The cheapest, simplest & most popular cassette player mechanism

[@Max16032]

I'm still amazed how we are in a huge cassette revival yet we have the worst options in cassette-playing devices when it comes to brand-new stuff. But not all hope is lost: Vinyl struggled for quite a few years until we finally got decent non-crosley turntables at an affordable price. I really hope we see something like that for the tape world.

[@vwestlife]

It's not exactly huge compared to the vinyl revival. And with vinyl it took about 4 to 5 years of steady growth before good new affordable turntables started being introduced.

[@sabs1970]

Yeah top HiFi manufacturers just don't seem to be into Making New high quality cassette tape decks maybe they feel this current tend will Not last I think they could be right They be better to re-manufacture high end Quality CD players Not like the crap ! Sold by richer sounds in UK my CD needs are keep going with still very good used market 'Marantz CD players CD 42' 52 ' 62 or CD72 which all run classic reliable cdm4 laser mechanism they still hold great resale value now 30 + years old

[@whogavehimafork]

Personally I do see cassettes catching on again. People are beginning to realize what they risk losing by forfeiting physical media.

[@CatOnVenus183]

@@whogavehimafork I don't want them to catch on, not everything needs a big revival and a market behind it. The format right now is primarily used by indie artists and is a great way to shine a spotlight on them and it would suck to see them drowned out by big artists who view it as a novelty. New better machines would be nice, but there's plenty of old ones to fix still so just do that instead.

[@synthesighs]

@@CatOnVenus183 "a great way to shine a spotlight on them" what does that even mean? Literally no one is using cassettes for exposure or attention. Releasing cassettes is a way to be a part of a tiny, fragmented community of history nerds who are clinging on to the crumbling ruins of a fading technology as it slowly, surely slips through their fingers. Cassettes are worth more than that, and trying to beat this tech back into history for the sake of manufactured exclusivity is actively destructive to this culture. I want cassettes because of what they do. They hold music, and I want music from artists that I like. Artists that I like are incentivized to release music on this format if they know real people will be ABLE to listen to them. The idea that cassette will be a completely inaccessible format within my lifetime is a genuine possibility if there is no "big revival", and I dread it because I actually care about what they are. Your cynicism over "big" artists using tape for "novelty" in the same breath that you try to gatekeep a recording format to certain artists or genres, or to cassette deck technicians, is openly outrageous hypocritical hipster nonsense. Take a step back once

[@error52]

My mom's car when I was little had a stereo with that same mechanism in it. The radio played OK, but the cassette never worked while we had the car. When we decided to finally scrap the old pile of rust I pulled the stereo out and managed to get it going. I was surprised at how good it performed. Sadly the car was long gone by then. I still have the stereo, though, in my collection.

[@MasticinaAkicta]

Car stereos hate bumpy movements. It would bump the flywheel and would play havock on the belts.

[@VochoTalacha]

I laughed when he tested the RCA input feature. The pun was totally intended with the song played from the walkman: "it's the same, but if you're willing to play the game..." hahahaha

[@FernieCanto]

The song he plays after that must be intentional too: "I know it's worth it, I know it's worth it..."

[@vwestlife]

The Carly Simon is simply what happened to be playing on the radio at the time. I had no control over it. The lyrics of the L.A. Gear song didn't stand out to me until I heard it again when putting the video together.

[@dannymcgrath4640]

@@vwestlife who sings the song in the tape

[@vwestlife]

@@dannymcgrath4640 Which one?

[@mertanov]

@@vwestlife min 07:00 please, thank you ;)

[@Aeduo]

Honestly, considering some of the new clunkers techmoan has gotten, this probably is one of the best sounding ones. the operation reminds me a lot of an 8-track. Many of those were dumb simple, just turns on and plays from the tape being shoved in and shuts off when the tape ejects.

[@Kalvinjj]

Kinda made for the task of being a car player, funny that this specific one is among the most popular for home machines, but I can see why it would be popular in car decks back in the day for the exact reasons you state.

[@kylereese5869]

I feel like if the 8 track made it into the 90s I am pretty sure the mechanism would have been bastardized as well.

[@UnderEu]

Doesn’t sound bad, to be honest... And the obligatory “Radio Gets Results” jingle is missing but I’m pleased with the Oldsmobile one, too.

[@infinitecanadian]

The song turned me into an Oldsmobile fan. So sad that they are no longer being made.

[@DrCassette]

The direct hookup sounds surprisingly good, aside from the wobbly flywheel that mechanism technically is quite acceptable. Still I wouldn't want to use something like this because of the lack of user comfort. No rewind function and relatively slow fast forward would be a constant annoyance for me.

