Post by sub on Nov 10, 2017 17:40:36 GMT 12
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Post by Owen Y on Nov 10, 2017 19:07:12 GMT 12
I feel a cassette deck renovation thread coming on.
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 10, 2017 21:13:02 GMT 12
or our own sub category/sandpit to play in........
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Post by michaelw on Nov 10, 2017 21:50:46 GMT 12
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 11, 2017 7:25:27 GMT 12
Coughs.......I enjoy the sound I get off cassettes, so I suppose I am what everyone else suspects.. just a Lo-Fi Goon Ha!! An interesting read none the less.
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Pundit
Post by papahemi on Nov 11, 2017 17:31:37 GMT 12
Coughs.......I enjoy the sound I get off cassettes, so I suppose I am what everyone else suspects.. just a Lo-Fi Goon Ha!! An interesting read none the less. I also enjoy the cassette - dunno why but maybe (not maybe, definitely) I am also a lo-fi goon. Could explain my love of early FN.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
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Post by Owen Y on Nov 11, 2017 19:20:36 GMT 12
There's something very tactile about cassette tape & simply mechanical about the way it winds-rewinds of the music
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Post by michaelw on Nov 12, 2017 10:52:30 GMT 12
that tactility would be magnified with reel-to-reel ?
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Post by colinf on Nov 12, 2017 14:09:19 GMT 12
I think reel to reel has too much tactility. It's great watching one in action and the sound is excellent! But threading the tape through the head block via all the pulleys and inserting it onto an empty reel at the start of the tape is a nuisance. That's where cassette is superior. You can stop it in the middle of a track, remove the cassette and put in another one. Also it's far smaller and portable. I thought cassette was just getting into its technological stride in the 80s and 90s when metal tape became available. CrO2 and metal didn't shed as much oxide as normal ferric oxide tape. Metal tape recorded and played back on a Nakamichi was capable of serious fidelity. So I think the cassette still has a future even in today's world of digital streaming. If producers brought out new titles on metal or CrO2 hifi cassettes (with no Dolby to avoid potential Dolby threshold level mismatches between different machines) I'd be interested.
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by colinf on Nov 12, 2017 14:28:24 GMT 12
Also I suspect the full potential of cassette as a hifi medium hasn't yet been reached. If we are buying thousand-dollar cartridges and hooking them up to esoteric valve phono stages to play back the also-flawed format of vinyl, imagine the equivalent in cassette playback. A cassette transport would have the tape head connection come out to some rca sockets on the back and you need a valve (or other) esoteric tape head preamp of your choice to get it sounding wonderful.
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by michaelw on Nov 12, 2017 16:18:39 GMT 12
there's only so much you can do with slow moving 1/4in tape...
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 12, 2017 16:52:47 GMT 12
The Nakamichi 680ZX at 1/2 speed, 15/16 ips proved you could do something
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 12, 2017 17:02:11 GMT 12
There's something very tactile about cassette tape & simply mechanical about the it winds-rewinds of the music and the ability on some decks to manually tweak bias and level adds to that feeling of tactility , and some satisfaction from personal involvement in the process.. just like setting up your tone arm or bouncy TT
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Post by sub on Nov 12, 2017 17:26:31 GMT 12
I have a Pioneer CT95, a Dolby S machine from the early 90s. Retailed at $3K when first released, but like a lot of products sold by (was it Paul Money then or Monaco?), was drastically reduced in price after a year.
When new, I could not really tell the difference between a cassette or CD, probably needs an azimuth adjust now, but still sounds great, although very seldom use it now. Only have about 4 albums on cassette that I do not have on either cd or vinyl.
However, my housemates 1997 car has a cassette player fitted!
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Post by michaelw on Nov 12, 2017 20:10:58 GMT 12
i've got lots of stuff taped off concert and nat radio that was never commercially released. back in the day some folks reckoned cd sounded better off tape... my last car with tape deck was a 95 honda prelude with nz fitted alpine radio/tape and separate 3cd changer. it sounded great, with well placed speakers, unlike my current golf gti's stereo, which is poor, albeit it has an analogue line input so i can hookup my walkman pro portable.
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Post by Owen Y on Nov 13, 2017 11:19:38 GMT 12
Chaps - we have created a new category for Tape & cassette. And moved this starter thread into it.
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Post by colinf on Nov 13, 2017 11:35:24 GMT 12
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Post by michaelw on Nov 13, 2017 12:00:50 GMT 12
^ great channel for re-discovering dead formats
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Post by guitardude on Nov 13, 2017 12:12:51 GMT 12
i've got a box of 8 track cassettes somewhere if anyone has a player ? Back in the day it used to be a thing to record your vinyl onto VHS but I haven't heard of anyone doing that for yonks ?
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Pundit
Post by stuzzo on Nov 13, 2017 13:20:28 GMT 12
i put my Yamaha tape deck back in place when reconfiguring my system a while ago. I have some cassettes that just sound beautiful, “Jesus and Mary Chain” in particular but also jit is just a lovely piece of electronics which I can appreciate in itself!
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Post by michaelw on Nov 13, 2017 13:32:04 GMT 12
i've got a box of 8 track cassettes somewhere if anyone has a player ? Back in the day it used to be a thing to record your vinyl onto VHS but I haven't heard of anyone doing that for yonks ? been there with various vhs hi-fi decks including super-vhs compatible philips. thanks to non-defeatable companding and head switching noise, results were variable. best stick to a linear recording system.
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 13, 2017 16:09:57 GMT 12
Chaps - we have created a new category for Tape & cassette. And moved this starter thread into it. God bless you kind Sir , and into the Hifi category too.. not the LoFi goon one ...
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Post by Citroen on Nov 13, 2017 18:27:53 GMT 12
My Citroen only has a cassette player, so I occasionally play the odd tape. Sounds damn awful!
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Post by Owen Y on Nov 13, 2017 19:08:16 GMT 12
My Citroen only has a cassette player, so I occasionally play the odd tape. Sounds damn awful! American (& British?) cars in the 50s had tube amps in them - mabey that's what you need in the Citroen?
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Post by michaelw on Nov 13, 2017 19:32:54 GMT 12
doesn't that aircooled twin make enough sweet music ?
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Post by Citroen on Nov 13, 2017 20:26:29 GMT 12
Half the problem is the noise of the engine drowning everything else out.
The other problem is the cassette player is a no name crap by any standard!
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 14, 2017 17:05:23 GMT 12
Probably only plays 'French' cassettes
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Post by Citroen on Nov 14, 2017 17:16:41 GMT 12
You mean these fellows?
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Pundit
Post by nakmad on Nov 14, 2017 17:17:30 GMT 12
Ah, Oui! peut être, I was thinking more along the lines of Maurice Chevalier, in honour of la Petite deux cheveaux, or perhaps cue the Pink Panther theme
Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.
Cassette Fetishist
219 posts
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Post by Owen Y on Nov 14, 2017 21:32:28 GMT 12
Err, Maurice is not so politically acceptable nowadays.... Of course M. Citroen may beg to diffeur ....
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