Maxell or TDK?

A

analogman64

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I am getting back into analog recording would like to know what tape everyone here prefers TDK or Maxell.I have two decks right now, a Sony TC-K700ES and a Carver TD-1700.Thanks..
 
Those are a couple of nice decks you have. I've always been biased towards Maxell tape but I've had success with TDK tape. There are a few here that use the cassette format much more than me and it would be good to get their inputs. There's an ass ton of tape formulations that will complicate answers. Aging tape is another factor too.

Welcome to Phoenix - if you post again you'll get a Nav babe. :shaking:
 
The answer is going to disappoint you a lot...

There is very little production of new Type II and no Type IV left on the planet for new audio cassettes.

You are stuck with a few Type I/normal tapes in production, the Maxell and TDK, even Sony tapes are made by the same sources in a large part and you are left to find NOS cassettes online and in thrift stores or drugstores.

You are left to find what works best for you and limiting yourself to one brand will not be a favorable strategy soon, if not yesterday. Learn to adapt to whatever you may find and seek good quality. If your deck has a bias adjustment, use it. You are truly on your own again.

Hitachi isn't going to bring the glory days of Maxell back and TDK has been moving onward into other products for a long time, with relatively little cassette production.

Now you can truly become the devoted and studious hobbyist everyone THINKS you are! :blob8:
 
I come to the subject as a user and also a service person. The TDK tapes have done well for me over many years however, there have been a lot of versions of it and the latest version as made by
Imation may not have been the best one.
Naxell XLII tape have been a standard for deck service people for a lot of years as has been TDK. The thing is that they have different base materials and the Maxell wears better in abusing transports like car players with 4 channel heads. Maybe that is not something to bee worried about at this point.
Both tapes wear and both give like results in a well maintained and adjusted machine.

You the right calibration in those machines and clean heads either one will perform well. I had become a fan of SAX at the time in the 80's when I was working at Teac and then I also saw Maxell screw around with a XLII S formula that took them a lot of time to stabilize on a final formula- If this is what they do to the public which is use us a testing then I see no reason to use XL IIS tape and have avoided it ever since. The XL IS tape is the best I have tested. The XL IIS tape in many different machines often performed worse than the XL II tape and was sold for more money.

One of the best Chrome tape was made by TDK only. It was HXS which was a weakened Metal tape. You could use this metal tape on a Chrome only deck. I wish I had bought hundreds of them as this is one of the greatest inventions. Many Metal tapes did not impress me either until I came across the Sony XR tape. This metal tape record about 2 dB higher than other Metal tapes and just seems to have all that you would want from it. I use it in the shop and calibrate decks to it.
As a Technician I come across, use and determine the grade of tape I calibrate to. There is a lot of garbage out there and some clear shell stuff from Korea is total garbage- no wonder they do not mark it. Look for people on forums that have a surplus of tape in collections. This is where you will get some of the best old production stuff sealed. Tapeheads.net Forum has over 20,000 members and many of them are tape people. I hope this helps you out. I am always available for questions through E mail.
 
Great insight.

But I'll call you out on this ...

"Tapeheads.net Forum has over 20,000 members..."

TH has 10 of thousands of registrants.
So in essence, big numbers are meaningless in context.
They've got about 50 to 60 active participants over there
and as far as ROI is concerned ... it's amounts to low value
and a pretty messy scatter plot of data points.

I'd also point out that years in the service sector
doesn't a good argument make against metal tape.


Skywavebe said:
I come to the subject as a user and also a service person. The TDK tapes have done well for me over many years however, there have been a lot of versions of it and the latest version as made by
Imation may not have been the best one.
Naxell XLII tape have been a standard for deck service people for a lot of years as has been TDK. The thing is that they have different base materials and the Maxell wears better in abusing transports like car players with 4 channel heads. Maybe that is not something to bee worried about at this point.
Both tapes wear and both give like results in a well maintained and adjusted machine.

You the right calibration in those machines and clean heads either one will perform well. I had become a fan of SAX at the time in the 80's when I was working at Teac and then I also saw Maxell screw around with a XLII S formula that took them a lot of time to stabilize on a final formula- If this is what they do to the public which is use us a testing then I see no reason to use XL IIS tape and have avoided it ever since. The XL IS tape is the best I have tested. The XL IIS tape in many different machines often performed worse than the XL II tape and was sold for more money.

One of the best Chrome tape was made by TDK only. It was HXS which was a weakened Metal tape. You could use this metal tape on a Chrome only deck. I wish I had bought hundreds of them as this is one of the greatest inventions. Many Metal tapes did not impress me either until I came across the Sony XR tape. This metal tape record about 2 dB higher than other Metal tapes and just seems to have all that you would want from it. I use it in the shop and calibrate decks to it.
As a Technician I come across, use and determine the grade of tape I calibrate to. There is a lot of garbage out there and some clear shell stuff from Korea is total garbage- no wonder they do not mark it. Look for people on forums that have a surplus of tape in collections. This is where you will get some of the best old production stuff sealed. Tapeheads.net Forum has over 20,000 members and many of them are tape people. I hope this helps you out. I am always available for questions through E mail.
Click to expand...
 
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I used TDK a lot, but always (back in the day) looked up to Maxell as a better tape.

Whatever else you do use, DO NOT use DAK tapes. Trust me on this.
 
I was not aware of the TH haters club here. I thought that was all in the past.
In terms of tape question and deck support I see a lot more action there. PL amps and other amps here. Each has it's following I guess.