[@dualityk]

I had an Audiovox car radio with this unit in it in the late 90s (which means it was probably an actual Tanashin) in my first car, a Mk1 Rabbit. Other than the punishment of having to look at its cheap face and its mile long single control button, it didn't actually sound that bad. I'm not surprised it made an acceptable performance here. However, I used to skip songs a lot, and the lack of a second spindle meant the tapes would tension unevenly after a few plays and would start to sound ... "interesting" until they were run end to end to retension them. It later got replaced with the last of the good Panasonic full logic decks, with power load/eject, multiple song skip, silence skip, and some sweet purple VU meters. Sadly, information and photos of that one have been lost to the digital black hole that consumed almost all low-end mainstream consumer products from the early-mid 90s to the early 2000s.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

For my ears it didn't sound too bad. Kinda surprised it has a stereo head.

[@ccadam]

Some of those cheap mechanisms in the cheapest of car radio/cassette players only had a mono head. The radio was horrible at differentiating stations too. The one that I put in my Dad's truck had horrible wow and flutter plus muddy sound too. I swapped it out for another one. Those were the days when tapes were still the thing and car radio cassette players were common everywhere especially Auto wreckers and not that dear new either especially for the cheap models.

[@danielalejandroespinahenri7063]

Actually sounds really good in comparison with some of those similar cassette players recently featured by techmoan. I wonder if it offers better wow & flutter than some others

[@KevinFields777]

I'd trade off pretty much ALL features if you could get a cassette player that sounds that good for $10-$30!

[@analogidc1394]

Agreed, for a cheap unit it didn't sound too bad on this end.

[@ZhiroMinoda]

was thinking exactly this. Techmoans tanashin showings have sounded terrible so far. these mechanisms might have been somewhat tuned up

[@andygozzo72]

probably has, i have 2 'fake vintage' radios with these sort of mechanisms but theyre awful and screw tapes up after a few plays, they were made in the early 90s so 'maybe' theyve since improved them....a little!

[@bobby666666]

I agree on the line inputs it sounded quite decent.

[@fsfs555]

Is this mech the worst thing ever? Eh, not necessarily; there's worse stuff, especially things spec'd down with mono heads or cheaper motors (those that don't even try to copy good name-brand motors).. Is it something you'd actually want to use? Not really, no. They're using a CW motor here mostly to have a more compact mechanism: notice the motor is on the same plane as the bulk of the mech, not hanging from the other side as with CCW motors used in larger home or boombox-style models. This really helps get these mechs into tight spaces and is a pretty common tactic for other compact mechs (especially automotive types).

[@NanoBurger]

6:46 Industry professionals agree that two-thirds of cheap tape mechanisms should never have taken place.

[@ConsumerDV]

Faux-1930s cabinets are to adjust the expectations of a customer. If this machine looked like, oh, let's say, TEAC W-1200, then the customer would expect its performance to match the looks: to have wide and flat frequency response, low noise, low wow & flutter, noise reduction, and all other goodies like song search, programmable playlist, auto-calibration, etc. But a machine that looks like it came from 1930s telegraphs, "I am just a crappy sound box from the era when talkies were invented, do not expect much of me". Smart on the manufacturer, but so sad.

[@eDoc2020]

The funny thing is old-school radios actually tend to sound much better than the general public expects.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

@@eDoc2020 Yes, the bass response especially is usually very good from the larger speakers with slightly heavier cones

[@AaronOfMpls]

@@eDoc2020 Indeed, I have a 50s tube radio that belonged to my grandparents. Other than a slight hum from aging components, it sounds pretty good for a mono AM/FM radio.

[@audvidgeek]

@@eDoc2020 YES! it's amazing how nice a cheap "all American five" radio sounds and pulls in stations, compared to a modern AM radio!

[@rexjolles]

@@eDoc2020 yeah I got a shitass Arvin am radio from the 50's (there's hardly any am music stations anymore) but the news and the Spanish music come in very well

[@ACBMemphis]

Hopefully, GM had the decency to put a cassette deck with rewind in that Oldsmobile...

[@VectraQS]

They used the same unit in the vast majority of their cars, I think it had auto reverse, and three buttons (play backwards, stop/eject, play forwards). Not sure how you activated rewind/fast-forward because I've never seen one of those decks that actually still worked.

