|
Home
/ FAQ
/ News Classifieds / Events |
Audio Asylum Thread Printer |
Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
68.96.141.88
Here, I'm not trying to beat the dead horse of "what is best cassette deck".
Since virtually most pre-recorded cassettes are normal/chrome, I want to find out the normal/chrome playing deck (so that I don't have to inflict unnecessary wear and tear on my metal playing deck, so that I can economize my maintainence money over the long run).
Remember, normal/chrome playing, not metal, not recording.
I'm looking at Nakamichi 600 whose spec at normal/chrome range is actually better than many metal playing/recording totl deck from many brands.
I finally decided on my choice.
Tandberg 310MKII.
Cheap, but extremely robust tape mechanics, and very musical, better than my BeoCord 9000, which has far higher specs (in normal/chrome).
BC9000 has better sonics when playing jazz or folk music, but when it comes to rock, country, 310MKII is better.
I was very pleased with my Sony TC-K909ES.
Both essentially the same machine, although the Studer branded ones were balanced, without mic preamps, and the Revox were single-ended, and had mic preamps. I had a B710 Mk II that would blow away any digital medium. Beautifully made, too. Maybe the best made piece of gear I ever had.
WW
There is NO substitute for the live performance.
Studer made a cassette deck?! Must be one fine puppy.
In any case, remember... you're dealing with 1/8" tape, 4 tracks, moving at 1-7/8 ips.
Don't expect sonic miracles.
Metal sounded great... for the first few passes.
:)
Hi:
If you are listening solely to commerical pre-recorded cassettes in Chrome/120uS format, then you don't have much choice other than the Nakamichi CR-7, Cassette deck 1, DR-1 or the DRAGON. These four decks all have the playback head azimuth adjustment ( the first three are manual, while the last is automatic ). Marantz also has a deck that comes with playback head azimuth adjustment but it is impossible to find in the U.S.
Pre-recorded commerical cassettes with Chrome/70uS as well as Real-Time have better sonic performance than Chrome/120uS but the number of releases are not as large. I have over 5000 pre-recorded commerical cassettes and I listen to them mainly through my three Nak DRAGONs. I prefer the DRAGON over the CR-7 but this is soley personal. Others have their choices; with all respect.
Hope this help,
Mike
If you want to minimize maintenance costs, I would avoid the older Naks. They are subject to the orange cap disease. The BX series is subject to the weak idler tire problem. Since you are primarily interested in playback, bias adjustment is not an issue. I would look for the CR-3 or CR-4. They can be gotten for less than $150 on ebay.
Nakamichi ZX-7 is pricier than the 600 but the bias is adjustable. The ZX-9 is even better, but it was a "balanced and blue-printed" (NAD actually matched up the components for each machine, sort of a "super-tuned" deck), and I don't think you'd notice the difference. The ZX-7 can be had for $250 - $500, but add in at least $300 to have it gone through and brought back to true operating condition. With just about any vintage cassette deck, it's going to take more than new belts to restore performance to what you should expect. I've been through this with NAK's and NAD's (2 ZX-7's, 3 NAD 6300's). The NAD 6300 is also very good, not as good as the NAK, it has a Sankyo transport and is not as well built. But when you get a good one, it sounds very good indeed. The NAD 6100 (which I also have) is very good for the price but much slower motor (FF/RW) and not 3 heads, which the others are.
It tends to squeeze every bit of quality from the tapes I play on it, regardless of the EQ/Bias, more than my other decks.
Cheers,
Bobbo :-)
Post a Followup:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2009, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ Go Green ]
[ Take5 ]