Welcome To The Cool VAULT

The Home Of Cassette Tape That Is PlayTested In Its Entirety!

Thank you kindly for taking the time tohave a look at this tape.

Over the years we have noticed lots offolks on the net selling cassettes, and do you know what? It’s great to see somany people keeping this great tradition alive, however due to my past experiencesof buying cassettes that where faulty, and also taking inspiration from theRecord Collector Grading system, we have made the decision to sell only tapethat is test played in its entirety.

If we wanted to, we could list tons of tape,reasonably quickly on the net that is totally untested or only partially tested,however that is not what we are about, we strongly believe that quality, not quantityis the ticket if you are a cassette tape enthusiast, or a tapehead as we arenow fondly known.

Play testing tape in its entirety is aslow but very enjoyable process, the music after all is from our combined collections,and we really enjoy blasting the decibels out of our vibrating speakers!

We have noticed recently some sellersselling partially tested tape, and do you know what, that greatly reduces therisk! However we prefer the full test and here is why? Many of the tapes canplay the opening few tracks really good and then disaster! The tracks in themiddle then go all wobbly; I discard many tapes for this reason!

The record collector grading system,one of the most respected systems in the world for audio playback, states thatcare must be taken when purchasing old tapes. We wholeheartly agree! And thatis why; we now remove the risk from your purchase!

A few years back, before I became acassette enthusiast, I made every mistake in the book. Please let me give youan example.

I bought Elvis Costello’s album BrutalYouth 3 or 4 times, and each tape was faulty. I then noticed a seller statingthat he listened to the album in full, every single song, on this quite longbut brilliant record and it sounded great. I sent the seller a message askinghim if he was sure, and true to his word, it was perfect!

This taught me the lesson, that youactually save money if you buy a fully tested tape.

We all love a bargin,and sometimes weenjoy a bit of a flutter, trying to secure a good cheap deal, however in theworld of tape you normally get what you pay for!

I use the record collector grading systemsfor all of our cassettes.

If the tape plays perfectly, like theone you are viewing, I grade it as mint. The Record Collector grading system isan audio sonic grade, many people find this confusing, but it is really quite simple,it is how the tape sounds that matters!

Do not make the mistake that newlooking tapes are mint and faded tapes are poor. I had a Television tape fromthe seventies that was totally faded, and it played like a dream. On the otherhand I had a brand new looking REM tape that played terribly. If you are atapehead, looks is very much a bouns, Sound is king!

The Inlays and booklets however is avisual grade, and are graded the same way as vinyl. My cassette collection wasstored very carefully, so my cases are mainly near mint.

All of my tape undergoes a veryrigorous quality control process. All my cassettes are tested on a modern TEACLP – R500 and then on a vintage TECHNICS RS – 810, i then carry out randomtests on a JVC DR E300L Dolby System deck. As I already mentioned, this is aslow process, however it is the only way we can ensure that you are buyingquality.

If it is not good enough for our collection,then it is not good enough for your collection also, this is why we discard somany cassettes, and why we list very slowly, we only want to sell the best!

I actually adore tape now, a few yearsback I thought incorrectly that they where the poor cousin of vinyl, this isnot the case at all, especially the tape from the mid/late eighties and early ninetiesthat left a much lower oxide residue on deck heads. Many folks think thatCassettes just rolled over and died when CDs came along. The CD won the war ofcourse, but just before cassettes bowed out in a very dignified manner, they werenever better, many standard tapes from that era was actually made from chrome,recording studio standard! A lot of cassette albums from this era were alsoremastered, long before CDs received the same process quite a few years later. It’sa shame that tape was replaced when it was at the top of its game!

The inlays and booklets really improvedalso, with many beautifully fanning out with stunning photography and lyricsetc.

I love the tone of good quality tapeplayed on good quality equipment; I find it more subtle on the ear than CDs,especially if you adjust the sound with Dolby noise reduction, in conjunctionwith a graphic equaliser.

The other great thing about cassettesis that they are no longer mass produced, making them quite collectible!

CDs are still mass produced and aresold by the big corporations quite cheaply. It is our belief that if you buypopular artists from good sellable, collectible genres like punk, metal, jazz,blues, soul, funk etc,  then you are notspending your cash, you are actually making a nice little investment that willoutperform cash savings in the bank, due to near zero interest rates.

Thank you kindly for taking the time tohave a look at this cassette, and I wish you all the very best building up yourcollection.

The Cool Vault

Portrush.