More Cassette Time

im half way through another week off work, and thought I’d make time for some tunes of the recorded variety today.

The weekend was full of live music, having been to see Trivium in Manchester on Friday night. Followed by Skindred in Nottingham on Saturday night. Both gigs were brilliant. If you’ve never seen Skindred, you need to catch them.

Anyhoo... I’ve got the place to myself for an hour or so, so I’ve turned the Denon Cassette Deck on, and put on a cassette bought on eBay for about £2.00 Led Zeppelin Remasters. It’s silky smooth, balanced, nuanced and singing beautifully from this deck.

The format seems to really agree with the Focal speakers, it’s so relaxed, just what I need for an afternoon listening session.

Ive been thoroughly surprised by this deck. And find using it really enjoyable. I’m buying more music as a result.
 

macdiddy

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that sounded great, I know, while having a bit of a cassette revival myself a couple of years ago I managed to buy two off ebay, a single and a double, don't know really why I did (must have been having a mad moment), both arrived looking great for their age and sounding equally good.

the single deck is still in my equipment rack, the double is in storage.

*music2*
 

MajorFubar

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Chiming in with the Denon love, I remember my dad buying a DRM12HX. Really nice sounding underrated deck which somehow could never poke it's head above the Aiwas/Technics/Yamahas and be noticed. But it deserved to be.

Oh and I always wanted to audition a Yamaha KX580 but never did. I remember it being constantly recommended in WHF over nearly everything else in cassette's dying days.
 

abacus

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The 580 was one of the few consumer decks that came with Dolby S, hence its popularity in awards.

If you want the best though, then there is no substitute for the Nakamichi range, (I remember being blown away in the 70s when I first heard one) as they were the gold standard.

Bill
 

MajorFubar

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You'd think even the best tape decks in the world would be selling for tuppence these days, considering you can't really buy new media for them any more. The folks spending £1500+ still on Nakamichi Dragons must have an extensive collection of old tapes that they've somehow stopped from deteriorating, which tapes have a habit of doing even if you don't play them. (Sticky shed.)
 
abacus said:
The 580 was one of the few consumer decks that came with Dolby S, hence its popularity in awards.

If you want the best though, then there is no substitute for the Nakamichi range, (I remember being blown away in the 70s when I first heard one) as they were the gold standard.

Bill

Which is why, as a frequent traveller, I bought a Sony Walkman WM-D6C Professional as its on a par and I still use it regularly to play music I recorded on it by 80's pub bands way back then. No problems with tape determination as yet but always bought the best available ( TDK-SA X )
 
The Denon was a bit of an unknown to me, I had no idea of how good/bad it would be. But it has been a decent performer. I have looked at nakamichi decks, a lot of black plastic on eBay and quite expensive too. Maybe one day I’ll find an attractive model with brushed aluminium face, but for now the Denon is very enjoyable.

I also like the fact I can pick some cassettes up for next to nothing on eBay
 

MajorFubar

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bigfish786 said:
I have looked at nakamichi decks, a lot of black plastic on eBay and quite expensive too. Maybe one day I’ll find an attractive model with brushed aluminium face, but for now the Denon is very enjoyable.

If or when the time comes you fancy trying out a Nak, look for something like the DR-3 or Cassette Deck 2. However it's likely you'll have to battle it out in an auction: good Buy It Now deals are all but dead and gone on eBay; a side effect of their free re-listing policy, which encourages dreamers to list their tat at unsellable prices for free forever. Like a Pioneer CT-F1250 for £4500. (You read that right.)

A good DR-3 or Cassette Deck 2 will set you back about £90-£150 at auction. It's worth every penny if you're serious about playing your tapes but don't want to spend ridiculous prices on the high-end machines like a Cassette Deck 1, DR-1, ZX-7, CR-7, Dragon etc.
 

MajorFubar

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paulkebab said:
I had the Deck 2 and it sounded great. A good feature of it is the completely removable door to clean the heads and roller.

