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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:32 pm 
 

So I’m in the market for a half decent tape deck, one that doesn't chew tapes and has a good reputation.
What do you guys have? do we have any known-to-be-good models etc?
Feel free to post photos but I’m specifically asking about tape decks not turntables or CD players :nods:

Currently I just have an Aiwa 'walkman' which isn't really suitable and I've had it for 25 years so yeah

My requirements:

    preferably under $100
    single or double
    with or without remote
    separate component [not a mini-system]
    preferably electronic buttons not mechanical
    RCA input/output, DIN plugs are a bit too old school and I have no means of connecting them

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:24 pm 
 

I was just browsing for tape decks the other day and came to the conclusion that they're all stupidly overpriced. Rather than buy a new one, I'm just going to pick up a dual tape deck from the 80's or 90's by one of the common brands like Sony or Magnavox. Thrift shops are probably a good place to look.
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:29 pm 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
I was just browsing for tape decks the other day and came to the conclusion that they're all stupidly overpriced. Rather than buy a new one, I'm just going to pick up a dual tape deck from the 80's or 90's by one of the common brands like Sony or Magnavox. Thrift shops are probably a good place to look.
Hi man, yeah secondhand shops could be a go, this is a place I look for stuff, it's our equivalent of Ebay
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/CategoryListings.aspx?sort_order=price_asc&mcatpath=electronics-photography%2Fhome-audio%2Fcassette-decks
I would almost certainly not buy a new one
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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:52 pm 
 

Yeah, I mean, the technology hasn't really changed since then and as long as it works mechanically I think you're better off getting a nicer secondhand one than a brand new low-end one. I guess there's really no need for the dual deck anymore unless you're planning on making mixtapes or something.
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korgull
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:53 am
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:03 am 
 

Yes, definitely check the thrift stores if you have any nearby. The one near my house, which I stop at frequently, almost always has a decent tape deck or two for sale at dirt cheap prices. Just clean and demagnetize the heads before use.

I bought one of these vintage Akai decks in like-new condition there for something like seven dollars, years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqR0eckV1FU

I like this kind that has stereo microphone and line-in inputs and level controls. It's nice for doing simple band practice / songwriting recordings.

Found a perfectly fine dual deck someone had put out for the trash once too. They are not a very popular item with most people, apparently. I'm sure you can round up a cheap used one somewhere.

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Zodijackyl
63 Axe Handles High

Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:39 pm
Posts: 7601
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:07 am 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
Yeah, I mean, the technology hasn't really changed since then and as long as it works mechanically I think you're better off getting a nicer secondhand one than a brand new low-end one.


This is correct in my experience. If you need a tape deck just look through thrift stores for something made by Sony, Pioneer, or another good company.

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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:10 am 
 

demagnetize the heads? that phrase just brought back some memories! ha ha I'll be buying a head cleaning tape then I suppose
I’ve got IPA [isopropyl alcohol] that I can use too.

I'm hoping I don't have to replace any bands inside the thing either, this used to be an issue from memory
Do we have tape decks that are similar to turntables that are direct drive not belt driven I wonder?
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 5:23 pm 
 

So what do you guys have?
iamntbatman did you get one?
korgull how is the Akai, no chewed tapes or wobbly weird stuff?
Zodijackyl you have a half decent one yeah?

A few guys from the Your Latest Album Purchase(s) thread could pipe up in here, hint hint nudge nudge :roll:
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GratifiedGoat
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 9:47 pm
Posts: 31
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:42 pm 
 

I just got a TEAC - 505R Auto Reverse Double Cassette Deck off of ebay for $30 (and the shipping was free)

Spoiler: show
Image


To be honest, I haven't played it too much yet, but so far it has worked really well.

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:45 pm 
 

Nah I haven't bought one yet. Might be a few months before I get around to it as I need to test/possibly fix these speakers I got, then get a receiver/amp and CD player first.
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~Guest 294530
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:57 pm
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:29 am 
 

As it's been said countless times before, thrift/secondhand stores, I've even seen some independently ran record shops sell a variety of tape/CD/record players. I don't know that New Zealand has something similar to craigslist, but that's always where I've gotten everything like that.

