neazoi,
Since you are very serious about tape system, and you are located in Europe, I would look into Revox machines. This is the best what you can get sound and construction wise.
Revox can also be serviced and still will give you years to come. look at this site and you should find many more in Europe which service/sell them:
Revox Reel To Reel Tape Recorders
Since you are very serious about tape system, and you are located in Europe, I would look into Revox machines. This is the best what you can get sound and construction wise.
Revox can also be serviced and still will give you years to come. look at this site and you should find many more in Europe which service/sell them:
Revox Reel To Reel Tape Recorders
neazoi,
There is also another problem with used equipment.. they deteriorate with time. Transport in tape decks contains rubber rolers, capstans, and belts. They need to be properly maintained. It is important in which conditions the deck was stored. The transport need to be checked for speed fluctuations. The same goes into electronic part: electrolytic caps might need to be changed. Somehow, it is easier to obtain parts for professional systems than home ones.This is why I have suggested you TASCAM machine, which you can get brand new with full service. It is professional tape deck what means it has additional features available in only top of the line decks from the past (pitch control). Another brand would be mentioned earlier Revox/Studer. I would not buy something used, but for big money to realize it does not work or need a lot of work to make it to work correctly. Some of the top of the line tape decks in working condition are still expensive. I would rather pay more in place which can give me support than cheaper without one.
And this dude has Dolby system:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/641461-REG/Tascam_202_MKV_202mkV_Rackmount_Dual_Cassette.html
And another one from TEAC: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/675889-REG/Teac_AD800_AD_800_CD_Player.html
But, if you still decide to go with older used machine, look for additional features like head bias adjustment and head azmuth set up. This can help you to play back any tape recorded on various machines (this is in reference to cassette decks ).
There is also another problem with used equipment.. they deteriorate with time. Transport in tape decks contains rubber rolers, capstans, and belts. They need to be properly maintained. It is important in which conditions the deck was stored. The transport need to be checked for speed fluctuations. The same goes into electronic part: electrolytic caps might need to be changed. Somehow, it is easier to obtain parts for professional systems than home ones.This is why I have suggested you TASCAM machine, which you can get brand new with full service. It is professional tape deck what means it has additional features available in only top of the line decks from the past (pitch control). Another brand would be mentioned earlier Revox/Studer. I would not buy something used, but for big money to realize it does not work or need a lot of work to make it to work correctly. Some of the top of the line tape decks in working condition are still expensive. I would rather pay more in place which can give me support than cheaper without one.
And this dude has Dolby system:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/641461-REG/Tascam_202_MKV_202mkV_Rackmount_Dual_Cassette.html
And another one from TEAC: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/675889-REG/Teac_AD800_AD_800_CD_Player.html
But, if you still decide to go with older used machine, look for additional features like head bias adjustment and head azmuth set up. This can help you to play back any tape recorded on various machines (this is in reference to cassette decks ).
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My youth was in late 60's and 70's. That was the time when good tape deck and tuner were must. I did listen to many systems and tape decks. I have never had system which I really wanted. but my friends did. You can get really great sound quality from the tape and reel2reel were up on top. Later came cassette decks and really good ones did sound great. I was able to compare Naks, Tandbergs, Luxmans, Revoxes, Technics, Sony, Pioneer, AKAI.. and in my opinion Revox bit everyone in quality of the sound. Combination of Revox reel2reel with tube amp was just amazing. But, to be fare to other firms Tandberg was very close. I would place Luxman and Naks on trhe same level as very solid performers. The comparison included Revox and Naks Dragon machines. Still, revox was slightly ahead in accuracy. The music, which we used just for comparison was classical. Father of one of my friends was a musician and audiophile. He pointed out some details during these private sessions. For him also Revox was the most accurate machine, but he would select Naks above Tandbergs.
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You would not believe how lucky I was last year...in an old used record store, there was a big box of recorded cassettes, some looked junky, some good, but it was free...so I took it home.
I did not feel guilty taking it for free, since I spent potload of money in that store. When I sorted it out at home, guess what, about 50 tapes were metal type, the highest quality TDK, most of which recorded only on one side! All the recordings were perfect, probably made in studio, I guess someone was quite picky about the quality, especially the crosstalk, if he never recorded the other side. The music was not my taste, so I started recording on those, still have a bunch.
And this is future reel2reel alternative:
Digidesign Reel Tape Suite - Modeled 9910-55301-00 B&H Photo
Digidesign Reel Tape Suite - Modeled 9910-55301-00 B&H Photo
I have a Tascam 103.
Never had a problem with and it sounded much better than the Tascam 112MKII that I had.
