gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, Not quite dead, but well on the way. I suspect that there will always be some applications for tape. I still have a Harmon Kardon HK391. It is circa 1977. That was back before they went downhill. It has Dolby C, Metal and HX Pro. With a metal tape the S/N is really quite good. I bought a whole bunch of tapes before they got hard to find and keep them in a cool place. The sound is hard to tell from an analog recording. Slight effects of the Dolby systems are give aways. Slight changes to the leading and trailing edges of high frequency sounds, but IMHO better than many of the MP3s I've heard. BTW I use 320K MP3s and they sound better than the HK. Still 34 year old tech is still pretty amazing. One thing for sure if anything breaks I'm SOL.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18793 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I have a pretty good cassette deck. It's a Sony KA1ESA - Not real expensive and it has a bias adjustment so it can make a pretty good recording on decent tape media. I'm not talking about the CrO2/Fe/metal switch - I'm talking about a potentiometer to fine tune the bias. I use the deck mostly to record tapes for my Cutlass. I could have put a CD player in it, but I kinda wanted to keep it old school.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, The HK has bias adjust and a calibrated dolby tape to check it by. Also it allows matching of the gain independent of the level controls for adjusting for what ever type and brand of tape you are using. Several neat features, search, by track, counter number etc. Dual capstans.... At the time it was a high end deck. Right after I got it, the bias osc coil failed and I contacted HK in New York for assistance. The VP for engineering called me directly and made arrangements to get it fixed. It would be nice to have that kind of customer care now. The decks were individually calibrated and tested and I believe I still have the hand signed calibration sheet. Works perfect still.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18793 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
That's a good deck. I kind of like tape decks like that, actually. Good stuff.
And I hear you about the customer service. Seems like that has totally gone away in the larger companies. This generation seems to be fine with real bad service, as long as the price is low.
If you want support, you have to go to the niche markets where it's still a mom & pop operation. Quality still matters at that level because it's not just about lowest cost.
To the main question of this topic, I think it depends on what you consider "dead". Do you think VHS video tapes are dead? I'd imagine many people do, and I think cassettes are basically at the same level. I personally don't think VHS video tapes or cassette tapes are dead though. As others said, there are still some useful applications for tapes, and there will always be those who appreciate them for historical and nostalgic reasons.
Cassettes were really a convenience format. They weren't that great of a format sound-wise. I believe cassettes have been surpassed in every possible way. We shall never pass this way again.
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The decks were individually calibrated and tested and I believe I still have the hand signed calibration sheet. Works perfect still. 
