![]() Nakamichi CR-4 Nakamichi BX 300 3-Head Cassette DeckĪlthough writer Stark highlighted the Nakamichi CR-4 in his feature, the truth is that the model, the Rolls-Royce of its time, is so ridiculously expensive and rare that only the richest readers could chase one down. ![]() Ask your friends’ parents or grandparents whether they have any stored away. As such, before you commit to buying a refurbished model online, spend a few days searching the city. Though some are pricy among audiophiles, many second-hand shops tend to sell decks low because most consider it a dead format. With proper care - and treated the same way you care for vinyl - new tapes sound very good - actually, more like VG+ - when compared with an LP.īelow, a number of decks that from the 1970s and ’80s that repeatedly come up when researching audiophile forums and lurking on audiophile message boards. That’s changed in the past decade, though. Companies commissioned LP and CD art and retrofitted it to work for the cassette version. The hard plastic cases are brittle and unforgiving, and the design of J-cards – the cardboard cover that contains tiny-typed liner notes – have mostly been an afterthought. They were recorded over, accidentally demagnetized and left in hot cars to develop annoying warbles. ![]() Tapes were passed around among friends until they ended up on the floor of the backseat. Many music heads in the ‘80s and ‘90s treated it as a disposable medium. Tapes are less expensive because, for the most part, they’re an inferior format. With the price of vinyl skyrocketing and little relief on the horizon, maybe now’s a good time to consider upping your cassette game? Components are abundant on the aftermarket and most new tapes go for $10 and under.īut before you start spending money on a deck and tapes, you need to understand this truth: cassettes are much more ephemeral than either LPs or CDs. Below is the graphic that showcased the magazine’s picks for the year. But once you accept that you won’t be entertained while reading it, the piece is a fascinating, informative primer on finding a quality used deck. Like most audio writing of the time, the Stereo Review story (scroll to page 81 for the full article) is dry, technical and penned for obsessive gear-heads interested in the science and mathematics of high-fidelity sound reproduction. Written by a hi-fi critic named Craig Stark, the 1988 feature came at a time when cassette technology was peaking, tape sales were high and many cars still had decent sounding tape-driven stereos compact discs, though increasingly popular for home audio systems, had yet to infiltrate the sacred driving space. Five killer vintage cassette decks to start you on your path.įorty-five years ago, the respected home audio magazine Hi-Fi Stereo Review published an overview of new-model cassette decks.
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