Cassette - Everything old is new again

[woodlander]

I haven't seen feral tape on the side of the freeway for a few years now. Maybe that will make a comeback also.

[Maks]

Originally Posted by RoadDawgWest

It will be interesting to read your thoughts on the Ramones cassette release.

Local shop got a restock of this in so I grabbed it. Sounds pretty decent on my RX-505. Of course keep in mind this is type 1 tape in a crappo plastic shell. But it's not a hissy mess. I haven't done a side by side vs the LP or CD, but that's probably not fair. It's a fun novelty I'll probably break out on occasion.

[Cohibaman]

Let's face it, vinyl and reel-to-reel just aren't portable. Enter the cassette. Cassettes never were about sound quality as much as they were about convenience. That said, there were many good cassette decks from Nakamichi and a few others that had exceptional recording & playback capabilities - probably taking the format to its technical limits. Pre-recorded cassettes quite frankly sucked so making your own from vinyl usually sounded better.

An additional problem with modern pre-recorded cassettes as I see it, is in the source. How many of these pre-recorded cassettes are simply transfers from Redbook digital files? If that's the case, the best they'll ever be are a degraded version of the source. At that point, why not just burn your own CD or copy it onto a thumbdrive and play the digital files?

I just don't see the contemporary fascination of cassette.

[Maks]

Pre-recorded chrome tapes in the 90s sounded pretty good IMO. As for the modern stuff, I'm not sure of the source, I suppose it can vary same as LPs. I've read about some 180g re-issues being sourced from the redbook audio. The handful of pre-recorded tapes I have that are recent releases are all type I tape. I did discover there are still sources for type II, but I'd doubt 99% of people care.

[CRJCapt]

Ever take your Nakamichi CR7a and record a 45rpm record onto a Maxell XLII-S?

You wouldn't believe it................

[AudioGremlin]

I used a CR7a as a backup for live recording, listening back to an old tape someone spoke to me before the take and it was caught on tape. On playback I turned to see who was talking to me, it was that real. Truly uncanny.

[jdandy]

I purchased this Nakamichi CR7A new in 1989. I made a pair of walnut end panels for it that added a nice flair to the look. This was an amazing cassette deck. I had it upgraded to the Nakamichi gear drive system for the take up spools. I kept the CR7A for 21 years before selling it. Now I wish I had kept it.

[CRJCapt]

I found a mint one...................love it...

Cassette sounds weak......................i don't know what your talking about......LOL

[Maks]

Well I've been having a blast with my RX-505 and wanted to step things up a notch on the recording side of the house so I just paid for a freshly restored Nakamichi ZX-9. Due to holiday travel I won't receive it until next year, but I'm really looking forward to it. I chose it over the Dragon because I didn't want to deal with potential maintenance issues on the Dragon's NAAC.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Maks

Well I've been having a blast with my RX-505 and wanted to step things up a notch on the recording side of the house so I just paid for a freshly restored Nakamichi ZX-9. Due to holiday travel I won't receive it until next year, but I'm really looking forward to it. I chose it over the Dragon because I didn't want to deal with potential maintenance issues on the Dragon's NAAC.

Steve.......The Nakamichi ZX-9 is a beauty. Smart choice over the Dragon. I'd love one myself. Congratulations.