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Old 17th Feb 2024, 7:01 pm   #1
Uncle Bulgaria
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Default "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I just came across this French outfit making some rather swish portable cassette players.
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 7:08 pm   #2
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I rather like those, genuinely sculpturally beautiful. I have always had a preference for pure sharp design in consumer products. Once the nineties came along, designs became more rounded and organic and the angular practicality was lost.
Thanks for the link
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 7:11 pm   #3
Ted Kendall
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

Quite.They look swish, and that's where it ends, unfortunately.
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 7:39 pm   #4
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I think Techmoan has done a video on these, Tanashin (sp?) Mechanism but that's pretty much all you are going to get now.
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 8:31 pm   #5
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I understand that it's just a Tanashin clone mechanism as they don't make them anymore.
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 8:42 pm   #6
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

Intriguing - but they will only ever be a niche-market fashion statement, because nobody is seriously releasing mainstream content on cassette any more.

[Same goes for the likes of VHS and CD and DVD].
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 8:53 pm   #7
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

Well cassette is being a bit of a "trendy" thing with a lot of well known artists bringing out tape releases as an extra thing, yes it's still a novelty but one big artists are jumping on.
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Old 17th Feb 2024, 9:27 pm   #8
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

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Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
...because nobody is seriously releasing mainstream content on cassette any more.

[Same goes for the likes of VHS and CD and DVD].
I've only noticed some pretty niche artists abandoning CD for one or more of downloads, vinyl and in a few instances cassette: surely just about any mainstream audio content of album proportions still gets released on CD?

For sure, the potential for a cassette player revival seems bounded given restricted releases and the limitations both of current mechanisms and of the format.

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Old 17th Feb 2024, 9:38 pm   #9
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I recall having a walkman in the 1980's (not sure which make, but a good one) with a 5-band graphic equaliser built in; used it a lot .

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Old 18th Feb 2024, 1:52 pm   #10
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

In my humble opinion, they look crudely made in comparison to the last Japanese walkmans. I am pretty sure that wow+flutter will be highly audible, as the Tanashin mechanism doesn't get below 0.2% (Techmoan was scathing about the wow on his sample).

There are photos of the Sony production line from the '80s. It looked sophisticated even by today's standards. It had high levels of automation, with much of the work being handled by robots.

The obstacles to making a player that rivals even the budget Sony models are huge these days. First problem is the mechanism. The Tanashin doesn't even rival a budget player from Sony, let alone the pricier direct-drive models that could hit sub-0.05% W+F levels (human audibility for W+F is generally agreed to be 0.1%, and even with ancient ears and their rolled off highs, you will hear this!).

Secondly, you have to worry about heads. Latter Sony had amorphous heads that are superior to what's fitted to today's 'hifi' machines from Teac.

The last of the mohicans (i.e. last OEM standing to make a decent cassette deck) were the budget Yamahas, made up until around the turn of the millenium. They used 2-head permalloy heads and a modest mechanism that was around 0.1%. They are very listenable. Nothing made for cassette after the last KX decks is listenable in my opinion. There were boom-boxes with under 0.05% W+F 40 years ago. The Tanashin mechanism is akin to something out of a late 60s shoe-box player in performance, if that.

Here you go TM doesn't usually publish measurements, but he made an exception here. My £90 Aiwa from Currys in 1983 would hit 0.05%.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 2:56 pm   #11
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

Just about anybody who takes cassettes on the move, and many who don't, still aspires to the Sony WM D6 or D6C, witness the brisk trade on auction sites. They have lasted well, a few known issues aside, and still make a very pleasant noise. This new stuff is a fashion statement, nothing more. Trouble is, who is going to invest in a new production line for a product whose market may evaporate within the payback period?
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 3:10 pm   #12
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

To be fair, there's absolutely no rational reason to use compact cassettes as an audio source nowadays, especially where portability and compact size are important constraints. The only reason to use cassettes is nostalgia, lifestyle and fashion. They're a bit like using wax cylinders as an audio source.

The industry made an excellent job of pushing cassette technology to its limits, but it's time has come and gone.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 3:19 pm   #13
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I think Tescos still stock a Walkman ,im sure ive seen it in my local one.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 3:34 pm   #14
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

"Guardians of the Galaxy" has a lot to answer for here. In truth, the industry has been largely dismantled. It's very difficult to buy a decent blank cassette nowadays, certainly anything beyond cooking ferric, and the performance of the few new Type 2 blanks indicates that a lot of knowledge has been lost.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 10:11 pm   #15
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I think that we have to bear in mind here that this is a small manufacturer with limited resources. It would be impractical for them to design and build their own transport from scratch so they have to source the transport from an existing manufacturer no matter how crude that product may be. What they have done is to build that transport into a casing that is of their own design, one which is has a pleasing modernist style that has an uncluttered simplified appearance. I think that the target market for this would be those who appreciate aesthetics above technical capability.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 10:23 pm   #16
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

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I think that the target market for this would be those who appreciate aesthetics above technical capability.
...and probably deaf to boot.
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Old 18th Feb 2024, 10:28 pm   #17
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

Vwestlife on YouTube has just done a recent video on 4 of the latest of these cassette players including the 'we are rewind' one, just do a search for 'Vwestlife' all one word with no spaces. Regards, Alan.

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Old 19th Feb 2024, 4:50 pm   #18
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

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Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Intriguing - but they will only ever be a niche-market fashion statement, because nobody is seriously releasing mainstream content on cassette any more.

[Same goes for the likes of VHS and CD and DVD].
A friend has been back into tape over the last few years. He has arrangemnts with local charity shops, who normally just throw them away as they can't shift them - he will occasionally stop by, collect a bag of tapes and make a donation.
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Old 19th Feb 2024, 5:12 pm   #19
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

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Originally Posted by ScottBouch View Post
A friend has been back into tape over the last few years. He has arrangemnts with local charity shops, who normally just throw them away as they can't shift them - he will occasionally stop by, collect a bag of tapes and make a donation.
Probably worthwhile, odd cassettes command good prices on auction sites.

That, and I hate to see stuff dumped too
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Old 19th Feb 2024, 5:53 pm   #20
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Default Re: "We Are Rewind" making new walkmans (walkmen?)

I was going to suggest anyone interested in these should watch the Techmoan and Vwestlife YouTube videos, too. They have done proper technical assessments of the device and the results are as others have said.

It is really a fashion gadget (and quite an expensive one) rather than a high quality audio device.
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