Cassette Sunday

prime minister

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On a nice quiet Sunday late morning, I finally got my Teac Estoteric tape deck plugged in and hooked up. Dug up a copy of the Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me on a later production Maxell XL-IIS, the one with the really heavy, dense shell. To be honest, I have no idea where I got that tape from, and What source it was recorded from. But, it seemed a good place to start. Took a bit of playing to sort out the controls (this series of Esoteric is renowned for the lettering by the buttons wearing off), but i realized immediately that this deck would be a joy to use. Every control is soooooo smooooooth. The whole experience just reeks of quality. Esoteric made nice gear.

Took a bit of tweaking with the wiring (helps to plug things into the right places), but soon enough it was making music. And you know, it sounded damn fine. I could listen to this a lot! A well made cassette, from a good source, and played on a top quality deck, is still a completely viable way to play music.

Next, have to do some recording.
 
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Sunday becomes Monday, and I’m still enjoying the Esoteric. The latest play was a pre-recorded copy of Queens A Night at the Opera. While the mids were rich and just lovely to listen to, it was lacking dynamics and bass. That all being said, it was still very pleasant to listen to. I might start enjoying this Cassette thing.
 
Cassette Subday has extended itself to Cassette Tuesday. In fact, cassette has been my only source now, and I’m loving it. This Esoteric is such a delight. I may have had better decks in the past, though not many, but I’ve never had one that was just so enjoyable.
 
I bought my "nostalgia" onkyo player on ebay after hearing about your exploits a few months ago. I am not going to attempt to play any decent tapes with it until I get a new pair of belts installed but honestly just having it sit there along side of the other gear was worth the price of admission. I spent a lot of time in my youth recording/playing tapes.
 
I bought my "nostalgia" onkyo player on ebay after hearing about your exploits a few months ago. I am not going to attempt to play any decent tapes with it until I get a new pair of belts installed but honestly just having it sit there along side of the other gear was worth the price of admission. I spent a lot of time in my youth recording/playing tapes.
Good plan. I think a lot of folks judge cassette harshly, because they never heard a good quality deck, set up well and working properly. My technician is probably the Teac guru in Canada. He was the factory repair guy in a past life, and did most of the repair and setup work for the professional studios in the Toronto area. He put a bunch of hours and effort into getting this Esoteric just right, and you can hear it.

Sadly, most of the Tapes from my youth disappeared with various moves, but I did find a few and have enjoyed listening to them immensely.
 
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Unfortunately most of mine dissappeared as well, but I do have a bunch from my dad's collection that somehow made it through a divorce and my mom didn't throw them out. They were hidden in a nice side table for years. Maybe I'll get it fired up this winter. I do agree though, well recorded tapes can and do sound good.
 
I traded away my Nakamichi RX-505 and all my cassettes at the beginning of June, so no more Cassette Sundays or Tuesdays for me. I do agree, though, cassettes can sound pretty dang good. It just isn't all that easy to get there. Happy Listening!
 
I recently got my RX-505 back from an overhaul, so am enjoying playing around with cassettes again - a mix of doing new recordings and exploring the old radio recordings I did 20 years or so ago. Those sound atrocious, due to the cheap gear I had at the time. The content, however, is so much fun to rediscover.

New recordings? Been playing about with putting Trombone Shorty on a late model Maxell MX-S, and doing a mixtape on a TDK AR. Both sound great...
 
I recently got my RX-505 back from an overhaul, so am enjoying playing around with cassettes again - a mix of doing new recordings and exploring the old radio recordings I did 20 years or so ago. Those sound atrocious, due to the cheap gear I had at the time. The content, however, is so much fun to rediscover.

New recordings? Been playing about with putting Trombone Shorty on a late model Maxell MX-S, and doing a mixtape on a TDK AR. Both sound great...
It's surprising how nice a well made recording, done on a good, properly calibrated machine and using a quality cassette, can sound. I've been enjoying the heck out of mine.
 
I'm surprised my old Sharp RT442H cassette deck is still working after getting on for fifty years. I changed the belts about fifteen years ago.
I play a bit of a tape every few months. I subscribe to the view with vintage equipment, "use is the best form of preventative maintenance."

The cassette is about as old as the machine.

 
I'm surprised my old Sharp RT442H cassette deck is still working after getting on for fifty years. I changed the belts about fifteen years ago.
I play a bit of a tape every few months. I subscribe to the view with vintage equipment, "use is the best form of preventative maintenance."

The cassette is about as old as the machine.


Is that Billy Eckstine?
 
I haven't listened to a cassette in several years. I can't even remember what cassette deck I have. It is a Nak, either a 581 or a 582. I should dig it out some day. I don't even have any recorded cassettes. I do have several sealed Maxell XLII and a few MX and TDK MA tape cartridges packed away with the deck though.
 
I haven't listened to a cassette in several years. I can't even remember what cassette deck I have. It is a Nak, either a 581 or a 582. I should dig it out some day. I don't even have any recorded cassettes. I do have several sealed Maxell XLII and a few MX and TDK MA tape cartridges packed away with the deck though.
I've got an LX3 which still works pretty well - I just thought I had moved past the cassette medium. :)
 
I've got an LX3 which still works pretty well - I just thought I had moved past the cassette medium. :)
I've had three 3 head Naks over time. The LX-5 was my favorite. I got rid of it when I got my CR3. That was a mistake. That was back when I quit listening to cassettes. I got the 582 when I acquired a few blank tapes and thought I might start recording CD's. Before I realized it, some time went by and you were able to put music on a thumb drive and play it with an Oppo and many car decks. Then streaming became the rage and voila, the deck and tapes are still packed in the garage. I did some research and remembered I have a 582. I got it over the 581 as the latter doesn't have tape monitoring. I remember wondering at the time why anyone would make a 3 head deck without a monitoring circuit. That totally defeats the purpose of having 3 heads IMHO.
 
As spare belts for some vintage kit can be hard to find, when I changed those on my Sharp fifteen years ago, I bought two sets, as I did with my fifty year-old Philips turntable. Both sets of spare belts live in the bottom of the cassette deck. They probably won't be necessary in my lifetime... But then, you never know.
 
I traded away my Nakamichi RX-505 and all my cassettes at the beginning of June, so no more Cassette Sundays or Tuesdays for me.
So, I was looking in the storeroom for something else entirely and I found this:

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I guess this means I could still have a Cassette Sunday or Tuesday if I wanted. Of course, I no longer have any cassettes. Which does present a bit of a bump in the road when it comes to my playing any. Sheesh.

Now I'm wondering what else I've completely forgotten about in that storeroom. Do I even want to know?
 
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