Slowakische Kassettensite mit allen Einlegern

[EZ647]

The update is complete. For 01/2025.
https://ez647.sk/update.html

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Thank you!

Actually I don't mind whether there is a visible grid on the pages or not - so I would just leave it like it is, saves a lot of work for you :-)

Memex - Another cheap cassette "brand" with a few missing letters from a more well-known brand (MemORex in this case). Kamichi is another one.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Kirunavaara:
Hi, thank you for the post.
The grid will probably be retained, judging by the reactions of the majority.

Memex is rubbish from the looks of it, but I had it as a bonus with my purchase

The Hitachi range is interesting, I already had the EX on the site, but now I see there is a difference in the booklet design, also a difference in the colour of the hubs.
It also doesn't match the popular vintagecassettes page at all, as the Hitachi series are extremely distant based on serial numbers.

Scotch Master I, do we know what tape they used? Micro ferrics, or with cobalt added?

Ampex 350 series, also an unknown tape, most Ampex is assembled in Mexico, but the Ampex 350 60 and 90min cassettes don't have the sticky syndrome yet, but the 20:20 series is very sticky.

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Hitachi - I am not sure whether these are older and newer versions, or different regions. White hubs for C-90 and 120 could mean these are late examples, because at some point in the early 80's Maxell ceased to make the blue and green hubs.

Ampex 350 is old enough to not be sticky :-) The formula is just too basic. I think 358, 360 (Extended Frequency), 361, 362 (High Frequency) and 370 are safe, too. The sticky Ampex cassette tapes start with the 20/20 and then affects almost all: Grand Master, Professional, EDR, but also entry level tapes like Plus Series and ELN. Then came 472 and 672 which are trouble-free again, probably because they didn't make the tape themselves any more...

I have no official info about the Scotch Master I tape, but the colour resembles a lot the later generations of Scotch High Energy, those that didn't carry the Cobalt Energized logo any more, so I guess they are free from cobalt and use the refined Pizer oxide, like Agfa SFD, BASF LH super, Ampex 20/20, Memorex MRX2, Philips Super Quality and surely more of the 70's superferrics with that typical shade of brown.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Thank you Martin.
The Hitachi EX on the first booklet contains the length in meters, on the newer meter also the foot.
So it's possible, but also the serial number between the two cassettes is on the booklet for the first one and on the shell for the second one.
The Hitachi UD I have two versions where vintagecassettes says the first version 1981-87 and the second 1988, which is very late. I know it's not accurate, after such a long time of without updating, but that period of error is enormous.
https://ez647.sk/cc/hitachi_ud.html#83
http://vintagecassettes.com/hitachi/hitachi.htm

Regards EZ

[Marsilio]

Great job as always, EZ.

With the Scotch Master I you seem to have got a bad copy. Mine here still perform remarkably well for their age. The noise is relatively high, but apart from that these are really good tapes, even without cobalt enrichment.

LG
Manuel

[EZ647]

The sound is relatively good, but I don't trust their binder. I had similar problems with the Master II.

[EZ647]

Preparing for the 02/2025 update. I know it's already the third month, but I'm not keeping up with anything.
I don't know if I can make it before the new batch comes in for the third month.
That's why I also apologize to everyone who has asked to post pictures of the tapes and booklets. It's not in my power and it's not likely to improve any time soon.

The pictures are broken down by package as they came to me.


I would need help identifying the ZAPAS cassette. I haven't found much information, but someone claims it's a new Japanese production, which I doubt quite a bit. But it looks like something like Thailand, Indonesia, etc.

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Hi! I'd place the Zapas to Indonesia. My example (C60) has hubs with Maxell arches design, but a holding pin instead of the usual clamp. I've seen this kind of hub in several prerecorded cassettes from Indonesia, but don't know who really made them. Maybe user Jctmirev on Tapeheads can help, he is more familiar with tapes from that region.