Years in service has everything to do with following the progress in tape formulas and the results that machines can have with them. Most people that use cassette decks and those that record at +8 really do not have a clue. They might as well use the dual cassette meant for their mentality. Technicians know better and record differently. If you don't like the opinions I have which are often also like other Technicians then you don't have to read them.
Jeeez!
 
eh I see no TH hate... most boards only have a core of members that are active, lots of people join and then drift so membership total really does not mean anything

Anywho, when I was into recording early 80s, TDX SA-X 90s for me. Maxell UD XLII 90s were great too. Wish I could find a sealed SA-X 90 from back then for the collection
 
Skywavebe said:
I was not aware of the TH haters club here. I thought that was all in the past.
In terms of tape question and deck support I see a lot more action there. PL amps and other amps here. Each has it's following I guess.

Years in service has everything to do with following the progress in tape formulas and the results that machines can have with them. Most people that use cassette decks and those that record at +8 really do not have a clue. They might as well use the dual cassette meant for their mentality. Technicians know better and record differently. If you don't like the opinions I have which are often also like other Technicians then you don't have to read them.
Jeeez!
Click to expand...

The fact that you perceive "hate" is pretty telling all by itself man.
Quite frankly, from what I see and in the true spirit of educated & experienced opinions,
it's the over-sensitivity & butthurt that permeates the ether on thread stomps and ruins the dialog.
Always a fun-fun time though to watch the chiming in from what Rush calls ... the drive-bys.

And to echo and expand on what North said ... there hasn't been TH hate on PHX and there isn't any ATM.
Only a few incidents of expressed concern in the distant past.
So in other words, chill.

With regard to opinions,
reflect first ... react last.
It's free speech time.
No PC-ness.
No BS.
So your characterization is baseless & flat out wrong.

... I M H ;-) of course.
 
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Why are we yelling at Sam? A new guy wanted to know which brand of cassette tape to buy and I had to bring them up to date.

Tony, please don't flick shit at the expense of the OP who is probably turned off to us now. I'm not mad at you or something, this is because I like you and realize you may have issues with some parts of the conversation.

Just about ANY site has far more registered members vs. the actual number of active ones or former posters. This is not news.

And every site has some disgruntled members or even banned members that either didn't obey the terms and conditions, were 'drummed out' or felt they could do it better or wanted to have their own group.

Tapeheads AND Phoenix are no exception to ANY of those conditions.

Let's do what was once done to one of my threads and excise parts and either start a new topic or resolve disagreements internally via admins. The OP is owed that.

Our apologies to you, analogman64 and I hope we can be of help to you for a long while.

Radio Abbie
(a slight return)
 
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Yelling? L M A O

orange said:
Why are we yelling at Sam? A new guy wanted to know which brand of cassette tape to buy and I had to bring them up to date.

Tony, please don't flick shit at the expense of the OP who is probably turned off to us now. I'm not mad at you or something, this is because I like you and realize you may have issues with some parts of the conversation.

Just about ANY site has far more registered members vs. the actual number of active ones or former posters. This is not news.

And every site has some disgruntled members or even banned members that either didn't obey the terms and conditions, were 'drummed out' or felt they could do it better or wanted to have their own group.

Tapeheads AND Phoenix are no exception to ANY of those conditions.

Let's do what was once done to one of my threads and excise parts and either start a new topic or resolve disagreements internally via admins. The OP is owed that.

Our apologies to you, analogman64 and I hope we can be of help to you for a long while.

Radio Abbie
(a slight return)
Click to expand...
 
If you are still out there, I'll offer what everyone here (Larry especially) offered to me when I was in the same kind of situation and had no real supply of tape I could afford when I arrived here five years ago.

I'll send a CARE package if you wish of quality name brand and some of the tapes Larry and others sent in bulk that are unmarked but many are either BASF or Maxell stock, they were unboxed (no cases, ALL NOS and unused)...the only thing is that I'm broke for the month on my meager fixed income and all my bills are paid.

No curiousities or dreck. You take care of the flat rate postage and no more. I have hundreds now and I suppose it also saves me getting one extra wooden storage wall cabinet next month, at least temporarily.

One Phoenix Metal LE 60 included, and if nobody steps up and claims the last two Christmas mailers I would gather the Phoenix Chromes in those. I'm not itching to latch onto them, they need to go.

Just my way to say I hope you can enjoy taping again and hope to see you here for a while.
 
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carver_td_1700_450px.png



Such a beautiful deck, you are fortunate to own one. I have never seen one in person ever. I have had a few Carver amps and preamps but other separates rarely. I did have the CDP that had the preamp tube though the model escapes me now. That was many years ago and believe it or not, I like the dbx DX5 which I own much better. That thing is just magical
 
I was also a fan of the JVC V Series cassette decks, anybody have one? I think the one I have in the garage is a V22???
 
Chill...

BlazeES said:
And to echo and expand on what North said ... there hasn't been TH hate on PHX and there isn't any ATM.
Only a few incidents of expressed concern in the distant past.
So in other words, chill.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

Having read this (very interesting..) thread I feel the need to fire up these guys after a long time:

DSC_0333.jpg

Fooling around with decks and tapes is still fun every now and then.
 
Mellow out people.

The OP just wants viewpoints on TDK and Maxell tapes. I would guess no doubt their are more active member ewho use tape over at TH then here, but the OP asked the question here, so answer him or here hear without trying to flame another forum please.


We rarely stick to the topic at hand here, which isn't all bad. Lets just not let it drift into forum bickering.
 
^^^^^^

Don't make the Black Knight come out and restore order now LMAO!!!
 
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