Maxell LN - 1982 - US
"An early 80s Maxell Type I. This was the entry level Cassette before the UR was introduced. Great shell, great looks and decent sound, from a time when cassettes were expensive and made to reflect this. Give them some Dolby and negative bias and they make great recordings. These are actually highly underrated. Superb rich dark chocolate colour, and smooth, shinny, brilliant tape. More a collectible than anything else, many more modern and cheaper Type Is sound at least as good as this, but those same tapes don't have the class of this one." Tony Villa
Note 1: 60 Minutes: 60 minutes tapes are always rarer than 90 mins. Out of Stock
Note 2: 90 Minutes: Black Shells: Moderate scuffing. SOLD
Note 3: 90 Minutes: Clear Shells: These clearly (pun intended) look a whole lot nicer than the black shells variant made in Japan. These are made in South Korea. SOLD
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Watch below a video on these Maxell tapes by Tony Villa:
About Maxell:
Maxell Holdings, Ltd. (日立マクセル株式会社 Hitachi Makuseru Kabushiki-gaisha), commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics.
Maxell, originally part of Hitachi’s corporate family, emerged in 1960 when a dry‑cell plant was established in Ibaraki, Osaka. In 1961, Hitachi consolidated its dry‑battery and magnetic‑tape operations into the new Maxell Electric Industrial Company, positioning the brand as Hitachi’s key vehicle for consumer recording media.
Throughout the cassette era, Maxell became one of the most respected tape manufacturers. Their formulations, especially the XLI-S (Normal), XLII‑S (CrO₂), and MX (pure metal particle), were widely regarded as peak‑performance examples of the Compact Cassette format, earning strong loyalty from audiophiles and home recording enthusiasts. Maxell also produced a full range of consumer and professional magnetic media, including computer and broadcast tapes, before later shifting away from in‑house optical and recording‑media production.
The company’s cultural visibility peaked in the 1980s with the “Blown Away Guy” advertising campaign, which cemented Maxell’s reputation for high‑performance audio cassettes. Even as Maxell diversified into batteries, storage, and functional materials, its cassette legacy, and its long-standing connection to Hitachi remains central to its identity.
Maxell LN - 1982 - Made in Japan (Black Shells) or Made in South Korea (Clear Shells).