luxman K 10 cassette deck

[frothy]

Just got back my Lux R1050 receiver, have been watching Cassette decks for awhile now as I have a wack of cassettes.
This Luxman K 10 was listed today and would fit in quite nicely....I don't want to pick-up a crapper just because it fits in and looks good.
I don't have much (any) experience with separates (cassette decks ), just boombox  decks.
Want to purchase at least a mid-fi unit, quality cassette decks are commanding big bucks, this unit comes in at couple hundred CDN, within my budget which is good.
what do you think....other recommendations... no rush with this I am really still in the look/learn stage.
best to all this season...frothy

[harryt]

Marcus,
I have been using a Denon DRM-540 off and on since I bought it new in the early 90s, more off than on after about 2000. Before that I had a Yamaha, long gone (I do not remember the model). However, I do pull it out occasionally to give it a run and listen to some of the "mix tapes" I made. Also, I have occasionally taped a record that for the most part is fine but has one or two really damaged tracks that I do not want my stylus running over. So I skip them in taping and can enjoy the rest of the album. The sound from it is just fine. As my ears and I get older, I find it harder to tell subtle differences in sound quality from various sources and quite enjoy these tapes. If I had more room and more inputs on my pre-amp, I might have it always connected to my system. If you plan to use it a lot, consider a head de-magnetizer. Good luck in your search.
Harry

[frothy]

Thanks Harry ,nice to hear from you, drove by your place couple weeks ago and was wondering how you and family doing. Best this season and in the new year...Marcus

[harryt]

Thanks Marcus,
I hope you and your family have a happy festive season and a great New Year and that you find that cassette deck you want to enjoy your tapes.
Take care,
Harry

[Colin_EJJ]

Having used cassettes more or less constantly for 50 years, with a few decks through the system, I can recommend taking your time to find the right one. When I got back into them, after a hiatus, I needed a new deck and bought a Teac V1050 from around 2002. It has three heads and a whole range of Dolby options (B, C and S) so seemed to tick all the right boxes but it had a disappointingly light build. It wouldn't play some of my older tapes, so I went after an older machine which did and was much more substantial.

Although Dolby S is a good thing from the recording point of view, it appears to mark the point at which many manufacturers weren't putting much effort into the mechanics. Even Nakamichi used a generic Sanyo.

So I'd recommend having a look at the tapeheads forum - lots of recommendations there and plenty of comments on build quality. Luxman did some serious machines and the K10 spec looks very good. It's also from the right era - cassette decks seemed to peak in the late 70s to mid-80s.

[frothy]

Thanks Collin followed your advice, went to tapeheads, another good audio site from what I could glean.
Merry Christmas to all, frothy