What's the best cassette deck ever?

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Johnny Vinyl

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May 16, 2010
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Yep.
This is above 3004, 3014, 3014A which all are above the best Nakamichi, Revox, Teac or any other Cassette Deck manufacturer ever came up with.

I just do not hope that majority of answers on this forum here, shows any democratic process in choosing what's the right answer.

Akai; Sharp, Pioneer?
Why not then suggest Philips as the best speaker manufacturer or Shure for stylus & cartridges, Lada for cars, Casio for wrist watches and Parker for fountain Pens.

And then there's the fact that the American market where always missing a lot of high end quality products, launched on the European market through time.
Easy to see on the market for cars. Maybe not as easy to spot on the market of HiFi, but sure still a fact.

"dolph"

One man's "junk" is another man's "luxury". The bottom line is that both can provide equal amounts of pleasure. I suspect you don't believe that to be the case, and frown upon those who don't have the "elistist approach" you appear to have. People gave honest answers, and I don't know why you then chose to deride them for it.

I'm leaving now to listen to my PIONEER integrated amp with soso speakers on my starter Turntable setup. I hope you get as much pleasure from your Tandberg as I do from my system, although somehow I honestly believe that isn't possible.

RANT OVER.....Goodbye!

John
 

niklasthedolphin

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Aug 28, 2010
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Ok.

I want, sincerely, to apologize for my cruel behavior.

Reason for my Quiz-kind of approach in this thread, is my deepfelt scepticism, within HiFi and Audio in general, of people, at all, being able to judge what sounds great or low-end and, per se, being able to determine What's Best.
My own experience is up to 15 years on lots of international and in particular Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, German, Czech and American HiFi Fora, +40 years of hunting the best sound with synergy in the match of my own gear, many master tapes made for bands and Danish radio stations through the last 30 years as a Tape Op and my experience of being headhunted as a consultant for people purchasing high end gear in the > $100.000 class.
I usually save these people lots of gold without compromising the quality of sound OR they figure out that they are in it for the design rather than the sound quality.

However, I fully stand by own statements concerning the TOTL Tandberg Cassette Decks.

"dolph"
 
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Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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Reason for this is my deepfelt scepticism, within HiFi and Audio in general, of people, at all, being able to judge what sounds great or low-end and, per se, being able to determine What's Best.

I share your skepticism, but would guess we've come to very different conclusions. It could be that both of us come to the party with a load of bias and neither of us are that much better at judging than the people whose judgement inspires our skepticism.

Tim
 

Johnny Vinyl

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May 16, 2010
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Good afternoon dolph!

Apology accepted in sincerity! We're all here for the same reason....our love of and for audio, it's gear and music.

A question for you......do you think that introducing a cassette deck to one's system can provide a good audio experience? I ask as I was always very susceptible to hearing tape hiss.

John
 

niklasthedolphin

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Aug 28, 2010
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Good afternoon dolph!

Apology accepted in sincerity! We're all here for the same reason....our love of and for audio, it's gear and music.

A question for you......do you think that introducing a cassette deck to one's system can provide a good audio experience? I ask as I was always very susceptible to hearing tape hiss.

John

That will also be your experience unless you offer real gold for purchasing the best of Cassettes.

If you choose to get the best, you will be able to experience a quality of sound potentially surpassing CD when it's best.

"dolph"
 

Fred

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May 31, 2010
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I got rid of three different Akai cassette decks over the years in favor of the JVC KD-85 in 1978. I wore it out then gave it to my then brother-in-law. About two years ago, bitten by nostalgia, I tracked down a very nice replacement on ebay. It is presently a working unit on the bottom shelf of my system. I don't really use it much, but looking at it brings back such great memories, which in itself completely serves its purpose.
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Was the only want to past cassette to ELCASET format? It was the only way I could get near R2R performance and excellent frequency response and dynamic range.







For those not familiar with the format, its cassettes were twice as big as standard cassette. The tap was wider, allowing larger/better heads in there.

The hardware itself was a marvel of engineering. There were hundreds of "TTL" ICs in there for logic control. Beautiful VU meters with then classic paper backs and amber lights. The pictures above do not do justice to it. The unit was quite "manly" :).

