Maxell UDXL-II - 1977 - US/EU
"Made in 1977, when cassettes were relatively expensive, this Maxell UD-XLII gets our vote for the best looking cassette ever. You think of a stereotypical cassette, something that looks like this is usually what you think of.
Gorgeous to look at, a heavy well made shell and tape that really does capture music well. You need to put negative bias on these cassettes to get the best out of them.
The more modern UDXL-II admittedly sound better (after ~1985, new formulations), but these are a true classic, very iconic and very high on the nostalgic table standings." Tony Villa
NOTE: These are 40 year old cassettes, and the plastic wrapper is very brittle, and breaks apart due to the type of PVC shrink film they were using at the time. This is also evident in the TDK tapes from the 1975-1979 years. The back of these tapes may not be what is shown in the pictures. If this concerns you, please contact me. Thank you.
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 UDXL-II - 1977 - US/EU