Which audio manufacturer would be most receptive to a petition to develop a hi-fi cassette deck?

I would but i can't post etc im too ill id gladly sell most of it for these speakers, ad to that i trust no plucker on ebay or the postal service lad...i just shit a brick looking at your gear, nice my friend

 

Wait till you get better, then you can work towards the Monitor Audio.

 

Sorry SantiOriginal looks like we hijacked your thread, I'll get back on topic.

 

it will never get better Toocool its life long illnesses , they are gradually getting worse each year, such is life bro

i will steal the speakers lol.....all i need to do is save, i have never seen anyone post these speakers anyway, ahh well we can only dream bro

back on topic now gents, use a free format don't be daft lol

 

Sorry to hear about your illness.

 

The main illness i have is that i love good hifi lol, cheers my friend

 

We had a discussion about such a similar theme in the old forum.
When I did some trips in foreign countries a while ago, I found out that a lot of new cassette decks sold there and most of them were produced in china. Most of them are exported to Africa and india. Here are a lot of countries using still cassette tapes, they are not able to use cd's in desert areas there is too much dust there to keep the drive in a clean state. Also you can buy cassette boomboxes incusive mp3 player units. The trade structure is still full of old and new cassettes. Nevertheless this is no proof to find a manufacturer for new high quality cassettedecks.
Regards
Hans

 

Nevertheless I doubt it seems to be difficult to find a factory which is able or willing to produce a new unit with a "high fi" standard for a reasonable price.

 

High hifi standard would impose using best parts and as you can probably make today almost every part, there is a problem with heads. Just no one makes them to the quality that would be considered even mid hifi.
If there are no knowledge written somewhere then remaking heads would cost millions of US$. I don't see anyone interested.

I don't know if reverse engineering would be possible, maybe that would make it cheaper.

 

Many of the parts, including the heads will need to be custom-made parts to be of high quality. From my point of view, it is simple: if there is a market for it (significant enough), companies will make a product. If not, they just won't bother.
Although I do agree with the fact that market has grown (as @Mister X mentioned), in reality it's far from being a consumer market at all. Cassettes are a very niche market if we look at the overall picture and not that many will actually buy a new deck.

I propose we imagine the following: I design and make a high-end deck with all the features: Dolby B-C NR, Dolby HX Pro, calibration for individual tapes, 3 heads, dual capstan, etc. I would sell it for $3000. How many of you would actually buy such and deck and why ?
The $3000 is based on the assumption that not many units will sell, so price/device will have to be higher. Back in the day, companies used to sell tens of thousands of such devices (possibly more), now a couple of thousands will be very good (hundreds will be more realistic though).
Of course we have to keep in mind the alternative: there are vintage decks that have most of the mentioned features (apart from dual capstan) and are a fraction of the cost I mentioned. Even if we add a professional service to them, the price is still a fraction. So why would I or anyone else prefer the new one ?

This will not happen in a void. The reasonable price can only come from volume (many units produced, like tens of thousands). Nodoby can produce high end at reasonable price if they are only going to sell 50-100 pcs.
That's because the design and prototyping are the most expensive part and for that to become cheap, device must be produced in volume.

 

I mourned the end of the huge cassette revolution But I accept that we've moved on - For me a decent turntable & cassette deck, the magic is still there for me as is making new cassettes up from home compiled CD's on my Technics 3 header.......A new chrome cassette loaded to record from CD or turntable still & always will hold what I love about cassette decks & always have........