The Fabia has come with a cassette/radio rather than a CD player. I was thinking this is a major downer and that I need to swap for a Skoda Symphony (same fit, but £320!!!) or some other standard CD player, but they're all a bit showy.
Then, brainwave.
I've still got all my old tapes from years back.
So I've dug them out and tomorrow will be the beginning of a trip back to the early 90s!! I've got a fair bit of stuff on CD, but some of the tapes I never got around to buying the new version. (not sure 808 State and Carter USM are available on CD!)
Now that's a bonus early start to the weekend.
Toodle-pip!!
--
Lee
Having a Fabialous time.
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hope they still work OK most of my old cassettes from that sort of era dont want to play any more.
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I still occasionally play my tapes from the 1980's when I ran a mobile disco.
I have some really obscure stuff on those tapes that is irreplaceable and I've lost a few that have been chewed up in various machines (serves me right for putting them in a blender I suppose!).
The quality is definitely not what it was but the memories, oh the memories! Guaranteed to put a smile on your face as you drive (*****Beep Beep - motoring link recognised*****) along with the sound (and accompanying background hiss) at full blast!
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It must be ten cars ago that I last played a cassette, despite every one of them having a tape player. CD's have spoilt it with their quality, anytime I now hear a tape all my ears pick up is the hiss. And they ALWAYS chewed up in the middle of my favourite track.
I am gradually replacing all the best bits of my tape and record collection courtsey of itunes, all I need now is to fit a cd player in the car.
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Some time ago, long before recordable CD was the norm, I copied all my favourite vinyl and cassette tape tracks to VHS, in the former case to preserve them, and in the latter case because the quality was that much lower to start with. Each VHS tape is categorised as to genre, as well as 'bookmarked' where each track starts and stops so is as relatively user friendly as winding umpteen miles of tape ever will be.
Even hooked up to my high end, and very revealing, HiFi system, it's perfectly fine for parties where the guests want a blast from the past. Hit and leave to run for up to eight hours. Perfect.
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Cassette players are good because you can get a headphone / tape adaptor thing to play an MP3 player. I haven't seen anything to connect an MP3 player to CD player without digging in the back of the dashboard to see if there's a pair of phono connectors (not always convenient when it's a hire car)
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Well theres a blast from the past... Carter USM. Yes they are available on CD, I should know, I have got nearly all of their albums on CD.
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You could always put them into your PC and record onto CD. It should be as simple as when I did it with some LPs (remember them?).
My kids are going to grow up wondering what are these "cassettes and LPs" of which we oldies speak.
V
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That was an interesting way of doing it! I suppose most people would take their old tapes and possibly convert the music to mp3 format which might lose some of the noise amongst the other noise. Recording vinyl onto cd is quite fun as you get more of the atmosphere which cd seems to lack in. Playing records aren't very practical in a car either.
I have found a lot of the old eighties stuff has been re-released, including the Propaganda album with the BBC rally theme on it (tenuous motoring link :-) )
I noticed you mentioned hi-end and revealing hifi, naim owner perchance?!
teabelly
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Teabelly,
I also prefer the atmosphere of good quality vinyl over that of CD
on a good system (Linn, Meridian) but for practicality CD wins every time. I have finally managed to duplicate most of my old vinyl collection for the car (mostly 70s and 80s rereleases).
Interestingly have just been playing with MP3 CD-r for the car...8-10 albums worth on a single CD-R without having to change the CD has to be worth it. But playing the original CD on an Meridian CD transport and the MP3 version on a Arcam DVD/CD/MP3
player and switching the amp between sources swmbo could not tell the difference. (highest quality sampling for the mp3) but the vinyl was easily detected (crackles) but felt to be a better reproduction.
StarGazer
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> I noticed you mentioned hi-end and revealing hifi, naim owner perchance?!
Micromega, actually, where the CD player is a relatively aged, but totally awesome (and fearsomely £,£££ at the time) 1997 two box (separate DAC) "Drive 2". Nicely unconventional to look at as a bonus, and surprisingly reliable (totally so far!) French engineering, albeit with a Philips drive unit. I have yet to find anything to better it that can justify the cost. Speakers are beautifully built cherry B&W CDM7SE floorstanders. Who needs a sub? Bass so low you can only feel it, and everything audible is wonderfully controlled. No odious boom, muddled mid range, or tinny treble here! Just pure, open, sound. :-)
I'm lucky that the lounge is large enough to let the music 'breathe' and that the missus let the HiFi dictate not only how the lounge was arranged, but what fabrics and furnishings were chosen when we decorated! Speakers stand out in the room, a long way clear of walls, speaker cable and filtered power leads are all out of sight under the floor - separated from each other of course - not draped around the skirting, and interconnects are all cut to balanced lengths.
OTT in many an eye, but it's my hobby, so yah boo! ;-) and thankfully, compared to when we first met, SWMBO's a convert, and many an evening I'll come home to find her engrosed in music.
Not looking forward to when I'm told that a sprog is on the way, and the speakers get confined to their boxes a few months later!
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Halfords has been advertising a top brand radio/CD car player for £79.99, reduced from £99.99.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Go to your local motor factors - probably cheaper and better.
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Not looking forward to when I'm told that a sprog is on the way, and the speakers get confined to their boxes a few months later!
I also have a HiFi convert in the house, finally persuaded swmbo that Linn speakers on granite stand not only looked and sounded OK but were fairly practical as well, with the arrival of 2 kittens one year and a small baby the next year the only change was to tidy the cabling into some ducting (oh and buy a larger car complete with baby seat).
StarGazer
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Don't mention cats and speakers. I have had to replace a pair of drivers on mine as one of the little darlings managed to stick a claw in one driver on each speaker.
I think the old quad esl 57s are the perfect anti child and anti cat speakers with their ugly metal grilles :-)
I have done the mp3/cd comparison and noticed that mp3s tend to lack depth in the sound and soundstage. The difference is quite subtle eg like the difference between a cheap cd player and a mid range one.
I don't have a music player in either car and I don't seem to miss it. I might install one to keep the HWMBI happy on long journeys but I'll have to find one with a headphone socket :-)
teabelly
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