Love Em or Hate Em - Cassettes are Back w/t this TEAC!!!

Make sure you check out Harry’s next time you’re at your local Walmart and let me know what you pick up!

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Test Track Playlist:
Satanic Panic Playlist:
Leg Warmers Playlist

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[homer]

I was 16 I think my systen consisted of a 60 WPC Onkyo receiver, a belt driven Technics turntable, a TEAC cassette player, and JBL 12" 3-way floor standers would record the albums we bought the first time out the sleeves, then put them away to keep them 'pristine'

[kevinstagi]

Hi Fi time machines are wonderful! I have two open reel tape decks that bring great joy to my life.

[eddents]

I remember taking a pencil and rotating a cassette to forward past the blank leader tape when recording an album onto tape. All the tweaking in putting an album onto tape to play in the car was a lot of fun and pride was taken in not recording a needle drop and in creating quality fade outs.

[thoraudio]

I actually just got one of these from Goodwill a couple of months ago. Along with a Yamaha receiver and Polk towers and sub. All for $79. Got me back in the hobby. Had to fix the CD transport, but it works great.

[ForeverAnalog]

I have a vintage booth in an antique mall and also sell at record and vintage clothing shows and cassettes sell like crazy for me, both used and new like you mentioned in this video. Keep in mind, a lot of kids are seeking out grunge/atl/new wave/punk stuff so I burn through Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Cure, Depeche Mode, etc, etc. Oh yeah, I've been selling a TON of CDs to younger folks as well. I had a teenager ask me the other day "Which Sonic Youth album should I buy first?" and I almost replied, "Come here and let me give you a hug, son."

[adamant]

I still have my first cassette deck a Nikko nd590II I bought new in 1980 for two bills. It has Dolby, tape bias, eq, volume knob, tape counter, record mute, VU meters etc..Oh yeah, it plays Metal tape too. I've soldered in quality interconnects and it sits on vibrapod isolators. Some cassettes like Centerfield by John Fogerty it sounds terrific.

[joecyclone]

I have some type II blank cassette recordings of vinyl records from the 70s that my uncle made. You'd swear you were listening to the record sometimes - they're that good. It probably helps that I'm listening to them on the machine they were recorded on, using JVC's own noise reduction system. Cassettes can sound good.

[guidoastolfoni]

I still have a perfectly working Teac V1010 cassette player from 1993 and I recently purchased a TASCAM CD-RW900SX CD recorder to record the CDs I love most from streaming directly to digital without intermediate analog conversions with a digital transport connected to the PC with a USB connection. Fantastic result! Long live CDs and long live cassettes!

[oohmeconkers]

I loved everything about the cassette experience.. especially opening a brand new blank one.. I’d make endless mix tapes as I used to drive a lot. I swapped to CD in the car with a multi change player but it wasn’t the same!!
Good call cheapaudioman…
I can smell the new cassette…:::😂

[paulthevol]

What brings a smile to my face is the sound of the tape ending on one side and then the auto reverse flipping the head unit over for continued musical enjoyment. I buy cassette decks at thrift stores and estate sales when I find them, some times I hit something good, sometimes they need a little work. I love the nostalgia of cassettes!

[walterbrown]

I picked up a JVC dual-cassette deck at Goodwill, just to see if it would actually play my tapes and was pleasantly surprised! The wave of nostalgia that I felt was immediate. My hands knew what to do and turned the cassette case into a fidget toy, of course, and the familiar opening and closing along with the boo-boo-boo-boop tape intro sound was just too much fun. I still had my old cassettes, and haven't really added any new ones, but it's been a fun memory trip!

[randymeinholdt]

Randy, a few months ago I dug out of storage my old (1985) Nakamachi BX-300 3 head Cassette deck and thought what the heck lets hook it up again. Some of the OLD recorded tapes sounded terrible. However, I only bought just a few pre-recorded tapes. But I usually recorded my own "mix tapes' so I could have a variety of my favorite songs. In my box was a New Old Stock of Denon metal cassette blanks never used. I recorded a Led Zeppelin mix tape with all my favorite cuts and it was INCREDIBLY good....Not if you sit down and are critical of every aspect. But a venue to put on your favorite tunes for 45 non stop favorites while working around the house....it is PERFECT way to enjoy the fun of the 70 and 80/s

[Simon_Hawkshaw]

What lovely eye candy, and I'm sure dulcit tones for the ears, too. Takes me back to my distant youth. Thanks for your review, perspectives, and for sharing this with us all.

[johnstone]

The problem is, that this nostalgiac journey back to cassettes is a mere shadow of its former self. Cassette used to sound very good on a machine like a Nakamichi, Tandberg, Revox, etc. These new machines are all based on a mediocre Chinese transport that has relatively high wow and flutter and often requires speed calibration from the factory. There's also no Dolby NR, which is what propelled cassettes into the hi fi world in the first place. Unlike vinyl, there just isn't enough demand to bring back the cassette format the way it was at its peak

[daselsor]

Hilarious! I recently snagged one of these off eBay, along with a couple vintage Walkman style cassette players. Burned some mix CDs, then used those to produce old school mix tapes. Have no idea why, as I have a decent DAP. But took me back to the 80’s. Keep up the great content!

[BobbyTwoTimes]

Gonna stick with the new ways of listening, but it's awesome that all of this still exists. Thanks, Randy.

[MJ-gejz]

Physical Media is important because your streamer carriers tend to loose their licenses and then the product you purchased is confiscated!! It's happening with video game industry.

[amazoidal]

I have a 90s Kenwood carousel CD player with Toslink output.

[TheGlitterBandPanoply]

Yup and Time Machine nostalgia & experience sells. Not with CDs or tapes though I got back into vinyl. Especially with Metal, psychedelic and other heavy stuff. Love it.

[homer]

LOL ....This is definitely my generation (I'm 60). I guess I hadn't noticed that you can even buy blank cassettes anymore....

....We used to make party tapes by recording specific songs from piles of LP's. ....It was a pain in the ass! (LOL!).... but fun ....it was certainly a skill if you were trying to blend. ....brings back memories