I have to agree on the paucity of liner note information given with the typical cassette, usually a single sided piece of very thin card with just a photo of the album cover was very common.
Of course there are exceptions and I do possess some that have big fold out notes although the print is very small for sure.
Definitely not one of the cassettes high points... lol
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Threw them away??
Criminal.... Lol.
Could have at least taken to Salvation Army!
😁😁 |
Nice deck Tomcy6!
Hopefully someone has a good answer for you.
I am still using a tape head and roller cleaning solution I bought probably 15 years ago...lol.
I bought 3 bottles and still only on the second.
Unfortunately it does not list content or ingredients on the label.
It is made by Vinyl Styl.
Good luck and have fun with that deck. |
@mofimadness
Yes it was the 46 minute tapes and yes I likely paid a little too much but I made my final bid and hoped it was enough and it was.
I would have preferred less but still pretty fair price for the level of tape and each one should hold an album and then be similar in layout to a pre recorded tape, rather than the more common 90 minute tape with an album either side.
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@mofimadness
I won an auction for 21 Fuji tapes and they were just delivered.
Mix of FR Metal, FR-11 & FX-11.
All pristine.
Will see how they perform recording wise compared to my normal TDK SA tapes. |
I picked up a cheap Akai Cassette deck from fleabay just because it is same vintage look as my Sanyo receiver in second system.
Gave it a good blast inside with Deoxit and played a tape. Not too bad.
Cleaned the heads and demagnetized them while I was at it.
But biggest surprise is recording on it and then playing that back.
I threw in a cheap but brand new TDK D tape and recorded a Brand X album off Qobuz.
I hate to say it as too many Debbie Downers around still but the recorded playback from this el cheapo deck is quite astounding.
Rivalled the original source at least in sq.
For $30 I am pretty pleased with myself! |
Tomic
Some people are vastly over pricing the Dragons.
Sure it was top knotch but in reality not truly much above a zx7 or zx9 which are likely the best bet in top end Nakamichi ownership for value vs performance.
Still, nothing worthwhile will be a $100 CL buy... lol
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Mhmyers.
Yep, it ain’t no joke how good some tapes cam sound on a good Nakamichi deck.
Op
Just about any thread on Cassettes is going to end up being a Nakamichi lovefest.... for obvious good reasons.
Enjoy, |
Cannot say as I have EVER thought cassettes were crap.
Do yourself a favour and listen to some very well recorded tapes on a great Nakamichi deck.
Then come back and comment with a less jaundiced eye.
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Wyoboy.
It's in line already,only 8 months to go....
🤣🤣🤣🤣 |
Wyoboy.
I did not mean any disrespect with my comments and hope it did not sound that way.
I just hoped I had not missed anything in last couple of weeks and Willy had suddenly called it quits!
Glad to see he has not as my 660zx is next up for surgery! |
Good to see you here Willy.
Wyoboy was the member who thought you had retired.
I corrected him on that and I guess he emailed to verify.
This is Kevin in Florida with the zx7 you just restored and extremely happy with the job you did for me.
Nice to see you bringing a technical perspective to the questions.
👍👍 |
Why do you say “ with Willy Hermann gone”??
Did you mean when he goes?
He literally just restored my zx7, like 6 weeks ago and I spoke to him on the phone 4 weeks ago. |
I feel sorry for those of you who can't enjoy great CD derived music sound. DACs and players have greatly improved since their inception. Hmm. Maybe I missed something here? I don’t remember saying I don’t enjoy superb digital replay, just the opposite in fact. However I also vastly enjoy superb analog replay INCLUDING Cassette replay. Now yes the numbers for consistency on Cassette are lower than vinyl or cd but that’s just on pre recorded tapes. Some of my home recorded efforts sound quite a bit better than a fair percent of the pre recorded tapes. And some nearly on par with vinyl. I don’t think anybody is claiming Cassette is superior media in any way, just that it’s not all bleak as some would have you believe. But hey everyone has a different perspective and that’s just hunky dory. |
Agreed that the mass produced run of the mill tapes were elcheapo and could and did have their good and bad efforts.
Later as tapes popularity was waning they released some very good quality stuff, sort of like MoFi for vinyl.
I have a bunch of them and they are outstanding.
HX Pro , XDR and factory CRo2 are good ones to look for. |
Sorry Mapman but I would have to vigorously disagree on everything bar the VHS HiFi machines, they did make a great recording.
And no I'm not looking at this through rose tinted spectacles.
My zx7 is set up in same main rig as my 401 and Aurender so i can easily switch quick between all formats.
I hate to quote GK but you should hear what I hear. |
Thanks MoFi.
Looks like I need broaden my horizons on tape type.
Just dug through my blank tape stash.
After putting all the SA tapes to one side left with a few odd ones.
Fuji dr1 x 3
Maxell xl2 x 4
Sony ux x 2.
Don't really know if any of them are decent? |
Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.
My zx7 is calibrated to that tape exactly.
I imagine probably as good though. |
Thank the lord they were not CD quality, I likely would not be bothering to listen to them.
Its got to be a special CD to hold my attention right now. Most are so overly compressed it aint funny!
Now a good remastered SACD or DVD-A is another story entirely!
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Wonderful haul mofi!