Neckermann in cardboard box is a nice catch! Probably Permaton cassette inside, but could also be Magna. We'll have the answer as soon as you have unpacked it :-)

The rarest thing there is maybe the 63 min CD-R. I know they existed, but when CD-Rs became regularly available, they were already 74 min all over the place, and soon 80. I could only grab one TDK Audio-CD-RXG 63. It would be interesting to perform a "cold burn" with overwrite, and see its actual capacity, because I wonder whether they really made 63 min CD-Rs with a physically wider groove, or if the time was only software limited by the ATIP coding.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Thank you,
I forgot to ask about the Neckermann tape. Mine is unwrapped, the label on the cassette is as on the Permaton 800/619 but I couldn't classify it correctly.

On the Zapas I got the answer, Made in Indonesia, but we don't know what year, and the country of origin on the back is taped over with a sticker.

The 63min CD-R is from TDK with the dark blue color. I really have no idea if they made two different stamper pressings, but I'm going to assume they did. It was probably common in the 90's, it's rare for us.
I'll have to find an older CD recorder so I don't record at more than 4x speed It looks identical to the old TDK CD-R Reflex with the dark blue dye, which worked fine at 4x speed on my old LG.

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Hi! The Permaton cassette in the Neckermann case should be correct. Mine looks exactly the same.

Zapas: It's the same with mine, a quite unremovable sticker from the import company covering the country of origin.

Ok, so at least the nominal capacity of the CD-R is limited to 63:52. What I meant with Cold burn was, you can try and simulate a burn without actually writing anything on the CD. If the sowftware and the drive allow for it, you can make a setting to ignore that nominal capacity and just continue burning/simulating until the physical end of the groove. The burning software Feurio was always good for this; you could save the max "overburn" capacity for each type of disc in its database. I don't know if Nero allows for that, too.

Maybe I should check whether my old desktop PC with Win 95 and the good CD-R drive still works. The more modern USB drives are too restrictive with such features, let alone trying to run the old Feurio software on a 2025 system...

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Yes, I used to do overburn tests on CD-R and CD-RW media, but it's really a problem to choose the right drive. Some don't support it, some show nonsensical values, and I've also encountered a situation where it was a simulation, but it real wrote to the disc. I haven't gone back to it since my LG collapsed, maybe in the future I could do it again sometime.
Years ago I got two huge sealed boxes full of optical drives from a collector. So far they are sealed because time is extremely short, but I believe I will get around to it one day and have something to do for the rest of my life
For some CD media, the overburn is listed in the table with the corresponding drive.
https://ez647.sk/samsung.html#c52p

[EZ647]

The old BenQ DW1620 seems to do the trick.

[Kirunavaara]

Oh, I should know by now that we are the same kind of nerds... I just had never studied the optical media section of your site in such detail. Of course, the overburn capacity is listed there, for those discs you have tested. Great!

And thanks for tseting the 63min CD-R. So it really holds less than 74 minutes, which means the groove is physically wider. Rare specimen.

Martin

[EZ647]

Yes
Back in 2003 when the audiocassette market dropped significantly in our town, I had to find a new hobby, which was CD and DVD blanks.
I never would have thought that in a short time the internet would come up with a supply of new old stock tapes

In a short time the idea of a media database written in excel, then in word with images and in 09/2009 it was put on the internet in the form of a website.
The first audiotapes arrived less than a year later in 08/2010 and the first videotapes in 02/2012.

I still want to ask about Neckermann, does the tape list Agfa PE 66, 68, or other?

EZ

[Kirunavaara]

The tape in the Neckermann could be quite anything. I have actually found two examples here, looking exactly the same on cardboard box, labels and shells, but they have different tape:

a) light brown, even lighter than contemporary (mid-70's) BASF LH, but more dull surface. I am completely unsure who made this tape; maybe Philips, they sometimes had a tape with this look in their Low Noise cassettes, but not always, so it could be a third company which both Philips and Permaton bought from.

b) dark brown, typical Agfa look. Could be PE 66 (Low Noise) or PE 68 (High Dynamic), these are hardly distinguishable visually, because their colour tended to vary between batches. We'd need to measure some parameters and hope the tape has aged well... but my guess is that they used the cheapest tape, PE 66, for such a budget product.