+1. Feature addicts are put off by the fact it lacks functions such as track search and auto type-type select. But then when you hear what comes out the phono sockets, it's instantly forgiven.
 

macdiddy

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Technics-9900-Cassette-Deck-working-order/282931603775?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49129%26meid%3D881b128d740a43a79c1a857e3a744a63%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D183176816279%26itm%3D282931603775&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

I never knew this existed, a "two box cassette deck" one box for the recording side and another for playback. *crazy*
 

Macspur

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paulkebab said:
Deck 2 and it sounded great. A good feature of it is the completely removable door to clean the heads and roller.

+1... I loved my deck, but a couple of years ago when it stopped working afraid it when to HiFi heaven.

Just the other day I had an Email from Audio Emotion asking customers if they would like them to start stocking tapes again!

Mac

www.realmusicnet.wordpress.com
 
I don’t mind the hiss, I can’t hear it while the music is playing. And like the pops n clicks you get with vinyl, it’s part of the experience and nostalgia.

Reminds me of the buzzing ears I’d cause by listening to my Walkman way too loud!

Yesterday, I listened to tape,cd and vinyl and enjoyed them all.

Today, I’ve been ripping cds to memory stick to listen to in the car. Another format to enjoy.

ripping is a bit on the tedious side though.
 
D

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bigfish786 said:
ripping is a bit on the tedious side though.

You want to try ripping vinyl... drives you round the bend *biggrin*
 
D

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bigfish786 said:
I can imagine, I suppose if you record a big pop/click you have to start over?

Big pops/clicks are easy to deal with in the digital realm. Tried some ripping a few years ago but quickly realised I needed better recording and editing kit, not quite there yet but I'm working on it. Just finished an album for a guy at work who wasn't too bothered about the SQ of the finished article; the LP took me 8 hours to complete! I'm a bit fussy *smile*
 

MajorFubar

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DougK said:
bigfish786 said:
I can imagine, I suppose if you record a big pop/click you have to start over?

Big pops/clicks are easy to deal with in the digital realm. Tried some ripping a few years ago but quickly realised I needed better recording and editing kit, not quite there yet but I'm working on it. Just finished an album for a guy at work who wasn't too bothered about the SQ of the finished article; the LP took me 8 hours to complete! I'm a bit fussy *smile*

I feel your pain. I recorded a load of LPs over winter. For digital clean up, Izotope RX is the gold standard. Even the basic version is pricey for amateurs at £99, but it's worth it.
 
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MajorFubar said:
I feel your pain. I recorded a load of LPs over winter. For digital clean up, Izotope RX is the gold standard. Even the basic version is pricey for amateurs at £99, but it's worth it.

I remember reading your thread on this Major and actually made a written memo of the software you used as a strong candidate for future use. I used ClickRepair on my recent ripping exercise and it did a reasonable job on the lower settings; the free removal tool with Audacity just screws with the sound too much.
 

MajorFubar

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DougK said:
MajorFubar said:
I feel your pain. I recorded a load of LPs over winter. For digital clean up, Izotope RX is the gold standard. Even the basic version is pricey for amateurs at £99, but it's worth it.

I remember reading your thread on this Major and actually made a written memo of the software you used as a strong candidate for future use. I used ClickRepair on my recent ripping exercise and it did a reasonable job on the lower settings; the free removal tool with Audacity just screws with the sound too much.

Agreed I don't really use any repair functions on Audacity. However it makes a really good resource-light tool for recording the LPs in the first place.
 
The nostalgia definitely plays a part in the experience. The sound is really quite good. I probably only stopped listening to cassette when we moved home, I had a technics system in my bedroom, which had twin cassette, so I would listen to them quite a lot. The technics is currently boxed up, waiting to be repurposed when we build a garden bar. So, I’ll be listening to them for a long time yet.
 

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