I received a BASF Reference Maxima TP II tape. Has anyone ever used this tape? Is it a good tape? Can you open the tape cassette? I can't see the location of the Nuts in all 4 corners. Any member who has used Feel free to share your experience. thank you very much
Yes I do have some in Type II and Type IV, I have not listened to the music on them lately but if I remember correctly the have very low noise. The shell are sonically welded to give the shell good rigidity, the only part that come off is the grey part which allows you to go in and fix the tape should it break.
thanks for the answer I have tried to listen It was recorded in a song by John Lennon. Presumably recorded from an original vinyl record. sound quality is very good The sound is very detailed
I have one of those TPII Reference Maxima, I won it at an auction together with a couple other BASFs at a very low price. Tony from cassettecomeback (Red Manor Records) says this is one of the best TYPE IIs ever made and I tend to agree. It's low noise, low distorsion and the MOL is relatively high from what I remember (I recorded it some time ago). Of course, the design of the shell is a beautiful aspect on its own.
If you listen, be sure to tell me how it sounds. May I ask, what brand of cassette player are you using?
While admiring the creative designs by Cassette manufactures, I pity on the manufactures of MP3 music and its packaging
What do you mean by "MP3 music manufacturers" and "MP3 music packaging" ? To me it doesn't really make sense, as mp3 is a digital format, not physical, so there is no packaging.
Its a sarcastic comment. In the 80's you had something to see, touch and admire while playing cassette tapes or vinyl discs or the ultimate - Reel to Reel tapes. Even the packaging of tapes and vinyl discs was a creative art. The invisible digital format has lost that charm. Download from internet and play over the bluetooth to earbuds, using voice commands!
@AE_Stereo Now I understand your point. I am on the same page with you in reagrd to the creative art behind the physical formats. It seems that the musical culture has shifted from the album era to a listen and forget culture, mostly driven by streaming services recommendation algorithms. According to Wikipedia, the album era has ended in the mid 2000s, so more than 15 years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album_era). However, even today there are alternatives like bandcamp (where many artists release physical format and albums) if one is open to artists different than the mainstream ones. There are even many mainstream artists that started to release in physical format as well. So, in my opinion, it really depends on how one consumes music: phyiscal format only makes sense if one is going to listen an album more than once or twice (same would be true if buying in digital format). If one wants to listen to something new every single time, ownership does not make sense and a subscription-based model would satisfy that need much more efficiently. From my observations, this second category represents a majority of people and that is why the culture itself has changed.