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Online sources for high bias cassettes?

eteller

eteller

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Never in a million years did I ever think I'd be into tape decks again. Then last weekend on my Saturday morning thrift store/flea market hunting trip I found a Denon 3 head deck at a local repair shop I had never been too for $30 fully serviced. I said what the heck, and was amazed at the SQ this thing has! Now I need some blank tapes. F.Y.E did carry high bias Maxell's, but no more, only found some Maxell UR's at Walgreen's. Where can I find some decent high bias ones online BESIDES ebay. Gonna try Barter Town.
 
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Hey Ed, send me a PM with your address and I will send you a new Maxell XLII, a TDK SA, and a Fuji DR-II with my compliments to welcome you back home.

Which Denon did you find -- their top end decks can make even normal bias tape sound damn fine.

Mike
 
Mike,
Thank you so much for the kind offer but I don't want to impose. My newest deck is a DRM-710. I also have a Technics RS-M11B that sounds like crap (heads worn out?) and a RS-M240X w/dbx that should be arriving today as I got a killer deal on it on ebay, but I'm not expecting much (at least it will match my all Technics system).
A few years ago I had a dual well Onkyo and a Yamaha, both were horrible and caused me to sell a stash of 60 NOS Maxell metals on ebay abandoning cassettes. On a whim I picked up the Denon and was blown away. I made a copy of the new Cars album I have on vinyl with it on one of my few remaining metal tapes and it sounds just like the original. The Denon while sonically excellent looks like it had been dropped at some point which has led me on the search for a deck in better condition in Barter town. Back in the 80's I was a kid with no money and cheap gear, I never knew cassette could sound pretty darn good.
 
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I understand Ed, it is no imposition and the offer stands to you or some other AKer who might take advantage of it.

I, myself, am only back to tape in the past year because I happened upon a Nak CR7 at a yard sale. I have since picked up a CR3 on Craigslist and after a belt change, it sounds as good as new. The low end Naks don't record as well as the higher end but they don't give away much on playback -- you might keep an eye out for one.
 
PhoenixAudio.com also has new type 2 tapes. Another resource is used tapes from Dead heads. They are digitizing their tape collections and then almost giving the tapes away. I bought several batches through AK.
 
I just picked up a bunch (60+) from an Ak'er today, lots of metals. Working on getting a Nak and a JVC 3 head if things work out.
 
Ed, I'm going to try to get the V6 packed up tomorrow. I've been treading water in a sea of honey-do's.
 
There has been a run of NOS cassettes on Barter Town recently. I picked up a 10 pack of NOS 100 minute Maxell type II tapes last month for $22 shipped.
 
I've been buying most of my tapes from the auction site. I only buy NOS TDK-SA's pre 1990. Shortly after that TDK was accuired by Imation who makes the new tapes.

When it comes to cassette tape, I'm real fussy and only use TDK-SAs. Anytime I see a decent deal on NOS TDKs I snap em up ..... quick.
 
eteller said:
Grabbed 30 of these which according to some folks on tapeheads.net are old Maxell XL II stock. $30 shipped.

http://www.easystreetelectronics.co...ition110minuteaudiocassettetapes-10-pack.aspx
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At that price, I figured "why not" and grabbed some as well. If nothing else, the look screams "high end cassette". My experiences with many RadioShack products have been very good.

To anyone considering buying some of these: review the shipping options carefully. The default option is UPS "next day air" and would have cost nearly $100! I made sure to choose UPS ground, which came in at a much more reasonable $13 for three ten-packs.
 
Edriz said:
I've been buying most of my tapes from the auction site. I only buy NOS TDK-SA's pre 1990. Shortly after that TDK was accuired by Imation who makes the new tapes.

When it comes to cassette tape, I'm real fussy and only use TDK-SAs. Anytime I see a decent deal on NOS TDKs I snap em up ..... quick.
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FYI - TDK wasn't aquired by Imation until 2007. But many do agree that pre 1992 are the best.

It would be interesting to know if the quality has stayed the same, decreased, or increased since Imation aquired TDK. I beleive that the Imation variety are made in Korea/Taiwan. Does anybody know if the current SAs are sonicly welded like the final pre-merger TDKs (the Japanese / Taiwanese) tapes were, or if they are using screws again?
 
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Imation TDK are complete crap, IMO.
I bought a bunch of them, before I knew any better. so many of them have edge damage after 1 or 2 passes.

I can tell you calibration wise, they are pretty unstable.
Every tape requires a different adjustment, while older NOS TDK SA tapes are right on the money, tape after tape.

As you progress into the tape, and as well different sides, the bias and azimuth shifts far more than older TDK or Maxell.

I don't have a problem with sonic welding, there are no ill effects if the tape shell is a good design. (Fuji ZII and Metal Z come to mind, sonic weld, however the equal of TDK SA-X and MA-X)

In short, I wouldn't use current SA tapes for serious recordings.
 
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