luria@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Marc Luria) (10/30/85)
I just bought a cassette deck and am unsure which tape to buy. The manufacturer (Akai) recommends all the major brands of tape. Next to the TDK SA there is a note that this is a reference tape. Does this mean this is the best tape? It's a bit confusing since the TDK tapes say reference on the box. Friends around here use the Maxell XLII. I'll be recording a mixture of rock, folk, and classical, and probably using dbx. Any advice would be appreciated.
jordan@lll-crg.ARpA (Jordan Hayes) (10/31/85)
If you are going to use dbx, get the best tape you can! Try MA-R from TDK /jordan
shop@uwmcsd1.UUCP (Electronics Shop) (10/31/85)
> I just bought a cassette deck and am unsure which tape to buy. The > manufacturer (Akai) recommends all the major brands of tape. Next > to the TDK SA there is a note that this is a reference tape. Does this > mean this is the best tape? It's a bit confusing since the TDK tapes > say reference on the box. Friends around here use the Maxell XLII. > I'll be recording a mixture of rock, folk, and classical, and probably > using dbx. Any advice would be appreciated. The reference tape is the tape the bias and equalization are optimized for. I like the shell of TDK (plus my deck is optimized for them) but I can't hear a diffirence between TDK SA and Maxell UD-XLII-S. Thomas Krueger -- Engineering Electronics Shop U of W - Milwaukee ihnp4!uwmcsd1!shop uwmcsd1!shop@wisc-rsch.arpa
bi50xrs@sdcc3.UUCP (rich) (10/31/85)
In article <10838@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> luria@ucbvax.UUCP (Marc Luria) writes: >I just bought a cassette deck and am unsure which tape to buy. Next >to the TDK SA there is a note that this is a reference tape. Does this >mean this is the best tape? "TDK is the reference tape" denotes that other companies base their tape quality on TDK obviously. it's like IBM PC's, they are the standard which most companies base their software. they must be doing something right if others compare to IBM PC's. same for TDK. personally i use nothing but SA because i've had bad luck with Maxell. but, BASF "standards" seem to be higher than TDK.
pz@emacs.UUCP (Paul Czarnecki) (11/01/85)
> > If you are going to use dbx, get the best tape you can! Try MA-R > from TDK > > /jordan I'm curious. Why get the best tape that you can? I seems to me that dbx would place less stress on the tape. This is because the signal is compressed and has no problem fitting above the noise floor and the signal ceiling. (Say if you have 90db dynamic range in the original, apply the 2:1 (or was it 1:2) compression and now the range is only 45db. If you assume a lesser range to start with the end signal is proportionally smaller. You can record way under the peaks, thereby preserving the high frequency response of you cassette deck. I have a Nak BX-100 with a dbx model 228 noise reduction system and I am very pleased with it. C-30 C-60 C-90 Go!!! pZ -- Flushed from the bathroom of your heart. Paul Czarnecki Uniworks, Inc. decvax!{cca,wanginst!infinet}!emacs!pz 20 William Street emacs!pz@cca-unix.ARPA Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 235-2600 -- -- Flushed from the bathroom of your heart. Paul Czarnecki Uniworks, Inc. decvax!{cca,wanginst!infinet}!emacs!pz 20 William Street emacs!pz@cca-unix.ARPA Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 235-2600
herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong) (11/04/85)
In article <3063@sdcc3.UUCP> bi50xrs@sdcc3.UUCP (rich) writes: >In article <10838@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> luria@ucbvax.UUCP (Marc Luria) writes: >>I just bought a cassette deck and am unsure which tape to buy. Next >>to the TDK SA there is a note that this is a reference tape. Does this >>mean this is the best tape? >"TDK is the reference tape" denotes that other companies base their >tape quality on TDK obviously. >it's like IBM PC's, they are the standard which most companies >base their software. they must be doing something right if others >compare to IBM PC's. same for TDK. >personally i use nothing but SA because i've had bad luck with >Maxell. but, BASF "standards" seem to be higher than TDK. i think you're wrong. the note next to a TDK SA label says "Laboratory Standard Mechanism". it is a type of mechanism that TDK has deemed to be of a certain quality relative to the rest of