Hi, What you're missing here is that these are simply consumer products. Price is what is being chased. I worked for a tape company(s) from the seventies until the demise of the product line in the nineties. This was a pennies game. The shell, tape, cassette boxing, the shrink wrap and transportation were all factors in making and selling your product. Some companies were good at paying their royalties, because they had patent rights they were defending of their own. Other companies bought in their product and paid only when they were forced to. As I remember it, Phillips held the rights to the C Box long after they had lost the rights to the cassette mechanism and shell. We all went to Chinese made product, and they were best at packaging and overseas shipping as well. The tape companies all made their own tape and has "secret" formulations that baffled the competition that were changing formulations with each batch of pigment they made. Truth is the Korean's and others made pretty darn good product in the nineties. Cassette Decks ranged from just ok to actually very good and most major companies could put out a great product if motivated. By the nineties CD's were eclipsing tape and analogue to digital was happening reducing the "tape hiss"and the need for Dolby B/C editions, and we know that Moore's Law would soon put us out of business. I watched the audio and video manufacturers drop out, one by one. Tapes were a great product. Your big brother recorded them, established what hits would be worth buying then passed them down to siblings who did not value them and threw them under the seat of the car and finally mom or dad discarded them, usually in about a four week cycle. It was a great business and I am sorry to see it almost gone. Tape and tape decks are certainly collectables. The best products were used for high end prerecorded product and the cassette shells were often based on what was available at the time. I as glad to see the hobby is still alive and well. It should be easy to hunt down the main players in these companies before they are all gone. I wish you well.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, the name of the channel is a hopeful one. I don't think there will ever be the demand again for the big boys to return. The Koreans did make good cassettes. I love SKC.

@biakhui5580

5 жыл бұрын

Hi there. Thanx for interesting insights. What do you mean by " it should be easy to hunt down main players in these companies untill they're all gone"?

@s.g.3042

4 жыл бұрын

@@CassetteComeback Well, I still hold high hopes for the return of the big players to the market (besides Maxell UR and TDK B series), considering the skyrocketing prices for even used cassettes, even of the most crappy series, models or brands on ebay and such.

TDK SA were my tape of choice during the 90's for making copies of CD"s borrowed from friends etc. I always found them very robust and durable, and gave great results. I also used AR's and AD's for general purpose everyday use, the AR giving a more rounder smoother sound than the AD. D90's were ok, but I found them a little bit fragile.

What an excellent presentation. You have taught me a lot. I needed to know this and more. Just bought a Tascam 488mkll 8 track (which will only take Chrome or Metal) and a vintage Technics M250 Deck. On the strength of your comments I immediately invested in a 10 pack bundle of NEW SF's (92 edition). I was dubious, because of the cheaper looking shell/presentation, but you have set me straight on that. Genuine thanks.

Forgot how many shell changes the TDK's went through over the years. My favourite SA's were the ones at 9.46, I think they sounded better too than the later versions or maybe it was just because the later ones looked duller.

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

Perception is more important than reality.

@stewstube70

4 жыл бұрын

Indeed - I always preferred tapes with large clear windows!

I love these videos and I'm fascinated by figuring some of these things out. I don't believe that I ever had a TDK tape that wasn't good. They weren't more expensive where I was buying them, and dependably good. Have you ever actually had to say something bad about one? I'd often get a pack of 5 SA90 that often would come with an SA-X as a bonus. I remember that my Sony deck and Chrysler car player both loved an SA-X. That was what I used until I went MiniDisc in 1999.

Hi, I'm really liking these videos. I don't have much experience with the 1980s tapes, but I have to say I've had the same results as you with the 1990s SA and SF, and indeed the CDing (I've not experienced any variability with them to be honest)... completely interchangeable. All excellent performers that'll take lots of signal and with very little hiss as well.

If you told me that the SD was just the older SA tape, I would have bought a lot more of them back then. I think the SD got overlooked in TDK's marketing of their SA tapes here. And I never had any problems with TDK's shells until the D's came out with the sealed shells in the early 2000's.

