First a vinyl revival, now a cassette comeback..

[matthewpianist]

The APM22ES were quite interesting speakers. Even Sony's most commercial, mainstream kit had a reasonable level of audio quality and I would say the same for Technics. I remember selling their GigaJuke systems when I worked at Preston and Bolton Sony Centres, and they made a decently musical sound for what they were.

Formats with moving parts Vs purely digital... It's isn't as simple as saying that components with moving parts will fail. If something is built well in the first place and is used with care it will last a long time, and is mostly easy to repair - replacement belts (turntable, CD player and cassette), greasing etc. Repairing some CD players is becoming increasingly difficult but there's generally plenty of bits out there if you look in the right places.

The lack of moving parts in digital formats does bring longevity advantages in some respects, but changes in licensing agreements and the withdrawal of firmware updates as components age is a very real challenge. Eg. If Denon made a business decision to cease HEOS and begin using BluOS, could this eventually condemn a very good product such as the PMA-900HNE to life as a standard integrated with digital inputs?

Standards change very quickly in the digital world, and some products have a certain level of obsolescence almost built in from the beginning. Look at Apple when they stop supporting an older version of iOS.

 

[podknocker]

View: https://youtu.be/jlGy47u9ZAM


These look great in black. I'd have a pair new, on stands, if Sony made these again.

 

[matthewpianist]

View: https://youtu.be/jlGy47u9ZAM


These look great in black. I'd have a pair new, on stands, if Sony made these again.

It's a long time since I've seen an Audio Innovations Alto amplifier! Nice MF classic in the background too.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Those speakers are making me feel queasy...

 

[DCarmi]

If Denon made a business decision to cease HEOS and begin using BluOS, could this eventually condemn a very good product such as the PMA-900HNE to life as a standard integrated with digital inputs?

Which is part of the reasoning against muti-function devices and proprietary systems. Changes external to the manufacturer may also impact the life of a multifunction system. e.g. BBC dropping Shoutcast will mean changes to firmware are required for some equipment. Can you rely on the manufacturer to make such changes to e.g. 5+ year old hardware?

 

[WayneKerr]

That's true and you can update firmware, but if the electronics are limited to an older format or spec, then you reach a dead end eventually and it needs recycling, unless you are happy with the current technology.

You can only update firmware if the manufacturer still supports the product, if not then it becomes landfill, or you have to find a workaround, (in my case it was a Fire Stick).

I trust mechanical things more than electronics, especially if there's a mini-PC inside the box with an OS which all too quickly becomes obsolete due to third-party updates. You only have to look at what happened with Sonos a couple of years ago.

Give me legacy kit every time... keep it simple and not reliant on third-party involvement to keep it working, cos all they do is spoil the party.

 

[James105]

Is R2R making a comeback?

Thorens TM 1600 Reel To Reel Tape Machine

Thorens TM 1600 reel to reel tape machine is a beautiful designed purist analogue playback addition to Thorens range. Principally designed as a half track quarter inch machine accomodating reels upto 10.5" in size at speeds of either 19 cm/s (7.5 in/s) or 38 cm/s (15 in/s). It includes...

www.audioaffair.co.uk

Can you buy music on this format and how would anyone be able to enjoy this very expensive device?

Apparently yes, two companies still make them and of course theres always ebay, but I'd advise sitting down before you see the prices.

 

[Al ears]

Apparently yes, two companies still make them and of course theres always ebay, but I'd advise sitting down before you see the prices.

Only two? I somehow think there may be more, ok three..... And none are what I would consider cheap....

 

[James105]

Only two? I somehow think there may be more.

I did a quick google search one in the states one in France, I didn't dig any deeper, TBH I was surprised any one still was. I mean I know my uncle used to own one, recorded Radio 3 concerts on it but hes been dead for over 25 years and I think he only recorded/played back his own recordings.

 

[Al ears]

I did a quick google search one in the states one in France, I didn't dig any deeper, TBH I was surprised any one still was. I mean I know my uncle used to own one, recorded Radio 3 concerts on it but hes been dead for over 25 years and I think he only recorded/played back his own recordings.

mate of mine used to have a system built around one. No turntable, no CD player.
Used pre recorded tapes, these cost a fortune these days.

