Are there any tape decks being made by anyone? Are there any plans for this? I see articles on a new tape formula in the US and you can buy these new tapes but not the decks
Yes, TASCAM is still making them, but they're not worth. the specs are ridiculously low. Here are the specs: Look at the frequency response (not to talk about the W&F...). Now look at this cheap SONY: And now a good, old WM-701C: I think no more words needed... Took from this post: http://www.walkman-archive.com/wa/2017/08/new-tascam-deck-stay-calm-not-worth-your-money/
Wow that is bad. I see TEAC still have models as well, same sort of price range £350 and they have USB inputs as well although it doesn’t say much about the DAC. Does anyone make portables?
Now is a good time to follow @Michelle Knight steps and get professionally serviced hi-end deck! As of 2016 Willy Hermann had a few months waiting list, it must be forever now. I am pretty sure that Sankyo will never restart production of Nakamichi classic transports, and the prices for used Naks go only Up. Three years ago I won Nak ZX-7 for $207.50, right now the cheapest "sold" ZX-7 is $450...
By accident I stumbled across a Clear Tech portable cassette deck on urban outfitters whilst looking for shipping quotes for the Akira tape. I’d be interested in any information if any kind soul has any https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/shop/clear-cassette-player Edit - made by Sentry Audio. No specs on website https://sentryindustries.com/
Looks like a cheap and low end model, but anyway interesting for recommending when someone ask for something not vintage
At least it dosnt give you cancer! This guardians of the galaxy replica, which only plays one song, will literally kill you. According to this warning anyway... “Prop 65 Warning: This product may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, please visit www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65.html.” https://www.thinkgeek.com/product/jsph/ I feel disheartened by this
TASCAM isn't saying it can only go 50 to 12,500 Hz. They are saying that dB (loudness) drops by +/- 4 dB at those frequencies. Frequency response data is rubbish if they don't provide +/- dB. TASCAM provides it, but those other advertisements did not. Your Sony Walkman claims it can go as high as 15,000 Hz, but they do not say the +/- dB, probably because they don't want you to know that dB drops off a cliff at that frequency. Maybe it drops by 20 or 30 dB, making it useless. Sony doesn't tell you, because they don't want you to know. With the TASCAM, they tell you. They say dB drops by only 4 at 12,500 Hz. In short: The TASCAM is capable of going beyond 50 - 12,500 Hz, but of course the dB will drop by more than 4 dB. With those Walkmen you posted, their specs are rubbish because they don't give the dB specs.
As far as I know, unless stated, freq response is always +/- 3dB, so I bet SONY's data is under that measure. I remember also reading so in their old catalogues...
I think building millions of solid state digital devices in China is easier (and cheaper) than building thousands of hi quality analog devices with all theirs mechanical complications. That is a matter of fact: we don't build iPhones because it's hard, but because it's more profitable! (semicit: JFK)
Analog devices have way too many moving parts which means, more things to go wrong. Add the fact that, hardly anything is made to last anymore and chances of damaging your brand increase 10 fold. Digital is basically a motherboard and a digital display. I too, would love to be able to buy a new cassette deck at an affordable price and portable player with today's technology.
The question is how much would you be prepared to pay for one ? Find some prices in an old HIFi magazine and feed them through an inflation calculator like this one https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation and then ask yourself if you would be prepared to pay those prices today. Lots of people think Apple equipment is expensive but like lots of things in real terms it has never been cheaper. The other thing is demand. A £100 hard drive bought today operates at precisions that anyone in the 1990s would find unbelievable. However, becuase Seagate, WD and Toshiba (the only three HDD manufacturers left) are selling them by the million they have got the prices down to low levels. Place a genuine order with Sankyo for a million top of the range cassette decks and I am sure they would be able to do it. Look at the price of the new Technics SL1200 (which apparently is made with new tooling as they threw the old stuff away) and you will see the cost of making a precison engineered piece of HiFi in low quantities.
I am with @Longman here: the price for a decent NEW deck will be way above professionally refurbished old Nakamichi deck! The only benefit would be some "new technology" in cassette mechanism but it is pure mechanics and I doubt there were any serious "breakthru-s" in materials or tooling over the last 30 years. At least in my own field of hi-end microscopy they still use brass and glass... And the price will be pretty high! My other Big Question: who would need a cassette deck nowadays? With R2R its the Ultimate replay quality, with LPs its the next best thing to the "master quality" R2R tape, but cassette deck? Only for the lucky few who have friends with LP collection? Of all the people I know or had ever met, I have the largest LP collection (and its still way below a thou!) so why would I dub my LPs for a cassette replay? An hour of work for a few sec of "convenience" and some extra W&F?
I might be the odd one out here but I still record from LP to tape and use some quality deck's and enjoy doing it .. Are you trying to tell me that in thirty years nothing can be done to enhance / improve the deck's ? as for price yes expensive but so are many things surrounding high end hi fi equipment . Just my two cents make of it what you like .
I am pretty sure they can make a better Nakamichi deck with a $1,000 power cord, all-tubes for amplification, carbon-fiber for plastics, brushless motors, etc etc... This is not going to happen, unfortunately... Refurbished good old Naks should satisfy the demand from our kind of crazies... My reasons for keeping a half-decent deck (LX-3): 1) for when I have a glass of brandy in my hand and do not want to end up as @TooCooL4 in the "Mishap" thread 2) to record cassettes for my growing collection of bboxes for "in the wild" drinking/barbecuing 3) to record off Tidal in Hi-Fi while I am still thinking whether to get CD/LP of an album When planted onto my "sweet spot" I do not mind a "workout" of getting every 20-30 min to my Sondek to flip some vinyl! Mapleshade record brush and Zerodust is so much fun to use, these get me closer to music as if I am also a part of the performance
In all the years I have been using turntables, this is the first cartridge I have ever wrecked and yes I was enjoying a glass of wine at the time. But I can’t say because of what may happen I will only play tapes at those times, if we all think that we would never do anything. I have to say I have wrecked more tapes in my Walkman in the past than I have LP’s, tapes get chewed up and i was not drinking at the time.
glass of wine does not count! And Yes, I have more chewed, then "restored" tapes than scratched LPs, but since I can always restore a tape (I do not buy pre-recorded tapes) I am more afraid to damage LP (or a cart) than a tape