[@peacearchwa5103]

Car manufacturers took great care to design their factory-equipment cassette decks to withstand the punishing range of temperature, humidity, dust and pollution of the car environment, including times when the car is not in use and the cassette deck faces below-freezing temperatures or very high humidity.

[@audvidgeek]

@@VectraQS My father had one in his Chevy van If you pressed the volume button in, it would reverse the mechanism to play the bottom side of the tape. the >> button was FFWD for the top side, and REW for the bottom side. The

[@sunbeam8866]

Years ago, an elderly friend had a Delco stereo, with a three-button cassette deck in his '86 Cutlass Ciera. He was having problems playing tapes and asked me to check it out. The cassette transport was actually made in Japan by Matsushita - popularly known here as Panasonic!

[@ziyaadjamil2324]

@@VectraQSthat same cassette deck you mentioned might have been used in Opels

[@F40PH-2CAT]

That FF only mechanism reminds me of the cheap drug store walkmans in the 80s and 90s (Yorx, GPX, Unisef, Soundesign, Emerson).

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Even those sounded better than the modern equivalent though. I had a 'Bush' model and barely noticed the difference when I changed to a cheap Sony model.

[@collectingonthecheap56353]

My 80s GPX had rewind and fast forward, although I did opt to pay the $5 more for it.

[@polaris911]

would be interesting to hear a side-by-side comparison of the line output vs. a proper tape deck

[@ChristianKoehler77]

The simple fast forward (just pull head and pinch roller away from the tape) was also used in many cheap personal stereos in the 80s. These did not have rewind as well.

[@markianclark9645]

Bit late to this video...but I smiled when you mentioned cheap personal stereos...pocket cassette players or Walkman ripoffs...no rewind...my first one was so cheap and nasty it didn't even have a freewheeling 6 notch tape engage...it only had a solid plastic post...but I didn't keep it long...obviously

[@patricknedz]

My old car had a nice cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction and would play chrome and metal tapes Chrystal clear, auto reverse and digital controls.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

There were a lot of very good cassette decks for cars in the past, as it was the only real option for a long time. Everyone loved the Alpine stereos with pale green lights back then.

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

Not bad on the tape player I never thought this would sound good

[@emancaindec9731]

yeah. its surprisingly good!

[@snugglebunnyhaven7258]

When I was little those mechanisms were fascinating to me. I had my share of cassette recorders, decks and players. I also had some cheaper car stereos I setup for my own personal use. The old Kraco am fm cassette car stereos actually had an all metal tape mechanism with brass motor pulley and the flywheel was all aluminum. Also had a secondary V belt to drive the takeup/ffwd instead of all gears. I have seen some with flat belts. Always drives me crazy when I see those V belt mechanisms with the belts twisted. I'd always put them back on track in line from V to V.

[@GalileoAV]

1:41 My grandmother used to own that Victrola record player, the tape player is exactly as you described. Was very surprised to see something I randomly know about get covered here lmao

[@MacPhantom]

I really had to laugh at "Mabucai"! That said, it does sound better than other knockoffs with more features, possibly because it has a bit of metal in the flywheel. It's still not good of course (you mentioned the untrue behaviour of it).

[@TechGorilla1987]

You have earned the next 17 minutes of my time.

[@bricethompson1922]

He always does

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@bricethompson1922 Sad though to learn how crappy these things have gotten.

[@Kalvinjj]

To begin with it already starts above expectations from being stereo, and to top it off, no bizarre high wow and flutter that you can perceive on music you're hearing for the 1st time, so definitely a winner.

[@fluis943]

This is great! I'm restoring a 86 camry. I have been looking for replacement parts for the cassette player. Hopefully I can get the parts I need to fix it using one of these.

[@billp7748]

“Something that approximates music”! Lol! Great video again Kevin!

[@guessundheit6494]

0:25 - And 1980s alarm clocks. It ate a tape immediately and I never used it again. 15:55 - How about a walkman sized box with RCA in/out but without those crap speakers?

[@SenileOtaku]

I am curious what sort of mechanism my Ion portable cassette player uses. I recently picked up a Kenwood KX-620 at a house sale, but unfortunately it just plays static, even without a cassette in it, so it's in need of some repair (can't do that right now). I've also been trying to get a *working* 8-track player to have a way to digitize those tapes as well (my reel-to-reel decks are dead now too).

