The greatest consumer cassette tape deck ever produced?*

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Cowboy Kim, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    IIRC, this JM Arts outfit in TN is an expert on Revox components ...
     
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  2. rl1856

    rl1856 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SC
    "Best" depends on your criteria. Specs ? Nak Dragon. Frequency Response ? BIC T4M....rare double speed deck that could play and record at 3.75ips. Flat to 30k with metal tape. Build quality ? Most of the TOTL decks from Nak, Revox, Tandberg etc.
     
  3. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Most had three heads. I think they were two models that were two heads. But this is 1986.
     
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  4. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Call me a party crasher but those double speed (3 3/4 ips) tapes shouldn't count. They aren't compatible with any other cassette deck and even a C-120 would only get you 30 minutes per side. And as we all know any C-120 is too much of a drag on most machines. Wow and flutter will increase greatly with those tapes and are more likely to jam. So that leaves us with 100 minute tapes. Only 25 minutes per side. I guess for most albums that pretty good. Wow...Flat to 30khz!

    Now that were on the subject; doubling the speed of cassette 4 and 8 track machines to 7 1/2 ips would've solved the top end problem with those formats. Assuming they could have developed a motor that could pull at least a C-110 efficiency. 12 and half minutes per $4 tape for the 8 track. Not bad. With double the speed, Dolby HX Pro (now that it actually has highs) and heads that would allow Metal formulation, plus Dolby S and you have a cassette 8 track that could give a quarter inch reel to reel 8 track a run for it's money....O.k. maybe not... but doubling the speed would have solved a lot of problems.

    Which reminds me of MCI trying to put out a 3 inch 32 track back in the early 90's. The tape just sat on the reels of the MCI demo multi-track and never moved. Any attempt to record on the beast caused the 3 inch tape to move over the heads several millimeters. The solution according to the tape manufacturer was to make the tape twice as thick. Rumour had it (remember I said rumour) was that BASF had turned out a batch of experimental 3 inch analog tape at twice the thickness and that it had worked but it was too expensive to produce. It would be like paying $500 for a 3 inch width, 10 inch reel.

    If they pulled this off, think about what that would have meant - 3 inch 24 track head stacks. Finally a 24 track that would equal on even superior to a 2 inch 16. Or, better yet...3 inch 16 track head stack. And at that width you could run it at 30ips and still get a killer bottom end.

    I better wake up now.....
     
  5. a customer

    a customer Forum Resident

    Location:
    virginia
     
  6. a customer

    a customer Forum Resident

    Location:
    virginia
    Yea I had one of those in my car
     
  7. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Sorry if I went off on a tangent but I thought the issue of doubling tape speeds and tape width was relevant. A cassette deck that runs at twice the speed isn't really a standard cassette deck. Can you play the tapes on any other machine? No.
    And let this double speed cassette deck was discussed and has been discussed. And if you check back on this thread other people have brought up Reel to Reel and cassette mutitracks. Nothing wrong with that. Since doubling speed seems to solve a lot of cassettes problems I thought to bring up a completely exceptable issue of tape speeds in cassette recording. Last time I checked Steve, 4 and 8 track cassette machines use CASSETTES.
    It was just a little side matter.
     
  8. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Any of you guys had experience with a Philips FC 950 3-head? Thrift has a nice looking one for 20 bucks, worth the hassle?
    [​IMG]
     
    Daniel Thomas likes this.
  9. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA

    Why not if you have the chance to own it? $20 cannot get you much of anything nowadays ...
     
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  10. Dougr33

    Dougr33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Twin Cities, MN
    I've never seen a Philips cassette deck. Maybe they were bigger in Europe? Sorry, no idea about quality though.
     
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  11. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Quite true.
    I have a Denon tray loader DRS 610. Probably a good idea to have a spare :laugh:
     
  12. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    For $20!!! I'd be all over that in a second, from what I could find it's from 1994 so late era.
     
  13. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Strongly :agree:
     
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  14. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Thanks Deuce, i'll do some testing on it tomorrow after work to make sure it's in working order. :cheers:
    I wanted to ask as I haven't really seen any comments on Philips decks, let alone seen one.
     
    Deuce66 likes this.
  15. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    You better hope no one has already beaten you to the deck ...
     
    c-eling likes this.
  16. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    :laugh:
    Think the only ones around here I have to worry about are the (r)ebay'ers
     
  17. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    ??? why

     
  18. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Was still there today, everything seems to be in good working order.
    I guess it came from a guys collection of decks, he passed away and his son brought in about 4 different makes.
    A JVC dual (light grey colored), a Pioneer dual, one brand I didn't recognize and I think a Technics, all 80's-90's.
    This Philips is pretty heavy, all 'matte' metal finish.
    Thanks for the push guys :)
    [​IMG]
     
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  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011

    Location:
    CT, USA
    Forget the rest, the Philips deck is the one you want to grab! :agree:
     
    c-eling likes this.
  20. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada

    Congrats and you certainly can't beat the price :righton:.
     
    c-eling likes this.
  21. thxphotog

    thxphotog Camera Nerd Cycling Nerd Guitar Nerd Dietary Nerd

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Great line! :)
     
  22. Jimi Floyd

    Jimi Floyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pisa, Italy
    GREAT score, vintage 93, one of the best decks ever from Philips. And Philips invented Compact Cassettes...

    Congratulations!
     
    c-eling likes this.
  23. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Thanks :)
    Hoping to get some good use from her!
     
  24. Guitarded

    Guitarded Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    Congrats, that is a sweet deck!
     
    c-eling likes this.
  25. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    What country was the intended market for the 900 series?
    The only manual I found on it was in German.
     

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