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Vintage cassette deck (70's...)

gerlando

Prog Rocker
In your opinion, which are the best examples of vintage cassette deck in the 70's?

Akai, Pioneer, Sony, Tandberg, Teac?

Many thanks.
Mauro
 
All made very good decks at the higher end of their ranges. One should obviously add Nakamichi, Aiwa and Sansui to the list. The annoyance as I see it is as tape technology improved with better noise reduction etc build quality dropped as it did for all kit as the ‘70s moved to the ‘80s and what were beautiful brushed alloy and wood casings etc gave way to tacky and lightweight black plastic in many examples. On balance I’d prefer build quality over ultimate specification so given the choice I’d take a seriously well made and heavy ‘70s Dolby B machine over a ‘80s plastic Dolby C or HX job. Bare in mind all tape machines of this era will need new belts etc by now.
 
Phase Linear made a well regarded deck, as did Eumig although that might be a later decade.

Nakamichi is as good a place to start as any.

Kyocera, Nikko, Denon, NEAL, Yamaha, Onkyo and Technics.
 
yer Nakamichi 680 series would have to be on your list. Hell even a 600 or a 550 sounds great.
 
If looking at a '70s deck then Nakamichi and Tandberg pretty much ruled the roost. The big Nak 700 was a fabulous deck and still sounds great, even though limited to Type I and Type II tapes. Amazing to think it arrived in 1973!

Overall though quality improved dramatically around '79 with the introduction of Metal tape and a pulling together among manufacturers to try to stick to a more cross-compatible set of standards.

The best performing deck overall from the '70s may well be the Nakamichi 582 or 680 from '79.The 582 was used a lot by tape manufacturers, testers and reviewers as a tape testing tool. Oh, and of course, just about squeaking into '79 was the Nakamichi 1000ZXL...

Outside of the really big guns from Nakamichi, Tandberg, Pioneer etc.., Sony introduced the first truly modern '80s mainstream deck in 1979 with the TC-K75 (nee TC-K81). It had 3 heads (All Ferrite first then quickly replaced by Sendust and Ferrite for better metal performance), dual capstans, and a full sensitivity and bias alignment system for all tape types. It very much set the blueprint in spec and performance for top end decks to come. A good TC-K81 is still a fantastic performing cassette deck today. Brilliant to use too.
 
In your opinion, which are the best examples of vintage cassette deck in the 70's?

Akai, Pioneer, Sony, Tandberg, Teac?

Many thanks.
Mauro

I'd suggest you add Aiwa and as already pointed out, Nakamichi.

FWIW, Tandbergs are lovely sounding decks, but not the most reliable. Some of the later Nakamichis are, IMO, too bloody clever for their own good and are over-complex. High levels of complexity are not, IMO, desirable in something which is now 40+ years old.

I owned a lot of cassette decks back in the day, including 5 different Nakamichis at one time or another – my favourite out of the whole lot was the Aiwa AD6700 which is probably the one I regret selling most.
 
It apears to me, from a distance, that in the second half of the 70s the cassette market was a technological battlefield, with all manufacturers doing their best to show off. So there are a great many wonderful and crazy machines of that period.

BTW, Phase Linear sold rebadged Pioneer decks.

This thread is worthless without pictures.

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But that was the very late 70s. Now back to the past...

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I have two Nakamichis; a 670ZX in the main system and a 600 upstairs in the office system; the only problem with the 600's is that the UK service agent can't service them anymore.
 
I would recommend a 480 or 481 for sound quality and a bargain .. they have the classic Original Nak tape drive sytem not the later much simpler direct drive and Sankyo mechanism. I think Bower & Wilkins still service these. The wedge shaped 600 series is quite different, like the 1000zxl and early dragons. the old amazing brushed steel looking ones are also harder to service.

the original drive needs more complex servicing than the Sankyo. I think the Sankyo mech didnt arrive till 1980's so not relevant here

The later the Nak the less interesting the sound imo but the earlier ones have higher the maintenance implications. I have 3 naks 670 a 300 a Cassette Deck 2 and Technics for auto sensing what tape is what.. something even later non hi end Naks never did. Selling my 480 was the wrong thing sonically, it has a unique lucid quality ...valvelike ...love it

great photos above but some real dogs there too
 
I'm probably going to get flogged for this, but if you're looking for great price-performance, don't discount decks from the 80's. I have a Technics RS-B11W and it gives me superior playback and recording performance than my Marantz 5220 or Akai GXC-570D, but of course it doesn't look anywhere near half as impressive! :D

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On balance I’d prefer build quality over ultimate specification so given the choice I’d take a seriously well made and heavy ‘70s Dolby B machine over a ‘80s plastic Dolby C or HX job. Bare in mind all tape machines of this era will need new belts etc by now.
Cassette decks are another hifi example where specifications don't always mean much to the listening experience. I have had several decks capable of 20Hz-20kHz response, but none sounded as convincing as a Nak 1.5 on humble TDK-D tape, let alone chrome or metal formulations. By sheer coincidence, I've been reunited with my 1.5 - and I'm 95% certain it is the same one I foolishly traded in 15 years ago.
 
Naks are special thanks to their unique heads. These go louder and with less wear. I have a refurbished 1, and a BX-300 in a sorry state. Both reach 24 kHz with ease.

(They don’t really wear less, only more evenly and with less adverse impact on performance, until one day they die.)
 


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