Cassette Deck??

I've found yamaha decks from the late 80's and early 90's to be top performers and were a great value even back when new. You should be able to pick up one for a pittance these days.

You will pay a premium for other big names from that era, like Nakamichi and Tandberg, but they may be worth it.

Aiwa used to make some of the best looking and sounding decks as well in the late seventies, but there may not be many of these around anymore in good working order. Mine gave up the goat a good while back.

First I discovered the belt I was looking for was available on E-Bay for $50. Next I went to the hardware store and purchased a pack of "O" rings. After finding a match, I installed it. Now my Sony KA3ES, 3 head closed loop dual capstan is up and running.

It's strange, how I remember many nights cruising the town in my "chariot" listening to celestial sounds emanating from the deck. There must have been something magical about the deck in my chariot, this deck does not have the same "mojo'. Or maybe it was one of those beautiful fragrant creatures that was usually occupying the seat next to me that provided the magic. Whatever, while this deck sounds good; it's lost that special "mojo".

Let me tell you this. Recordings made on my Nak using Maxell Vertex tape, which is the best there is, directly from Acoustech phono using Purist cable fed by signal from the Spacedeck sound better in every respect except noise level than any CD. And RTR should be much better still. Decks are not obsolete at all; perhaps the people who think that way are. But yes, they require care and fine tuning and very good tapes. If majority of the population were not imbiciles we would be listening to only RTRs and some cassette decks now. No vinyl needed let alone cds.

I have a Nakamichi RX505, a Nakamichi 700 and a Technics RS1500 with both the 2 track and 4 track head assemblies. I also have many 7 and 10 inch reels of tape.. How do I determine a fair asking price?
Thnak You

I think the three main sonic limitations of the cassette source format are often noise levels together with high frequency response and sometimes dynamic range.

That aside, I still have many cassette tapes still I recorded on various decks in my various system variations over the years. Despite the age of some (30 years old in some cases) when I play these on my current system, by far the best I have owned I would say, they still sound pretty good. I even have some tracks on my music server I digitized from these cassette sources. When these come up in random play mode among others, they sound quite listenable, but I do not think I have any trouble identifying that these were sourced from cassette tape, mainly due to noise levels and frequency response. For other tracks that are more pure digital source or even vinyl, it is hard, although surface noise from vinyl when present is a dead giveaway.