their tapes. TDK doesn't make the IEC Type II standard reference tape, BASF does. TDK makes the IEC Type IV standard reference tape and i'm not sure whether it is identical in formulation to TDK MAR or very close. TDK would like very much for you to beleive that their tapes are the standard with which everybody else compares theirs to, but i think that is not the case. on the other hand, i think TDK SA was the first ferricobalt tape to hit the market and proved to be better marketed and had better quality control than DuPont's CrO2 formulation, but i can't remember that very well. can someone clarify? Herb Chong... I'm still user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... New net address -- VNET,BITNET,NETNORTH,EARN: HERBIE AT YKTVMH UUCP: {allegra|cbosgd|cmcl2|decvax|ihnp4|seismo}!philabs!polaris!herbie CSNET: herbie.yktvmh@ibm-sj.csnet ARPA: herbie.yktvmh.ibm-sj.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
stuart@sesame.UUCP (Stuart Freedman) (11/04/85)
> "TDK is the reference tape" denotes that other companies base their > tape quality on TDK obviously. NO! The manual meant that the tape deck's Type II setting was optimized for TDK-SA at the factory (i.e. the bias pot inside the deck, etc.). TDK-SA and Maxell's equiv. (XL-II, I think it's called these days) are the most common reference tapes for manufacturers of cassette decks. -- Stuart Freedman {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!stuart Data General Corp. (Mail Stop E-219) {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!stuart Westboro, MA 01580 +1(617)870-9659 stuart%sesame.uucp@harvard.arpa "One solid hope is worth a cartload of certainties." -The Doctor
ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (11/04/85)
>>I just bought a cassette deck and am unsure which tape to buy. Next >>to the TDK SA there is a note that this is a reference tape. Does this >>mean this is the best tape? > >"TDK is the reference tape" denotes that other companies base their >tape quality on TDK obviously. >it's like IBM PC's, they are the standard which most companies >base their software. they must be doing something right if others >compare to IBM PC's. same for TDK. >personally i use nothing but SA because i've had bad luck with >Maxell. but, BASF "standards" seem to be higher than TDK. Not quite. 'Reference tape' in this context usually suggest that the equalization, bias and dolby tracking were optimized for a particular tape. Since Maxell tapes have a rise in the high frequency response, they sound bright on a deck equalized for TDKs. Maxells usually work better on older decks, whose heads have a high frequency rolloff. Ben Broder ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben
herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong) (11/05/85)
In article <112@emacs.UUCP> pz@emacs.UUCP (Paul Czarnecki) writes: >I'm curious. Why get the best tape that you can? I seems to me that >dbx would place less stress on the tape. This is because the signal is >compressed and has no problem fitting above the noise floor and the >signal ceiling. (Say if you have 90db dynamic range in the original, >apply the 2:1 (or was it 1:2) compression and now the range is only >45db. If you assume a lesser range to start with the end signal is >proportionally smaller. You can record way under the peaks, thereby >preserving the high frequency response of you cassette deck. but this last line is not strictly true, at least with dbx. remember that dbx compresses the whole frequency range evenly. although at certain input signal levels the output is lower than input, at others, the output is higher. at the very highest frequencies, the signal may be moved upwards enough in level that what was before a safe recording level is now saturating the tape. it depends upon the tape/tape deck combination and the material being recorded and your recording level. Herb Chong... I'm still user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... New net address -- VNET,BITNET,NETNORTH,EARN: HERBIE AT YKTVMH UUCP: {allegra|cbosgd|cmcl2|decvax|ihnp4|seismo}!philabs!polaris!herbie CSNET: herbie.yktvmh@ibm-sj.csnet ARPA: herbie.yktvmh.ibm-sj.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa ======================================================================== DISCLAIMER: what you just read was produced by pouring lukewarm tea for 42 seconds onto 9 people chained to 6 Ouija boards.