Maxell XLII - 1984/85 - US/CA
"The first bite is with the eye". One of the finest all round cassettes, when you take into account, shell quality, looks and performance. One of our favourites.
Priced really for collection only, these still look so much cooler in your deck when taking pictures, rather than those poor quality "Reel 2 Reel" things.
A true classic tape and they're hardy! We've used many over the past 33 years, and they still sound great.
Maxell, unlike TDK, makes it very difficult to track when their tapes were actually produced for distribution/sale and for what markets they were meant for. Take for example, the 1985 of this XLII version meant for the Canadian market. It's got a distinct "Super Sweepstakes" sort of imprinted blue sticker on the wrapper on a cassette meant for the European market, but it's got the Bar Code ending in "641" which seems to have been meant for the US (North American) market. The bar code meant for Europe seems to have been meant for the European market.
NOTE 1: 1984 US version: MOL improvement by 1dB vs. UD-II over entire frequency range.
NOTE 2: 1985 US version: MOL and output improvement by 2dB vs. UD-II at high frequencies. NOT AVAILABLE.
NOTE 3: See 90 Minute variant with Canadian "Sweepstakes" blue seal and with iconic store "The Bay" price sticker still on it @ $3.99 CAD! SOLD OUT!
NOTE 4: B-Grade. EIght (8) 1mm rips on the back side of the wrapper. See picture. The front is a bit scuffed and has 3 very subtle worn out corners. SOLD OUT!
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 audio cassettes are available in 46, 60, 90, 100, 120 and 150 minute lengths.
Maxell XLII - 1985 - US/EU
Small Inventory available on these!