Tape Trail

Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

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RE: Need Advice on Cassette Deck Brand

Posted by gordguide on January 13, 2017 at 13:34:19:
Other posters (and myself) have listed the brands that actually manufactured their own machines. I have never seen a "worn out" professionally used deck in my life; they are maintained to a level no home user typically bothers with.
I bought a Nak from a tape duplicator many years ago. Guess what ... it had new motors and new heads and was biased and calibrated perfectly. That's the kind of "abuse" and "worn out" deck you get from Pro users.
Recording Studios only use their cassette decks sparingly to listen to something a musician might want to play, or maybe to check a duplicator's efforts. They were never used in production, and so are very low hour units. Art Galleries bought Pro decks, again, low hour units. Radio Stations ... same thing. Pro users have all low hour machines because no-one actually used cassettes for any production or broadcast purpose; they have the deck because they needed the ability to occasionally play a tape, nothing more.
The other brands you mention contracted their manufacturing to various "no name" factories in Japan and Asia. Alpine was a major contract manufacturer, for example. The trouble is the job went to the lowest bidder. You figure it out.
What really makes people want to help you ... not ... is to ask advice, get knowledgable and reasoned answers, and then ignore them. Why did you ask in the first place if you had no intention of following the advice offered?