where to buy new blank quality cassette tapes?


I'm sure this has been discussed in the past year or two, so please point me to any threads -- haven't been able to find anything with audiogon's forum search. Some of us still have perfectly functional high-end cassette decks that make great recordings and are more flexible (and arguably higher-rez & better-sounding than a CD recorder). But they need better cassettes than a Maxell UR to sound their best.

I'm certain I haven't looked everywhere, but it seems the closest I can come is Maxell still making UD-XLII, which is a 35 year old tape formulation. Anybody manufacturing and selling high-quality metal tape, or at least the last best type II cassettes??
128x128sdecker
I am not aware of anyone making high quality cassette tape. Unless you are luck and can find NOS tapes at an Audio Store your best bet is ebay. Be prepared for sticker shock though
I think you can still buy TDK Professional SM-60 type II blank tapes at the Guitar Center online store. About $25 for a 10-pack. Not as high-end as TDK's metal formula cassettes of yesteryear, but still much better than Maxell UR's..
This is what you might do like I did. Go find a small town 15-30k and see if there any old style music stores. You just might find a treasure chest like I did. TDK MA's, SA-XG's, SA_X's Sony SR's plus other various. I found 300 plus!! It was a find of a lifetime. So if you want, try a little hunting. Hope this helps. Mike
Hi,

There is a guy named Alan Williams - sales@tapeline.info - in Ireland who has some of the best cassette tapes anyplace. He takes PayPal, his prices are right, his shipping is fast and well done, and he can be trusted. Some of the better ones he has were made by Sony. They are the Sony Metal C90 XR IV, the Sony metal SR 100 and the sleeper tape of all is the Sony UX PRO 90, a chrome pro tape which is surprisingly good. My brother bought a quantity of these tapes from him, and he was very pleased overall. His deck is a Nakamichi Dragon. I mention it so that you will know he at least has equipment good enough to voice a decent opinion.