I’ve bought another cassette deck… why oh why

[kramer2020]

Well I’ve bought another cassette deck (arriving next week) in vain hope that this nearly 50 year old machine will not require its belts replacing… or worse the idler wheels only made on the moon of Pandora.

But as you can see it’s rather nice looking and any repair concerns went out the window along with £50. Pray for me people..

 

[Revolutions]

I feel your hobby exists to help others 🙏

I do love the look of those Aiwa’s. Hope it’s in salvageable condition.

 

[Gray]

That Aiwa looks fairly similar to my JVC KD21, hope you find it in working order.

I should do something with mine really, as I also own decks from Pioneer, Sony, Akai, Nad and have the option of inheriting an Aiwa.

(I liked the manual piano key decks when it came to the (very) tight editing I used to do.
The otherwise nice Pioneer (CTF-850) has soft touch buttons, with solenoid operation - crazy as it sounds, the half- second delay made all the difference to me 🤪).

 

[Jasonovich]

I love the look of your 50 year old cassette deck.
I've been harbouring my own guilty pleasure a Tascam DAT deck but I have nowhere to put it, otherwise I would have grabbed it in a flash.
You can get a good second hand model at a reasonable price.

Check link below

Pardon our interruption...

Pardon our interruption...

 

[nopiano]

Nice classic looks. I understand your illness!

I hope it’s a good ‘un, but you’ll need luck!

 

[Steve983]

Good luck with the deck. I bought an 80's deck that has been fully serviced and works fine. My problem is though that most of my tapes have not aged well, a couple play fine but the majority sound very quiet, sound garbled or sound as though they are running too slow. Looking on E Bay everyone is asking crazy money for tapes which may not be any better so its a bit of a lottery.

 

[Jasonovich]

Nostalgia is truly a wonderful thing, especially those things that remind you of personal ownership.
CDs, vinyl and cassettes, I wonder if this is a backlash against non physical media?
Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe DAT cassette players are still being made and the digital cassettes are not too unreasonable price.
I think it's worth exploring, if you're looking to rekindle the love for this format.

 

[RoA]

After the phonoautograph, 8Track and AM radio the compact cassette must be the most flawed media ever. I can only explain it’s occasional and intermittent reappearance to audiophiles obsession with dancing meters.

Better buy one of these if you really must.

Having said all that, they can look nice and a lot of engineering has gone in to better examples of the breed.

Lack of easily obtainable fresh ‘quality’ tapes does make wonder though why anyone would?

Still, they could make cool doorstops.

Unfair? Let me know if so and why 😉

 

[kramer2020]

After the phonoautograph, 8Track and AM radio the compact cassette must be the most flawed media ever. I can only explain it’s occasional and intermittent reappearance to audiophiles obsession with dancing meters.

Better buy one of these if you really must.

Having said all that, they can look nice and a lot of engineering has gone in to better examples of the breed.

Lack of easily obtainable fresh ‘quality’ tapes does make wonder though why anyone would?

Still, they could make cool doorstops.

Unfair? Let me know if so and why 😉

I'm so busted and I agree its irrational to persevere with such an unreliable format. That said I am smitten with silver faced retro gear... especially if they've got BIG vu meters!

However, to quote one of may favourite yootoobers... "Cassettes - better than you don't remember" and whilst tapes will never compete with CD's or even Vinyl for that matter, I have been impressed by some cassette decks over the past few years... mainly those that I couldn't have afforded 50 years ago 😆

Anyway not long till my latest beastie arrive and IF I can get it working I'll post an update..

View: https://youtu.be/jVoSQP2yUYA?si=-2f6keUW3QagougC

 

[Gray]

....or sound as though they are running too slow.

Those ones were no doubt recorded on a deck with a slightly faster speed.
Trouble is, without a reference speed tape and test equipment, you can't easily know whether the speed of the recorder, player, or both were / are incorrect.

You'd like to think the service included accurate setting of the speed - but I wouldn't bet on that.

If you opened the deck, you'd likely find the motor casing has a hole (usually covered by a sticker).
That allows adjustment of an internal speed control pot - using a small screwdriver.

Of course you should only consider making speed adjustment if you're certain that the speed is wrong.
...preferably before any inaccurate recordings have taken place.

(A commercial pre-recorded tape of well known music is probably the closest you'll get to a reference speed tape - and ears are surprisingly good at judging speed accuracy).

 

[Steve983]

Those ones were no doubt recorded on a deck with a slightly faster speed.
Trouble is, without a reference speed tape and test equipment, you can't easily know whether the speed of the recorder, player, or both were / are incorrect.

You'd like to think the service included accurate setting of the speed - but I wouldn't bet on that.

If you opened the deck, you'd likely find the motor casing has a hole (usually covered by a sticker).
That allows adjustment of an internal speed control pot - using a small screwdriver.

Of course you should only consider making speed adjustment if you're certain that the speed is wrong.
...preferably before any inaccurate recordings have taken place.

(A commercial pre-recorded tape of well known music is probably the closest you'll get to a reference speed tape - and ears are surprisingly good at judging speed accuracy).

Thanks for the advice although its the homemade tapes that are most affected speed wise (not surprisingly) and pre recorded tapes that sound the best which makes sense.

 

[nopiano]

After the phonoautograph, 8Track and AM radio the compact cassette must be the most flawed media ever. I can only explain it’s occasional and intermittent reappearance to audiophiles obsession with dancing meters.

Better buy one of these if you really must.

Having said all that, they can look nice and a lot of engineering has gone in to better examples of the breed.

Lack of easily obtainable fresh ‘quality’ tapes does make wonder though why anyone would?

Still, they could make cool doorstops.

Unfair? Let me know if so and why 😉

In their day, any recorder had an element of creativity to it. Even if it was only starting, stopping and setting levels correctly! It wasn’t simply consuming, per LP, CD or streaming, it was creating a personal archive/record if you like.

That’s why I have fond memories of the format. And the nervous wait to see if I had chosen a long enough tape before the concert finished! 🤣

 

[plastic penguin]

I feel your hobby exists to help others 🙏

I do love the look of those Aiwa’s. Hope it’s in salvageable condition.

Most of the old cassette decks look good, even my old Hitachi.

I'd personally fell out of love with cassettes decades ago -- too much hassle and relative poor sound quality.

 

[kramer2020]

Update: Belts buggered as expected, new belts on order..

 

[Al ears]

Update: Belts buggered as expected, new belts on order..

Why oh why indeed!