butch (12/27/82)
I have been transferring music to cassette tapes for over 11 years. I started with TDK cassette tape when I was stationed in the P. I. and from time to time have tried over brands but have always returned to TDK. Some tapes I have are 5 to 6 years old, they have lost some of the high end but mechanical they work fine. When buying cassette tapes, you should consider where your tape deck was made. I believe the Amer make decks are biased with Amer brand tape and Japan decks are biased with TDK tape. Some tapes I have used or OK when I playback with my stereo tape deck, but played slow in the car tape deck. The TDK's have given me years of good play, and I know I played one tape one summer over 200 times. I do take good care of my tapes: 1) never leave them outside where they can get exposed to hot or cold temps. 2) store them in a storage case - away from speakers(magnets) sunlight or dusk. So, try 3 or 4 brands - putting the some music on all for sound comparison. If you then find 2 that sound good , try them in your car deck and the only thing left is how long do they hold-up. If you take good care of them they should last over 5 years.
mat (12/28/82)
Regarding the problem with some tapes ( cheap tapes ? ) playing slow in a car stereo deck ... I have observed this problem too ... and since the only ``cheap'' tapes I own are pre-recorded ( well ... almost the only ... ) using better tape doesn't seem to be a workable solution. My deck is about due for PM now, but can anyone shed any light on this problem before I pay my friendly car stereo dealer a load of money ? hou5a!mat
dmmartindale (12/28/82)
While it's very true that cassette tapes will produce the best performance on a deck that's been calibrated for that tape (cassette tapes are particularly sensitive to being biased correctly) you don't always have to buy the tape based on the way the deck is set up. You can have the deck set up for the particular brand of tape. The place I bought my cassette deck (plug: Ring Audio in Toronto) tends to sell the decks at or near list price, but when you buy the deck they check its operation and set up all the internal record calibration trimpots correctly for the 3 or 4 exact types of tape (one for each tape selector switch position) that YOU specify. And they do the whole procedure again one and two years later, all for the original purchase price. For example, my deck is set up for BASF Ferro Super LH I, BASF FeCr II, Maxell UDXLII, and TDK MA, so I can expect good performance from each of those tapes at the appropriate settings. I would expect that the record bias levels, equalization, and record levels would be wrong for any other type of tape. Even if you have a front-panel bias level control to play with, you still can't adjust EQ or record levels to match another tape (unless with certain Nakamichi decks). If the deck isn't set up for the tape you are using, you aren't getting the best possible performance from the tape, and trying to match the tape to the deck seems to be going about it backwards. If you check around the GOOD audio stores in your area, you might find one that provides the same service. Dave Martindale
bill (12/30/82)
One warning on properly adjusting cassette decks for your preferred tape: many of the less expensive decks use a proportional [very crude] change in bias when going from [e.g.] TypeI to TypeII, so you can properly adjust them if and only if the required bias settings for the desired cassettes are in the right ratio. On the better decks each tape type can be calibrated independently (Tandberg, B&O, ReVox, etc). Even if bias is independently settable, you won't get best results unless record EQ (equilization) is independent as well. My solution was to get a Sony K-777 deck, which has decent metering and user-settable bias and record level, as well as usable (independent) defaults. An auto-biasing deck, such as the Aiwa (has 128 levels for each of bias, record EQ, record level) is another choice. I was not impressed by the JVC deck I tested with the same facility. bill cox bill@uwisc ...seismo!uwvax!bill