[@dashcamandy2242]

5:25 - My '94 Cavalier didn't have "attack" seat belts, neither did Mom's '97... But my '95 Escort did. And in a matter of a month I replaced the seat belt track/motor combo twice before I manually cranked it into its proper position and unplugged the motor harness. 11:54 - Hey, I have that song on Cassingle! It includes an interesting alternate version that has a children's choir singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in the middle of the song. 16:10 - **bobbing head** "Duck Tales, whoo-ooo..." Wait, that's not the song! I don't know if you noticed this while filming, but the rear end of the mech needs some support - it wiggles noticeably every time you insert a tape or operate the FF/Eject rod.

[@TheBasementChannel]

The key change in the Oldsmobile song got me right in the feels

[@ozmond]

I honestly really like the way this is designed id use one as a cheap noise maker in a shed or barn with a stack of old cassettes from good will

[@OfficialDeVinyl]

What’s the sample at 7:01 cant find any trace of it online and it sounds awesome!

[@jamesslick4790]

"Mahogany Monsters" is a good name for a band.

[@kbhasi]

Your comment reminds me of how I once came across an Instructables tutorial titled along the lines of "Build a Birch and Mahogany Home Theatre PC", and I imagined a luxury brand called "Birch & Mahogany" as a result of misinterpreting the title.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@kbhasi Well, "Birch & Mahogany" DOES sound like a great name for a "high end" furniture store! 👍😊👍

[@crash_test_dummy_1]

"There is a special feel" LoL I have one of those Oldsmobile tapes too. Makes for good comparison when I play it on one of my decks. Thanks for playing the whole jingle!

[@SenileOtaku]

I like the old Plymouth Baracuda radio ad better (look up "BaBaRaRaKuKuDaDa")

[@clarencehoover6748]

The Pyle sound is reminiscent of dropping an AM transistor radio into an actively flushing toilet.

[@Fidelis94]

7:00 name of the song? Thanks ;)

[@vwestlife]

I don't know, but probably something like "Give My Love to California"?

[@Fidelis94]

@@vwestlife yeah cause I tried to search the lyrics on google but couldn't find anything. I heard the song on one of your other videos and I really like it 😁. Could you upload the full thing or is it copyrighted?

[@randybutcher5713]

There was a special feel in my fathers '77 oldsmobile cuz we had one of these cassette players mounted under the dash! Good times.

[@Walkercolt1]

The "wood" Crosley "all-in-ones" tape player I checked had a "frequency response" of about 70-9000 Hz +/- 6 dB, horrible tape path (doesn't keep tape in full contact with the head), and FAR MORE wow and flutter than I could tolerate for more than 30 seconds. I used the USB out to sample the FR, and it isn't "spec" USB, the output is 12-15 dB BELOW USB's Blackbook. I'm STILL using my 1978 Pioneer CTF-900 Compact Cassette deck. I have a Nak "Dragon", but the heads have a "thirty second" life and are now $1500-1600 a pair. A NOS Pioneer TAPE PATH factory aligned, (all three heads, 8-10 screw replacement) is STILL less than $150 US DELIVERED!!!

[@CRT_Gaming_2011]

0:45 You actually do get rewind, it’s just that you have to put in the tape on side B, fast forward it, take it out, and put it back in on side A.

[@TheVCRKing]

11:48 Are we just going to ignore the fact that it says "Mabucai" instead of Mabuchi?

[@pcallas66]

It sounds great through the line output and even the built in speakers are coming through just fine.

[@AnthonyLemma24]

I used to have an all in one system but it had a front loading cassette deck. It was a fine system for what we used it for. I can see it being something for the garage or basement if you just want to play CD's, dollar records or just a regular radio. It's not the best sounding thing, but for a spare radio, not bad.

[@TheBuggyGal]

babe wake up new vwestlife upload

[@efficiencygaming3494]

Another great video! I've always been fascinated with this contemporary cassette player mechanism because it works fairly well for how oversimplified it is. It's fool-proof, too. Just put the cassette in and it starts playing immediately. Sure, you could make them a lot better, but I can understand why manufacturers go with this mechanism over anything else. It's honestly pretty cool.

[@danandkiko]

My dad helped me build a small car system that I used in my room. It was just 2 cheap 6x9 speakers with a Realistic car cassette player running off a car battery. It wasn't much, but I'll always remember loving using it.

[@brianandrews7099]

I still don’t understand why anyone would want to go back to cassette tapes, other than the occasional “trip down memory lane”. If I had all the time I spent in my youth (1980s) waiting for cassettes to FF or Rewind to get to songs I wanted to hear added back to the end of my life, I would probably live a month or two longer! I am sure, like everything else, these tape players come from the factory with absolute minimal fine adjusting and lubrication, so their less then stellar performance only gets worse over time, use, and wear. Like most other low to medium cost consumer machines, I am sure that a majority of them that go to the landfill because of “tape eating” and play speed issues could easily be brought back to life with a good cleaning, oiling, and general service. Interesting video!

