Good cassettedecks?

Efraim roots · Post by **Efraim roots** » 2010-03-13 01:11

Greetings!
Im interested to find myself a good cassettedeck to make some mixtapes of my 7inch singles. I see some of you praising the Sony Walkman WM-D6C and that would be a perfect device for me as I also could use it for live session recordings and as a portable player. The thing is that the Sony WM seems to be very collectable and quite expensive and am I thinking that there must be some really good cassettedecks out there which is not as collectable. How about the different less expensive nakamichi decks? Some other brands to look for? If I get a Sony WM-D6C can I get it serviced if needed, is wear a problem with these units? Any help appriciated as I never owned a good cassettedeck.

k_numigl · Post by **k_numigl** » 2010-03-16 09:38

I think all of us who own a Sony Professional Walkman were happy
to find a cassette deck _at all_ that was musical enough to
our standards. With Dolby switched off.

Does it wear: yes
Service: very difficult, market lives from second hand parts
and some dedicated service shops when broken. But as every other cassette
(and tape) deck it would benefit from occasional adjustments.

Regards, Klaus

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-03-18 20:18

My current cassette tape deck has three heads and three motors. The recordings made from my Sondek sound excellent, although not as nice as the turntable itself :) . But it does need maintenance if the deck isn't used frequently. Apparently certain parts dry-out or decay...

.

Ultimately, it became more trouble than it was worth to keep the deck in proper working condition. Especially since I wasn't using it nearly enough to justify the cost and effort. Besides, I do enjoy playing albums much more than playing a cassette tape deck :) . However, there might come a time when I would consider purchasing a high quailty reel-to-reel tape deck... 8) .

ThomasOK · Post by **ThomasOK** » 2010-03-19 16:50

I agree with Klaus that the WM-D6C is a really fine cassette deck. I have compared it against some of the top Tandberg and Nakamichi decks, such as the Dragon, and found the ProWalkman to be more musical. I have not needed to have mine serviced but it also doesn't get a lot of use any more. It is pretty tight inside there and I'm sure the vast majority of the parts are unique to it so getting service may not be an easy thing.

Efraim roots · Post by **Efraim roots** » 2010-03-19 21:44

Thanks for your replies!

Do you think I will get a better result recording mixtapes on a Sony Pro WM than a digital solution with A/D converter for about the same price?

EDIT: Sorry for me being stupid. Ofcourse it will depend on what kind of digital source I choose to play the digital files with. Lets say I use a A/D converter in 100-200Euro price range (any recommendations?) and burn them on a CD and play them with a Linn Karik cd-player. Will the Sony Pro WM outperform the digital solution you think?
Maybe it's a dumb question and hard to give a sensible answer to it but it would be interesting to know how good a cassette solution might be as I don't have any experience with a good cassette player.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-03-21 02:43

Efraim roots wrote:Maybe it's a dumb question and hard to give a sensible answer to it but it would be interesting to know how good a cassette solution might be as I don't have any experience with a good cassette player.

Ultimately, there aren't any dumb questions - just dumb answers

. In my experience, well made cassette tape decks are capable of sounding almost as good as the source (perhaps 97%). But if the source isn't that good, the tape recording will sound essentially the same. As such, the reverse is true also. As my Sondek turntable was upgraded, I could hear the improvements on my cassette tape recordings. Cassette tape decks (and reel-to-rell tape decks) can be very faithful to the original source.

k_numigl · Post by **k_numigl** » 2010-03-26 08:46

@efraim roots

I tried a number of not so expensive ADCs, among them TerraTec,
Echo, M-Audio, and a few others I don't remember without checking
my log book. I did not like either of them. The Sony Pro is clearly
more musical (though the - in comparison to
a real tape machine - severely restricted cassette format is
much of a compromise; while it may retain a basic musicality, it is
not equivalent to what we get off an LP12). Needing an
alternative to my Sony Pro, I decided to look forward and go the
digital way. I ended up using a RME Fireface 800 with which you can
make most beautiful recordings (I use 192 kHz routinely). The only
disadvantage is the costs, as this is not a budget system (if you
compare with Linn prices, perhaps it is...). And you need a PC in
addition. But the result is far better than CD quality.

Regards, Klaus

Efraim roots · Post by **Efraim roots** » 2010-03-30 23:33

Thanks for your tips regarding digital recording. I myself own a Terratec which I never used, is it worth keeping?

I have now started to look for a nice Sony Pro. Have anyone of you heard of or actually heard a Naim Snaps psu modified to go with the Sony Pro WM? If I find a Snaps is it worth it? Can I modify a regular Snaps myself to fit my Sony WM or was this some Naim special mod?

ThomasOK · Post by **ThomasOK** » 2010-03-31 17:03

Efraim roots wrote:Thanks for your tips regarding digital recording. I myself own a Terratec which I never used, is it worth keeping?

I have now started to look for a nice Sony Pro. Have anyone of you heard of or actually heard a Naim Snaps psu modified to go with the Sony Pro WM? If I find a Snaps is it worth it? Can I modify a regular Snaps myself to fit my Sony WM or was this some Naim special mod?

I can't comment on the NAIM PS as I haven't heard it. But I have a couple of indications that the PS may not make a worthwhile difference. Many years ago I dropped into another dealer near us to check out their used gear (they sometimes had some interesting vintage gear) and found that they had a couple of Sony power supplies that had the same output level as the one that comes with the Sony Pro Walkman but was a much beefier supply than the one that comes with it. They had a problem so they were for sale cheap and I bought one. I found that the internal board was cracked but there were few components so I just hardwired it. When I connected it to my WM-D6C I could hear no difference compared to my stock wall wart. A few months after this I was talking to the service technician for the company that used to distribute Linn in the US about a used unit they were thinking of selling. They had taken the transformer, power supply components and case from an LK280 and modified the regulation stage to drive the WM-D6C. When I asked how much it improved the Walkman I was told they didn't really feel it made any difference. As you might guess I decided not to buy it and that pretty much killed any interest I had in special power supplies for it. Of course, YMMV.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-03-31 20:02

ThomasOK wrote: Of course, YMMV.

Thomas, what does the letters YMMV represent... :?:

ThomasOK · Post by **ThomasOK** » 2010-03-31 20:23

Tony Tune-age wrote:
ThomasOK wrote: Of course, YMMV.
Thomas, what does the letters YMMV represent... :?:

Your Mileage May Vary

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-04-01 00:32

ThomasOK wrote:
Tony Tune-age wrote:
ThomasOK wrote: Of course, YMMV.
Thomas, what does the letters YMMV represent... :?:
Your Mileage May Vary

Got it, thanks... 8)