New Project Underway...

[BlazeES]

Another mystery deck endeavor is in play. Kept telling myself, "Like I need another deck...". But I've never owned a respectable, silver-faced three-header. So my searching has lead me into the 80's because I want deck that can do all four tape types - Normal, Chrome, Ferri-chrome AND Metal.

Just need to find that ONE that fits the bill.

 

[mr_rye89]

Sony TC-K71

 

[BlazeES]

Sony TC-K71

That a recommendation or a guess?

 

[mr_rye89]

Both? I have one, picked it up for $50 a couple of years ago, have done nothing to it and it just werks. The VU meters are LED tho

 

[BlazeES]

Both? I have one, picked it up for $50 a couple of years ago, have done nothing to it and it just werks. The VU meters are LED tho

Nothing? No belts even?

I actually prefer LED if they peak detect and hold for bit...

 

[mr_rye89]

 

[mr_rye89]

Nothing? No belts even?

I actually prefer LED if they peak detect and hold for bit...

nope just cleaned the transport

 

[Elite-ist]

Sony TC-K777(ES) would be my pick. It's available in silver and black. Loving my TC-K666ES.




Nando.

 

[BlazeES]

Mystery deck gets the Sunday morning pampering.

Replaced all 4 belts. Belts... always a fun adventure.

Have to say though, these were easier than doing the TC-K870ES.

Was told this deck had all original belts. They were loose - but worked, sort of powdery on the surfaces ... but not goo ... Thank God
Amazing considering the 4 decade time span this thing has been practically 'stored'.

Pictures don't do these justice. They look grayer in person.

 

[Elite-ist]

Tony: I suppose we will find out soon enough which deck you've acquired. I am guessing as the advertising goes: " It's a Sony."

In my experience, when it comes to 80's cassette decks which have lasted longest with their original belts - JVC first comes to mind followed by Yamaha.

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Why do you suppose that is Nando? Not played as much?

 

[Elite-ist]

Lee: The belt composition is most likely responsible for the longevity of the belts. Could be the tape transport, too.

Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Ahhhh.........I wonder if any of those engineers of the 70's stuff thought a lot of it would still be running 50 years later.....

 

[Elite-ist]

Lee: I hope for many more years of regular service to come from my old gear. It's an outstanding legacy to be enjoying all this old technology in a present-day-disposable-electronics-society.



Nando.

 

[laatsch55]

Amen to that Nando.....we were born at the right time........for a lot of things..

 

[BlazeES]

Tony: I suppose we will find out soon enough which deck you've acquired. I am guessing as the advertising goes: " It's a Sony."

In my experience, when it comes to 80's cassette decks which have lasted longest with their original belts - JVC first comes to mind followed by Yamaha.

Nando.

Trying to figure out a different sort of way to lift the curtain on this one, Nando. But you guessed right ( ... like it wasn't somewhat predictable ).

I originally wanted a JVC that harkened back to the days when I was primarily making tapes for the car and the time I became enamored with the FeCr experience + the whole Super ANRS thing. Didn't work out that way in the end, but I'm actually better off the way it finally landed.

One thing I'll mention in advance is how cool it is to actually experience the generational jumps by virtue of going back in time. Mechanical counters, microphone inputs, only Dolby B and lower spec'd performance levels of the older machines ... really puts the early 90's decks into a whole new perspective of appreciation. A sh!t ton of advancements happened within a mere 15 or so years - in the cassette deck realm and in the tapes that fed it.

So I agree with you Lee, we were born in a very cool era.

 

[Elite-ist]

How are you progressing with your new deck, Tony? Always interested in experiences by members getting these old decks operational.

Nando.

 

[BlazeES]

Really enjoying the deck so far. Admittedly, I need to feed more info into this thread and finish up on my Onn Groove tape test review too.

Was struggling with some RFI issues which were driving me nuts, that I've finally tackled with a new home-brewed 'foil' barrier situated next to my wireless tower in the same room. So now the noise issue has been mitigated. The noise issue was also interfering with my Sugar Cube and on that front, I've learned now to simply unplug the Ethernet cable to it until I see on the SC forums that a valuable firmware update is available. Also moving my amp onto a new platform to free up an addition shelf for this particular deck.



The deck records & plays back really well although I haven't tried a metal tape on it yet ... but Type I - III are working damn good so far and became markedly better after I changed out the belts. The heads in this mystery deck look factory fresh to my eyes... so I think it's safe to say that it wasn't used much at all.

I've tried a Sony HF-X, a TDK SA-X and a Sony FeCr (circa 1982) and I've now reacquainted myself with just how finicky those particular FeCr tapes were back-in-the-day. The thing I forgot about was this: Record in Type III for Bias and EQ but then playback with the EQ lowered back down to Type I to get that boost in clarity without introducing any noise. The car audio environment really benefited from this. That was that 'trick' to get FeCr to sound amazing. Back when I used Sony FeCr for pretty much everything, that was something I had discovered using my Dad's JVC three-header and had totally forgotten about. Now that I've got a Sony three-header from the same era, I can see that this wasn't a JVC problem but simply a FeCr peculiarity.

Also surprisingly impressed with Dolby B... which I haven't used in ages. How this deck maintained it's Dolby alignment after 4 decades blows my mind.

*

Got a lot going on beyond the confines of my stereo system for the past several weeks, so I'm sort of plodding along...

 

[20tajk7]

Sony TC-K777 ? that deck is a real killer.

 

[BlazeES]

Nice. Yeah, I looked for one of those but couldn't find a satisfactory specimen. I landed on a 2-digit TC-K instead ...