Dropouts on "new" Maxell Man-in-Chair XLII's?

[Scorpion8]

I seem to be finding a lot of dropouts on new-stock Maxell Man-in-Chair XLII stock. I seem to recall this same topic on NakTalk but wanted to verify it was the production runs, and not my batch.

Anybody else experience this?

[niklasthedolphin]

I experienced a lot of drop outs on Sony Type II tapes in general.

"dolph"

[MacGyver]

you suppose the world's last remaining magnetic tape manufacturing facility is situated in some tiny third world country sharing a factory with some outfit that processes potatoes straight out of the field? just a thought...

[retrokeeper]

I thought that was the Maxell "dude-in-a-recliner" XL II....but...I could be wrong?!? Rob

[Mr. Lin]

Whatever the case, these are not very highly-regarded. From my very limited experience with them (I probably actually used four) I did have occasional dropouts on almost all of them.

[retrokeeper]

Getting back to serious matters....does anybody know how the current crop of TDK SA tapes sound.I may,I repeat MAY,be able to get some in a 2-pack for $1.78. Rob

[macster]

Getting back to serious matters....does anybody know how the current crop of TDK SA tapes sound.I may,I repeat MAY,be able to get some in a 2-pack for $1.78. Rob

They are okay, I got a box that a number of cassettes with dropouts. If they didn't have the dropouts they would be pretty good. I think that I have 450 (brand new) of these. I love the Maxell's, no drops here.


M~

[JXBJXB]

The XLII's with the "man in chair" that were made in Japan are perfectly fine here - no substantial dropouts. The XLII's made in Mexico seem to be a crapshoot - some drop out extensively, others are just OK. I avoid the Mexican-made ones.

[NAD613]

Yeah, I tried the new XL-II's & had dropout issues. From now on, NOS, TDK SM, or National Audio Company cassettes for me.

[Mr. Lin]

Getting back to serious matters....does anybody know how the current crop of TDK SA tapes sound.I may,I repeat MAY,be able to get some in a 2-pack for $1.78. Rob

The SA remains a good tape IME, and I believe, contrary to what some others say, that the current D is still good as well.

[Naknut]

I've used a number of the Maxell lls (Man in Chair/recliner) here lately from Mexico and so far no adverse effects. Knock on wood.

[Scorpion8]

The XLII's made in Mexico seem to be a crapshoot - some drop out extensively, others are just OK. I avoid the Mexican-made ones.

I've used a number of the Maxell lls (Man in Chair/recliner) here lately from Mexico and so far no adverse effects. Knock on wood.

How does one tell once they're opened?

[Naknut]

This is just a guess, the window size maybe? I looked at every "new" Maxell ll
90s I have and they are all assembled in Mexico. These are the shiny gold wrappers and the dull gold wrappers. The other versions I have on hand that I believe to be Japanese made has a smaller window without the man in chair logo on the tape housing. I will keep checking as I would like to be sure too.

[braxus]

I have used the new XL-II tape and I had one of three so far that was bad. Bias had to be set way off from where it should be and the tape distorted as a result. Junk. With these its like playing the lottery. You either win or lose.

[Scorpion8]

I started pruning my "stash" for any "dude in recliner" tapes. They may get used last or donated to friends. They do have great Norelco boxes with the rounded corners though, which will be saved .....

[NAD613]

I started pruning my "stash" for any "dude in recliner" tapes. They may get used last or donated to friends. They do have great Norelco boxes with the rounded corners though, which will be saved .....

I'd save the shells to use for repairs.

[JXBJXB]

How does one tell once they're opened?

Good question. Let's find out.

Bring up another browser window and have a look here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.brodsky/XliiStudy?authkey=Q_b2_e2Zo_w#

...and follow along with the narrative below. Sorry for the glare and shadows in some of the photos - I took these quickly on my kitchen counter.

1) Here we have four Maxell XLII tapes produced and sold within the last decade. The two XLII90 at the left hand side are made in Mexico, according to the text on the back. The two XLII (one 90, one 60) on the right are made in Japan. Note that the two tapes on the top row appear identical when wrapped from the front.

2) The backs of the same cassettes, showing country of origin in the bottom left or bottom right. Again, note that the top two are identical except country of origin.

3) The cassettes unwrapped. Note that the bottom left XLII60, the oldest of this bunch, has no "reclining man" on the cassette itself, so we will remove it from the rest of this study. The top left Mexico XLII90 has a very different J-card. The bottom left Mexico and top right Japan J-cards are very similar to one another. The most obvious difference at this point is the actual cases between the Japanese and Mexican made tapes. The top right Japan tape has Y-shaped case spindles. The Mexican made tapes have round case spindles. Hubs on all three XLII90 are the same, and each cassette is in a five-screw housing with the same size window.

