapes are too short for some of the newer stuff, (one full album per side).

IMHO, you did great on the price of those. Some were metal, so really not too bad. I had just bought that huge lot of tapes and really didn’t need anymore. That’s why I gave up.

I still have some of the Teac (3) bottle kits. Head cleaner, rubber conditioner and Stainless Steel Polish.

I have tried this and found it works very well on both the heads/capstans and pinch rollers. Even the instructions say it’s safe:

https://www.americanrecorder.com/products/professional-tape-head-cleaner-2-oz?variant=1235336256

I have some of this too:

https://www.mgchemicals.com/products/cleaning-products-for-electronics/cleaners/specialty-cleaners/rubber-renue-408a-408b

They make a head cleaner also, but I really like the American Recorder fluid better.

https://www.mgchemicals.com/products/cleaning-products-for-electronics/cleaners/specialty-cleaners/audiovideo-head-cleaner-407c