Tape Trail Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

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RE: Cassettedeck expert - anyone?

Posted by Franksta (A) on October 15, 2007 at 04:23:38

In Reply to: Cassettedeck expert - anyone? posted by guus on October 14, 2007 at 07:07:18:

Well I don't want to do your work for you but it is rather interesting really!

The cassette started out being a portable recording medium that was simply compact and portable and was not really meant to be a HI FI medium. It was adapted to do that however because, despite it's limitations, it was attractive to audio engineers too.

But, the compact characteristics of the medium and the slow tape speed were also part of it's limitations too. The noise problem (hiss)created by the slow moving tape across the heads of the machine was solved at least partially by the Dolby labs when Dolby B noise reduction was put on an audio tape deck (the Advent 201).

Overcoming the physical complexities of producing a good tape deck was challenging but with sound engineering the better tape decks that were created towards the end of the formats era were great machines. Direct drive motors, dual capstan transports, seperate playback and record heads, and headroom extension technology all contributed to great record/playback decks. Speed fluctuations(wow & flutter) were held to a minimum after these technologies were put in place. Closer tolerences and close tape to head contact created better frequency response.

One of the best improvements over the years was to tape formulations. The creation of Chrome and metal formula tapes was one of the best accomplishments in the technology.

After all was done...a recording made on a premium well adjusted cassette deck with a premium formula tape was was nearly indistinguishable from it's source! That means for sound quality it would blow away an MP3 or almost anything else accept a bit to bit digital copy for accuracy and clarity. There are those that would argue that because of it's analog properties which include a less edgy harshness to the sound(warmth)that a casette recording from a good analog source represents the ultimate way to archive a sound other than possibly the old reel to reel format (the way much of our classic music was mastered).

Because of the technical touch, feel, and look of a nice cassette deck there are a lot of people who still appreciate the medium. The bouncing meters or pulsing lights along with the nice hands on feel and the great warm analog sound contribute to this love afair.

However, it is getting harder and harder to find decks that still work 100% as they were designed to. The old belts and idlers, out of spec mechanics and lack of parts have lead to the format's final fading breaths. Only the die hard analog audio buffs make the efforts to keep the old units running. You can include me in that group! Good Luck! Franksta

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