The greatest consumer cassette tape deck ever produced?*

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

  1. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    This may explain things: Back in the 1990's JVC claimed that the company had come up with a circuit that completley eliminated switching noise. Maybe I purchased a unit that had the new said mentioned circuit. Who knows!

    But ahhh, AFM, what a sound. It was equal to RTR. The 1980's Harmon Kardon Hi-FI VCR had a frequency reponse right up to 23 khz. In fact UHF magazine's measurements showed that it was + 2 db at 22 khz. Eat your heart out Studer!
     
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  2. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Let me get back to you on that one. You can buy a passive preamp with multiple inputs and plug the passive preamp into your receiver. Your receiver must have loads of inputs. Have you run out?
     
  3. anorak2

    anorak2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Hope you'll be fine soon.
     
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  4. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario

    MackiePassive 2x2 Studio Monitor Controller
     
  5. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Thank you. My health just keeps getting worse. But I got you guys and as long as the world keeps making ice tea, I will be kicking..
    :righton:
     
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  6. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Oh no. As we know they were widescreen 720 HD CRT televisions at one point. The CRT computer monitors we had back in the 1980's were pretty crap. I don't know what they were limited to.

    The NTSC 525 line system just limited the frak out of everthing. Professional 2 inch 525 line quad video I think could push out 350 lines of resolution. But I really don't know.

    But all of our CRT televisions, cable, satellite were limited to 250 lines. In my day (1987) if you wanted high definition you went out and bought a movie ticket.

    What many people did not realize is back in the 1970/1980s you could rent and buy movies on 8, 16 and 35 mm film. And 16 mm projectors were ahhh.....reasonable priced. My Father bought home a movie catalog from this company back in 1980. They had Star Wars (Ep.4) for $100 on 16 mm. $250 for a 35 mm print.
    That would come on 7 reels. (20 mins per reel)
    The catalog had alien, The Sting and many others. They even had the show MASH to rent on 16 mm prints.

    They even had films on Super 8 mm. One day my Father took out the 8 mm copy of Beneath The Planet of The Apes from a local library. Well all they had was Reel 3, I think. So we watched 20 mins of the movie without sound because my Father's 8mm projector had no sound.

    So VHS, BETA and Laser disk was NOT the only choice back then.

    Back in 1976 our Grade school rented The Batman Movie on 16 mm. We saw it in the gym. Great fun!
    Back in 1984 my Catholic school, Saint Marguerite Bourgeois rented THE DARK CRYSTAL on 16 mm for our Grade 8 class. Excellent quality. Better than Laser Disks 440 lines. Film kicks butt!
     
  7. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Interesting. I wonder how that worked? Did it only work on tapes the deck recorded itself, or did it work on playback of pre-recorded cassettes / tapes recorded on other decks?
     
  8. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    There is a possibility and looking at a 7 inch reel that someone is selling here. Its not even in the ad yet. The condition is almost brand new in the box. Is a 7 inch a good start and good size reel?
     
  9. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    I have no idea.

    M~
     
  10. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Oops mistaken. sometimes I get confused with you and McLover...
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2021
  11. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    There is a possibility and looking at a 7 inch reel that someone is selling here. Its not even in the ad yet. The condition is almost brand new in the box. Is a 7 inch a good start and good size reel?
     
  12. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    For me, that is 45 minutes of recording time at very best. 22 1/2 minutes of recording time, otherwise. I run my tapes one direction. 1/2 track aka 2 track Stereo, 1 and 10 Khz tones at the head of the reel. Otari MX 5050 machines x 2.
     
  13. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Okay so 45 mins on both sides?
    That's not a lot.......
    I need more time than 22.5 mins per side....
    So what youre trying to say is go for the real thing..?
    PS I just couldn't resist this reel deck its like new in the box. I'm in the sake of getting a machine that was not been gremlinized...
     
  14. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    One side, not two sides.
     
  15. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    I assume it could only work on tapes that you recorded and played back on the JVC machine. To hear HI-FI tapes playing back on the EP mode with no switching noise was incredible. You had to hear it to believe it.
     
  16. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Type 3? That has to be a 40 year old tape.
     
  17. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    I once gave a review for the THE SUPREMES ANTHOLOGY on CD for Amazon.ca. The original 1986 release. It was only $23 on Amazon.ca. But I decided it was my duty to tell people what they were getting. So I went into some detail about a flat transfer to a Sony 1610. No compression or Eq. of course these are all made from quarter inch copy tapes as opposed to the original half inch, 3 track masters (don't ask. Long story) but I didn't mention that part. Anyway a few days later the price had jumped to $80. My big mouth huh?!
     
