[Closed] hifi advice please....i need a new cassette deck?

Is a Yamaha KX-321 (I think) of any interest to you?

I think that ebay will be your best option. Richer Sounds sell a new Teac twin deck but that is £230!

Nakamichi decks were a bit name when I was a lad but they seem to cost £100+ on the bay. I would go for a second hand Yamaha. I used to have one and it was pretty well built. You should be able to find something decent for £50 or less.

Get thee to cash converters/stolen-u-like

you'll pick up one for peanuts, probably nicked.

I've got a Nakamichi CR-2E going

Nakamichi DR3 here:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=187802

Nakamichi decks were a bit name when I was a lad but they seem to cost £100+ on the bay

If near Surrey I have a Nakamichi BX125 in the loft, not used it for years.

Not sure what it is worth but £100 is pushing it I think from what I've seen, more like £35!

You could look for a BX300 which is the 3 head design (mine is 2 head) and those BXs had more of the classic look about them.

Otherwise look for Awai second hand, their decks were pretty good but not Nakamichi standard.

Ebay.. or you'll pay well over the odds. Mine cost £12. Its a little Sony thing, sits on top of a speaker, well pleased with it.

Its a little Sony thing, sits on top of a speaker, well pleased with it.

The guy next door has a BSA bike, he's well pleased with that as well...

I've got a Sony TCK-661S patiently waiting for me to list it on eBay. Email me if interested.

"The guy next door has a BSA bike, he's well pleased with that as well..."

If all he needs it for is to go down the pub/shops etc, it's probably absolutely fine.

Cassette deck snobbery?! Absolutely pmsl! You do know what is [i]played[/i] on cassette decks, don't you?

Cassettes, obvs.

I've got a box full of 80s hair metal cassettes I can't wait to listen to as soon as I sort out a cassette player of some sort.

[i]Cassettes, obvs[/i]

320kbps or FLAC?

Aiwa adf 450 was a good buy back in the day (my Dad is keeping mine as a spare for his twin cassette deck that still sees regular use).

A WHAT?!

Nakamichi was a high end brand for cassette, but the usual winners of more budget orientated tests were Denon, it's really where they made their name, before their amps got good. And more likely to be mainstream repairable.

Teac made good tape transports too.

You'd better get some form of assurance that it still works, many will have loose belts now.

One of the above offers is probably a safe enough bet.

Leftfield option - [img] [/img]
Sony portable [don't pay a fortune for a "classic" though]

I've got an immaculate barely used Pioneer CTS-640S in my dad's Garage. Bought in the late 90's brand new when I was still doing DJ mixes for all and sundry, before CD recorders were affordable enough. Used it a dozen times maybe!

It was the best part of £500 new, and got very good reviews by What Hi-Fi etc. I know it's a 3 Head Design and has Dolby B, C, S etc... I've not even seen it in 10 years, but it was immaculate when it got put away, so assuming it still is (in its original box too) and if you're interested, my email is in my profile...

I have some 'portable' tape deck from my dads system that could be wired in. Would cost a mint to post mind you so likely be a local Gumtree job... I think I binned the 'proper' tape deck.

[url= http://www.petervis.com/Cassette_Tape_Recorders/Sony_TC-153SD/Sony_TC-153SD.html ][/url]

Otherwise look for Awai second hand, their decks were pretty good but not Nakamichi standard.

[img] [/img]

http://www.vintagecassette.com/aiwa/ad_f770

[img] [/img]

🙂

When I had a language teaching business I needde a bomb-proof cassette player with an accurate counter. The man in the shop suggested an Onkyo TA-RW211. It was used for hours a day, rewound five times a minute with pinpoint accuracy until the students understood, had it's buttons hammered by ham-fisted teachers, it's doors slammed. It never ate a tape, sounded great and I shouldn't be using the past tense because it's now in my living room and still works perfectly over twenty years on.

Cassette deck snobbery?! Absolutely pmsl! You do know what is played on cassette decks, don't you?

I speak amongst you, as one of you, but please don't start arguing about cassette decks.

Just please, don't.

Sony D6C for the truly left field option.

AD-F770's seem to be fetching fairly high prices on eBay in the US, up around the $340 mark, and there's even someone doing a remote kit for the 770/990 decks, and compatible with Tascam as well: https://www.nakremotes.com/nakremotes/Aiwa_RC-R200_Remote.htm

Here's one in Banbury asking for £250:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIWA-F-770-TAPE-DECK-CASSETTE-PLAYER-STEREO-/111998724224

[i]please don't start arguing about cassette decks[/i]

I argue about EVERYTHING!! 😆

[i]You clearly never heard a good one[/i]

MY old man had a fantastic Marantz one. Cost him a fortune. But it still PLAYED CASSETTES!! They are shite! 😆

(see)

I argue about EVERYTHING!!

No you don't.

[img] [/img]

Lol @ flashy

MY old man had a fantastic Marantz one. Cost him a fortune. But it still PLAYED CASSETTES!! They are shite

cannot have been a good one - Nakamichis gave very good results.

