Maxell XLII-S - 1992 - US
"A classic Type II. Great tape with a great shell. Has pronounced treble compared to it's contemporary, the SA-X. Best used with decks with bias adjustment. This however gives it great bass too. When you get the bias right, this is a remarkably good cassette with superb dynamic range and low noise." Tony Villa.
Collector's Corner: (1) This 1992 version is scarce. Want the same tape, but cheaper? Look at the 2000 UK version, now at $8.99 for a C100! Other versions like the 1991 and 1998 are also less common, and more expensive to buy, but cheaper than this 1992 version. Made in Japan.
Collector's Corner: (2) White / Black Letters Variants: This 1992 run of XLII-S tape has two (2) significant variants. One has black "maxell" letters on the front, while the apparently scarcer variant, has white "maxell" letters. See picture below:
Note 1: 60 Mins: Black letters "maxell": Rare length. Lightly to moderately scuffed wrappers. Only 2 available.
Note 2: 60 Mins: White letters "maxell". Out of Stock.
Note 3: 90 Mins: Black letters "maxell": Box-fresh cassettes. Only 3 available.
Note 4: 90 Mins: White letters "maxell": Lightly scuffed, if at all. Very few available.
Note 5: 100 Mins: Black letters "maxell": Wrappers have light to no scuffing. Very few available.
Note 6: 100 Mins: White letters "maxell": Mostly box-fresh cassettes. Very few available.
Note 7: 90 Mins: Black letters "maxell": B-Grade. Box-fresh cassette, however this one has a 3.4cm (1 3/8") hairline crack on the front of the case. Actual picture shown. One 1 available.
Note 8: 100 Mins: Black letters "maxell": B-Grade. Very clean tapes on the front, but they have other blemishes, mostly on the the back. Someone added some clear caulking on the back of them, probably for display purposes. They are otherwise fairly pristine. Good deal! Two (2) pictures shown here, one with a pink rubber band on the top right hand corner, the other showing the caulking spread on the reverse side. There is one that has caulking and a tear on the reverse side. Very few available.
Note 9: 100 Mins: White letters "maxell": B-Grade: Box-fresh cassettes, however, just like the ones from Note #8, these also have some clear caulking on the reverse side. Only 1 picture of the back is shown. Very few available.
Note 10: 90 Mins: Black Letters "maxell': C-Grade: Two cassettes with broken cases that need to be replaced. Some damage on the J-cards as well. Cassettes are still sealed and appear to be in perfect shape and fit for use. See pictures. $8.92 each. Only 2 available.
Made in Japan.
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 was formed in 1960, when a dry cell manufacturing plant was created at the company's headquarters in Ibaraki, Osaka. In 1961, Maxell Electric Industrial Company, Limited was created out of the dry battery and magnetic tape divisions of Nitto Electric Industrial Company, Limited (now Nitto Denko Corporation).
On March 18, 2014 the company was listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.[7]
The company's notable products are batteries—the company's name is a contraction of "maximum capacity dry cell"—wireless charging solutions, storage devices, computer tapes, professional broadcast tapes and functional materials.[4][5] In the past, the company manufactured recording media, including audio cassettes and blank VHS tapes, and recordable optical discs including CD-R/RW and DVD±RW.
On March 4, 2008, Maxell announced that they would outsource the manufacturing of their optical media.[6]
During the height of the Compact Audio Cassette's popularity, Maxell's audio cassettes were held in high regard, producing some of the finest examples of the standard available. The performance of the XLII-S (CrO2) and MX (pure metal particles) cassettes was regarded by many audiophiles to be the ultimate achievement in the pre digital domestic recording medium.
In the 1980s, Maxell became an icon of pop culture when it produced advertisements popularly known as "Blown Away Guy" for its line of audio cassettes. The original campaign conceived by Art Director Lars Anderson began as a two-page spread in Rolling Stone Magazine ad in 1980, and was made into television spots in 1981 which ran throughout the 1980s.[10]
Maxell XLII-S - 1992 - Made in Japan