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More Info ON Dak Enterprises Sound division

ussexplorer

ussexplorer

Active Member
So I have a few boxed / pre-recorded Dak Enterprises "DAK" Sound division 7" reel to reel tapes. Made in U.S.A. Address on the back of the box is Dak enterprises P.O. Box 69920, West Hollywood, CAL. 90069 U.S.A.

I did a search online and found a pdf with that company listed selling used video and cassette tapes at a fraction of the price. But not really anything else. I found what seems to be another dak company that did computer software / training or something. But nothing about audio.

Just wondering????

Thanks,

Josh
 
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I just happen to be working with one right now. Mine is an amateur recording of West Coast Beat Poetry from 1970.

DAK supplied blank tape to the industry. Mostly lower quality duplication tape, I think.

DAK.jpg
 
I bought an equalizer from DAK back in the early 80s. Same outfit? Seemed to be a closeout/discount supplier of sorts. Had some decent deals from time to time.
 
DAK = Drew Allan Kaplan. Yep, he sold all kinds of audio gear, some of it was very nice gear that he bought out manufacturer's inventory and sold dirt cheap. He had an arrangement with SAE and sold some of their discontinued equipment. He also sold the blank tape. I saw cassette tape, but never saw reel to reel. The fact that it's American made may mean it's good tape, as there were only a couple of US manufacturers of reel to reel tape. It could be reject Ampex. The cassette tapes weren't so hot. I recall Audio Magazine did a performance test on cassette tapes and the DAK tape performed poorly, even though the deck was calibrated for each tape tested.
Drew is still around, and last I looked DAK is still in business, selling stuff made in China, I think.
 
I recall perusing the DAK mail-order catalog back then and drooling over how neat everything looked, but also recall the reviews (^) that said most of the stuff was gak. He had a great marketing division, but less so in actual product lineup.
 
dr*audio said:
The cassette tapes weren't so hot.
Click to expand...

I was one of the fools who fell for his ad copy and bought a bunch of the DAK cassettes. They were very poor quality and nothing like the world beater DAK claimed them to be. "Rip off" describes them perfectly.
 
I remember when those DAK catalogs started coming in the mail when I was a kid, and drooling over those catalogs endlessly. I also remember buying various pieces of mostly forgettable junk from them. I think that by dad purchased an equalizer from them at one point. I really wanted the SAE stuff back then, but soon-after discovered real high-end audio and completely lost interest in what DAK was selling.

I also vaguely recall DAK cassette being tested at one point, and they were terrible. I'm pretty sure that these were made by Ampex, because their shells were identical to the Ampex grand master cassettes that I purchased one time (which also were terrible).

It's funny, but some of the great open-reel tape formulations really made for some lousy cassettes. Most Ampex tape has not aged very well, so I would be careful with that stuff.
 
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goldear said:
I remember when those DAK catalogs started coming in the mail when I was a kid, and drooling over those catalogs endlessly. I also remember buying various pieces of mostly forgettable junk from them. I think that by dad purchased an equalizer from them at one point. I really wanted the SAE stuff back then, but soon-after discovered real high-end audio and completely lost interest in what DAK was selling.
Click to expand...
Along with the SAE stuff, he also was selling some SAE phono cartridges which were made by Coral and were the same as the GAS Sleeping Beauty. These were going for $75. Morris, the owner of SAE, bought the last of the stock and was selling them at first, then I guess he sold them to DAK. I think I bought mine from SAE, before DAK sold them. Mine says GAS Sleeping Beauty on it. It's a sweet cartridge.
 
I actually ordered the package from the ad I posted. The cassette tape su-uh-uh-uked, the patch cords weren't worth the cost of the plastic insulation and even Kitty Dukakis would have spit out the head cleaner.

To DAK's credit, I did get some use out of the AC adapter and the cardboard box was genuine corrugated paper pulp.
 
so it is true

Okay so the wiki article was true. It is a shame he went down once. But yea the new website is nothing but crapola.

TTFN,

Josh
 
The Popular Mechanics ad is quite entertaining. As much as I love the Maxell UDXL, I don't think comparing it to Rolls Royce is all that accurate. Maybe a BMW, Mercedes or Jaguar would be more appropriate. The TDK MA-R would be the Rolls Royce of that era. However I do like the comparison of the DAK tape to a Cadillac or a Corvette. Does anybody remember what Cadillacs and Corvettes were like in 1979? A 1979 Cadillac was a fancied up Buick or Oldsmobile (except the Mk I Seville, which I actually liked despite it being a fancied up Nova) and the Corvette at that time had transformed itself from a thing of admiration to a bloated, tarted up embarrassment (much like Elvis in the mid-70's).
 
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