Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

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Opa Opa

Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Opa Opa »

I stumbled across some of my old tapes the other day and I wouldn't mind giving them a listen. Unfortunately, my old stereo broke long ago and has been subsequently pitched.

I haven't hit up Goodwill/thrift stores yet. I might actually ask around and see if any relatives have an old setup collecting dust. However, if that proves fruitless, do you guys have any suggestions/favorite brands to share?
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Luke
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Luke »

I have a GPX cassette player that gets the job done.

My advice would to hit up some pawn shops for something on the cheap.

What I would do, personally, would seek out a ghetto blaster aka boom box. There are plenty of them out there on ebay and amazon.

Plus you can walk around with it on your shoulder while also confusing tweens.

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marurun
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by marurun »

Goodwill or other thrift shop. Find a stereo system component to hook up to a home stereo rig. It's likely to treat your tapes better, even if it is old, due to better mechanicals.
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Luke
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Luke »

marurun wrote:Goodwill or other thrift shop. Find a stereo system component to hook up to a home stereo rig. It's likely to treat your tapes better, even if it is old, due to better mechanicals.

Opa...My parents might...might still have a superb Sony Dual Cassette player that was made for a studio. I'll let you know asap if they still have it.

Only thing is that it weighs a ton and a boom box may be cheaper, but if you provide shipping costs it is all yours (if they still have it). It's like an upgrade of the cassette player in Cradle of Love.
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Ziggy
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Ziggy »

marurun wrote:Goodwill or other thrift shop. Find a stereo system component to hook up to a home stereo rig. It's likely to treat your tapes better, even if it is old, due to better mechanicals.
Yeah, I always see tape decks in thrift stores around here. The only thing I'd worry about is you don't know what the previous owner did with it or where it was stored. I'd be afraid of potentially dirtying up my tapes.

You can still buy tape decks new, so that's always an option if you don't mind spending the money (looks like they start around $100).
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

marurun wrote:Goodwill or other thrift shop. Find a stereo system component to hook up to a home stereo rig. It's likely to treat your tapes better, even if it is old, due to better mechanicals.
This. I use an old ass stereo system. Works like a charm.
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samsonlonghair
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by samsonlonghair »

Every church yard sale I have ever gone to has cassette players for sale.

If you want a recommendation for "best" cassette deck, I like the Technics RS-TR165 double cassette deck and the Teac CX-650R.
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Fragems
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Fragems »

If you have any Restore/Habitat for Humanity thrift stores around that might be a good place to look. They are about the only store around in my area that has cassette players and cassettes on a regular basis. As the others said yardsales aren't a bad idea either.

The goodwills around me are a little wishy washy about electronics they actually refused to take older tv's, VCR's, and etc or at least they did for quite a while now they will take just about anything and slap a $15-$20 price tag with a nice big AS-IS on it :lol: .


Here are the Best Sellers over at Amazon:

Portable Handheld Player:(This is their "best seller" but it doesn't look like any of the newer portable players have decent reviews)
Jensen SCR68B Stereo Cassette Player- $11.44

Boom Box:(This actually looks decent to me Sony is usually pretty good quality)
Sony CFDS50 Portable CD, Cassette & AM/FM Radio Boombox- $50

Decks aren't even worth pulling up the ones on there are either really expensive or cheaply built.

Edit:

Personally I just use a Teac Nostalgia GF-300 CD/Cassette/Record/Radio in my room. Got it for cheap years ago and it does a good enough job. Cassette player is having issues with the Forward/Rewind but I think it might just be a dirt issue since I had dirt issues with the CD player that kept it from opening when I first got it. been putting off cleaning it thoroughly for far to long :P.

http://www.cnet.com/products/teac-nosta ... tem/specs/
Last edited by Fragems on Sat Mar 14, 2015 1:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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noiseredux
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by noiseredux »

Jensen sucks.
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Fragems
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Re: Looking for a decent cassette player (no, really)

Post by Fragems »

noiseredux wrote:Jensen sucks.
Yeah pretty much all the portable stuff that was still in production and supplied to amazon looked like half assed radio players most of which had cheap MP3 converters tossed in.
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