I felt so dirty...

[DC]

...for a minute, but it passed. I hooked up a cassette deck to my main system. I was feeling all low and ready to turn in my card, BUT crisis averted - tape deck is apparently dead, so it's unhooked. WHEW! I even put the little Cardas RCA "caps" back on those preamp inputs to keep out all that bad stuff.

(Yes, a poking fun at "us" thread... )

Anyway, what happened is that I was feeling a little bored (or curious or something?) and decided to grab my cassette deck off the shelf and hook it up to play some ancient tapes I made when I was a kid. It hasn't been used in several years. After powering it up, it made some wierd noise(s) and tapes won't go. So I assume belt(s) or wheel(s) or something, and now I have a broken thing.

Oh well...

 

[Pat McGinty]

Yeah. I have a top level cassette deck, drive belt broken, no hope, sitting on the to-the-dump pile next to a top level Pioneer inverted platter CD player modded by a top modder, next to two active biamp filters, one hand built by me. Relics all. They won't see '21.

 

[S0und Dragon]

Yeah. I have a top level cassette deck, drive belt broken, no hope, sitting on the to-the-dump pile next to a top level Pioneer inverted platter CD player modded by a top modder, next to two active biamp filters, one hand built by me. Relics all. They won't see '21.

Top Level Cassette deck you say? Hmmm......

 

[prime minister]

Yeah. I have a top level cassette deck, drive belt broken, no hope, sitting on the to-the-dump pile next to a top level Pioneer inverted platter CD player modded by a top modder, next to two active biamp filters, one hand built by me. Relics all. They won't see '21.

You can just add that to my pile.

 

[prime minister]

Yeah. I have a top level cassette deck, drive belt broken, no hope, sitting on the to-the-dump pile next to a top level Pioneer inverted platter CD player modded by a top modder, next to two active biamp filters, one hand built by me. Relics all. They won't see '21.

Woah,,Pat. A stable platter Pioneer? Sold!

 

[mpholland]

I get it. I have a Nak 581 sitting on a shelf that gets used once every couple years just to remind me that it works
.

 

[Rudy]

Last time I hooked up my Harman/Kardon CD301 cassette deck a couple of years ago, no issues at all--I bought it new in the early to mid 80s and aside from a sluggish tape counter, it worked nicely. It's one of the few things I'll hold onto. Stolen Interwebz photo:



If I ever had to get another, I'd probably step up to their top deck, the CD491, as it was the next generation and was also the top of the line. (The CD391 was top of the line in my generation.) I used to share tapes made on the bargain TDK D-90 cassettes that the recipients were amazed by. Having adjustable bias and Dolby levels was part of the reason for that.

I also have a JVC KD-2 portable cassette recorder I'm hanging onto--I recorded some of our jazz band's gigs onto this deck using SuperANRS. It will probably need a going-over (oxidized contacts, rubber) before it's completely usable, but I'm still hanging onto it nonetheless. It could run for a limited time on D-cell batteries, and had brackets for a carrying strap. We had a set of stereo microphones to plug into it; I still have those somewhere. Also a stolen photo:

 

[Try1256]

I actually have quite a few Cassettes so I have a deck hooked into my system. WTH, I have the shelf and a tape input. I rarely listen to anything on it but it doesn't sound half bad.

 

[Pat McGinty]

Woah,,Pat. A stable platter Pioneer? Sold!

Man, I gotta pack a box for you and ship it. I've launched a start-o-decade deep purge, taking no prisoners. Two active crossovers are on the top of that pile along with a ton of hardwired telephone crap, computers, accessories, hard drives and monitors. Dead AB amps. Out! Antiquated useless junk. Sick of shuffling the stuff around.

 

[prime minister]

Man, I gotta pack a box for you and ship it. I've launched a start-o-decade deep purge, taking no prisoners. Two active crossovers are on the top of that pile along with a ton of hardwired telephone crap, computers, accessories, hard drives and monitors. Dead AB amps. Out! Antiquated useless junk. Sick of shuffling the stuff around.

Definitely!
I'll give you a call and we can discuss. Been trying not to bug you too much as I know it's been crazy for you of late.
I do still like playing with antiquated junk at times.
I had my tech restore a totl Esoteric cassette deck for me. Sadly, it and a few more toys got stuck in Toronto, waiting for me to visit. Thanks, Covid.
As much as I do enjoy streaming the vast majority of my music now, there are times when physical media has its pleasures.

