At 03:17 PM 2010-03-06, Ivan Kawaler wrote:
>I am currently looking for a decent cassette deck for transferring
>audio. I realize cassettes are an inferior format for storing audio,
>but I have a number of cassettes that need to be transfered, and I
>want to be able to get the best playback I can. Does anyone have any
>recommendations on brands or models of cassette decks that are known
>to be of good quality? Also, I have heard some decks have a dial for
>adjusting playback speed, allowing one to compensate for a fast or
>slow recording machine. Does anyone have opinions on this, as far as
>whether or not such a feature is worth having? Thanks in advance.
Hi, Ivan,
There are many good machines. But adjusting speed is less important
(you can do it perhaps more accurately in software and can do a
non-constant speed variation as well) than adjusting azimuth to match
the play head to the head in the recorder when the tape was made
(plus the vagaries of the cassette registration in both machines).
The two machines most widely used for good-quality transfers are
Nakamichi Dragons and CR7's. The Dragon has an auto azimuth control
while the CR7 has a manual one.
In fact, I'm parallel-ingesting six cassettes on six Dragons as I
type this. Horrid recordings, really, but great oral history content.
The Dragon does not have a pitch control and I'm not sure about the
CR7(A/E). The Nakamichi MR-1 has a pitch control, but no azimuth control.
All of these are long out of production. I am not sure any good
cassette machines are produced anymore.
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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