Audio Head Cleaner ... seminal work!

pjgh

pjgh

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I was up in the loft earlier and happened upon my old cassette collection.

Flicking through, I was overjoyed to find my copy of Audio Head Cleaner's seminal 'Replace Cassette After 10 Runs'. Now, I know this was a re-issue of their earlier 'Play Both Sides' but they must have sold millions!

Daft thing is, it sounds crap!
 
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Can you remember the faff of cleaning the tape heads and the rubber drive wheels with a cotton bud and meths.

Same thing goes for cleaning LPs, these felt pads brushed over a spinning record were just a sure fire way of producing static and attracting more dust.

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I remember spinning cassettes on a pencil to rewind them :oops: :LOL:. Apropos loading games, i got less loading crashes if i stuck a thin bit of folded paper in to "clamp" the cassette in place a little, as tape drives were often not the best build physically.

The happy days of typing "load" then going off to do something else for 5 minutes or more ... :LOL:

Kids of today wax lyrical about how vinyl and even cassette tapes "sound soooo much better".....

.... But having lived with them first time round, i will stick with digital and just roll the top end off a bit as necessary or get softer sounding headphones. Vinyl and cassette only really perform on expensive and bulky equipment, but digital is quite astounding for its ability on small devices.

I think i have gone full spectrum with vinyl, cassette, portable CD, mini disc, original mp3, modern lossless codecs. If fact i recently found an old Sony Discman in the attic, but it's reluctant to spin discs up properly.

Loved my mini-disc so much, it was just great sounding and super desirable to look at the beautifully made player.
 
I got into tapes and minidisc during lockdown. I was finally able to buy the kit I always wanted as a kid.
A few bits of kit failed quite quickly but I didn't pay a lot for them. It was an intense period of nostalgia mixed with fulfilling lost dreams... Like looking in the argos catalogue as a kid and buying the best things in there!
I also got into vinyl around the same time and bought new. I like what I have but I am not sure I'd go it again.
 
For me, the future is CD's (as master copy) and just spend 5 minutes ripping to a high quality codec and then play it via your phone or portable audio player.

I still have a vinyl turntable, amp and speakers in the attic from the 1980's, but don't have any desire to bring them down and fire them up again.

I use spotify a lot these days - i know its not the best audio quality and the range is compressed (as are all "remix's" now) but i just love the versatility of having half-decent sound on my phone with playlists and such a vast range of music to pick from - its opened me to a lot more music than i would ever have heard or bought. I use PowerAmp on the phone for my ripped music.
 
The little that I know about this (I'm no audiophile) is that production has changed over the years there's less highs and lows in the range now, less discernable difference - it's ALL on loud. So, even if folks are buying vinyl today it might be pressed with a modern tweaked production.

Thing is, for most people, that modern production with the ranges all turned up to the max is how people are consuming music. Those who can or want to find a difference can do so with older versions of the CD or even the period vinyl. I have a first pressing of a Leonard Cohen album which through headphones is like sitting in the studio with him but a later pressing is just watching him as an audience. My favourite album is The Sisters of Mercy 'Floodland' - bear in mind, this was a high-grade Formica production in its day with Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf 'Bat Out of Hell' fame) at the controls. I have various vinyl pressings from promo thin plastic to ultra-modern heavyweight and several CD purchases over the years but can I actually hear any difference? Well, yes, via an amp with headphones. Through my HomePod, nah! I can just enjoy the rips and not worry about it.

In any case, better than Audio Head Cleaner's work ... that's dull! :ROFLMAO:
 
It's like opening a an old photograph album of your childhood, isnt it ? o_O

I found the Issuu site a few years back looking for old Bike magazines and discovered the Argos catalogue scans almost by accident, but bookmarked them because they are so compelling to flick through :LOL::LOL:

Today, the early 1970's look to me as dated as the 1930's did when i was a child. (i was born in early 1960's). Some of the stuff is so primitive compared to what we have now
 
Glen_Lee said:
I like to buy old skool Casio watches. What a treat these old Argos catalogues are. One particular model which cost £28 in 1993 - is now at £38. Wonderful!

Also like the idea that someone has sat down and decided to scan all the pages.
Click to expand...
I have a Casio W-96H on my wrist now.
Nice big LCD screen, date always visible, backlight... Everything I want in a watch and I won't get upset if it gets scratched.
www.casio.co.uk

W-96H-1AVES

This retro styled CASIO watch has a practical LED light, multi-function alarm and a 1/100th sec Stopwatch. There is a dual time digital display and as it is also 50M water resistant, it is suitable for sports and swimming.
www.casio.co.uk www.casio.co.uk
 
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