I picked up a Kenwood KX-W6020 for $40USD back in February:
Spoiler: show
Image

I've had absolutely no problems with it, plays great, recording quality on it is fantastic, and I believe, though I don't remember well enough, that it has an area in the back where you can attach external speakers.

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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:13 pm 
 

I'm tripping over all kinds of interesting stuff, NAD and Nakamichi seem to be the most favoured [and expensive!] units.
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Huldrelok
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:01 pm
Posts: 310
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 5:39 am 
 

I have a Yamaha double tape deck (KX-W332) that I paid 10 bucks for at good will, works alright for the price. Also got one of those yellow sony sports sfx-30 walkmans, super bulky, but tapes on the go come with a price! I am looking for a better quality walkman for myself, also looking for a cheap demagnitizer anyone have any recommendations?
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:48 am 
 

korgull looks like you got a bargain, two of these just appeared here:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/673785524
http://www.trademe.co.nz/673394878

Huldrelok wrote:
I have a Yamaha double tape deck (KX-W332) that I paid 10 bucks for at good will, works alright for the price. Also got one of those yellow sony sports sfx-30 walkmans, super bulky, but tapes on the go come with a price!
I am looking for a better quality walkman for myself, also looking for a cheap demagnitizer anyone have any recommendations?
Yamaha gear does seem to be quite good, my amp is a Yamaha, mostly made in Japan too [nice]
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PhilosophicalFrog
The Hypercube

Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 7:08 pm
Posts: 7631
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:33 am 
 

Yamaha is always a great brand. Lemme look around in my basement, I think I may have a few Marantz's around here...may be able to part with them for the price of shipping.
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:36 am 
 

The shipping to Auckland could be truly diabolical... but do you have a trade list?
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PhilosophicalFrog
The Hypercube

Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 7:08 pm
Posts: 7631
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:40 am 
 

Indeed, could be nuts, I'll have to weigh it to find out. No trade list going currently. Gimme until tonight and I'll see. I have a scale and all that. If I can get it over to you for a reasonable amount, I'd have no problem giving one up. I have a lot of analog equipment and rarely use it now.
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hats prices are at an all time low

Spoiler: show
║\
║▒\
║▒▒\
║░▒║
║░▒║with this blade
║░▒║i cut those who
║░▒║disrespect
║░▒║Carly Rae Jepsen
║░▒║
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:30 pm 
 

One thing that immediately comes to mind is the voltage difference and the plugs
We use 240v / 10~15 amps here, so it would need to have a switch on the back [or a built-in automatic one]
A plug adapter isn't a problem or I could just rip the plug off and chuck an NZ one on :crash: :eek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#Australian_standard_AS.2FNZS_3112_.28Australasian_10.C2.A0A.2F240.C2.A0V.29.28Type_I.29
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:01 am 
 

Ok so I finally got a tapedeck, a Denon DRM-400 it sounds good but I may have been a tad hasty...
The thing has 1 compartment which is fine but it doesn't have auto-reverse, I took it for granted that this was on all tapedecks woops
Also for some reason I can't record [rip] to my pc from this tapedeck, I can record from my turntable, the radio and my other tapedeck [portable]
The radio recording sounded like arse though, I'm starting to think it's Audacity having issues or something

Anyway the Denon is cool, sounds good and for the price I thought it was good value too $35 NZD :grin:

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the_raytownian
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:09 am
Posts: 2562
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:48 am 
 

Though it's certainly convenient, you're perhaps better off without auto reverse anyway because the AR system just makes for more things that can get misaligned or screwed up in some other way, and chances are the alignment in one direction is never going to be precisely in tune with the other.

The later "issue" is admittedly negligible, but it bothers my OCDemons to think about regardless.

