Balticprince
Vinyl Junkie
Has anyone here owned a Philips cassette deck? Philips invented the technology but I rarely hear about the company's vintage decks these days.
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:scratch2:
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Philips cassette decks?
- Thread starter Balticprince
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jan_stevns
Super Member
Well - guess most their vintage decks are long gone ( with a few exeptions )
They may have invented the CompactCasette but they didn't invent solidity
One strange bird - do still work, despite the very complicated mechanic - found such a thingie, and gave it to my Father (foto from the net!)
I had another model myself - the N2510 -
not so bad a deck, was replaced with a Technics.
really doubt there a living examples running out there today
Balticprince
Vinyl Junkie
I have this handsome N2506. Unfortunately, it doesn't react well to long periods of disuse. It doesn't even turn on right now.
It served me well as a recording medium though. The tapes I made of my records always sounded great on the Pioneer 6X9 speakers in my car. But the quality of the sound I got playing these same tapes back in the house was disappointing. I therefore have to conclude that it's playback capabilities were not nearly as good as its recording capabilities.
ity:
It served me well as a recording medium though. The tapes I made of my records always sounded great on the Pioneer 6X9 speakers in my car. But the quality of the sound I got playing these same tapes back in the house was disappointing. I therefore have to conclude that it's playback capabilities were not nearly as good as its recording capabilities.
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Brian
An Old Geezer
The 2408 was an interesting deck. It was used in many office systems where music was broadcast for hours at a time. It was a RIAA and Muzak fighter. Philips looked at the format as a dictation device and made transports and office machines more than stereo decks. In many ways Philips is more like a R&D company than a manufacturer. Sort of a Skunkworks. We've benefitted from it a lot compared to ocmpanies like Sony that wanted to charge big bucks to license its technologies.
jan_stevns
Super Member
Yeps - They also invented plastic fantastic
I've seen a VCR where most of the mech was made entirely of plastic material - believe it or not - it worked.Seing this deck - metal tape capable, direct drive, 3 heads and all the gimmicks - you'd wonder - is it a Philips at all ?? (ugly enough to be .....)
Ooopsss - the picture was big....
Satch
Audiotinkerer
I owned this great N5846 deck, TOTL, which incorporated a (at the time) sci-fi feature to index tracks and had many interesting gadgets. Unfortunately let down by mechanical problems, namely one rather infamous plastic wheel.
Although my current Nak ZX-9 probably runs circles around it, I'd love to have a working Philips again.
Although my current Nak ZX-9 probably runs circles around it, I'd love to have a working Philips again.
I've had problems with rubber part that turns into some sticky tar-like stuff on Philips cassette and reel-to-reel decks. It's almost impossible and very, very messy to clean. I have never been too impressed with the sound quality in any of the units either, but i have only had my hands on low and mid-end units. The plastic used in some of the units also becomes extremely fragile with age. My grandfather had (or maybe still has) one of those cassette changers. I know it worked some 15 years ago. If you pushed the "play"-button while it was playing, the cassette was pushed into a compartment on the side of the player, and a new one fell down and started playing.
jan_stevns
Super Member
Hi Lars - have seen the goey thing here to, despite that it appears to be very seldom seen here in Scandinavia - thank god for that
btw - isn't your avatar the Tandberg factory ?
AnalogDigit
Realistic fan.
I had an Philips dual cassette that I used to make recordings off the radio on. Recorded okay, nothing spectacular. It had dual wells that recorded. Gave it to the thrift since I no longer needed it.
tomwil
Active Member
jan_stevns
Super Member
That thing (DCC) came too late to have any importance at all .... When it came out, the real thing - DAT was cheaper
Yes! DCC and then there was Video 2000 I think they called it, a video you could flip the tape and use the other side of, just like an audio cassette. I actually saw one in action once, it was easily a match for VHS.
Maybe we should start a thread of old Philips inventions.
Maybe we should start a thread of old Philips inventions.
junkaudio
Super Member
i just bought a philips dcc 900 for 30 bucks sound is more than fine
allot info on philips best tape :http://home.netvigator.com/~ntomyng/dcc900/dcc900inside/index.htm
allot info on philips best tape :http://home.netvigator.com/~ntomyng/dcc900/dcc900inside/index.htm
jan_stevns
Super Member
They did sound fine - actually pretty much like a good Minidisc.
Like Minidisc - the DCC was a good idea, but they where too late
That said - the Minidisc was (is) better in many ways ...
Like Minidisc - the DCC was a good idea, but they where too late
That said - the Minidisc was (is) better in many ways ...
steerpike2
Super Member
Philips is definately a pioneer, making money on inventing, then letting others do the mass production until its obsolete.
E.g.: "VCR" - the original home video cassette recorder. 'VCR' was actually the format trademark, before everyone started using it generically for any video tape recorder. That came out in 1972 - quite a few years before Beta or VHS.
And Laservision (Laserdisc), first shown in 1972 also.
And theit EL3400, the first stand-alone home video recorder (reel to reel) http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/philipsel3400.jpg Beautiful! I'd love to have one.
The best Philips tape recorder - not cassette though - is probably the N4520. Also something I lust for.
E.g.: "VCR" - the original home video cassette recorder. 'VCR' was actually the format trademark, before everyone started using it generically for any video tape recorder. That came out in 1972 - quite a few years before Beta or VHS.
And Laservision (Laserdisc), first shown in 1972 also.
And theit EL3400, the first stand-alone home video recorder (reel to reel) http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/philipsel3400.jpg Beautiful! I'd love to have one.
The best Philips tape recorder - not cassette though - is probably the N4520. Also something I lust for.
We're drifting off subject here, but what the heck... I have a N4522, the 1/2 track version of the 4520. Nice big machine (it even dwarfs my Sony TC766-2 and that's saying something for a consumer deck) with switchable eq IEC/NAB @ 15ips. It has an ugly plastic casing instead of wood veneer, but the bits that matter are superb. Particularly like the variable winding speed.
jan_stevns
Super Member
Spinning of this tangent ..... i'll call Pro12 the best ever made, despite it wasn't a true Philips