Thanks for clearing this up! Just got my first TDK SF cassettes a few days after you posted your video. Suprised that I did not know of your channel before, subscribed so I will not forget to check back in sometime and look for more cassette stuff on your channel, great stuff!

Well well, as a TDK devotee, I learned something from this. Firstly I've not seen a graphical representation of the variable bias and eq controls and secondly I'd not considered the SF/D as I'd always buy the SA and note the graph on the back. Good info.

Hey Tony, thanks for the channel man, you really are getting me up to speed. I wish I had my old tape collection. With moves, degrees, moves, degrees, moves after moves, baby, moves and some more moves, I seem to have lost it all. Crushing me right now. The memory of driving away in an overfilled u-haul, leaving 7+ milk crates of vinyl on the sidewalk, like a giant vinyl monolith, it haunts me. I've made so many bad decisions as it relates to musical instruments, music making gear, and music recordings. I should have thrown a couch out of that truck and loaded up the vinyl. And where are all of my tapes? At least I know where the vinyl went. Now my wife, her friend dumped all of her old junk cassettes in a great big cardboard box, and my wife decided to take em, we have those! I haven't checked (not even sure they survived the last move, actually), but I think they're mostly type 0, as you'd call 'em. Why do we have those, but all my TDK type 2's are gone? Think we're going to need some marriage counseling. That's all preamble to ask, as an American, where would you recommend I buy my tapes? I was just looking at the price of new Fox cassettes in Europe, I was flabbergasted to see that they are a third of the price as in the States. That's bullox (adapted) mate, to borrow a phrase. I noticed you now have an online shop in Canada, is that a good place for Americans? Or do you have another recommendation? Also, I'm coming from a utilitarian angle, not a collecting angle, I need a lot of cassettes for some upcoming projects. Any thoughts? Also, sorry, just a little history, a few years ago, I was getting back into cassettes, was buying some NOS, and some used, finding some tapes at the thrift store, not really hunting them down, just seizing opportunities when I found them. I knew I wasn't quite ready for the tapes, but I knew a need was coming. So when I began that process, I was shocked to see the prices of cassettes. I mean, they were always expensive. You mentioned in another vid, that back in the day, you wouldn't pick up a brick of tapes at the pharmacy (or whatever place you mentioned) and go into the pub and tell your mate you bought some cassettes that day, they'd think you were crazy, like "SO WAT!" But, for me, buying a 5 pack of TDK type 2's back in the day was like a major event. I mean, it hurt, the price stung, but then I'd be so hyped to have good tape, I could record this or that, or dupe a friend's rare album or record on a four track, it was an occasion! But when I got back into tape a few years ago, hard to recall exactly when, maybe 3-4 years ago, the prices were insane, I was stunned. So I thought, okay, well this is the price of cassettes now, this is how (un)available they are. Now, 3-4 years later, I'm finally ready to do these tape projects, so I start to shop and the prices have gone truly bazonkers. I mean $20 for a single type 2? ARE YOU MAD? Those thoughts start running through your head, like if I'd of bought a shipping containers worth of metal or type 2's, I'd retire in a 6,000 sqft mansion on the top of a hill with a lambo in the 8 car garage, and the dopest home recording studio ever, every vintage synth and drum machine would be mine, every pre, comp, and eq from the golden ages would be within my reach! But no. No foresight, and I somehow lost my meager tape collection. Threw away my tape decks, both component and boom box... I am so dumb, man. Losers lose for a reason, they make bad decisions. But back to my bulk tape needs, NAC is, imo, really reasonably priced, for this market. I watched your review, though, and was fairly well crushed. So what am I to do? Should I be asking this over at tapeheads.net? You mentioned it in a reply the other day, and I went over there, and reactivated my account, I don't think I'd logged in for 10 years, almost to the day! But better to have this convo over there? (sorry, no FB for me, btw)

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

It depends how many you want. I have good Type 2 at a reasonable price in both my web stores. Just remember the best investment you can make now is in the deck and not the cassettes. A great deck can make the most of something like the Splicit Capture or readily available TDK D.