4) Here is the Japan XLII90 up close. Note the Y shaped spindles on the case. Note the clearly printed graphics on the cassette itself.

5) Here is the bottom left Mexican XLII90 up close. Note the round spindles on the case. Note that the graphic of the man is somewhat faded compared to the thick and clear printing on the Japan version. I did not take a closeup of the top left Mexican XLII90 because besides the J-card, it is very similar (and has the same faded graphics).

6) Here is the Japan XLII90 exploded. Note the nice J-card with an extra section, and the cassette labels without any gold on them. Again you can see that the graphics printed on the cassette are nice and clear. Another thing to point out, although it is hard to make out from the photos, is that the Japan cassette is uniformly grey throughout - the molding job on it is better than that of the Mexican ones. The Mexican ones have a cheap looking sheen to them, and you can see imperfections in the plastic.

7) Here is the bottom left Mexican XLII90 exploded. The J-card is similar to the Japan model but the labels are different.

8) Here is the top left Mexican XLII90 exploded. The J-card is really cheap - a thinner cardstock and only three folds. Also, the graphics on this cassette are really terrible looking.

9) Here's a shot of the bottom of the Japan cassette, on the right, and the top left Mexican cassette, on the left. The leaders (and, if you advance past the leader, the actual tape) look the same. The difference is that the metal plate above the pressure pad on the Mexican model is a dull finish, and the one on the Japan example is a nice and shiny, almost mirrored finish. Note that the XLII at the bottom left, also a Mexican model, had the same pressure pad plate as the Japan example. You can also see on the Mexican cassette that there are obvious molding imperfections (look like streaks parallel to the cassette) at the corners.

What does all of this mean? It means that, as Des-lab has pointed out, the XLII has fallen from grace significantly and is now a shadow of its former self. Whether that corresponds with the move in production to Mexico is anyone's guess, but the Mexican-made tapes obviously have gone through some pretty serious cost cutting and would not be expected to perform or last like the XLII of years past.

[stuwee]

JXBJXB, yet another great post!! You da Man! I have to find mine and compare.

[Scorpion8]

Now where else on the web are ya gonna get this kind of in-depth info? Gosh this place amazes me at times. Thanks JXBJXB.

[JXBJXB]

Now where else on the web are ya gonna get this kind of in-depth info? Gosh this place amazes me at times. Thanks JXBJXB.

You (and stuwee) are quite welcome. I do believe I have rediscovered my inner cassette geek!

[Scorpion8]

I do believe I have rediscovered my inner cassette geek!

Shhhhh. It's a small odd club, and the grand poobah is mysterious. Welcome! :D

[Fairchild]

I haven't bought any new tape in years, back in the day I bought a case of Maxell tape and every tape in the case had drop outs, that was the end of my Maxell expiriences, nothing but TDK after that. I still have some of the D tape sealed in tha package, loved the SA.

Jim

[macster]

I put those photos in a PPT file (8MB), if anyone wants it email me.

M~

[4tified]

I myself haven't noticed many dropouts with the new XLII's, however I have noticed that the output is bit lower than my newer TDK SA's, they tend to require a slight change in bias as well. I should expect that though, since they are two different tapes manufacturers.

[Marc Hugo]

That's a great in depth post JXBJXB. Wow, you guys in the US and Canada are having a torrid time with XLII. I'm glad I got mine when I did.

I have enjoyed the British ones too - they are my newest - but they go back to '99/2000.

Marc

[Scorpion8]

I have lots of the old square-box gold-label XLII's and they don't have that issue at all, it just seems the dude-in-the-chair is slacking. I just recorded over a thrift store find Denon HD6/100 and it came out perfecto in comparison.

[Rat44]

What about the Made In England version?

[Marc Hugo]

I have both the above in the 90 lengths and they are perfect. The Mystics date back to 99/2000 and the Fire versions to about 2002 - or that's when they were bought. Got them from KVJ in Algate East. They are sweet and clean with no dropouts.

Marc

[graffias79]

This is strange, I have a lot of newer Mexican-assembled and also some older Japanese-assembled XLII tapes and I have not had any kind of problem like that. The Japanese-assembled tapes came in an 8 pack from a garage sale and the Mexican-assembled ones from Walgreens.