[@certifiedbruh2180]

This player is already making people view cassettes as pointless. A while back, some bloke did a video where he played a cassette on this player, heard it skip around and then determined that the cassette comeback is pointless.

[@santioriginal]

With all the research you've done and your network of people you know with specific - almost lost - knowledge, I think you have the right ingredients to develop the right cassette deck. Teac would do well to approach you as an advisor!

[@wotizit2937]

I concur.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

Teac actually make one of those all-in-ones themselves. Same crappy record player, but the tape deck is up on top with the turntable and has full transport controls. With just a bit more effort (it's not like there's a shortage of better record player mechanisms out there, Teac probably make some themselves!) you could have an all-in-one that's actually worth getting!

[@8bitter696]

What’s the song at 7:01

[@domlimited1264]

the line out on the player has a good amount of treble and bass I'd even buy something like that

[@Markimark151]

Those cassette mechanisms are quite fine with these all-in-one retro audio systems. There was also a mini jukebox cassette player that used that mechanism.

[@mxbunnycatter]

I'm positively impressed by it. I always assumed that these things would sound horrible, because of the corners cut; but it's kind of neat. Also; I really love these promotional car cassette tapes

[@jackschissler255]

My 1990 Pontiac Sunbird came with a Pontiac cassette. It had the “Get on your Pontiac and ride” gingle that they used in the commercials plus it explains some of the features of the car. I always love how the GM Delco electronic tape decks from the 80’s had you insert the tape head first in.

[@phyein4815]

My life is now complete, hearing that Oldsmobile complimentary jingle

[@BessieBopOrBach]

Another testament to the incredible resilience and performance of the humble cassette "cartridge." That Realistic hand rewinder was a wonderful blast from the past -- I wondered whether I would ever see one of those again!

[@andygozzo72]

i picked up a tandy/realistic battery powered rewinder a few years back 😉

[@manFromPeterborough]

@@andygozzo72 I have 2 of those, they need belts

[@manFromPeterborough]

had one in 83, I messed it up a bit with engine oil, don't have it anymore, may have been sold in a Trash & Treasure car boot sale many years back

[@paulb4uk]

1 person used one of these wood monsterse to do a video on cassettes on KZbin then declared cassettes sound terrible ,needless to say his video has more dislikes. Than likes. These things are terrible.

[@Rebel9668]

Well, they aren't bad if that's the kind of system you're after, but there are much better options out there if you don't mind something used. I had that style in my first aftermarket car radio...a Sparkomatic I replaced the AM radio with in a 1970 Chevy Nova, LOL!

[@dannydougin3925]

Who is the artist at the 7:02 mark?

[@RegebroRepairs]

7:00 So it's stereo. With the typical standard of cheap retro mechanisms, already that is impressive. Sound quality seems OK. 11:49 That's a genuine MabucAi, motor, though. ;-) Trademarks? Pfah!

[@nickwallette6201]

Correct ... MabucAi. :-) Totally legit.

[@mauritsvw]

Even more popular than those manual cassette rewinders was of course the Bic pen.

[@SenileOtaku]

I used to have that exact Radio Shack rewinder. Don't know if I lost it in our house fire.

[@danielkalilalvesdonascimen3113]

At 11:27 you can literaly see that is a false Mabuchi motor because instead they write "Mabuchi" in the paper, they wrote "Mabucai"

[@circuitblog01]

First of all great video as usual, and in fact, this video took me back to the nineties when car tape player containing this mechanic were very common, and the selling price was from 6 dollars to 9 dollars according to the features. I have some notes on some of the information that you mentioned and I will discuss it in an upcoming video on my channel.

[@MartenvanKammenVisser]

Here in Spain, Germany and the UK these kind of cassette players are used in brands as Crosley, AUNA, etc. Brands that offer good quality for a reasonable price. I really like your channel. Keep it going... Seeing the motor used in the cassette player, they come from Skywin, as you clearly told in your video that the same motors are used in record players coming from China. I have an AUNA all-in-one stereo system with DAB+ which sounds great, no problem. Including the double cassette deck is fine (sometimes the internet router disturbs on playing the tapes, because it's really close). The Skywin record player is good enough, though it sounds a bit "light", but what do you want? Can't have it all perfect.