Anyway, there's nothing worse than falling asleep listening to a record or tape and waking up to see the edge of the center label ground into powder or to realize the tape has been playing in a loop for hours, putting needless wear on the media and the player.
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:21 am 
 

It has auto stop which is handy, I really don't know that much about these things but that makes sense about auto-reverse.
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chaossphere
Metal Lunatic

Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2002 11:49 pm
Posts: 2578
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:45 pm 
 

Auto-stop is basically absolute minimum standard requirement, I don't think I've seen a tape deck without it. That said, most digitally-controlled auto-reverse decks should have a play-once mode, which just plays each side once and then stops.

I'm also baffled as to how leaving an LP spinning would result in the stylus grinding the label unless you somehow have a turntable without auto-return and the LP has a misaligned label (I have two of these in my entire collection so they're not exactly common)... generally even without auto-return the stylus should just stay in the loop-groove at the end of the side. In fact, some LPs have special loop grooves with music embedded in them, like the original US pressing of Reign in Blood has the storm sound on a loop that, without auto-return, just keeps playing until manually stopped :D
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
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Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:55 pm 
 

^ Is there a recording of that? [Slayer storm groove] I mean online somewhere.
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the_raytownian
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:09 am
Posts: 2562
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:14 pm 
 

Sly and the Family Stone - Fresh.

I woke up to a ring of powder butted right up against the center label of that record. Though it's not necessarily common, plenty of records out of the millions (kajillion-zillions?) pressed do have runout grooves that butt up against the center label. Loads of records have intentionally locked grooves, too.

...my tt is fully manual. None of that automated business. TBH, I prefer it that way, even if it does mean I can't (shouldn't--should anyone?) fall asleep listening to records. Regarding tape decks, many have an infinite loop and single play setting, but I have unwittingly left them in an infinite loop all the same. there's just a little toggle switch to change modes. I don't always think to check that stuff.
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chaossphere
Metal Lunatic

Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2002 11:49 pm
Posts: 2578
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:45 pm 
 

dreadmeat wrote:
^ I there a recording of that? [Slayer storm groove] I mean online somewhere.


Not that I can find... I looked it up on Discogs and apparently some European pressings also have it. Mine is the London Records UK pressing and it ends with about 15 seconds of storm before fading out, I traded the US one because it annoyed me, since on an auto-return turntable it ended with the thunderclap and then nothing, so the fade-out version was preferable (plus the UK one was in better condition anyway).

Also on the subject of Reign in Blood, this needs to fixed :lol:
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:47 pm 
 

Dolby! uggh I'd forgotten about this stuff, I'll have to look up what a few of these buttons and things do.
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chaossphere
Metal Lunatic

Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2002 11:49 pm
Posts: 2578
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:23 am 
 

All Dolby does is cut off the higher end of the spectrum to reduce tape hiss audibility. Pro-duped cassettes had the high frequencies boosted during Dolby mastering to compensate for the cutoff.
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the_raytownian
Veteran

Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:09 am
Posts: 2562
PostPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:48 pm 
 

I am way too messed up right now to even begin trying to make sense of that Discogs entry. Poor guy, tho, haha... He seems flustered skimming the history. I was a newbie once, too, so I know what he's going through! :violin:

This makes me think, though, later on, when I am not quite so fried, I need to (or somebody needs to) start a discussion about people here improving the metal release info on discogs... It's pretty lacking.
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dreadmeat
emere vendere cambire

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:50 am
Posts: 7886
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:20 pm 
 

Dammit! I just snapped a tape, it's a pressed one too so I can't undo it and fix it :ugh:
I'll try to MacGyver something up one day to resurrect it, the funny thing is the tapedeck went into fast forward as soon as it snapped, weird.
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Southern Freeze
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:10 pm
Posts: 669
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:40 pm 
 

I got an old 80s/90s Panasonic twin deck with turn table on top a couple years ago for a hundred bux off trade me.
I have never cleaned the heads on the tape deck, but i have never had any problems, the tapes have played fine ever since i brought it. The record player needed to have a few records thrashed on it to get the bands working properly again, at first i couldn't get the records playing at the right speed.

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