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Abstrakt View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cassette Tapes
    Posted: April 14 2006 at 06:54

some say that the cassettes are long gone, or "stone age"...
But i love them! anyone else agree?

I don't have anything serious to talk about now, but i'll write it down when i do.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 07:31

Well for the last two months with the new used car, I have a cassette deck installed so I have taken out my old collection of Maxell XL-IIS that I made during the 80's (until 93 I gather ) and have been listening to them again .

Cannot say I miss them a great deal, but I am happy to still have them. I must have some 400 of them of which 395 are XL-II S, and some still sound quite good. But some have not aged that well and playing cassettes in the car was certainly not good for them tapes. But I will not care for them anymore than that as they are bound to oblivion in the coming decade.

I still have a walkman, soI can tape conversation during lectures and such, though.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 08:12
Tape is superior to CD, as long as you use a good tapedeck and good quality blank tapes, such as
Maxell XL-IIS ot TDK SA-X for example.

A big tapedeck like the Nakamichi 1000 and 1000 ZXL explodes any digital setup on a musicality level: far more dynamic, much more sound matter, highs goes further and low is deeper, in one word like in 100, it's analog!

Moreover, it has the "magic" ability to enhance digital:
recording a CD to a tape "analogizes" the CD, removes a lot of harshness (thanks to bandwidth limitation, it removes digital supersonic noise).

The absolute best tape deck ever:

Nakamichi 1000 ZXL gold (it costs about 7000 € in good condition, very rare):





Edited by oliverstoned
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 08:21
I think the cassette is just as good as a CD.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 08:48
When i switch from my big digital set up (which works great) to my Naka1000, the difference is obvious and you realize how thin digital is. Simply cause it's analog.
And this tapedeck is from 1973!!! (The first version), designed for studio.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 09:08
And yes, i've made the test recently to compare a little 40 dollars Sony Walkman with a MP3 player , not surprisingly, the walkman easily win! (using a sennheiser px100 walkman headphones)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 11:26
Nice stuff! Sadly, the casette's today are a bit boring, i think. All i've got is like Maxell 90 and DR 60...
And then again, it's sad that car stereos with casette players hardly sells anymore
I've got about 50 tapes with black sabbath, deep purple, pink floyd, jean michelle jearre...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 11:28

Originally posted by oliverstoned oliverstoned wrote:

When i switch from my big digital set up (which works great) to my Naka1000, the difference is obvious and you realize how thin digital is. Simply cause it's analog.
And this tapedeck is from 1973!!! (The first version), designed for studio.


i sure want one of thease... how much for it??? like 100-500 dollars? LOL

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 14 2006 at 11:43
It's an incredible source. Better count 600 to 1000 dollars in good condition...




Wikipedia:

"Nakamichi is a historic high end audio audio company. It is now owned by the Grande Group, a conglomerate based in Singapore. Nakamichi was founded in 1948, manufacturing portable radios, tone arms, speakers, and communications equipment, then in 1972 launched its first Nakamichi-brand products, home audio gear that included the world's first three-head cassette deck."

"In the 1970s Nakamichi created stereo cassette decks that eventually made reel-to-reel tape recorders obsolete for consumers. The Nakamichi 1000 was regarded as one of the finest cassette recorder made in the mid-1970s. It had three heads, high quality motors that reduced wow and flutter to new low levels, and had Dolby noise reduction to increase the signal to noise ratio. Most audiophiles wanted, but few could afford the Nakamichi 1000, so Nakamichi came out with lesser models such as the Nakamichi 700, a silver instead of black version of the 1000, and the silver wedge-shaped 600."





Edited by oliverstoned
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 02:55
INCREDIBLY AMAZING!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 03:35
What?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 03:51
your tape equipment!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 04:17

Have lots of tape actually, but i havent been using them since i bought a Cd player...

some tapes give you a  blurry sound after repetetive plays... so i think CDs are better...


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 05:18
Originally posted by Abstrakt Abstrakt wrote:

INCREDIBLY AMAZING!


As you enjoy, here are others incredible tapedecks:















Edited by oliverstoned
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 06:59
i wouldn't be without my good ol' DENON DR-M34HR cassette decks - i'm often recording live concerts and events from my DAB receiver, or mixing down my own efforts at creating music!.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 07:02
So you enjoy radio too?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 08:43
The Last one is the coolest! is it from the 80's? it sure looks like it
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 08:55
The sad thing is that cassettes really wear out after some time, depending on the conditions under which they're stored. Cassettes don't like to be driven around in cars - they get too hot in the summer and to cold in the winter. But the sound of a good cassette really is something to long for. Though I never could afford one of those high-tech-things above , I love taping my own compilations of my favourite bands or Best-Ofs that were much better than what you could get in stores (either on vinyl or CD) .
"We've got to get in to get out"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 09:15
ok, how many taps do you people have? i have like 40-50
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 15 2006 at 10:04
Originally posted by Abstrakt Abstrakt wrote:

The Last one is the coolest! is it from the 80's? it sure looks like it


Yes, the 1000 zxl is from 1982, it's simply the best tape deck ever in the world (1000 zxl "gold" is even better, but very rare and expensive (see up)).

700 ZXL come just after, with a little colder sound, precise, more "goldmund" like. Excellent also!

1000(what i own) is on the same aesthetic sound's family than the 1000zxl: warm and analog sounding, extremely musical and incredebly dynamic, etc...

Build like a tank, it's studio device as long as an exception source for audiophiles.
And that's very big and heavy! As says Wikipedia, these tapedecks were so good that it made big tape devices obsolete...

Top Naka decks were used by the great artists in studio.
I.E Pink floyd, (we can see a naka1000 on a 70's PF in studio pic in Nick Mason's last book.)



Edited by oliverstoned
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