[@davidjerman5368]

Can someone please tell me the name of that california song at 7:01 tanx

[@JohnAudioTech]

The MABUCAI part (note spelling and similar logo to MABUCHI) is a common trick some Chinese companies use to trick people into thinking they are buying an authentic part.

[@SianaGearz]

The logo is identical and the spelling is... well i have a pair of in-ears, actually pretty good ones, from a Chinese company which actually takes acoustic engineering seriously, where they misspelled "Dynamic" as "Dyuamic" on the shell (they fixed that in later revisions) and the QA tag has "Inspestion" on it instead of "Inspection" (still does, and that across several nominally unrelated brands, though sharing the same group of suppliers and packaging facility). You might not think so, but for people less familiar with the script, getting the right letters together is HARD, and single letter substitutions are usually not intentional! Like they aren't about to have any consequences from selling a counterfeit Mabuchi branded motor, and if there were any, they aren't going to get avoided by misspelling, it's just incompetence is all.

[@audvidgeek]

This was the common mechanism sold in low-end car stereos, like Sparkomatic, Kraco, etc. I remember seeing car radios for $29.95 at K-mart, and auto parts shops with that mechanism. Tanashen also made a fancier auto-reverse mechanism that found it's way into pretty much every mid-grade car stereo with name-brands, from Alpine to Audiovox, Sony, JVC, Pioneer, etc and even in come factory decks, like Honda's. It's easy to tell it by the button arrangement. Eject on the left, and a pair of fast-wind buttons on the right, of the tape opening, that when you push them together, the deck reverses. By the early 90's it was almost impossible to find a car stereo deck that did NOT have a Tanashen mechanism in it!

[@mephitusincognito7918]

this thing sounds surprisingly good with the direct hookup.... now if they would just make a box like this without the speakers, just the tape and line out, we might have a winner of a product... ...i seriously did not expect that to sound so good...

[@Polysixchick]

I love your random tape collection.... wait? "Oldsmobile Cavalier"? we had a Vauxhall Cavalier here in the UK, is it the same car?

[@vwestlife]

Chevrolet Cavalier. It was based on the same platform as the European Cavalier, but the styling, engines, and interior are different.

[@oddjob05]

What is the song at 13:30 ? Is that CKY?

[@Outlawstar0198]

I think it is but I wish the uploader would let us know!!

[@milfordcivic6755]

Pyle is a pretty good name for anything they make.

[@ronniebrookfield9247]

0:30 do you have a link or anything to the cassette played here?

[@eselmartillo118]

it's a modern version of glenn miller and his orchestra "in the mood"

[@solinus7131]

Song at 7:00 ?

[@ValuedTeamMember]

The "Oldsmobile" tape was worth the price of admission right there Thank you. p.s. That muZak makes me feel really weird inside. Just saying

[@DougMcDave]

I hate how badly they treat cassette, now. They are so dismissive with the idea that tapes suck, so do not bother trying to make them decent, anymore. I have old high school, college and Army band recordings I want to digitize. I had recorded them with Dolby, often using CrO2 tapes with very good results. I just bought a JVC TD-s309, from a Habitat for Humanity, Re-store for $80. It still works well, and has Dolby B and C, plus HX pro. I just ordered a RCA audio to USB converter. I had my eye on those new $500 decks, but that JVC was a real find!

[@couldntmixapotnoodle]

That's quite neat. It's really tidy in that thing. If somebody made quality ones I'd buy one.

[@ticn]

this is actually quality for the price and performance

[@zuffin1864]

Vwestlife, i don't know if you intend to have some amazing dry humor, but i started cracking up when you placed the "Oldsmobile" card down at 4:05 🤣

[@youngstarsmusic]

What is the music at 7:23 min.? I love it, and I need to find it! Please!

[@TheSpawacz]

Isabella's Dream

[@youngstarsmusic]

@@TheSpawacz dzięki

[@dowjones5981]

The one song that says "I know its worth it, I get a sweet satisfaction" Thanks!

[@vincentliew9763]

Reminds me of old bed headboard which has a cassette player, crappy but good old days.

[@blakemcnamara9105]

That is the most sleazy thing I've ever heard. 😂

[@johnstone7697]

Given that wobbly "flywheel", it suggests really loose quality control standards in this mechanism. It would be interesting to know the actual specifications for the transport, e.g., at what wow and flutter limit does the transport get rejected? I'd lay odds, it's high.....really high. And even if one sample doesn't sound "terrible" it doesn't mean the next one won't. The lack of a supply hub doesn't help matters, as this means the tape is being dragged through the shell with the additional friction from the unsupported supply reel. Anyone of us who experienced the rise of the cassette format from the early portables (I had one of the very first Philips recorders), through the era of metal tape, HX Pro, Dolby B, C, S, etc. can only look at this piece of junk and sigh. Once digital audio displaced these mechanical formats, it seems that the knowledge and manufacturing expertise required for making a quality mechanical tape transport was lost for good. After listening almost exclusively to digital files for years now, I can't tolerate wow and flutter at just about any level above about .1% I even hear it on decent quality turntables, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of what I hear comes right from the original master tape.