 

[ChrisO]

Last time I hooked up my Harman/Kardon CD301 cassette deck a couple of years ago, no issues at all--I bought it new in the early to mid 80s and aside from a sluggish tape counter, it worked nicely. It's one of the few things I'll hold onto. Stolen Interwebz photo:

View attachment 31217

If I ever had to get another, I'd probably step up to their top deck, the CD491, as it was the next generation and was also the top of the line. (The CD391 was top of the line in my generation.) I used to share tapes made on the bargain TDK D-90 cassettes that the recipients were amazed by. Having adjustable bias and Dolby levels was part of the reason for that.

I also have a JVC KD-2 portable cassette recorder I'm hanging onto--I recorded some of our jazz band's gigs onto this deck using SuperANRS. It will probably need a going-over (oxidized contacts, rubber) before it's completely usable, but I'm still hanging onto it nonetheless. It could run for a limited time on D-cell batteries, and had brackets for a carrying strap. We had a set of stereo microphones to plug into it; I still have those somewhere. Also a stolen photo:

View attachment 31216

Nice looking cassette deck - I was into the Pioneer stuff in the 80's but the flat colored aluminum stuff - I believe Technics had that look - really caught my eye.

 

[Rudy]

Nice looking cassette deck - I was into the Pioneer stuff in the 80's but the flat colored aluminum stuff - I believe Technics had that look - really caught my eye.

That is a unique "frosted" look that HK had on their components back then, and I do like it. I'm no fan of silver, so having the unusually finished HK deck was a treat.

I guess after the CD-400 series, with CDs gaining prominence, they cheapened their cassette deck line. I bought a later deck in black--it was mechanically solid but the sound was nowhere near those old decks. Sounded soft in the highs to me. A good one for playback but wasn't so good for recording. I sold it several years later as I just wasn't using it. I also have a Sony that I bought to use in my office at the time, and it had a problem where the square drive belt would wear and start "flipping" in the pulleys, so you'd get a regular warble in the music when the belt flipped. I bought a new belt from Sony and that did not help--once that belt got loose a few months later, it would start flipping. I'd bought a round belt to replace it but got it disassembled...and that was 25 years ago. It'll probably go on the trash pile.

 

[prime minister]

I had the 491. Very nice, if slightly flakey deck. If running well, it makes truly great sounding recordings. I had pretty well every piece of his gear from that line, and all of it sounded wonderful. However, all of it was built in a very iffy way. Fine for the first 10 or 20 years, but the use of cheap caps and those flakey little push buttons made them a pain to keep running. Sad, as when they are working well. They sound really great.

 

[djnagle]

I don't know if you remember this Don but a week before one of our SMAC meets I asked the group to bring old cassettes to the meet for my brother Paul who is challenged and loved everything cassettes.

I thing I got over 200 cassette the day of the meeting.

 

[mhardy6647]

Dang.
I shoulda posted here, instead of starting a whole 'nother thread!

Something else to worry about -- prerecorded cassettes are coming back?!? :-o

Well, Auntie Beeb seems to think so. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-55476419 Predicted best-selling cassette albums for 2020 1. Lady Gaga - Chromatica 2. 5 Seconds Of Summer - Calm 3. Yungblud - Weird 4. The 1975 - Notes On A Conditional Form 5. Blackpink - The Album 6. Selena Gomez - Rare...

hifihaven.org

 

[DC]

I don't know if you remember this Don but a week before one of our SMAC meets I asked the group to bring old cassettes to the meet for my brother Paul who is challenged and loved everything cassettes.

I thing I got over 200 cassette the day of the meeting.

I do remember that! He had a Teac A-100 tape deck, as I recall?

 

[djnagle]

Yep, I got that Teac from a garage sale for 5 bucks because it didn't work. A couple new belts and some elbow grease and it was as good as new.

 

[Rudy]

Wish I'd known. I bought a dozen or more pre-recorded cassettes when I was driving some hooptie of a company car about a dozen years ago, as it only had a cassette player. Thrift store...I think I paid 50 cents each or maybe 25 cents each. Could probably pawn them off on the hipsters who abandoned vinyl for cassettes now... 😏

 

[240sx4u]

Once my audio rack is constructed I'll break out my dad's old Denon DRS-610 for fun. It's got a drawer to load it which is neat.

 

[djnagle]

There is only one tape deck I'd own today and that is part of the Nakamichi system one stack.

I think they got there inspiration from the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey.