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Vintage cassette deck (70's...)

One of the decks I am fixing up at the minute is these:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TC-177SD.html

I have re-capped the power supply and playback section, the transport is all serviced and working close to factory specs. The TC-177 and Nak 700/1000 transports are very similar, from what I gather Nakamichi copied Sony for their transport.

I also have a Goodmans SCD-100 and a Sonab cassette deck here that are basically a Nakamichi 500 in different clothes.

For consistently good cassette decks that didn't cost the earth it is hard to beat Aiwa, I have a few of the AD-F660/770/990 family and XK-007/9 too. The transports are stunning - 0.018 %W+F for a belt-driven deck is outstanding, only a Nakamichi Dragon and one or two other decks can match that and they are all direct drive.

A good "sleeper" deck is the Kenwood KX-1100 - this uses the same transport as the Nakamichi CR-7, BX-300 etc but has Amorphous heads and built in calibration facilities.
 
df_genius said:
For consistently good cassette decks that didn't cost the earth it is hard to beat Aiwa, I have a few of the AD-F660/770/990 family and XK-007/9 too. The transports are stunning - 0.018 %W+F for a belt-driven deck is outstanding, only a Nakamichi Dragon and one or two other decks can match that and they are all direct drive.
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Back in the 80s, I remember being mesmerised by the twin needles of his Aiwa AD-6900. It was one of the decks I wanted to collect, but it's now off my list because it does not have a double capstan transport. That won't do. :D
 
James said:
Back in the 80s, I remember being mesmerised by the twin needles of his Aiwa AD-6900. It was one of the decks I wanted to collect, but it's now off my list because it does not have a double capstan transport. That won't do. :D
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I would think again - yes the transport it quite "industrial" but it is driven by two quality FG servo motors, 0.04% W&F (as good as any Nak at that time) and it is a beast to work on but the superb heads are Ferrite and as you say the meters are fanstastic. The mkII version even support metal tape. Built in oscillators and rec.level/bias calibration tools too.

My cassette deck servicing charges start at around £60-70 depending on the deck and go up from there based on what needs doing, complexity and so on... for a 6900 i'd have to charge around double that, you have to dismantle most of the deck to get to the transport out, and you have to remove the power transformer too!

Here is an image of the internals:
http://forum.vegalab.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=113101&d=1296626145

One thing about those Aiwas and the AD-M700/800 that came after is that they use the same orange polypropylene capacitors that Nakamichi decks of that era use too, and they all need changing. On Aiwa's they are in the Dolby curcuits and you can often hear the noise they add when they go bad.
 
I saw one of these at the Harrogate show in the late 70s and was transfixed by the LCD meters, I’d only seen needles before. The transport solenoids were cool too...

imagemagic.php
 
gerlando said:
Did UK ever produce a cassette deck?
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NEAL, Goodmans, IIRC a badge engineered one under the Leak and Wharfedale brands and a very rare Arcam one which I'm not sure if it ever went into production but was intended as a pretty high end deck and had Dolby S or SR IIRC (one was the pro only version but can't remember which).
NEAL is your one for actually British and actually built in quantity but the transport was a bought in American Wollansak mechanism. It had all British electronics in it. I have a NEAL103 and it is a fine sounding 2 head machine... or was when it worked... they had problems with the rubber used for the pinch roller and many of them just turned to goo after 15 years or so. I'm sure I could get a replacement from somewhere but it's very far down the list of priorities.
 
re the 600 series tape machine its a 2 header and pipe and slippers Nakkers (Nakamichi buffs) feel it records the best sound of any Nak machine ... but last i read 10 yeRs ago Bower and Wilkins dont service them anymore due to lack of spares as i recall