Both kinds of tape can be found in numerous Permaton and their OEM customers' cassettes, often mixed between cassettes where you received a handful of identically packaged ones, even from the same collection.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Kirunavaara:
Thank you, I'll probably list all the options there.

EZ

[EZ647]

The update for the previous month 02/2025 is ready.
https://ez647.sk/update.html

Lots of work with optical media, as well as many other issues caused the delay.

Again, apologies to all who have asked me to add my own images of the audiotapes and booklets to the site, time is the reason why this hasn't happened yet, but I may return to this in the distant future.

Please post errors in descriptions and proper html linking here.

Regards EZ

[Marsilio]

Strange - the SKC GX with the straps that are somewhat reminiscent of Fuji and the shiny screws seems to have a casing that could be from Samsung.

LG
Manuel

[Kirunavaara]

Thanks a lot! The Zapas cassette looks more interesting than what I would have expected through the packaging.

No obvious errors found... keep up the good work :-)

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Kirunavaara: Thanks!

Marsilio: Which ones exactly do you have in mind?

[Marsilio]

   

But maybe I'm wrong...

LG
Manuel

[EZ647]

As far as hubs design goes, it's SKM similar to Saehan, but at the same time quite different.

[EZ647]

Saehan for comparison

[EZ647]

Cassettes and media for 03/2025. Maybe I'll be able to get it up on the web by the end of the month, or maybe not

[EZ647]

Hi
The update has been released. (for the month of March)
https://ez647.sk/update.html
I added some more optical, rare, media that came in between.
Regards EZ

[EZ647]

Preparing for 04/2025 update. It will be on the web by the end of the month.
I don't know what the My Short cassettes are, Japanese Basf, or something else?

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Yes, these are madee by BASF Japan, the frequency graphs are the same as on BASF LH-X. Only the comparison to LH tape has been edited out. Homeros seems to be some Japanese in-house brand; they also had other cassettes which were not made by BASF:
https://www.45spaces.com/audio-compact-c...?a=homeros

The FUN tape should be from Indonesia.

Emgeton: These are interesting, do you know how much of the tape and mechanical components they made themselves, and what was imported? I have an older Emgeton with yellow/blue labels which is a quite obvious BASF LH, but later examples are different.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Kirunavaara:
Hi, thank you very much for your reply.
Now I don't remember the LH-X, what is the European alternative to this tape, the LH Super?

Basf FUN, yes Indonesia, but about two years newer than the two Basf designs from my previous updates.

Emgeton, now that's really complicated. Even though it's basically our Czechoslovak brand and manufacture, these cassettes are very scarce commodities. And very little is known about them.
But customers at that time hated them, they said the quality was the worst in the world. Although from today's point of view they are not worse than Chinese type 0, but not even better than the average ferro.
I think the components will be a mix of self made and imported from China.
Rumor has it that the production machines are coming from Basf in Germany. But the tape is with a dirty surface. Maybe they really made the tape themselves, but the cleaning tape typical green with pure chrom dioxide could have been bought.

Hubs were slightly different in each generation.

Some cases have the same logo as the Chinese cassettes.
"High Precision Cassette"
https://ez647.sk/cc/emgeton/b/emgeton_lh6089.jpg
https://ez647.sk/cc/rozne/b/ten10z.jpg
https://ez647.sk/cc/ten.html

Emgeton LN first generation 1977 yellow and blue cover
https://ez647.sk/cc/emgeton_ln.html
used full hubs
I can't find the cassette now to compare the tape with Basf and newer Emgeton
   


second generation 1980
https://ez647.sk/cc/emgeton_lh.html
uses hollow hubs grey in color, orange rollers, shell contains pins for SM mechanism like Basf
   

newer model LH ferro type I, first version 1985 is probably identical to LN 1980, only the shell surface has a different pattern
   
   
   
   
   
   

last generation LH to 1990 uses white shell with larger window, hubs are identical to Chinese cassettes.