I think the cost in 1977 when my father bought it was within the shouting distance of Sony 777 R2R deck.
 

RBFC

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Apr 20, 2010
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That will also be your experience unless you offer real gold for purchasing the best of Cassettes.

If you choose to get the best, you will be able to experience a quality of sound potentially surpassing CD when it's best.

"dolph"

How do the performance parameters of cassette vs. CD stack up, when both are performing optimally?

Lee
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Here are the specs:

Specifications:
Frequency response: 18Hz – 20kHz, +/- 1.5 dB (18Hz - 23kHz with metal tape)
Tape speed: 1-7/8 ips, +/- 0.5%
Signal to noise ratio (metal tape): > 74 dB (Dolby C, A-weighted)
Channel separation at 1kHz: between sides A-B, 80 dB; between tracks L-R, 40 dB
THD from tape with 0dB record level: Type I & II tape, <2%; Metal tape, < 1%
Input impedance: 150 kohms
Output voltages: fixed, 700mV @ 100 ohms; variable 0 to 4 volts @ 100 ohms
Headphones: 8 ohms/3.5 volts
Dimensions: 17-1/8” W x 13-3/4” D x 6-9/16” H (43.5 x 35.0 x 16.6, cm)
Weight: 21.6 lbs. (9.8 kg)
 

JackD201

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I'm with Flez, Revox B710 recording on TDK MAR-60s :)
 

niklasthedolphin

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Aug 28, 2010
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No reason to go into specification debate.
This is, as usualy with "the best gear", where auditioning will completely convince you.

As we all know, there are so many parameters behind the wholeness of the great sound and most of thesse parameters don't have units or are even measurable.

The EL-Cassette would have been a nice niche IF they just would have managed to take advantage of the potential in the format.
They didn't.
You will be able to ABX, or just relaxing listening, that TOTL cassette decks outperform EL-Cassette.

Niklas
 

Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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No reason to go into specification debate.

Yeah, no need to get nasty and let data enter into a discussion of technical products. Besides, it will render the thread a moot point as my remote control (an iPod Touch) has better specs than the best cassette deck ever.

Tim
 

Gregadd

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Apr 20, 2010
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My Nakamichi BX 300 is good for recording things off FM Radio. It was a gift form a friend. SoI'll take itto my grave.
 

DonH50

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Jun 22, 2010
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Amir -- have you seen unweighted (and unprocessed, no Dolby) SNR specs? Not that it matters...

Curious - Don

p.s. I am pretty sure there were other comparable, if not better, and probably tweaked, systems in the recording studios I used to play around in, but I can't recall names after all these years. They were often two-piece rack units.
 

es347

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Was the only want to past cassette to ELCASET format? It was the only way I could get near R2R performance and excellent frequency response and dynamic range.








For those not familiar with the format, its cassettes were twice as big as standard cassette. The tap was wider, allowing larger/better heads in there.

The hardware itself was a marvel of engineering. There were hundreds of "TTL" ICs in there for logic control. Beautiful VU meters with then classic paper backs and amber lights. The pictures above do not do justice to it. The unit was quite "manly" :).

I think the cost in 1977 when my father bought it was within the shouting distance of Sony 777 R2R deck.

Amir, what was the tape speed of the Elcaset? nevermind....just answered my own question...1-7/8 ips :)
Seems that low tape speed would greatly limit FR...no?
 

es347

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Apr 20, 2010
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I'm asking the original poster to go into a bit more detail about this claim. I'd be interested to see how small tape can technically compare to CD.

Lee

It doesn't.....but there are still folks out there who prefer mechanical vs digital watches and push rods vs OHCs.
 

rbbert

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Dec 12, 2010
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Amir, what was the tape speed of the Elcaset? nevermind....just answered my own question...1-7/8 ips :)
Seems that low tape speed would greatly limit FR...no?

actually, 3 3/4 ips, noticeably better than 1 7/8
 

niklasthedolphin

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Aug 28, 2010
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This is not really a technical debate.
It's a debate on what sounds best.
I can find a lot of better sounding amplifiers than those amazing measuring SS amps out there from some major japanese factories.
I can find fantastic better sounding R2R machines out there measuring a lot worse than any CD when it comes some of the parameters.

Niklas
 
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