  18. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Easy. Just rip out the DBX circuits. Now the deck is perfect.
     
  19. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Face it. You have no love for any NR system. Try Dolby B on a tape of DSOTM. I think maybe you just miss the sound of hisssssssssssssssssss.
     
  20. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario

    I will assume the 70 db signal to noise ratio is with Metal tape? If not I am impressed.
     
  21. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    He went crazy because you canceled the order?
    I see what you mean by "Ebay actors."
     
  22. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Well guess what.? The "actor" didn't respond till he shipped it after 3 more days. The time it got here, No rewind and playback is "frankenstein".
    I just don't have the heart to file a complaint because I don't practice and live like that. I politely sent the seller and email about the deck and he just went off ballistic. He was telling me, I will pay for the shipping on both ways then he will evaluate the situation. As far as I remember, I didn't bought the deck from a seller name "How do you sleep at night incorporated"
    I don't know whats happening to this planet. Anyways its a good thing that I had a plan B since from the beginning. I ended up fixing the deck the right way.
    The plus on this deck is the mechanism. is solid. Ill be honest with you. I'll vouch for this deck when it comes to workhorse. So it ended up in a good way. Ill be able to us this deck for a long time. The capacitors are not that much so I can easily rebuilt the whole thing in no time.
    Motor is big man.
     
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  23. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    John, I have a new reel that Ill be picking up locally. Help me out on setting this baby up and running fine. Then well talk dolby...
     
  24. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy - Touch the Face of God -

    Location:
    Northwest, USA
    Hey John,
    I just bought a reel. Its probably here on Friday. What do you think?

    TEAC A-4300SX (Auto reverse)
    Stereo Reel to Reel Tape Recorder

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    Description
    Automatic Reverse and a special Counter Repeat mechanism allow the A-4300SX deck to run for hours. Or days. Without attention. It's great for parties or whenever you want non stop music. And the other exciting Teac features we've built into the A-4300SX will give you non stop pleasure and enjoyment as well.
    All Teac reel-to-reel decks are built around our famous three motor transport. We use one motor to drive the tape past the heads at a constant speed, and one additional motor for each reel spindle to provide take up tension and rewind and fast forward torque.
    Six feather-touch push buttons activate the transport system electronically, making it easy to maintain total control over transport operation. You can switch instantly from Fast Forward to Rewind, or from Play to Reverse Play, with no danger of breaking, stretching or spilling your tape.
    In addition, a special punch-in recording feature lets you go from Play to Record while the tape is in motion. A double safety system prevents this from happening accidentally, but whenever you want you can utilize this feature to create a running splice.
    The six push buttons that control the transport are duplicated in our optional RC-140 Remote Control unit. When connected to the A-4300SX, all transport operations can be initiated from
    up to 16 feet away.
    One of the features our customers seem to appreciate most is Automatic Reverse. It doubles the playing time of any stereo tape, and allows you to sit back and relax. When the music stops at the end of Side One, the transport automatically reverses the direction of tape travel and begins playing Side Two.

    Specifications
    Track system: auto reverse, 4-track, 2-channel, stereo/monaural system
    Heads: 2 x playback, 1 x erase, 1 x record
    Motor: 2 x reel, 1 x capstan
    Reel size: 5 or 7 inch reel
    Tape speeds: 3 3⁄4 7 1⁄2 ips
    Wow and flutter: 0.06% (7 1⁄2 ips)
    Frequency response: 30Hz to 28kHz (7 1⁄2 ips)
    Signal to Noise Ratio: 58dB
    Total harmonic distortion: 1%
    Input: 100mV (line), 0.25mV (mic)
    Output: 0.3V (line)
    Dimensions: 440 x 488 x 216mm
    Weight: 23kg
     
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  25. anorak2

    anorak2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Was it a private seller or a merchant? With commercial merchants you have all the consumer rights applicable in your jurisdiction. With private sellers you don't. You basically agree to buy the item as is, without any refund rights. It's a matter of trust and common sense. You can get a feel of how trustworthy a private seller is by his ebay score. Anything below 98 is not trustworthy.

    Anyway, with used hifi gear it's a mixed bag. You can get great bargains as well as duds.
     

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