Likewise the computer cassette , model OP
https://ez647.sk/cc/emgeton_lh.html
   

and the HC-1 cleaning cassette with classic green tape, 1986, the shell is identical to the LN 1980 type
https://ez647.sk/cc/emgeton_hc1.html

Emgeton was also a maker of rtr tapes

Then there are GZ cassettes, which are identical in design to the old Basf narrow window cassettes
GZ are a well known vinyls factory, but what about audio cassettes and what the connections to Emgeton and Basf are I don't know.
https://ez647.sk/cc/gz_cc.html
   

A large number of pre-recorded MCs in Czechoslovakia use this GZ design
cassettes have been criticized for the extremely heavy running mechanism
tape looks like Emgeton
all Emgeton and GZ are functional, but many pre-recorded MCs in the GZ design suffer from the classic scratching/whistling like the old Basf.
   
   

many more photos for the Emgeton LH C45
https://vintagehifi.sk/viewtopic.php?p=37516#p37516

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Hi!

LH-X is the same tape as LH extra I
PRO-I is the same tape as LH super I

Thanks a lot for the explanations about Emgeton. Seems to me like they copied the early shells from the BASF design, but made them on their own. The finish is quite different, and BASF never had such long codes of numbers and characters inside the cassettes.

The slip sheets inside your 1985 LH and in the prerecorded one with black hubs seem to be cut and folded exactly like 1980's BASF slip sheets - or did you exchange them?

The 1990 white LH has a Forward shell and case.

I also found the picture of my oldest Emgeton again:



The shell itself is original BASF. Not sure about the tape. And it seems to have been assembled outside BASF, because the splices between leader and magnetic tape are different.

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

So that was a shock to me, but I should have realised earlier that those white LH cassettes of the last generation are Forward, apparently they didn't want to make their own anymore so they bought the C0 from China, it makes sense. The design makes that clear.
So I'll have to correct this on the web, always new information, thank you !

I didn't change the foils in the prerecorded tapes, but I got them used. Over the years I have found various designs of these prerecorded narrow window cassette tapes.
But the interesting thing is that the prerecorded cassettes that were not of our manufacture were occasionally used by foreign cassettes like Raks, Maxell, all in that basic 70-80's design. And there are also many unknown manufacturers that I can't identify.

It's also interesting that the GZ includes screws, but the pre-loaded versions are screwless. They are held on two thick pins in the center of the cassette at the top and bottom.

I suppose there were some differences and combinations directly under the Emgeton brand as well.

Many years ago I read in some discussion on the internet how Emgeton was also supposed to make C120 cassettes, but they were mechanically so bad that they apparently never made it to actual sale, it's a living myth, never confirmed, and I
can't find that
post or the website to invite such a person who worked there to join the discussion.

Still on the pre-recorded MCs, I assume Emgeton ended after 1990, but GZ continued to produce MCs for maybe even longer than 2000.
They probably continued with transparent designs, so I assume this is our shell design:
https://ez647.sk/cc/orig_i/b/ml.jpg
and its successor
https://ez647.sk/cc/orig_i/b/nsklmal.jpg

Also, I haven't found this design anywhere other than in Czech and Slovak titles:
https://ez647.sk/cc/orig_i/b/a4.JPG

various used shells over the years from three publishers in Czechoslovakia:
https://vintagehifi.sk/viewtopic.php?t=2383
https://vintagehifi.sk/viewtopic.php?t=2437
https://vintagehifi.sk/viewtopic.php?t=2436

Still on my cassette pictures:
Polymer doesn't have a classic pillow, but a sponge
Basf FMI is the Agfa version.

