Boom boom boom, come back to my room....Cassette Archaeology!

From HiFi Review 1980

 

From the same issue, Metal Tapes were getting hot around that time. Digital, super expensive, two-speed decks? Maybe.......

 

Hey people are reading this thread! Close to 15,000 views. I'm starting to see many more YouTube Videos on simlar subjects, feel free to plug our forum YouTubers!

 

I found a newer cool Japanese Website mostly geared towards R2R tape but there's some great manufacturer historical information on here.
English https://sairyu--dou-com.translate.g...tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc&_x_tr_sch=http
Original https://sairyu-dou.com/manufacturerlink.html

 

3M Metafine IV and hall effect tape heads from 1977 Audio Magazine

 

So I found this interesting article on ARS Technica https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/06/elcaset-large-cassettes/ It's about Elcaset (cuz one of the members just posted his portable Elcaset Player).

Unfortunately, Elcaset's arrival in 1976 coincided with the year that sales of several other innovations took off. One of these was the chromium oxide (CrO2) cassette, which, while not quite matching the finesse of the Elcaset, did greatly improve cassette sound and could crucially be used in any existing cassette player. The CrO2 cassette cost 40 percent more than a normal tape, but for the audiophile or the discerning pop fan, there was now a premium recording-cassette that didn’t require a whole new deck. The leading tape manufacturer, Sansui, eventually started to make Elcaset tapes after Sony belatedly brought out a chrome tape of its own for the new decks. But this was already too late.

Was Sansui the leading tape manufacturer? I didn't know they made tape, if you asked me I'd say Maxell, TDK or Sony were the big ones. Anybody know or have you seen a Sansui Branded Cassette Tape?

 

Sounds a little scratchy to me????

 

Audio 1973