1990 Memorex dBS+ 60 Audio Cassette

I can’t help feeling that I’ve been harsh with Memorex tapes over the course of this blog. The generation with which I had the most affinity (early ‘80s) were not well designed for the long term, and the high bias variants I used did not produce the sparkling trebles of their rivals. But in a recent test, I found that the actual tape contained in an early ‘80s Memorex MRXI (a normal bias Type I) acquitted itself very well sonically once the design flaws in the cassette were resolved. That prompted me to evaluate a later Memorex Type I…

1983 Memorex HBII 60 High Bias Audio Cassette

I must say I got a serious buzz of excitement when I finally unearthed this. I knew I had at least one old 1983 Memorex HBII (High Bias II) audio cassette kicking around somewhere, but my huge hoard of old possessions is in such disarray that searches have long since fallen into needle-in-haystack territory.

1983 Memorex dB Series 60 Audio Cassette

Despite the fact that the Memorex dB Series tape doesn’t appear on Vintage Cassettes.com until the period forward from 1985, this dB 60 is definitely from early 1983. It appears on Vintage Cassettes as if the MRXI was replaced by the dB, but in ’83 (here in the UK at least), the dBs were running concurrently with the MRXIs, and consumers had a choice between the two.