Id guess the right belts are around so it must be the mechanicals ...anyway their record sound is legendary. The Grateful Dead used to bootleg their own concerts and recorded on a Nak... eventually a Dragon but initially a 600.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
NEAL, Goodmans, IIRC a badge engineered one under the Leak and Wharfedale brands and a very rare Arcam one which I'm not sure if it ever went into production but was intended as a pretty high end deck and had Dolby S or SR IIRC (one was the pro only version but can't remember which).
NEAL is your one for actually British and actually built in quantity but the transport was a bought in American Wollansak mechanism. It had all British electronics in it. I have a NEAL103 and it is a fine sounding 2 head machine... or was when it worked... they had problems with the rubber used for the pinch roller and many of them just turned to goo after 15 years or so. I'm sure I could get a replacement from somewhere but it's very far down the list of priorities.
Click to expand...


do i recall from various police interview rooms i have had the privilege of entering and leaving... that Neal are the makers of the police interview cassettes system?

far down your list but if Im right spares will be available
 
Arkless Electronics said:
NEAL, Goodmans, IIRC a badge engineered one under the Leak and Wharfedale brands and a very rare Arcam one which I'm not sure if it ever went into production but was intended as a pretty high end deck and had Dolby S or SR IIRC (one was the pro only version but can't remember which).
NEAL is your one for actually British and actually built in quantity but the transport was a bought in American Wollansak mechanism. It had all British electronics in it. I have a NEAL103 and it is a fine sounding 2 head machine... or was when it worked... they had problems with the rubber used for the pinch roller and many of them just turned to goo after 15 years or so. I'm sure I could get a replacement from somewhere but it's very far down the list of priorities.
Click to expand...

Goodmans had the SCD-100 and the 110. I have both, the 100 was made by Nakamichi and the 110 was by JVC. I also have the Arcam Delta 100, which used a Denon transport. The Arcam is a nice deck a few hundred made, I am pretty sure I have a pre-production one as the labels on the back are hand written, it was a box of bits when I bought it and I wasn't sure if there was even enough parts to make a complete deck. I have a second Arcam too which just needs a logic board to get working.

The Leak and Wharfedale decks are made by Nakamichi too, all based around the Nak 500 but missing the built-in 400Hz oscillators.

The "most" british cassette decks are probably the Neal and the Arcam, there was this JLH one one ebay last week too:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=302651243614
 
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ian r said:
do i recall from various police interview rooms i have had the privilege of entering and leaving... that Neal are the makers of the police interview cassettes system?
Click to expand...
ian r said:

far down your list but if Im right spares will be available
Click to expand...
A double transport system with PZM microphone on the wall IIRC, one copy for your Brief, the other for the Crown Prosecutor.

Glad to hear that you were allowed to leave Ian!

_64520226_64520225.jpg
 
ian r said:
do i recall from various police interview rooms i have had the privilege of entering and leaving... that Neal are the makers of the police interview cassettes system?

far down your list but if Im right spares will be available
Click to expand...

Yep they make the police interview recorders. Now part of Canford Audio but used to be based at The Simonside Works at South Shields. I rode 50 miles on a 100cc Suzuki to get a manual for it from Simonside works why back when... and was interviewed 10 years ago by Canford as an R&D engineer to work on the new generation of digital recorders by NEAL... I was rather pissed off that they spent 2 hours interviewing me, showed me round the entire facility, gave me a theory test etc, told me how impressed with my abilities they were... and then that they were actually looking for a DIGITAL audio specialist (I don't do digital) so no job... yeah well if they had said that even on the phone I could have said "I'm NOT your man for this job then" an not wasted about 3 hours of my time.... Grrr

There are companies that will make a new pinch roller these days I believe but cassette is of virtually zero interest to me so, to be honest, I doubt I'll ever repair it...
 
Stunsworth said:
I saw one of these at the Harrogate show in the late 70s and was transfixed by the LCD meters, I’d only seen needles before. The transport solenoids were cool too...
Click to expand...

Those meters reminded me of this, the Sony model that I've always wanted (TC-K88)...

20692bbe01357fc477b1365cb02bfad8.jpg
 
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