Regards EZ

[EZ647]

04/2025 update is ready

https://ez647.sk/update.html



Regards EZ

[Bandwusler]

@EZ647

awesome site! congrats!

https://ez647.sk/cc/scotch_avx.html

I think, there are 3 versions of design. But i strongly suspect all versions are delievered long time before 1996. Because in those days my great uncle worked at studio and supplied me with these tapes already back in the middle 80s (with old style). I have found old recordings on the old design style from 1986 Bavarian top ten / hits of the week, and even earlier

this is, in my opinion the old style:
       

here is the new one style, so i think:
       

and then there was around 1987/1988(?) maybe a special edition according new style with a sponsoring logo of olympic games:
       

best regards

[EZ647]

Thank you.

There were a lot of those versions, like Quantegy.

[2245]

These Quantegy were the latest. Magnetic divisons from 3M and AMPEX were spun off/closed in 1995 and became Quantegy.

[EZ647]

An extraordinary update of audiotapes and media from a member of Tapeheads, for which I thank you very much !
I've been working on this for two weeks during my free time, but it's very challenging.
https://ez647.sk/update.html

[Kirunavaara]

Thank you for a nice surprise with an extra update! Never seen or herad about the Lithuanian Maksada cassettes before. They seem to come from the same assembly as the Acme from that country (which has nothing to do with the infamous Acme from Hong Kong).

The Ilford has a Magna shell, and the tape is likely to come from the same source (Zonal?) where Magna got most of their tapes from in the 80's. There is one particular kind of chrome, which at first sight looks like Agfa, but it is much more affected by aging. These can even get sticky. Agfa chrome was not that bad any more by the mid-80's; I think they had fixed the white powder issue in 1982 for their Stereochrom HD and Superchrom HDX. This Ilford came later, somewhere around 1984... 86.

For the BASF Sound Level II, could you point out what lead you to the conclusion that it was made in Indonesia? Just the missing code, or are there some specific details that I may have missed?

Regards
Martin

[EZ647]

Kirunavaara:
Thank you for the message,
I separated Acme in the table as it causes confusion.

Ilford so I will list, Made in Germany by Magna, Tape Zonal, or Tape Magna? Is there the typical white snow like on some Agfa cassettes, although the condition will probably be really different.

Basf, I think we wrote it somewhere that the new Basf cassettes without a number are from Indonesia, but of course I'll correct if otherwise.

Regards EZ

[Kirunavaara]

Hi, yes, the serial numbers were introduced late in Indonesia, around 1993. Nevertheless, there are the occasional cassettes from Germany, France, Brazil... with missing numbers, too. Therefore I asked whether you maybe managed to distinguish an Indonesian BASF from the others, without having a number.

For earlier cassettes from the 80's, this is actually possible, because you have these IM or BIM codes stamped into the inside of the shells (besides the capstan holes), and sometimes even on hubs, rollers and SM guides. But from the late 80's onwards, there were only numbers instead, like 0557(?) in this case, and I haven't been able to decode them yet.

Tape Zonal/Magna will be fine I think, because it is not really clarified yet whether Magna also coated tape themselves or not. Some Stereo/Audio/Stereoplay tests wrote about the tapes being made by a British subsidiary company of Magna, and some wrote about the tape coming from Berlin. I think the latter were just inaccurate, because all tape manufacturing in Germany is documented quite well, and besides Agfa, BASF and Orwo there is no mentioning of any other German maker of casssette tape.

Regrds
Martin

[EZ647]

I've fixed Ilford, also the Pure Chrome version I got earlier.

https://ez647.sk/cc/ilford_purechrome.html
https://ez647.sk/cc/ilford_dp.html

I forgot about the Basf numbers again.
But they are:
shell 0557 13
hubs 0554 32, 0554 46
clapms 0553 11, 0553 35

Regards EZ