And yet record players are lauded on this forum, even though there's all that noise, all that channel crosstalk, all that tracking distortion (stylus is only parallel to the groove in one place), all that wow and flutter, all the issues with needing compatible arms and catridge, needing a very good arm, etc.

I'd be tempted to get something cheap just to check your tapes are actually ok, I got a Sony mini separate for £30 off eBay - some of my tapes had warped and subsequently warbled a bit during playback. It was nice to play with them for a bit and listen to old tracks, and there is a little 'warmth' to the playback on tape, but some decent headphones and CDs are the only practical option for me.

Buyer's guide here (which scares me off)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/NAKAMICHI-cassette-decks-A-BUYERS-GUIDE-/10000000001787803/g.html

[i]cannot have been a good one [/i]

Obviously I can't argue with such a knowledgable and well reasoned point of view!
🙄

There's always loads of hifi separates inc. cassette decks at our local tip, where my Technics/Arcam/KEF shed stereo comes from, all bought for a fiver or less. Fantastic sound. Car boots too can be a good source of grandad's old hi fi separates and speakers. Can be risky in case knackered but often worth a punt if only a few quid.

Obviously I can't argue with such a knowledgable and well reasoned point of view!

obviously not.

pre-recorded cassettes were rubbish, I'll give you that, but a recording made on a decent cassette (Sa, SA-X, MA-X) on a Nakamichi was very good.

Or maybe my Nakamichi was the only good one out there and my results were just a fluke, maybe the rest of my playback gear wasn't of good enough quality to tell.

It's usually agreed that pre-recorded cassettes are not so great when played on most casstette decks but some deal with them better than others - Nakamichi. A lot of cassette decks will replay recordings made on them very well indeed. They really are underated by most of us.

My Nak 582 gave results very, very close indeed to the original source, certainly indistinguishable from LPs (of course this was pre-digital). Being a 3 head machine it was possible to switch monitoring instantly from source to off-tape allowing immediate comparison.

The machine also allowed manual adjustment of tape head azimuth and tape bias to match the tape being used. I favoured SA-X as I couldn't really convince myself metal was any better.

So, after reading this last night, i went browsing for cassette decks on ebay, (i dont own ANY cassettes) spent a couple of hours doing that, then went and bought some mission speakers.

Lol.

Which ones?

I'd say pick up a good Nakamichi off ebay. I used to have one in the 80s/90s a DR3 I think. With good metal tape and Dolby C it was indistinguishable from the CD source.

Thanks guys, some good ideas. Must say the nakamichi decks are defininetely piquing my interest.

Buy metal tapes from here (link at end of that video) :

https://tapeline.info/v2/metal-wound-to-length.html

702, paid £130 for them, thats posted too.
I wanted floorstanders to avoid faffing with stands etc, plus we have a young cat which still jumps on 'anything'
I have a denon pma250 amp to power them, which is at the lower end of the required output, so next on my agenda will be a more powerful amp at some point.

Look what I just got in the post. How the hell am I going to listen to it without a Naka****i? I just won't get the full benefit! 😆

[img] [/img]

stylus is only parallel to the groove in one place

Not on a linear tracking player...

Not on a linear tracking player...

and how many people use those?

still got all those other issues plus the need to keep the tracking motor noise from the arm, all non-trivial issues.

In HFN this month (first mag bought for years) it was ridiculing the idea that Sony are releasing a deck that will automatically rip a hi-res flac file from your LP - why not just buy the hi-res flac file in the first place and then add the noise, clicks and pops and othe rdistortion and not bother with the record deck?

Look what I just got in the post. How the hell am I going to listen to it without a Naka****i? I just won't get the full benefit!

so whose the foolish one here - the one who denies cassettes can sound good, posseses a cheap cassette player and rests it on top of a vibrating speaker that also emits magnetic fields, and then buys a prerecorded cassette when prerecorded cassettes were notoriously of poor quality because they were dubbed at high speeds, or anyone else ?

Funnily enough, I buy a pre-recorded cassette because I'm actually into music. It's the only format some stuff is available in.
Takes all sorts I guess.

Funnily enough, I buy a pre-recorded cassette because I'm actually into music. It's the only format some stuff is available in.
Takes all sorts I guess.

I take it that is the Monsanto album based on the dba127 number. Some simple googling gets you to their bandcamp page where you can get the digital versions...

Takes all sorts...

Now now...

Try googling harder and you might find which tracks are only available on cass 😆

This is getting too silly for me!

Try googling harder and you might find which tracks are only available on cass

"Cassette edition includes debut single as bonus tracks, including a collaboration with Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt / Black Pus. Pro-dubbed w/ full color artwork"

But I assume that is a recent album so why even sell a cassette for one thing, and then to perversely reward the people that buy the cassettes and restrict anybody that wants decent quality.

It's like some artists doing that with vinyl, pointleslsly restricting their market. Came across someone the other day like this, which just means a lost sale. Way to establish yourself.

8 tracks will be next...

and how many people use those?

Probably just me!

Bring back Reel to Reel.

I blew my Sony one up years ago (who the hell puts identical 12 and 240v input sockets bloody merged together??!) 🙁