Teac 450 full restoration worth it?

[AK577]

So I’m sitting around thinking of stuff to do, and it crossed my mind…Would restoring my Teac 450 cassette deck make an audible difference…?

It works and sounds “fine” but obviously it’s still cassette. It has some hiss, rolled off highs, etc. I was thinking of doing a full recap, using film caps when possible, and also replacing all of the carbon resistors with 1% metal.

Has anyone done this with good results? I know there’s better sounding decks out there, but I love the style of this early Teac. It matches well with my early 70s solid state system.

 

[mcgjohn]

you can do that. Really depends on how much you are going to use the deck and how much you are into cassettes. Before you go to all that effort, you may want to consider at least looking for a 3 head deck if you are going to record. Above that would be a 3 head deck with adjustable azimuth.

 

[macyjrm]

Financially? Probably not. For your personal satisfaction probably yes. My faulty recall says the 450 was TOTL during its production cycle. (I had the 360 version).

 

[Chad Michael]

Top loaders are WAY cool, that is a good looking wagon that should be preserved!!!

If you can do the work... if you had to pay a tech, maybe not.

 

[AK577]

you can do that. Really depends on how much you are going to use the deck and how much you are into cassettes. Before you go to all that effort, you may want to consider at least looking for a 3 head deck if you are going to record. Above that would be a 3 head deck with adjustable azimuth.

I’m not educated in the differences between a 3 head and 2 head cassette deck. I’ve always heard the 3’s are better but I don’t know why exactly.

Are there any early 3 head decks? The reason I love the 450 so much is because of the year. It matches pretty well to my Fisher 500tx that I restored. I want a cassette deck close to 1969-1973. Same goes for the Teac Reel to Reel I use for that system.

I’m using my old PL-A25 pioneer turntable with it, it’s approximately 1969-1970. Very cool!

I probably wouldn’t record much with the 450, if at all.

 

[AK577]

Also I’m not certain what the “Dolby” feature does in the cassette deck. It has its own Dolby board, I’m wondering if rebuilding that board is worth it. I’ll switch the Dolby circuit on and it takes some of the high frequencies out. I assume it’s for hiss..? I’ll have to research it more.

I love the idea of getting into cassette and making it sound good as possible. I have hundreds of cassettes that I want to enjoy lol.

Also I noticed some cassettes sound GREAT while others sound extremely muffled. Assuming it’s just age or how it was originally recorded.

I need to get the pads for the tensioner, I’m sure some could use it.

 

[mcgjohn]

I’m not educated in the differences between a 3 head and 2 head cassette deck. I’ve always heard the 3’s are better but I don’t know why exactly.

Are there any early 3 head decks? The reason I love the 450 so much is because of the year. It matches pretty well to my Fisher 500tx that I restored. I want a cassette deck close to 1969-1973. Same goes for the Teac Reel to Reel I use for that system.

I’m using my old PL-A25 pioneer turntable with it, it’s approximately 1969-1970. Very cool!

I probably wouldn’t record much with the 450, if at all.

Then at least recap the deck, lubricate it and install new belts.

 

[r_brumett61]

This is how DolbyB works. You must record the tape with Dolby on and leave it on when you playback that tape some prerecorded tapes were recorded with DolbyB. You for the Dolby symbol on the tape. When the deck is recording with DolbyB yes it increases the high frequency volume and lowers on playback reducing the hiss by around 10db , So if you are playing a tape that has not been recorded with DolbyB and turn on(activate) DolbyB the highs will be muted or reduced. 2 verses 3 heads tape decks you have in a 2 head system 1 erase head and 1 record/playback head, they work really good. But in a 3 head system you have 1 erase head 1 record head and 1 playback head. Now you can monitor what's being recorded and adj levels for a better recording. Their are other pluses but that is the biggest reason for having 3 heads

 

[AK577]

This is how DolbyB works. You must record the tape with Dolby on and leave it on when you playback that tape some prerecorded tapes were recorded with DolbyB. You for the Dolby symbol on the tape. When the deck is recording with DolbyB yes it increases the high frequency volume and lowers on playback reducing the hiss by around 10db , So if you are playing a tape that has not been recorded with DolbyB and turn on(activate) DolbyB the highs will be muted or reduced. 2 verses 3 heads tape decks you have in a 2 head system 1 erase head and 1 record/playback head, they work really good. But in a 3 head system you have 1 erase head 1 record head and 1 playback head. Now you can monitor what's being recorded and adj levels for a better recording. Their are other pluses but that is the biggest reason for having 3 heads

Wow thanks for the explanation! So do you think I should rebuild the Dolby board? I’ll have to go through my cassettes to see if any are Dolby

 

[BruEmb]

Hi all, and good evening. Over the years, I have had 3 Teac 450s, two A and one non-A. My first deck was a Teac A-450, purchased used sometime around 1977. I used the deck until sometime in 1981. The big problem was that I was a novice, and the deck lost its high frequencies. At 21, I didn't know that a head on a cassette deck needed to be demagnetized every 10 hours of use. I ended up buying a TDK head demagnetizer sometime in 1982 for my Akai GXC-740D. My second was a TEAC 450 purchased in the early 2000's. At the same time, I purchased a cassette deck calibration cassette. I was able to make the 450 perform perfectly. The 450 gave up after the take-up idler went bad. I have searched all over the internet for a take-up idler, but have not been able to find one.

Now we come to the second A-450. We are thinking about moving overseas, so some of my Hi-Fi equipment can not go overseas. I cannot take the Akai GX-8, which is a hi-end three-head cassette. So I decided to seek out a Teac A-450 which comes with a voltage input selector and reversable capstain driver moter the can be easily converted to 50HZ by flipping the motor pulley. So two weeks ago, I pulled the trigger on an A-450 off of eBay for about $126. I tore the deck down and found out that most of the mechanics of the deck for the transport were missing. Using parts from the old 450, I was able to completely rebuild the tape transport of the A-450. Next will be a calibration of the audio boards to bring the deck to perfect working condition.