@alphanumeric1529

4 жыл бұрын

@@CassetteComeback I need 100+! Splicit at over $4.oo is too much!

@s.g.3042

4 жыл бұрын

Congrats on your wise wife! Sorry for your lost.

I've got the older sibling of your awia I've got the ad-f 260 from 1986/1987 the fidelity I'm getting I'm exceptionally happy. Cheers for all the advise over the years. Good luck with future projects.

I never had a TDK SF tape, all of the tapes I have from TDK has always been SA or better. Think I have seen small glances of the SF tapes in shops in the past, but never really knew why I never tried them. Wasn’t sure if it was a lower grade tape or better. In fact, I never even knew that metal tapes existed until my father told me. He was working in an electrical store as a salesman at that time, so he knew all about the different types of cassettes, and that’s what really made me gain interest in them.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

Nostalgia and youth are the main factors for people coming back to Cassettes. SF area strange, just sightly cheaper than an SA and weren't around for long.

My opinion is TDK used to finish their previous stock of tape in SF shells while the new formula hit the market in SA shell

It is not about the stock, it is about the tooling. A plastic tooling (the shape) costs 10.000 Euros or more - so they keep using the old ones (which have less quality over time, as the tooling also will get worse and break down) for the cheaper cassettes and make a new tool for the higher end ones. It has nothing to do with "stock" because what company will store plastic shells in a warehouse when they have access to the tooling. And on the computer chips, it is not about "disabeling" something, cost has a lot to do with yield (how much of the products can be used). So it will have some chips with defects, and they decided to not throw it away but sell it cheaper and still make a little profit. Not every chip is the same, and the higher the yield, the lower the cost, the better the margin. Maybe they did some on purpose to keep up with demand, but basically every "good" chip that failed was given into the "bad" pile and still got sold. Every chip that did not even make the "bad" pile, was trashed.

Tony you are enabling me to buy more cassettes!

Good comparison. Only SF I've had is the 88 version and I loved it. Sounded like an SA and looked like an AR. I'm sure back in the day they would have been well worth considering even at only slightly lower price than the SA.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, there's no much in it

i got plenty of the 1995 version. I still use them and they are great. Just only the demagnetizing is a bit hard. Its not easy to erase the recordings before. But ive found a good trick: i take it with to school,where we have a strong magnetic field machine. That one erases all;-))

Отличный обзор! Благодарю! Great review! Thank you!

The SF was a bit thiner on the bass if I remember right , I still have some . The AR was something nice for a ferric , it sounded polished up on playback . TDK had a good range there . Pick your own sound with tapes . Sony UXS was another of my favorites for the Club stuff .

I never liked TDK type 2, lacks imaging, same with the MA, but everything else was excellent, I just recorded on a MA-X for the first time ever, bass is amazing, I have a 80 minute SR, I hope it’s good

I have a 90 minutes version of SF. As a fan of Ghibli (sort of), I recorded the original soundtrack of My Neighbour Totoro and Ocean Waves on that tape. So far so good.

TDK came out with a lot of weird variations of a cassette tape and Sony had their share as well . Maxell was much more grounded

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

Well, they had the SXI and SXII and that "Capsule" range, which were a bit odd...still good though.

I only ever had one SF, the 1988 version. It's lovely. I didn't know what it was back then (I was 11). I'd probably never had a type II before. I think it's the dog's b's.

Hello, i have a little problem with TDK SA between 1983 and 1985. There are Tape-Shells with smaller and greater windows during this period, and i`ve read, that there was a change of shell and tape formula at the end of 84 / beginning 85. If this is correct, your TDK SA from 1983 is a tape from 1985 with a incorrect declaration. May be, there is used an older cover foil for a newer cassette. What can you tell about this ?

