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Topic: Tascam CC-222SLMKII ? (Read 4965 times) previous topic - next topic
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Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Hello,

I'd be interested in a very good stuff to digitalise vynils and tape:
- A good tape deck with a line out
- A good phono preamp.

I saw this product: http://tascam.com/product/cc-222slmkii/
I'm not sure if I would use the CD burner or only line out to computer (with Asus Xonar Essence STX).

Do some people have experience with it ? Any down sides/comparisons to mention ?

Also, I see that several devices of that brand have "MKII" or "MKsomething" in their name. What does it refer to exactly ? I did not get it yet, I though it could be about the phono preamp.


Thank you for your info.

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #1
This is too expensive device to serve just as phono preamp. If you wouldn't use integrated CD burner, look elsewhere for standalone phono preamp to connect it to your sound card.
MKII, or "mark two", is usually second, upgraded generation of the device.
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Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #2
Except the fact that it's expensive, I'm rather interested in comments about its quality as "tape deck" and "phono preamp".

And for example, if I had to buy a better/equivalent deck tape and a better/equivalent phono preamp seperatly, which ones would be advised ?

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #3
I think you may have a hard time finding anyone here who has firsthand experience with this product. That said, I looked at it and now I'm sort of interested in it.

I partially agree with hlloyge about the price. I would also add that if you found all of its features useful it could well be worth it. The price on Amazon (US) seems a little high.  (Unfortunately I could not find one on Amazon.de, which would ship to you for free.) Four people have reviewed it there FWIW. If I had the extra money burning a hole in my pocket, I'd be willing to gamble on it. It sure looks like a decent product.

Sorry I can not be more helpful to you, but I would also be interested it others could provide further insight.

The Loudness War is over. Now it's a hopeless occupation.

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #4
Yes, it's hard to find real info/testings about tape decks, but I heard the Tascam is one of the best brands regarding tape deck. And the choice in tape decks with a good reputation is very limited now.
I know that some people on this board use Tascam phono preamps and I think they have a good reputation too. I'm just that hoping the one they included here is a not a reduced quality device juste because it's embedded (at in turntables).
I'm not sure I'll use the CD Burner but it's still a plus to have it.

It think the price on amazon (before shipping to Belgium) "only" 100~150 $ (I'd say 80~120 €) higher than buying separated quality stuff (but yet it seems that this brand is one of the best), but if it solves the two problems at once and has a high quality level, it may be worth it to me.

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #5
Well, TASCAM is TEAC's professional department, and they mostly do quality broadcast equipment.
This is very curious device; I'd say you can't really miss with the quality of the sound, being designed for professional use.

But IF you are only into digitizing vinyls, I guess you can find quality vinyl preamps for 200$, and save yourself 300$. Or, you can use your amplifier to input vinyl and connect rec out for tape deck to line in of your sound card - record to 44.1 or 48 kHz, 24 bit for editing, downsample to 16 bit for making CD or just compress to codec of your choice.

Check out pro-ject web site for more devices, they have more expensive, and cheaper solutions. Since their turntables are respected, I guess they make quality preamps. Of course, half of that price goes to pay up brand name

Phono inputs on amplifiers are good enough, considering low S/N ratio of records.
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Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #6
I'd be interested in a very good stuff to digitalise vinyls and tape:
- A good tape deck with a line out
- A good phono preamp.

I saw this product: http://tascam.com/product/cc-222slmkii/
I'm not sure if I would use the CD burner or only line out to computer (with Asus Xonar Essence STX).


In this day and age, a very odd product.

I suspect that most people who purchased this product would use it as a combination tape/LP/CD player in a situation where people are bringing media in off the street as it were, for playing it at a event, a radio station, church, school or something like that. One box and you can play a CD, a cassette tape or front end a turntable.

Quote
Do some people have experience with it ? Any down sides/comparisons to mention ?


If one takes the CD recorder part of it seriously, it just doesn't fit with modern work flow for digitizing tapes or LPs. Any serious effort at digitizing tapes or LPs is going to involve a computer for editing and clean-up.

As others have mentioned, Tascam products are generally well-designed, well-engineered, and well-built. I doubt that you are going to find many people who have actually used this thing. It is generally priced above mainstream home audio, or even most professional products. But, its not really high end in that there is likely some benefit in terms of rock-solid construction and reliability.

Quote
Also, I see that several devices of that brand have "MKII" or "MKsomething" in their name. What does it refer to exactly ?


At Tascam, the MK II version of a product is usually the second generation version of a product that has already been on the market for years. A few minor tweaks, some rough edges polished off, etc.

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #7
Except the fact that it's expensive, I'm rather interested in comments about its quality as "tape deck" and "phono preamp".
The tape deck doesn't have Dolby-C (or Dolby-S), and appears to have no way of adjusting the azimuth (not even a little hole for a screw driver, never mind a proper control), so in that respect it's not ideal for making one-off transfers.

Cheers,
David.

 

Tascam CC-222SLMKII ?

Reply #8
Tape decks hardly exist anymore, so it would be difficult to suggest an alternative when there are almost none left on the market. Do you have a collection of cassette tapes yet no functioning tape deck? Ideally I'd use the same deck to play the tapes that recorded the tapes since this will hopefully ensure that the head alignment will be matched (azimuth), short of using an oscilloscope with calibration tapes you can't find easily and more importantly weren't made on the original recording deck of your tape collection, documenting its head alignment, or just winging it by ear.

"Dolby B" only? I would think for this kind of price they could have afforded to offer the stronger Dolby C option too, at the very least, as almost all other decks made, when cassette decks were still on the market from many makes, almost always had. Yes, in a pinch you can play Dolby C encoded tapes with Dolby B, or nothing at all, but its not recommended.

Frequency response for normal tapes 50 - 10kHz +/- 3dB, and "High position" 50-12.5kHz +/- 3 dB? That's rather poor. I'd pass.

Auto reverse? Just like the best turntables are never fully automatic, the best cassette decks are never auto reverse . I'd pass. [except for a Nakamichi Dragon or RX202/505 which have trick forms of "auto-reverse", not conventional]

OK here's my alternative suggestion for you:

- Use your existing tape deck so you have matching head alignment from recording deck to playback deck for the tapes you made, at least (short of it having become misaligned from, say, a fall or bump) or buy a used one from the 1980/90s (without autoreverse), say, by JVC, Sony, Denon, Nakamichi, Revox, Hitachi, TEAC, or Tascam) with a better frequency response, only if you no longer own a working deck.

- Use your existing phono preamp in your existing receiver/pre amp (sending the signal via the "tape out" jacks). [As was mentioned earlier, the bottleneck is really the format you are playing, not what phono preamp you use.]

- Buy the affordable, outboard boxed Behringer UCA-202 to digitize (away from the EMI/RFI noisy innards of your computer) to USB, and if storing on your hard drive isn't enough, make copies onto CD with your computer's CD burner. [The similar UFO-202 would also include a phono preamp if your current receiver/preamp doesn't have "phono".] And if your computer doesn't have a CD burner, buy one; the are very inexpensive.