[@andygozzo72]

the missing feed spindle wont make much difference, if at all, its the take up tension thats important, if thats unstable and varying, it will sound horrid

[@p0k314COM]

What "quality control"?

[@infinitecanadian]

What song is that with the lyrics 'Sweet Satisfaction'? Even my iPad couldn't recognize it.

[@vwestlife]

It's from an L.A. Gear aerobics tape. The song indeed is called "Sweet Satisfaction".

[@infinitecanadian]

@@vwestlife Playlisted; thank you!

[@rodrigotudancafernandez17]

7:00 what's that song?

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

I love how when you put the tape in at the beginning, we heard “In the Mood.” I also have a cassette that opens with that piece.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I honestly thought this would be 100% junk, but I'm surprised it sounds 1/2 decent via the line out.

[@waukee321]

Thanks for the post. Reminds me of the golden era of the cassette deck, the 1980s. That was the era when home units offered the best quality money could buy for recording and playing your cassettes. Home unit sets offered 3 motor transport design, motorized automatic tape head engagement, multiple noise reduction systems like Dolby B, C, S, HX pro and the special encoded dbx circuitry. Some units even had glass heads, closed loop capstans, fancy auto-reverse. I think with this revival though another factor was forgotten and that is the maintenance and cleaning that is absolutely necessary when playing cassettes, and demagnetizing the heads. It is important then for the deck to allow ease of access to the heads and capstan, and pinch roller to clean them as tape oxides build up on them creating high risks of tapes being eaten and lower sound quality output. This type of mechanism shown is difficult to access the heads and the pinch roller/capstan as they are recessed deep inside the unit. Cassette cleaning tapes that were marketed never really cleaned them adequately enough. As you mentioned it's funny this unjt only has a play and fast forward mechanism which is actually similar to the 8 track which only traveled in a forward play direction and some offered fast forward as well (no rewind)

[@Peter_Yachymczyk]

Neat never knew what the internals of that infamous deck looked like! Can you do a video on the CD part? Mine looks like a cluster of Chinese eBay modules just wired together in a big monstrosity of a box! I was given an ElectroBrand 5 in one (Radio/CD/Cassette/Phono/Aux) and it has the same cassette mechanism on the right side with the tell-tale AutoStop and the 4 screws. I like how easy the belt is to get at! I wish it was that easy for the higher end home decks as well point in I had a Sony TC-WR975 (one step behind their ES model at that time) and I tried (and failed) to change the belts I ended up with "extra" parts and it was totally no workie now not just the auto-reverse backwards play, I did love the motorized open/close button vs the standard mechanical eject button that most others have.

[@pouritenne8996]

does anyone know what's the melody that starts at 7:45?

[@joaoacast]

Thanks for the great review! My best regards from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

While I'm thinking about Oldsmobiles and cassettes, my mother's friend has a 1996 Oldsmobile Sierra, it was after they dropped the Cutlass nameplate. It actually has a decent cassette player in it, although surprisingly even though it has mechanically actuated rewind and fast forward it does have auto reverse with a spinning head, which I've always thought was a stupid way to do auto reverse in cars.

[@vwestlife]

Ciera, not Sierra -- that's a GMC Truck name. Although I wonder why GM chose two names which are spelled differently but are pronounced the same!

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@vwestlife blame dictation.

[@peacearchwa5103]

Featured in the legendary murder mystery film "Fargo"! Also known as Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. I recall William Shatner appeared in several TV commercials for the Cutlass Ciera with the tag line, "This is NOT your father's Oldsmobile".

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@peacearchwa5103 The funny thing is that in addition to my mother's friend owning a 96 model, my parents used to own an 88 model they got for $800.

[@richardbates2367]

I had a 85 Oldsmobile Cutlass supreme brougham practically loaded with options and it even just got the Delco gm am/fm Auto reverse etr cassette tape player.. not bad and most of the time the tape player worked and sounded fine, but the best feature that probably almost never had any issues was the fm stereo and the clock..