Hi Tony, what model is your AIWA deck? You made me wanna buy this on ebay ;)) Do I need a preamp for it (and if so, which one would you recommend?) or would aktive speaker suffice? Thanks in advance

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

You really need to hook them up to an amp if you're Going to get the best out of them. It's an AD-S950

I tryed to record a TDK CDing2 and i think they are very good actually. I think maybe its the same tape as SF/SA? I don't know, but CDing2 sounds good in my opinion. There are another TDK Chrome tape, the "TDK Super D" thape, blue transparent shell. I had one Super D tape, but if my memory serves me well was a inferior chrome tape, i think its the lowest chrome tape TDK ever made, but i don't know for sure...back in the day i used to play music alot on car, walkman or boomboxes, but recorded on hifi systems.

@s.g.3042

4 жыл бұрын

afaik, the CDing series are the SA series - just rebranded for obvious CD age marketing purposes to still being able to hold onto a market share.

THis is something I didn't know. That "SF" was the "old" SA. (the newer is the re-fined "Avilyn" then). Interesting.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

Just my theory, but I can't see them making a special formulation for only a limited time.

Hi, could you please make video about chrome and metal tape formulation and why nobody manufactures new chrome and metal tapes.

What’s up with TDK’s SR and SR-X tapes? Can’t find much on them.

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

Think they were Japan only.

Don't have many but the small numbers i have are good sounding cassettes. If they are SA's from the previous year that explains it. Think most brands made good cassettes, have SKC chromes and they sound good too. In the old days there were compatibilityproblems, my old ones sound dull but that could be a combination of factors, compatibility tape/machine, tapequality, aging, wrong alignment tapeheads?

I wonder if Maxells UD II (or UDS II) was the same as the older UDXL II tape. I think all these were made as entry level tapes to get normal bias buyers to make the jump to high bias tapes.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

I don't think the UDII are. I'm just guessing but I find that the 80s UDII seem to bias near the SA / UX, so they would sound good on decks that may have been biased to the SA in the factory. The XLII of the same generation bias quite differently. Personally, I always loved the UD series and when calibrated correctly, couldn't really tell any difference with the XL.

@CassetteComeback

5 жыл бұрын

@@wildbilltexas Yeah, I used them in my low end stuff in the 80s, worked great. I guess I have a nostalgic attachment.

I just seen today some MAXELL UR90's for 12$ new.....for a pack of 7...Im just starting my cassette pasion again I just got a JVC TD-W354 to start with.

bravo

I loved SFs and they were blue.

TDK SA90 - super shell...

Kupujem 10 komada. Skoljko mani. Rok isporuke. Hvala. Joška Srbija.

Is there a site where tape fans can swap cassettes?

@s.g.3042

4 жыл бұрын

tapeheads.net

More expensive tape sounds better in a less expensive shell than a cheap tape sounds in an expensive shell... that why the SF exists

Your theories are wrong, none of the SF/SA pairs are containing the same tape. You can't figure such things out by looking how it calibrates. In the first test your SA is not a 1983 but a 1985 version with about 2db lower noise compared to the 1985SF...

@CassetteComeback

4 жыл бұрын

So, we have 2 theories: Mine - The SA was the biggest selling tape in the world. When TDK introduced a new SA formulation, there would have been unused SA stock that they used in the SF and then the "lesser" SA cuts. Yours - TDK had 2 production lines. One for SA, another making a tape with extremely similar properties as the SA, but to use in the SF...and completely different. They threw the excess SA stock away. They sell the SF cheaper than the SA. Which do you think makes more business sense?

@tonabnehmer9407

4 жыл бұрын

@@CassetteComeback Hi, thanks for your response. No, mine is not a theory I know it, because I measured the tapes for MOL/SOL/Sens/Noise... Do a simple bias noise measurement with something like Audio Tester and you will see that SF probably uses bigger particles in their formulation or lesser refinement calandering. And about business sense, they produced tape just in time for production, not for putting it into costly storehouses.