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  #21  
Old 06-06-2016, 10:28 AM
Pampero Pampero is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by o0OBillO0o View Post
So.. begs the question.

What Cassette Deck and type of Tapes should we be getting?
If you don't have existing software, don't bother. Think of cassettes as the MP3 files of the 70s. Higher flutter by design!
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  #22  
Old 06-06-2016, 02:24 PM
Mikado463 Mikado463 is offline
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Originally Posted by Pampero View Post
If you don't have existing software, don't bother. Think of cassettes as the MP3 files of the 70s. Higher flutter by design!
I totally agree with Lew, I have a cassette deck in my garage system only because I have a hundred or so cassettes left from the seventies / eighties .......
perfect for 'garage listening' !
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  #23  
Old 06-07-2016, 01:34 PM
Pampero Pampero is offline
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Hi Dave. I made my living for a few years as the National Sales Manager for Otari. I've forgotten a lot in the intervening years but people who want to enjoy the tape renaissance (if there is one) would be so much better served by spending the money on a good used R2R. Yes, the tape costs will be higher, but the buy in won't be. It will actually probably be lower. For great audible performance it is so hard to beat one of the 70s semi pro reel to reels, of which Otari was probably the preferred vehicle for broadcasters and studios. There are a lot of them out there, they are not expensive but they are hell for stout, very user friendly, easy to work, easy to calibrate even for a novice and super versatile.

They make any cassette, including the most vaunted, seem puny and compromised by comparison. You can do real live recording with them as they have plenty of headroom. And they look ultra cool in any system, though that's not the Otari's strongest suit. There are (wired) remotes available, you can still get new heads and some parts from John French, and the good news is that machines that didn't see abuse probably won't need many apart from rubber bits.

You can get 'er done for well under $1000, often for just a few hundred bucks. Act now before the supply dries up!

By the way, a properly tuned Otari will outperform an equally nice Revox (A77, B77, A700....it makes no difference) in almost very important metric of performance, most especially in respect to output (balanced +4 or switchable to -10dBm) and with measurably more headroom. Also easier to repair as a rule. Otaris are probably the best buy in this regard. If you can find a good Studer A820, that's another story. But they're not giving those away, they're much harder to find and they will take up a whole lot more real estate.

Moreover, the Otari always will have the alternate playback head, so you can play and record in two track and also playback 1/4 track tapes or vice versa depending on the configuration of the deck you buy. Smart money if you like tape.

Last edited by Pampero; 06-07-2016 at 02:05 PM.
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  #24  
Old 06-07-2016, 03:25 PM
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jdandy jdandy is offline
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Lew.......Thanks for the info on Otari, but lets not forget this is a thread about cassette machines.

Feel free to begin a new thread on R2R if you wish.
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  #25  
Old 09-11-2016, 11:41 AM
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I saw a couple of Prince reissue cassettes at a record store over the weekend, it got me in the mood to fire up the RX-505. I have to say pre-recorded tapes from the CD era released on Chrome do sound pretty darn good on this deck. I'm still amazed at what Nakamichi was able to extract out of the format.

I have to wonder how all these new pre-recorded cassettes sound considering the lack of available high quality tape these days. I did get a cassette copy of a new LP I ordered in a bundle earlier this year, I should A/B it with the CD and LP just for kicks.
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  #26  
Old 09-11-2016, 12:04 PM
RoadDawgWest RoadDawgWest is offline
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Was at one of my local record shops, and the owner informed me he actually ordered the Ramones cassette for Cassette store day. I stopped at the shop hoping to get the Ramones - 40th Anniversary Mono LP release, and left shocked that a shop with 95% vinyl & 5% used CDs would order the cassette in preparation for Cassette Store Day (October 8th) over a new vinyl release released on (September 9th).
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  #27  
Old 09-11-2016, 12:08 PM
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Maks Maks is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadDawgWest View Post
Was at one of my local record shops, and the owner informed me he actually ordered the Ramones cassette for Cassette store day. I stopped at the shop hoping to get the Ramones - 40th Anniversary Mono LP release, and left shocked that a shop with 95% vinyl & 5% used CDs would order the cassette in preparation for Cassette Store Day (October 8th) over a new vinyl release released on (September 9th).
Yeah I saw that as well, I'll probably pick it up just for the heck of it. My Ramones 40th Anniversary set that I pre-ordered months ago arrived yesterday, it's so poorly packaged the box got ripped during shipping and the set was damaged. What's even worse is that I paid MSRP + shipping when my local record shop has it for $10 off MSRP. And I could've gotten it earlier. And not damaged. But I digress...
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  #28  
Old 09-11-2016, 01:08 PM
RoadDawgWest RoadDawgWest is offline
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Originally Posted by Maks View Post
Yeah I saw that as well, I'll probably pick it up just for the heck of it. My Ramones 40th Anniversary set that I pre-ordered months ago arrived yesterday, it's so poorly packaged the box got ripped during shipping and the set was damaged. What's even worse is that I paid MSRP + shipping when my local record shop has it for $10 off MSRP. And I could've gotten it earlier. And not damaged. But I digress...
Disappointing to hear about the shipping damage. It will be interesting to read your thoughts on the Ramones cassette release.
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  #29  
Old 09-11-2016, 02:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadDawgWest View Post
Disappointing to hear about the shipping damage. It will be interesting to read your thoughts on the Ramones cassette release.
I really can't believe something like that was shipped so poorly. Just a really thin box with zero bubble wrap or padding around the box set itself. I'm guessing the Ramones cassette won't sound that great due to the tape quality issue I mentioned. It also won't have Dolby (for what that's worth) since the gear doesn't exist anymore from what I understand. But I buy pretty much everything Ramones even though I already own it all their songs in multiple formats as it is

More back on topic, I don't really know what to think of this whole cassette fad recently. I fully understand vinyl coming back, to me it never went away and there are advantages over CD (IMO). Even owning a really nice Nak I don't see much actual advantage of tapes other than just having fun w/the format and maybe tracking down odd indie releases from the 80s/90s that only existed on cassette. Or low-gen bootlegs from back in the day for transferring. The sound on tape isn't superior to other formats. The upkeep of the mechanics on a tape deck is worse than that of a turntable or CD player. The artwork/liner notes are super tiny. There's just no real advantages as a pre-recorded format.
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  #30  
Old 09-11-2016, 09:13 PM
enatai252 enatai252 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maks View Post
..., I don't really know what to think of this whole cassette fad recently. I fully understand vinyl coming back, to me it never went away and there are advantages over CD (IMO). Even owning a really nice Nak I don't see much actual advantage of tapes other than just having fun w/the format and maybe tracking down odd indie releases from the 80s/90s that only existed on cassette. Or low-gen bootlegs from back in the day for transferring. The sound on tape isn't superior to other formats. The upkeep of the mechanics on a tape deck is worse than that of a turntable or CD player. The artwork/liner notes are super tiny. There's just no real advantages as a pre-recorded format.
+1

There were some great decks made 20-30 years ago that got the most out of a inferior format.....I loved my Nak CR7A....but this technology is best left as a fond memory...IMHO
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