Cassette lovers; why?
- Thread starter Makymak
- Start date
always loved them and i like how they sound.
started at age 5 in 1978 with one of those portable mono shoebox recorders, then added a walkman back in 1981... and so on.. never stopped using them till now.
cassettes are a nice medium to record vinyl on while keeping everything analog, too.
these latest 15 years or so, when started buying more decks, i enjoy also the technical side of them, like repairing/aligning/modifying decks, trying all sorts of tapes while making them sound good, etc... it's all so instructive, interesting and also funny.
i like also 8 track cartridges, which i used to listen to during my childhood as my dad's Ford car back in the 70s was equipped just with an 8 track player.
and, of course, i love and use vinyl since forever.
so, for me, CDs and digital are some relatively new media i started to also use since my 20's and on, but i always preferred the good old analog media.
started at age 5 in 1978 with one of those portable mono shoebox recorders, then added a walkman back in 1981... and so on.. never stopped using them till now.
cassettes are a nice medium to record vinyl on while keeping everything analog, too.
these latest 15 years or so, when started buying more decks, i enjoy also the technical side of them, like repairing/aligning/modifying decks, trying all sorts of tapes while making them sound good, etc... it's all so instructive, interesting and also funny.
i like also 8 track cartridges, which i used to listen to during my childhood as my dad's Ford car back in the 70s was equipped just with an 8 track player.
and, of course, i love and use vinyl since forever.
so, for me, CDs and digital are some relatively new media i started to also use since my 20's and on, but i always preferred the good old analog media.
As many of you, I've left a tapes behind me a many years ago.
Then I found somewhere a Technics RS-AZ7 (really nothing special regarding a sound and a junk regarding a build quality) which I bougt for cheap without any special reason (maybe looking nice).
Then I discovered some web pages about analog audio that took me back to tapes and memories. I've discovered things about a decks and tapes that didn't knew nothing about before. I acctually knew that heads should be cleaned from time to time, pinch rollers too, and there was some decks that had a function called calibration which was something wow...
To open a deck and touch some screws? Why should anyone do something like that
Now, thanks to all of you, I have some nice looking and working decks, a bunch of a tapes, some knowledge about electronics and tapes, and I got my childhood back (oh yeah, that makes me feel good and is worth every single minute of my time and all the money I've spent on decks, tapes, parts...).
Now, majority of songs I have in my library is in digital form, but making a selection and record them to a tapes, with eventual presented noise makes those songs more enjoyable and less sterile.
Used to know a guy hwo loved a sound of a tapes recorded from FM which I understand. It's a that specific noise that gives a life to a sound, like a crackling (is it a right therm?) of LPs. At least for me.
*yellows are a reasons for me
Then I found somewhere a Technics RS-AZ7 (really nothing special regarding a sound and a junk regarding a build quality) which I bougt for cheap without any special reason (maybe looking nice).
Then I discovered some web pages about analog audio that took me back to tapes and memories. I've discovered things about a decks and tapes that didn't knew nothing about before. I acctually knew that heads should be cleaned from time to time, pinch rollers too, and there was some decks that had a function called calibration which was something wow...
To open a deck and touch some screws? Why should anyone do something like that Now, thanks to all of you, I have some nice looking and working decks, a bunch of a tapes, some knowledge about electronics and tapes, and I got my childhood back (oh yeah, that makes me feel good and is worth every single minute of my time and all the money I've spent on decks, tapes, parts...).
Now, majority of songs I have in my library is in digital form, but making a selection and record them to a tapes, with eventual presented noise makes those songs more enjoyable and less sterile.
Used to know a guy hwo loved a sound of a tapes recorded from FM which I understand. It's a that specific noise that gives a life to a sound, like a crackling (is it a right therm?) of LPs. At least for me.
*yellows are a reasons for me
Ha! My youth was spent with some cheap boom boxes. The family budget could not afford any serious deck and a hifi setup was out of question. The "main" setup was a cassever deck of the '70s (which I still have). No Dolby (but it has CrO2 compatibility). The sound is so-so. And of course, the only source of music (other than radio) was the cassettes. Either official prerecorded or (hmmm...) copies and mixtapes made from my parents' friends or some record stores (it was "normal" back then for the stores to record unofficial copies). At '90s when I was a teenager and started to make my own music "profile", my main source was radio recordings and of course friends' copy of a copy of a copy and so on. You understand that the quality of these recordings was awful. That's why when at about year 2k I could afford a pc setup with a CD-writer, I turned to the CD. No hiss, no dropouts, crystal clear sound and.... Napster. Never looked back to the cassette. Thankfully, I didn't throw away my cassettes but I stored them in a closet.
Fast forward 15 years and in 2015 a friend offered a Sony all in one system she didn't needed. The cassette and CD didn't working but it was an easy fix. I remembered my cassettes and nostalgia was there. Cassette comeback was reality for me. Then, I learned a lot about cassette recording (about bias, EQ and sensitivity) and finally understood why all my youth recordings from my boom boxes were of questionable quality...
And here I am now, with some nice setups, enjoying the analog sound as never before!!!
Edit: @Alex SE I'm curious how an AZ7 sounds. I would like to have one if any comes up to the right price.
Fast forward 15 years and in 2015 a friend offered a Sony all in one system she didn't needed. The cassette and CD didn't working but it was an easy fix. I remembered my cassettes and nostalgia was there. Cassette comeback was reality for me. Then, I learned a lot about cassette recording (about bias, EQ and sensitivity) and finally understood why all my youth recordings from my boom boxes were of questionable quality...
And here I am now, with some nice setups, enjoying the analog sound as never before!!!
Edit: @Alex SE I'm curious how an AZ7 sounds. I would like to have one if any comes up to the right price.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2014
- Messages
- 3,507
- Location
- Gaston, SC
- Tagline
- Victim of the record bug since age five
and cursing a decks for stealing a threads 
but if we gonna play dirty - no problem, let's play dirty.
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2014
- Messages
- 3,507
- Location
- Gaston, SC
- Tagline
- Victim of the record bug since age five
I have to ask myself why again sometimes when I spontaneously go buying NOS cassettes like these.
100 European Euros bought me this pack of 10x C100 Fuji JP-IIxPRO's.
They're rare to find in C100 fomat here. Even rarer to find them in a half-opened box.
Fortunately they don't smell musty. Now what tf do I do with them?
I need more prime numbers in my life.
100 European Euros bought me this pack of 10x C100 Fuji JP-IIxPRO's.
They're rare to find in C100 fomat here. Even rarer to find them in a half-opened box.
Fortunately they don't smell musty. Now what tf do I do with them?
I need more prime numbers in my life.
Last edited:
Never seen those tapes before but they should be good. 100€ is not a little money but unfortunately tape prices in Europe are high. Our friends at the other side of the ocean have a better luck. Cassettes in US are cheaper and much easier to find.
Regarding a lenght, 100 minutes should be fine but everyhning over that is too thin they say.
Regarding a lenght, 100 minutes should be fine but everyhning over that is too thin they say.