[@TOLUIA]

I love your videos, and I myself have gotten into collecting cassettes again.

[@olik136]

I am collecting since I bought a VW bus with a tape deck in it.. but I have a hard time finding good music on tape- the vast majority of stuff on ebay is children's plays or folk music... and if you try getting something popular like a David Bowie album... suddenly a stupid cassette is a 100 bugs...

[@richardbates2367]

@@olik136 try your luck with mecari they are almost always selling lots of country and rock, heavy metal cassette tapes and some look like they were hardly even touched..

[@uxwbill]

Does there actually exist an example of that Oldsmobile tape which hasn't been played to death? I'm starting to think not! (Of equally little importance...the voiceover talent on your Cavalier tape is identical to the one that came with the BBPOJ when it was new.) I'm honestly not a fan of those mechanisms and don't really trust them not to do something horrible to a tape. Silly? Unfounded? Maybe. It's not hard to do better, and I'd argue that it's well worth the effort to try. In addition to the wow and flutter, it sounded like the azimuth relationship between tape and playback head was wandering at times. I saw a video glitch at 12:29...

[@iRepairElectronics]

good god, to think the 80's was the high watermark for quality in cassette mechanisms . well late 70's too i suppose. no one is making any quality these days. ohh how i wish still had my JVC-DD99

[@noelj62]

Clockwise or counter CW is determined by the position of the motor in regards to the main flywheel. All those mechanisms that have CCW motor also have the motor bottom facing back. Regarding the amplifier, from the look of the U shaped heatsink, I think it's the trusty TEA2025 or UTC2025 that all chinese cheap boomboxes used in the 90s.

[@RealEpikCartfrenYT]

Yeah, the letter f in the model number of the motor EG-530AD-2F means front. If it was facing back then it would be an EG-530AD-2B

[@G.B...]

I expected Wow & Flutter measurements to be included in the video (Kevin usually does that with special software in his reviews). But of course that would be overkill for such a cheap device, plus we can easily guess what the results would be.

[@pastedtomato]

Sounds a lot better than expected, not bad at all.

[@reallizardperson5042]

what's the name of that tape you were playing at 16:04 that song is a banger thanks !

[@vwestlife]

It's an L.A. Gear tape. I uploaded it on my music channel.

[@reallizardperson5042]

@@vwestlife sweet thanks so muchh!

I am amazed to see that this mechanism is in my argentine Fiat Palio 1990´s that it still works really well!!! Cheers from frozen Patagonia.

[@hattree]

I think that's the first time I've seen one of those tape decks that worked. They are always the first component to go in those all in one systems.

[@I967]

If you told people in the 1980s that in the future, cassette decks will be downgraded to 8-track functionality, they would give you funny looks.

[@solinus7131]

They probably already have cassette players that have 8 track functionality (perhaps in cheaper cars)

[@750kv8]

Cheaper walkman tape decks did have only play and fast forward functions. Some car stereo decks had rewind function too, but they were still operated by a single button (slide left / right for rew / ff; push to eject). I think that one was great. It was nothing unusual.

[@xaenon]

@@750kv8 For a nunber of years, my 'car stereo' was the stock AM radio modded with a 1/8" stereo jack (wired for mono) that I connected my walkmans to. Had a simple AM/FM Walkman, replaced it with an AM/FM-cassette. I sold the car before I got my CD walkman, but it would have worked, too. Why? I worked a job that was located in a pretty shady section of town. A stock AM radio isn't worth prying out of the dash. People would see you had nothing they wanted and would move on.

[@enricoself2256]

That tape mechanism is the equivalent of the Stero-8 cartridge average car player. Just pop in the cassette and it plays; compared to stereo 8 there the is "fast" forward though ...

[@andygozzo72]

i have a 'house' 8 track player/recorder machine that has fast forward, speeds the motor up like the clappers, and has electric auto stop (bit hit and miss when on fast forward, though, play is ok 😁)

[@rizzlerazzleuno4733]

Love the manual tape rewinder. Never saw one of those. I just stuck a ballpoint pen on one side and twirled the cassette around like a kids noise maker. Loads of good exercise. Worked until the tape flew off the pen and sailed across the room or into the lake.

[@Hammer0165]

Bloody hell, that Oldsmobile tape brought me back to my first car. Bought it way too cheap, an old American car in Europe. It could only go wrong and it did. The engine blew up within a 1000 miles, despite the reputation of the old Buick 3.8 V6. But it had the cassette in the glove compartment and I listened to it. Never thought I'd hear it again. Rest in peace, 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera.