O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...cassette-tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same sentence.

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng
fidelity as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still
generating affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.


--
€œit should be clear by now to everyone that activist environmentalism
(or environmental activism) is becoming a general ideology about humans,
about their freedom, about the relationship between the individual and
the state, and about the manipulation of people under the guise of a
'noble' idea. It is not an honest pursuit of 'sustainable development,'
a matter of elementary environmental protection, or a search for
rational mechanisms designed to achieve a healthy environment. Yet
things do occur that make you shake your head and remind yourself that
you live neither in Joseph Stalins Communist era, nor in the Orwellian
utopia of 1984.€�

Vaclav Klaus

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng
fidelity as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst
still generating affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.

quote

Billionaire Sound Pioneer Ray Dolby Dies, Age 80
Ray Dolby died Thursday in San Francisco, age 80. He
suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and acute leukemia.

A pioneer in the field of sound, Dolby will be remembered
as the man who took the hiss out of sound recordings.

With a fortune of $2.4 billion at his death, Dolby truly
did make silence golden

quote

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christo.../#17f3479b739f

Obviously money isn't everything, but it probably helps.

As presumably Dolby didn't die a deeply bitter man.



michael adams

....

"David" wrote in message ...
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html

Checking on the US listings a few are on sale for peanuts on an AS IS basis
owing to misfunctioning components wheels etc on the tape transport.
Which presumably could be repaired for anyone with a source of spares.

The manuals seem to go for more than some machines, presumably for
well heeled collectors who have all-original working machines.

It does make you wonder quite how much any pristine original boxes
presumably including any polystyrene inserts might fetch.

Or even machines in still unopened boxes,


michael adams

....







There's a wheel need for fast forward or playback which








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On 25/08/17 16:25, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in
disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including
a posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same
sentence.

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng
fidelity as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still
generating affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.

people who claimed they could tell the difference between vinyl and CDs
always struck me as the sort of people who would refuse to consider an
automatic "because of the fuel consumption" despite the fact they could
even come close to 50% of the manufacturers spec ....

Yes, there *is* a difference. But *they* would never find it ...

Well its not HARD when your whole deck starts jumping up and down with
bass transmitted acoustic feedback or an eccentically punched 45 does
what todady needs a whole bank of delay lines to do, to tell the
difference between a CD, and vinyl.

Of course to those who cant't there is Russ Andrews pension fund that
always needs topping up.

I do remember replacing my very worn copy of 'Electric Ladyland' with
CD, hoping finally to get rid of what I had always assumed was a
pressing fault or overloading of the poor old needle - only to find the
same nasty distortion present on the CD as well.

CDs are capable of much greater fidelity, but cloth eared recording
engineers are as common as plow****s in the business.



--
Truth welcomes investigation because truth knows investigation will lead
to converts. It is deception that uses all the other techniques.

On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same sentence.

Worse still, a forum poster has put "cassette" and "studio quality"
together.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On 25/08/17 17:05, Graham. wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same sentence.

Worse still, a forum poster has put "cassette" and "studio quality"
together.

Well as my later post pointed out 'stuidio quality' is only as good as
the sound engineer...I remember walimking into a recording studio and
hearuing massivley distorted snare and hi hats coming off a session
recorded earlier. I asked the sound engineer why he had driven the tape
into clip. He looked at me and said 'the needles were only just in the
red, mate'

I was going to educate him about tape pre-emphasis and the response of
VU meters to short duration transients, but decided life was after all,
too short.

Most sound engineers were ****s, at least in the rock business.

I dare say the classical lot are a bit more refined.


--
Canada is all right really, though not for the whole weekend.

"Saki"

On 25/08/17 17:13, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:54:14 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:25, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in
disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman
Kardon cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit
and some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews
including a posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...test-consumer-
cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking
I could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both
were enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same
sentence.

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng
fidelity as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still
generating affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.

people who claimed they could tell the difference between vinyl and CDs
always struck me as the sort of people who would refuse to consider an
automatic "because of the fuel consumption" despite the fact they could
even come close to 50% of the manufacturers spec ....

Yes, there *is* a difference. But *they* would never find it ...

Well its not HARD when your whole deck starts jumping up and down with
bass transmitted acoustic feedback or an eccentically punched 45 does
what todady needs a whole bank of delay lines to do, to tell the
difference between a CD, and vinyl.

Of course to those who cant't there is Russ Andrews pension fund that
always needs topping up.

I do remember replacing my very worn copy of 'Electric Ladyland' with
CD, hoping finally to get rid of what I had always assumed was a
pressing fault or overloading of the poor old needle - only to find the
same nasty distortion present on the CD as well.

CDs are capable of much greater fidelity, but cloth eared recording
engineers are as common as plow****s in the business.

I think it's the cult of youth (same as in IT) ... as Paul Simon said
"every generation throws a hero up the pop chart".

"Remastering" generally seems to consist of turning the volume up.

Re mastering should be going back to te original multitracks, digitising
them, and re mastering through a digital mixer.

The result won't be better than the original recordings, though the
final mix might be better than the original mix.


--
"In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
true: it is true because it is powerful."

Lucas Bergkamp

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
On 25/08/17 17:05, Graham. wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same sentence.

Worse still, a forum poster has put "cassette" and "studio quality"
together.

Well as my later post pointed out 'stuidio quality' is only as good as the sound
engineer

It's also only as good as the width of the tape. The fact that Dolby sound
reduction was very effective on 1/4, and 1/2. studio tape which was
why it was widely adopted, and rather less effective but still an improvement
on 1/8 inch cassette tape, appears to have totally escaped you.


michael adams

....

Huge wrote:
On 2017-08-25, David wrote:

[7 lines snipped]

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?

I'd go for the latter. After all, charity shops won't take them.

Contary though it seems, there is always demand for old "quality" kit. I
can't decide if it's nostalgia driven or the religion of audiophilia,
which, of course, buys into the most bizarre logic.

Check out Techmoan on YouTube. He's forever reviewing old devices that
time and tide have forgotten (the Tefifon is quite fascinating) which is
interesting in its own way, but he often brings up stuff where he's
found the final prices on eBay richer than his pockets - so someone must
be buying the stuff!

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

In message , Huge
writes
On 2017-08-25, David wrote:

[7 lines snipped]

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?

I'd go for the latter. After all, charity shops won't take them.

Cancer shops certainly take electronic stuff - and I'm pretty sure The
British Heart Foundation still do.
--
Ian

On 25/08/17 17:35, michael adams wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
On 25/08/17 17:05, Graham. wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same sentence.

Worse still, a forum poster has put "cassette" and "studio quality"
together.

Well as my later post pointed out 'stuidio quality' is only as good as the sound
engineer

It's also only as good as the width of the tape. The fact that Dolby sound
reduction was very effective on 1/4, and 1/2. studio tape which was
why it was widely adopted, and rather less effective but still an improvement
on 1/8 inch cassette tape, appears to have totally escaped you.

no, its so obvious I cant believe you think anyone doesn'tt know that.
Especially tnp

dork

michael adams

...

On 25/08/2017 16:34, Huge wrote:
On 2017-08-25, David wrote:

[7 lines snipped]

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?

I'd go for the latter. After all, charity shops won't take them.

Many don't take electrical gear because of the need to PAT it before
resale.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Tjoepstil" wrote in message
news
On 25/08/17 17:35, michael adams wrote:

It's also only as good as the width of the tape. The fact that Dolby sound
reduction was very effective on 1/4, and 1/2. studio tape which was
why it was widely adopted, and rather less effective but still an improvement
on 1/8 inch cassette tape, appears to have totally escaped you.

no, its so obvious I cant believe you think anyone doesn'tt know that.
Especially tnp

dork


So how come he posted the following, in his very first post in this thread?

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng fidelity as a wind
turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still generating affordable electricity.

Two of the easiest ways to make yourself look stupid on Usenet are

a) By not reading what's been posted previously in a thread.

b) Putting rather too much credence in the outpourings of the bull**** artists and
fantasy
merchants, with which Usenet abounds.

I don't resort to name calling myself; as people such as yourself are clearly labouring
under enough of a handicap as it is.

Mind how you go now. And have a nice day.


michael adams

....

In article ,
michael adams wrote:
It's also only as good as the width of the tape. The fact that Dolby
sound reduction was very effective on 1/4, and 1/2. studio tape which
was why it was widely adopted, and rather less effective but still an
improvement on 1/8 inch cassette tape, appears to have totally escaped
you.

Dolby A as used on pro tape machines is a totally different beast from
that used with cassettes.

--
*The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael adams wrote:
It's also only as good as the width of the tape. The fact that Dolby
sound reduction was very effective on 1/4, and 1/2. studio tape which
was why it was widely adopted, and rather less effective but still an
improvement on 1/8 inch cassette tape, appears to have totally escaped
you.

Dolby A as used on pro tape machines is a totally different beast from
that used with cassettes.

Which was rather my point.

Which was made in response to Turnip's original comment about Dolby which
you won't have read as you killfiled him. The reason the perforamnce
of even top end cassette decks such as Nakamichi was so poor relatively
speaking wasn't because of deficiencies in Dolby as such; as Turnip
implied. But because of the limitations imposed by using 1/8in tape.

Basically nothing you could do with 1/8 tape could match the performance
offered by wider formats. Which for some strange reason Turnip appeared
to think possible.

The fact that in addition this limitation made it impossible to implement
Dolby A is a side issue. Even Dolby B offered a big improvement on what
would have otherwise have been even poorer sound quality resulting from
the 1/8inch limitation.


michael adams

....

On 25 Aug 2017 21:23:30 GMT, Huge wrote:

Not cassette decks and VCRs, they don't.

As someone who accepts VCRs and cassette decks on behalf of a charity (annual
jumble sale): over 90% are DOA, despite assurances that they "ran perfectly fine
just yesterday"... Usually they chew tapes -- probably rubber bits in the
transport system hard.

Plenty of folk ask for a cheap cassette or VCR player, to look/listen to old
tapes.


Thomas Prufer

The main issues will be belts and rubber parts, plastic gears and
capacitors.
In a loft if not used for a long time all of these could be now somewhat
knackered.

It might need a lot of renovation if any parts are still around. I'm not
sure who's deck it used. Many used Nakamichi ones, but I've seen Akai and
others in these third party decks as well.
I'd also suggest that for sound quality the DBX decks made by Technics
cannot be beaten. I have some all bar 1 have issues to do with belts motor
or plastic fatigue.

I have a Sony 2 deck system which is still pretty good and a Denon three
head design which was always a little disappointing performance wise.
All sort of work.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"David" wrote in message
...
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...cassette-tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

Cheers


Dave R


--
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On Friday, 25 August 2017 15:59:30 UTC+1, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...cassette-tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

I bought a new cassette deck about five years ago because I have a lot of cassettes and still play them.

Jonathan

The point is that cassettes suffered from an alignment issue. The tape path
was nearly always messed up by the plastic housing and pressure pad in the
actual cassette.
It was fine if you used the tapes only in the machine that made them since
the errors would be the same, but some machines were not as good.
Yamaha, had phase jitter as the tape ran in jerks over the head, Akai later
models the same.
Sony were normally good, but you could hear some wow. Technics were fine and
reproducible between different samples of the same deck, but only really
sounded good with DBX.
The reason Dolby sounded crap was that it was log based and relied on a
flat frequency response. Sadly with tape alignment problems this was hardly
ever the case producing top end loss or warbling and pumping of the dolby.
Dolby, was a compander. dolby simply tried to mask noise with the signal and
took off the hiss at lower levels which was why dolby tapes sounded crap in
non dolby decks. Too much low level treble.
DBX was linear and hence worked. The unprocessed recordings were
unlistenable though, sounding like radio 1 does now but with edgy top end.
The most embarrassing music to play on a cassette with Dolby ANRS or DBX
was the piano solo.
The pure tones tended to make the noise come and go as the loudness
changed. The best bet was very low noise tapes. Some of the best I heard
were Pyral, but they had issues over headroom treble saturation, so needed
dbx. Dolby HX was invented to help this high end squash effect as it reduced
the bias on the tape as the track got louder. this unfortunately could
result in more distortion.

As has been said, Cassettes were never envisaged as hi fi. they were for
portable and car use in the main. It was only the great developments in
magnetic tape that allowed them a look in. If you got hold of some of the
old emi and Philips tapes and used them on a modern deck, you could hear the
real naffness!
I still use cassettes, but I'd not want to have been buying loads of albums
on pre recorded ones as the mechanisms were rubbish and the recordings crap
in the most part. Some Decca and DGG recordings on Chrome tape with Dolby
were quite good but you still had the different deck mechanism issues. They
were bin duplicated from a looped master tape so after a while copies got
pretty bad due to wear of the master.

I could go on about dual capstans, three head decks etc, and metal tapes
and the different pre and emphasis requirements, and the issues of dual
layer Ferrichrome tapes, but I won't.
I have had to calibrate more dolby systems than I've had hot dinners on
consumer decks, as the set up seemed to be very poor on many. Note we are
not talking of the professional Dolby and DBX systems used in the actual
recording back in the analogue days as these were banded and much more
robust since they were used on very expensive recording machines.

Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same
sentence.

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng fidelity
as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still generating
affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.


--
"it should be clear by now to everyone that activist environmentalism (or
environmental activism) is becoming a general ideology about humans, about
their freedom, about the relationship between the individual and the
state, and about the manipulation of people under the guise of a 'noble'
idea. It is not an honest pursuit of 'sustainable development,' a matter
of elementary environmental protection, or a search for rational
mechanisms designed to achieve a healthy environment. Yet things do occur
that make you shake your head and remind yourself that you live neither in
Joseph Stalin's Communist era, nor in the Orwellian utopia of 1984."

Vaclav Klaus

The early CDs were mainly poor due to the fact a lot of them were merely
made from the masters tweaked for the vinyl. They thus had a big pre
emphasis for the 5khz region and a bass cut to stop the grooves having huge
excursions on in phase elements or depth issues on out of phase ones. The
advent of remastering and of pure digital from end to end complete with
jitter has made CD far better. However as always, the decisions made by the
producer stamp them with a personality, and for example you seldom get high
dynamic range in popular albums, but the folk going back to the lets say,
old Elton John recordings for a remix have made some outstandingly good
sounding cds, far better than the vinyl could have ever been.


Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:13:15 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 25/08/17 16:05, David wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 14:59:25 +0000, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in
disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including
a posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...umer-cassette-
tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-HK2000.html





I ran tests on a top end Nakamichi once. Even after two days tweaking I
could never get left and right channels to behave the same and both were
enough to make a maiden blush.

I concluded that 'cassette' and 'hi fi' didnt belong in the same
sentence.

And Dolby was about as good at reduceing noise whilst -presevcng
fidelity as a wind turbine is at reduceing CO2 emissions whilst still
generating affordable electricity.

I carried on with vinyl till CDs arrived.

people who claimed they could tell the difference between vinyl and CDs
always struck me as the sort of people who would refuse to consider an
automatic "because of the fuel consumption" despite the fact they could
even come close to 50% of the manufacturers spec ....

Yes, there *is* a difference. But *they* would never find it ...

Yes, I think one has to always look at the point of a system Nobody would
have ever said it was the best hi fi ever, but it did the job in the time it
was around. Attempts to replace them with alternative linear media all
failed. L cassette attempted to have a double the speed normal width tape in
a cassette that loaded into a conventional tape path with noise reduction,
and could sound good, but the tapes were big and annoying.
Then DCC Digital Compact Cassette came along, basically a deck that could
play old type cassettes and new digital ones which were fitted into similar
cases. This was a shuttle system linear digital recorder a bit like Basf's
ill fated LVR for video. it never took off as finding recordings was a
nightmare. Minidisc was far faster, but it too failed in my opinion due to
the complexity of having to finalise recordings and all the labelling and
different sampling options. If they had made it very simple, we would
probably have used it till solid state and internet based media took off. It
did however introduce the concept of lossy compression and I fear we have
paid the price for this in quality ever since. Given that lossless
compression is now more than possible its about time we simply used mp3 etc
for spoken word and music got a better treatment. In a way I suppose MP3 is
the cassette quality media of today.
It is audible as phase flutter, grittiness and in some cases both!
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Jonathan" wrote in message
...
On Friday, 25 August 2017 15:59:30 UTC+1, David WE Roberts (Google)
wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and
some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


The deck is an HK2000 which seems to have reasonable reviews including a
posting in
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...cassette-tape-
deck-ever-produced.647334/page-2

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

I bought a new cassette deck about five years ago because I have a lot of
cassettes and still play them.

Jonathan

In article ,
michael adams wrote:
Dolby A as used on pro tape machines is a totally different beast from
that used with cassettes.

Which was rather my point.

Which was made in response to Turnip's original comment about Dolby which
you won't have read as you killfiled him. The reason the perforamnce
of even top end cassette decks such as Nakamichi was so poor relatively
speaking wasn't because of deficiencies in Dolby as such; as Turnip
implied. But because of the limitations imposed by using 1/8in tape.

Basically nothing you could do with 1/8 tape could match the performance
offered by wider formats. Which for some strange reason Turnip appeared
to think possible.

The fact that in addition this limitation made it impossible to implement
Dolby A is a side issue. Even Dolby B offered a big improvement on what
would have otherwise have been even poorer sound quality resulting from
the 1/8inch limitation.

IMHO the main problem with cassette is the very low tape speed. I've never
had a reel to reel machine which worked well at 1 7/8ths either. That
would required very special tape and head design.

In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track width is
noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than the best noise
preformance - but YMMV.

Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome tape. But
the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively, it at least matched
my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

It was a great relief when DAT arrived. ;-)

--
*Women like silent men; they think they're listening.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
The early CDs were mainly poor due to the fact a lot of them were
merely made from the masters tweaked for the vinyl.

I've never heard an early CD made in this way. Early CDs were expensive,
and made from the studio master - not a vinyl cutting version. Unless that
studio master had been lost. And given early CDs tended to be of big
selling stuff, unlikely.

--
*Why isn't there a special name for the back of your knee?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 25/08/2017 15:59, David wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


I'd check it works before spending whatever you might expect to get for
it - the rubber drive belts tend to perish.


--
Cheers, Rob

On Monday, 28 August 2017 01:24:02 UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 25/08/2017 15:59, David wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


I'd check it works before spending whatever you might expect to get for
it - the rubber drive belts tend to perish.

and IME can usually be replaced with cheap stationery rubber bands & work for years.


NT

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael adams wrote:
Dolby A as used on pro tape machines is a totally different beast from
that used with cassettes.

Which was rather my point.

Which was made in response to Turnip's original comment about Dolby which
you won't have read as you killfiled him. The reason the perforamnce
of even top end cassette decks such as Nakamichi was so poor relatively
speaking wasn't because of deficiencies in Dolby as such; as Turnip
implied. But because of the limitations imposed by using 1/8in tape.

Basically nothing you could do with 1/8 tape could match the performance
offered by wider formats. Which for some strange reason Turnip appeared
to think possible.

The fact that in addition this limitation made it impossible to implement
Dolby A is a side issue. Even Dolby B offered a big improvement on what
would have otherwise have been even poorer sound quality resulting from
the 1/8inch limitation.

IMHO the main problem with cassette is the very low tape speed.

The tape speed was a direct result of the compact cassette specfication.
They needed tape which would fit inside a compact spool which would
run for 30 or 45 minutes but be strong enough not to stretch
or bleed or whatever the term is..

Is this as a result of problem with low speed motors ?
Either that or physical limitations on the speed with which the
heads can magnetise or read heads.

Otherwise I'd have thought tape speed and area are both components of
the same thing. The area of magentisable tape available to be nagenetised
at any one moment.

a) And things are worse than at first appear because unlike with
half tracks, cassette tapes run in both directions.
Going metric for the sale of convenience, a half track has two 3mm
tracks - a total of 6mm when recording or playing. A cassette
by way of contrast has two 0.75 mm tracks or 1.5 in total.
Assuming square heads this a magnisable area for the half
track of 36 sq mm and 2.25 sq mm for the cassette.
If we assume that in both cases these areas are covered in
particles of a similar density, for the sake of argument
100 particles per sq mm this gives potentially 0-3600 magnetised
particles - or a dynamic range of 0-3600 - not just a maximum
and minumum but a potential 3600 discrete values for the half track
and only 0-225 for the cassette. Similarly if we assume "noise" is
magnetism straying to an adjacent particle, assuming similar sized
particles in both cases then the effect of noise is 16 times
greater on the signal in the cassette. Indeed as is the case
the wider the track the higher the S/N ratio becomes.

Although apparently this relationship between magnetisable
area and dynamic range isn't totally linear.


? I've never
had a reel to reel machine which worked well at 1 7/8ths either. That
would required very special tape and head design.

In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track width is
noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than the best noise
preformance - but YMMV.

Given my admttedly limited knowledge of this subject as encapuslated
in a) that I'm afraad that to all intents and purposes that
appears to be complete and utter tosh


Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome tape. But
the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively, it at least matched
my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

As is that. Unless the tape used in the Revox had previously found
used as a pyjama cord or similar I suppose.

But then Turnip wasn't to know that in his totally bizarre
expectation that by way of comparison at least, cassette players
could somehow ever constitute true h-fi.


michael adams

....

In article ,
michael adams wrote:
In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track width is
noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than the best noise
preformance - but YMMV.

Given my admttedly limited knowledge of this subject as encapuslated
in a) that I'm afraad that to all intents and purposes that
appears to be complete and utter tosh

The highest frequency which can be recorded to tape depends of the size of
the 'particles' on the tape and the head gaps. Both are related to tape
speed - and therefore at lower speeds more difficult/expensive to make.
And far more critical to set the various pre-sets on a tape machine for.
Production tollerances of tape batch by batch making things even more of a
problem.


Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome tape.
But the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively, it at least
matched my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

As is that. Unless the tape used in the Revox had previously found
used as a pyjama cord or similar I suppose.

Agfa PEM 468. But then you've admitted you have limited knowledge of this
subject, and probably don't understand what 'subjectively' means in this
context.

I'll try and explain it. No one in their right mind uses a slow tape speed
like 3 3/4 - or indeed a cassette - for recording anything important.

But then Turnip wasn't to know that in his totally bizarre
expectation that by way of comparison at least, cassette players
could somehow ever constitute true h-fi.

Perhaps you would define Hi-Fi - if that's what you meant. Would be very
interesting.

--
*A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
michael adams wrote:
In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track width is
noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than the best noise
preformance - but YMMV.

Given my admttedly limited knowledge of this subject as encapuslated
in a) that I'm afraad that to all intents and purposes that
appears to be complete and utter tosh

The highest frequency which can be recorded to tape depends of the size of
the 'particles' on the tape and the head gaps.

Both are related to tape
speed - and therefore at lower speeds more difficult/expensive to make.
And far more critical to set the various pre-sets on a tape machine for.

Ah ha ! So it now transpires that the poor performance relatively
speaking of your Revox was simply because you hadn't yet worked
out how to set it up to record at low speeds. Whereas the
Sony was deliberately designed for use by technical
incompetents from the off.


Production tollerances of tape batch by batch making things even more of a
problem.

So the range of particle sizes which can be deposited on a tape
extends between what values exactly ?

As a against the width of tracks which when comparing half track
as aginst cassette tape which extends from 1 - 16.






Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome tape.
But the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively, it at least
matched my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

As is that. Unless the tape used in the Revox had previously found
used as a pyjama cord or similar I suppose.

Agfa PEM 468.

But as it happens given your admission above of your inability
to optinmise the Revox to run at slow speed you might just have well
have used former pyjama cord for all the diffrence it would have made.


But then you've admitted you have limited knowledge of this
subject,

Which is why presumably you decided to snip the detailed
explanation I gave of why wide tape is far superior.

I sometimes deliberately include throwaway remarks such as having
limited knowledge of a subject simply so as to see whether the other
party will resort to using this as a crutch. As you did.


and probably don't understand what 'subjectively' means in this
context.

Of course I do. It's your own opinion. Which is why as nobody is
around to judge for themselves, all such statements are totally
worthless.

However rather than admit to wasting everyone's time by making totally
worthless statements, not that that's ever stopped anyone,
there is nevertheless the implication, given your previous occupation
as a sound engineer that your subjective judgement will be
closer to some objective standard than that of the average
Joe in the street.


I'll try and explain it. No one in their right mind uses a slow tape speed
like 3 3/4 - or indeed a cassette - for recording anything important.

But then Turnip wasn't to know that in his totally bizarre
expectation that by way of comparison at least, cassette players
could somehow ever constitute true h-fi.

Perhaps you would define Hi-Fi - if that's what you meant. Would be very
interesting.

Better than low fi. As it always has been since the inception of the
term. Its always been a comparative term. Objectively in terms of
characteristics of the audio signal, noise, dynamic range etc measured
by various instruments as compared with what was available before.
I'm rather surprised you hadn't already worked that one out for
yourself, to be honest.

Anyway glad to have helped.

Doubtless you'll snip that paragraph as well, now.

Along with your admission above that

You're incapable of optimising your own Revox A77 to run at low speed,
such that it could outperform a cassette player.
But not that low, as it turns out

quote

"Variants also included half-track, quarter-track and slow-speed versions 1 7/8ips".

/quote




michael adams

....

On 28/08/17 12:43, pamela wrote:
On 10:54 26 Aug 2017, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
michael adams wrote:
Dolby A as used on pro tape machines is a totally different
beast from that used with cassettes.

Which was rather my point.

Which was made in response to Turnip's original comment about
Dolby which you won't have read as you killfiled him. The
reason the perforamnce of even top end cassette decks such as
Nakamichi was so poor relatively speaking wasn't because of
deficiencies in Dolby as such; as Turnip implied. But because
of the limitations imposed by using 1/8in tape.

Basically nothing you could do with 1/8 tape could match the
performance offered by wider formats. Which for some strange
reason Turnip appeared to think possible.

The fact that in addition this limitation made it impossible to
implement Dolby A is a side issue. Even Dolby B offered a big
improvement on what would have otherwise have been even poorer
sound quality resulting from the 1/8inch limitation.