Sometimes you can still score big on eBay.
Good job I did not see that auction... Lol
You would have had a bit more of a fight on your hands to win.😎
Enjoy! |
yea nothing like the hiss of a cassette tape…give me a break... Too funny Thanks for that though... |
Sorry GK
Hardly anything good, no wonder $1 a piece.
In fact I had a hard time finding 10 I wanted but I did.
Not one Beastie Boys cassette to be seen though.
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Think I have two of them in my cassette drawers right now GK.
Which ones are you needing?
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Anyway to return to the topic in hand.
Off to my LRS who is overloaded with cassettes, they were regular $3 each or 5 for $10 now he is offering 10 for $10 cash only.
Works for me.
Hopefully some good stuff amongst the dross.
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Its only fiddly if you are a total klutz.
Takes 2 minutes max.
Its therapeutic...… lmao!
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GK
I have had a number of the felt backing pads fall off due to adhesive aging.
Pretty simple to use a pair of tweezers and a dab of superglue and voila, the original is back in place never to come off again.
You just gently pull a loop of tape out to work on the area.
That is of course if you have not lost the original felt pad entirely, I have found that they are usually in the case when they fall off.
Good luck to all and long live the humble cassette!
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If you REALLY want to go crazy try looking at prices of genuine Nakamichi tapes on eBay.
Good for a laugh..... |
are of me and my band playing mediocre if enthusiastic rock and roll Lol Sums up the cassette single of our band I found today( and played )quite admirably. What we lacked in talent we made up for in enthusiasm and volume! |
Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Excellent words of wisdom! |
Just felt the need to share this as it is both amusing and a delightful to myself both at the same time.
I felt the need for some music in the garage where I clean all my records and other tasks.
I remembered that I had an old Sony "boom box" up in the loft so dragged it down , plugged it in and lo and behold music issued forth on FM radio, it even still had all the local stations stored!
As this is old it has both a CD and tape player as well.
Popped open both drawers and was in shock. There sitting in the tape well was a blast from the past indeed.
A copy of a cassette ep single of our band back from the 90,s.
I always wondered what had happened as I had the empty case in the house.
So I had to play it and it still sounds good to my ears. It's on a tdk c15. Must have been popular back then as can't remember seeing any for sale of late.
So just very happy at this find and yes maybe clouded by rose tinted spectacles in this instance!
😎😎 |
GK
I have a whole emat plus sitting on top of my Nakamichi!
Thx mofi! |
I guess by that definition my humble Sony Professional portable cassette player is a great machine. Hooray! 🤗 Will give you a bye on that one GK as you are " off the grid" which changes a lot of things. 😁😁 |
Actually I am pretty sure that yes the zombie apocalypse IS upon us!
And Richopp…… could not afford the C2 but my C3 convertible only has a single speaker AM radio in it that I think works, as you say who listens to music with the top down in a classic Vette.....
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Some very varied responses and opinions so far.
Now not wishing to be a snob here at all just injecting a little bit of reality.
I did say very early on that one needs to hear a great tape on a GREAT player to get a handle on this.
So far not really heard of anybody mentioning the usage of a great player just good or adequate ones.
There is a reason that fully restored Nakamichi ZX7/9 and Dragons are pushing nearly 2k.
Sorry to hurt anybodies feelings but NO Akai deck even comes close, I have tried a lot of them in my system and they are definitely vanilla!
It is like comparing an Ortofon 2m Red to an Ortofon Black Cadenza. You gets what you pay for.
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I would agree on pre recorded tapes quality.
A while back I bought up some " old stock" tapes from a dealer, about 400 I think.
Of that 400 I threw maybe 100 away as even though still sealed the rollers had frozen or tapes deteriorated.
Of the 300 left, probably 200 were just ok in quality.
Of the 100 left maybe 75 were very good with about 25 being spectacular.
So yes not very good odds really.. lol. |
I don’t think I would go as far as to say Cassette sounds better than lps but on a top flight deck, Nakamichi or similar with a top quality tape they can be very good indeed.
Certainly better than some members give them credit for. |
You are correct on the dearth of good new blank tape media available.
There are still some basic TDK and Maxell tapes new but ok is about as far as I would go with description.
Unfortunately eBay sellers are a savvy lot and know they can charge a goodly amount for TDK SA tapes or similar especially if sealed NOS.
My stash of blank TDK SA tapes is running down and I will have to bite the bullet and try and find a good deal on the bay somehow. |
Orpheus
We will agree to disagree my friend.
I find nothing mediocre about a lot of my cassette recordings tbh.
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Good luck lissnr and I hope it does not disappoint!
Nice deck! |
I find that most haters of cassette tape have simply never heard a great recording on a great tape on a great tape machine.
Once they have, well most of the snide remarks fade away...….
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I take it you do not approve of cassette tape as being a viable audio media Orpheus? |
I have a huge Cassette collection played back on a Nakamichi ZX7 deck recently fully restored by the master himself Willy Herman.
There are obviously some dud pre recorded tapes but a lot of excellent ones too.
Some of my home recordings on TDK SA tapes are pretty special if I say so myself.
And yes all of this at just 17/8 ips.
Reel tape at 7.5ips is another step up.
I can only imagine how 15 or 30 ips sounds...... |