It still works and sounds as great since the day I got it 1989 even though the heads are starting to wear abit as I used it alot.
I choose it because it had three heads and had the best specs of anything new on the market at that time.
It also has an adjustable bias.
When I got I ran it through a battery of tests and it surpassed it's rated specs (the ones I could do at the time) sine and sqaure wave tones.
It was the first deck that I owned that could produce a perfect square wave through out the audio band(No Joke)!
No bells and whistles, Just performance
It was a steal at $360 for the time.
I got for its intended use as a mastering deck.
This was before the advent of home CD burners.
Sony SR was hands down the best cassete tape ever made!
There is an article that was published in a HiFi magazine somewhere that tested all of the best tapes of the time and I used it exclusively.
My next choices were,
Maxell XII-S
TDK MA, SA-X
Fuji FRmetal
And one other metal tape that had a white case that was indestructable and quite expensecive and I only bought one and I still have it some where and last time a played it still sounded they same as the day I recorded on it some 20 years ago.
Anyway thats my 2 cents on Cassette Tape Technology !!!
jer
Never had a problem with and it sounded much better than the Tascam 112MKII that I had.
It still works and sounds as great since the day I got it 1989 even though the heads are starting to wear abit as I used it alot.
I choose it because it had three heads and had the best specs of anything new on the market at that time.
It also has an adjustable bias.
When I got I ran it through a battery of tests and it surpassed it's rated specs (the ones I could do at the time) sine and sqaure wave tones.
It was the first deck that I owned that could produce a perfect square wave through out the audio band(No Joke)!
No bells and whistles, Just performance
It was a steal at $360 for the time.
I got for its intended use as a mastering deck.
This was before the advent of home CD burners.
Sony SR was hands down the best cassete tape ever made!
There is an article that was published in a HiFi magazine somewhere that tested all of the best tapes of the time and I used it exclusively.
My next choices were,
Maxell XII-S
TDK MA, SA-X
Fuji FRmetal
And one other metal tape that had a white case that was indestructable and quite expensecive and I only bought one and I still have it some where and last time a played it still sounded they same as the day I recorded on it some 20 years ago.
Anyway thats my 2 cents on Cassette Tape Technology !!!
jer
I think you have to define how much you want to spend.
I bought a Sony TC-K690 at a pawn shop for $20. It is 3 head and dual capstan. Nicest Deck I have used, and I have used 3 or 4 other 3-head machines. Recordings are barely distinguishable from the original.
If you are wanting to archive or play back with the highest quality (for tapes not made on your machine) you need the auto-azimuth function. Otherwise there will be azimuth related issues. The few pre-recorded tapes I have "digitized" all seem to have one louder channel and some HF rolloff.
Tapes recorded and played on the machine sound fine.
Autobias would be nice for recording, saves time.
The later Dolby S decks are usually pretty good, as I believe Dolby had minimum standards for a deck to use SR.
I bought a Sony TC-K690 at a pawn shop for $20. It is 3 head and dual capstan. Nicest Deck I have used, and I have used 3 or 4 other 3-head machines. Recordings are barely distinguishable from the original.
If you are wanting to archive or play back with the highest quality (for tapes not made on your machine) you need the auto-azimuth function. Otherwise there will be azimuth related issues. The few pre-recorded tapes I have "digitized" all seem to have one louder channel and some HF rolloff.
Tapes recorded and played on the machine sound fine.
Autobias would be nice for recording, saves time.
The later Dolby S decks are usually pretty good, as I believe Dolby had minimum standards for a deck to use SR.
I've seen plenty of cassette decks for sale at thrift stores and yard sales, priced as low as 50 cents. I went with a 1990's Harmon-Kardon TD262 for $15 that supported HX-Pro, was made in Japan, and looked reasonably clean. It's new enough that HK has a pdf manual to download. And it claims an unusually wide frequency response, at least an octave lower than my old Technics.
It seems good enough for my purposes: archiving stuff ranging from radio shows (AM & FM), live punk rock recordings, prerecorded tapes like local band compilations and DJ mixtapes.
I did once spot an impressive Nakamichi for $20 at a thrift store. But it had not had an easy life: it was covered in stickers and filthy inside and out. So, I left it there... someone probably gave it a cosmetic cleanup and flogged it on eBay for a big profit.
It seems good enough for my purposes: archiving stuff ranging from radio shows (AM & FM), live punk rock recordings, prerecorded tapes like local band compilations and DJ mixtapes.
I did once spot an impressive Nakamichi for $20 at a thrift store. But it had not had an easy life: it was covered in stickers and filthy inside and out. So, I left it there... someone probably gave it a cosmetic cleanup and flogged it on eBay for a big profit.
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