IMHO the main problem with cassette is the very low tape speed.
I've never had a reel to reel machine which worked well at 1
7/8ths either. That would required very special tape and head
design.

In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track
width is noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than
the best noise preformance - but YMMV.

Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome
tape. But the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively,
it at least matched my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

It was a great relief when DAT arrived. ;-)

How can Dolby tracking could work properly if it isn't calibrated
to the tape output?


Fundamentally it couldn't.

On the nakamichi it could be reasonably OK on one channel, rubbish on
the other, or rather poor and definitely different on both. Simply
changing a tape to a different sort threw the whole process ouit, and
pre-recorded tapes were a total toss up.

The only place Dolby ever worked was in a recording studio with daily
calibrated kit and a single tape brand and type.


Of course is not just the width of the tape that is the issue, more the
slow tape speeds that need massively fine head gaps to maintain any sort
of frequency response and were inherently noisy anyway. Signal to Noise
is really a function of how many ferrite molecules per second are going
past the head.

The cassette tape format was developed for dictaphones. It was never
intended for music. Bit like tring to play the brandenburg concerto on a
telephone handset.

For all the idiocy surrounding vinyl, at least studios are now using
full frequency range full dynamic range low noise digital recording onto
presumably banks of spinning rust.








Cassette tape manufacturers seemed keen to produce higher output
tapes (for the same bias setting). This would affect the level of
playback emphasis.



--
Microsoft : the best reason to go to Linux that ever existed.

On Monday, 28 August 2017 09:17:21 UTC+1, michael adams wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message

IMHO the main problem with cassette is the very low tape speed.

The tape speed was a direct result of the compact cassette specfication.
They needed tape which would fit inside a compact spool which would
run for 30 or 45 minutes but be strong enough not to stretch
or bleed or whatever the term is..

that bit is sensible. Most of the rest is just confused imgination.

Is this as a result of problem with low speed motors ?
Either that or physical limitations on the speed with which the
heads can magnetise or read heads.

Otherwise I'd have thought tape speed and area are both components of
the same thing. The area of magentisable tape available to be nagenetised
at any one moment.

a) And things are worse than at first appear because unlike with
half tracks, cassette tapes run in both directions.
Going metric for the sale of convenience, a half track has two 3mm
tracks - a total of 6mm when recording or playing. A cassette
by way of contrast has two 0.75 mm tracks or 1.5 in total.
Assuming square heads this a magnisable area for the half
track of 36 sq mm and 2.25 sq mm for the cassette.
If we assume that in both cases these areas are covered in
particles of a similar density, for the sake of argument
100 particles per sq mm this gives potentially 0-3600 magnetised
particles - or a dynamic range of 0-3600 - not just a maximum
and minumum but a potential 3600 discrete values for the half track
and only 0-225 for the cassette. Similarly if we assume "noise" is
magnetism straying to an adjacent particle, assuming similar sized
particles in both cases then the effect of noise is 16 times
greater on the signal in the cassette. Indeed as is the case
the wider the track the higher the S/N ratio becomes.

Although apparently this relationship between magnetisable
area and dynamic range isn't totally linear.


? I've never
had a reel to reel machine which worked well at 1 7/8ths either. That
would required very special tape and head design.

In theory, the only thing that would be effected by the track width is
noise. I'd rather have a decent frequency response than the best noise
preformance - but YMMV.

Given my admttedly limited knowledge of this subject as encapuslated
in a) that I'm afraad that to all intents and purposes that
appears to be complete and utter tosh


Best cassette performance I heard was a Sony using ferri-chrome tape. But
the cost of that ruled it out for many. Subjectively, it at least matched
my half track Revox A77 at 3 3/4.

As is that. Unless the tape used in the Revox had previously found
used as a pyjama cord or similar I suppose.

But then Turnip wasn't to know that in his totally bizarre
expectation that by way of comparison at least, cassette players
could somehow ever constitute true h-fi.


michael adams

In message , The Natural Philosopher
writes

The cassette tape format was developed for dictaphones.

That really is the bottom line. Arguing about whether or not cassettes
were or are 'hi fi' is missing the point. Back in the day, many of us
played with the family Grundig reel to reel, and it did what it was
designed to do. We could record records from the radio and borrow vinyl
to record. Perfect. The first popular cassette recorder/player was
probably the Philips mono portable machine (2202 etc.), which was a huge
advance in terms of convenience if not reproduction. Then came stereo
cassette 'decks', 1970-ish? Couple that with the introduction of in car
cassette players, and it was a whole new world. Suddenly we could all
record our record collections, and those of our friends, and listen to
them at home and in the car. Cassettes were convenient and portable in
a way reel to reel never was. Eight tracks were better, but more bulky.