 

[AlbertListens]

Most cassettes I heard were rubbish, yet I cannot avoid to listen to the original The dark side of the moon!
To me it's the best sounding format, the aging of the tape gives to the tracks a darker and moodier appeal... or maybe it's just nostalgia

 

[James105]

Most cassettes I heard were rubbish, yet I cannot avoid to listen to the original The dark side of the moon!
To me it's the best sounding format, the aging of the tape gives to the tracks a darker and moodier appeal... or maybe it's just nostalgia

I used to have a REL Stadium, DSOTM with that was incredible

 

[Cricketbat70]

Actually cassettes could sound excellent. We had a Technics double deck, and I copied the well recorded Pink Floyd AMLOR, onto a decent TDK blank, and the copy sounded better than the original! This often happend with vinyl copies onto tape as well.

But as you say, the sound quality was ultimately negated by the inherent unreliability of tapes and players. Good riddance.

Yep recorded onto TDK SA or MAX a lot of stuff I had sounded better than the original. Not many cassettes left now in my music collection. I remember borrowing a limited edition, Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears off a work colleague put it in my personal stereo and it instantly chewed it up. I bought my work colleague another copy but it was just the original album not the limited edition with extra songs. I was gutted

 

[Cricketbat70]

Posh git! I had a ZX81 and used a portable tape deck to save and possibly load games taking 15-20 minutes sometimes and often resulted in failure. A quick tweak of the Azimuth screw on the tape head usually sorted that.

My mum's partner had the original ZX Spectrum, 48k memory. Loading games via cassette was a serious hit and miss affair.🤣

 

[matthewpianist]

My mum's partner had the original ZX Spectrum, 48k memory. Loading games via cassette was a serious hit and miss affair.🤣

It was the same with the Spectrum +2A - it just had 128k memory and the tape drive was built-in. I'll never forget the sound of a game loading!

 

[Cricketbat70]

It was the same with the Spectrum +2A - it just had 128k memory and the tape drive was built-in. I'll never forget the sound of a game loading!

And then dial up internet came along and I thought I remember that sound it's back to haunt me🤣

 

[flashgordon1952]

there is no reason why it would ,but certain 70s stuff might be collectable . . Vinyl prices of late ,have gone through the roof.now. I only have a collection here of 20 LPs all heavy rock/ at my previous address i have ( wife is there) about 600 there Sure she either sold them or thrown them out like she did to my radio stuff havig promised to keep them in the attic

 

[flashgordon1952]

And then dial up internet came along and I thought I remember that sound it's back to haunt me🤣

yes the dial up noise, hushhhhhhh my ex was using V90 ,for quite some time while i had the first digitl from NTL shame that she had to make do with poor is it not

 

[Gray]

My mum's partner had the original ZX Spectrum, 48k memory.

We were each given one where I used to work.
Gave mine straight away to an over the moon younger brother....and he's still got it.

 

[matthewpianist]

And then dial up internet came along and I thought I remember that sound it's back to haunt me🤣

It's hard to think of dial-up internet now that we have it so easily and quickly at our fingertips. Years ago we could never have imagined receiving the 'alert' that we've all just received on our mobile phones!!

 

[podknocker]

I didn't get an alert via cellular, or WIFI and the phone's WIFI emergency alert option is enabled. I disabled this and then enabled it again and checked the alert history, but no sign of it. Unsure how I get notified if Putin gets annoyed, or we get some sort of terrorist threat. Earthquake alerts are not available in my region, which means the whole of Britain probably. The weather could turn nasty, but not within a really short period that the news channels wouldn't know about it. The only other threats, could be aliens arriving, or perhaps a massive rock on its way to earth. A bit worrying really, if we do need this alarm and many people are left out.

 

[flashgordon1952]

i never got an alert what a shame do we really want the Government to control our mobile as well as our livesanyway back on subject folks too? yes we had the Spectrum 48k and the PCW too

 

[matthewpianist]

All 3 mobiles here received the alert, and very loud it was too. I'm not entirely sure how useful it's likely to be.

 

[podknocker]

i never got an alert what a shame do we really want the Government to control our mobile as well as our livesanyway back on subject folks too? yes we had the Spectrum 48k and the PCW too

I didn't get an alert, but I don't think getting one is that intrusive and shouldn't be considered an invasion of privacy, or some human right issue. If there's ever a genuine attack, or any other issue, it might save millions of lives. Not save mine though, not getting the alert.

I've no problem receiving one, as this must be a good thing, but I don't have much confidence in the government's ability to actually make sure this is effective, as it would need to be. If there is a real threat, how would I know anything about it?

I don't understand the idea of 'control' by the government. We all live in a technology driven world, with every phone's location always visible to your provider, the police, or the government, if required. I would like to live off grid and become a Luddite, but the reality is, most of us can't do this.

 

[Gray]

every phone's location always visible to your provider, the police, or the government, if required.

Pretty sure mine ain't, used on wi-fi only with location switched off
But then, I've got no photo ID, so I don't exist anyway.