'Proper' hi fi then was almost confined to the pages of Hi Fi News and
stories of enthusiasts who built listening rooms. Most people listened
in an ordinary living room at home, or in the car. The equipment was
comparative crap, the listening environment less than perfect, but it
worked, and was simple. Many had cheap 'music centres', recording was
from AM radios. 194, 208, 247 etc.

I tend to think of MP3s and cassette tapes in the same way. Less than
perfect, but they do the job.

--
Graeme

On 26/08/2017 09:59, Jonathan wrote:
I bought a new cassette deck about five years ago because I have a lot of cassettes and still play them.

me too

We gave up on vinyl not when CDs arrived, but when kids did. Small
children aren't good for records. But we kept them... Some of our stuff
we only have on cassette.

I've since digitised all the vinyl, and they're only kept for the
gatefold sleeves.

Andy

On 26/08/2017 10:22, Brian Gaff wrote:
I have had to calibrate more dolby systems than I've had hot dinners on
consumer decks, as the set up seemed to be very poor on many.

Our current cassette deck is self calibrating. Put a tape in, and press
the button. It winds a bit into the tape, records a test pattern, winds
back, plays it to itself, and then has all the right bias etc. settings
so it can play the recording back at the best it can manage.

Haven't done it for years mind - I used to record BBC radio, now I use
iPlayer.

Andy

On Tuesday, 29 August 2017 21:37:58 UTC+1, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 26/08/2017 10:22, Brian Gaff wrote:
I have had to calibrate more dolby systems than I've had hot dinners on
consumer decks, as the set up seemed to be very poor on many.

Our current cassette deck is self calibrating. Put a tape in, and press
the button. It winds a bit into the tape, records a test pattern, winds
back, plays it to itself, and then has all the right bias etc. settings
so it can play the recording back at the best it can manage.

Haven't done it for years mind - I used to record BBC radio, now I use
iPlayer.

Andy

Which deck does that? I've never found one that has all the wanted features, ie 3 head, autoazimuth & dbx.


NT

Vir Campestris wrote:

Our current cassette deck is self calibrating. Put a tape in, and press
the button. It winds a bit into the tape, records a test pattern, winds
back, plays it to itself, and then has all the right bias etc.

My student-grant funded AIWA F770 did that in 198mumble, it's still in
the loft somewhere but no doubt would need a new set of belts before it
could be used now ...

On 28/08/2017 02:26, wrote:
On Monday, 28 August 2017 01:24:02 UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 25/08/2017 15:59, David wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


I'd check it works before spending whatever you might expect to get for
it - the rubber drive belts tend to perish.

and IME can usually be replaced with cheap stationery rubber bands & work for years.


Never tried it but on the couple I've replaced belts, the amount of work
that went in made the fiver or so seem worthwhile.


--
Cheers, Rob

On Wednesday, 30 August 2017 10:56:23 UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 28/08/2017 02:26, tabbypurr wrote:
On Monday, 28 August 2017 01:24:02 UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 25/08/2017 15:59, David wrote:

O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


I'd check it works before spending whatever you might expect to get for
it - the rubber drive belts tend to perish.

and IME can usually be replaced with cheap stationery rubber bands & work for years.


Never tried it but on the couple I've replaced belts, the amount of work
that went in made the fiver or so seem worthwhile.

it was primarily the time that pushed me into trying it. I could fix the thing right now and be all done in 10 minutes. The fiver is a little bonus.

Whether most bands still last well today I don't know, I know the PO ones don't.


NT

wrote in message
...
On Monday, 28 August 2017 01:24:02 UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 25/08/2017 15:59, David wrote:
O.K. - I know that most posters here are spade neck beards in disguise.

Clearing out a small portion of the loft I came across a Harman Kardon
cassette tape deck.

A quick punt through eBay suggests that they still sell for a bit and some
for surprisingly much.

Is this realistic or are eBayers 'avin a larf?


I'd check it works before spending whatever you might expect to get for
it - the rubber drive belts tend to perish.

and IME can usually be replaced with cheap stationery rubber bands & work for years.

One minute its autoazimuths, and the next minute its cheap stationary rubber bands.

Does the one compensate for the other, then ?

Poundland meets Russ Andrews !



michael adams

....






NT