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Unusual surprise at Fleamarket

Z

Zygmo

Super Member
Several years ago I was wandering through a local flea market with my wife. (She is a flea market NUT!) :) Happened on to a stack of black stereo equipment. Dirty, but not beat up. There was a matching receiver, computerized cassette deck, and a computerized turntable...with the straight line tone arm. I can't remember the brand...but it was like MCS, or something like that. I was told later that they were rebranded JVCs, or Pioneers maybe.
Anyway....the whole stack was $2.50, or $2.75...something like that!! LOL Had to be junk...but what the heck...I had never played with one of those turntables that the arm moves on a rail. Probably nothing works...but something to mess with on a rainy day.
Everything worked!! Receiver worked fine...seems like it was 35....50wpc, something like that. Computerized station tuning, timer, programmable settings, etc. Same with the Cassette deck...auto reverse, timer, auto tape type selector etc. And the turntable! Same thing...programmable track selector, timer and a brand new cartridge! LOL
The only thing wrong was the turntable needed two new belts for the opening/closing of the record tray. It had to be helped along when loading or unloading a record.
Kept them a few years....then ended up giving them to Goodwill.
 
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MCS was JCPenney's audio brand, sold in the1970s-80s (possibly into the 90s, not sure). Most of their stuff was OEMed by well-known manufacturers like Technics, NEC and Foster, and usually were the same as models sold directly by those companies, sometimes with different colors or slightly different features. They have a good reputation.
 
swechsler said:
MCS was JCPenney's audio brand, sold in the1970s-80s (possibly into the 90s, not sure). Most of their stuff was OEMed by well-known manufacturers like Technics, NEC and Foster, and usually were the same as models sold directly by those companies, sometimes with different colors or slightly different features. They have a good reputation.
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I had an MCS black aluminum face two speed cassette deck. REALLY fine deck. Transport worked great, all lights did...but no sound. Someone here took me through a troubleshooting...and found that the two Dolby ICs were bad. He said this was common on those decks, and are no longer available. Bummer. But I kept it awhile, thinking if I ran onto those ICs somewhere, I would try to de solder those, install sockets to make those easy to replace if I found some and it happened again.
Well....years passed...finally gave up, removed the face plate as it was in excellent shape, somebody someday might be looking for one. Junked the rest. Of course, not long after that I saw some Dolby ICs online with the exact number!! LOL Story of my life.
I was talking with a guy that had a flea market near here FULL of stereo equipment. Some high dollar stuff too. I still had the MCS deck at the time, and I asked him if he works on, or knew anyone who works on vintage equipment. He said he can do some repairs...what did I have. I mentioned the 2 speed cassette deck, and he said....no that is just for hi-speed duplicating. I said noooo...it plays and records in TWO speeds. He repeated what he first said. I never got it across to him that it actually worked in TWO speeds! LOL What is it...1 7/8ths and 3 1/4? I think that was the speeds. With all that equipment in that store, he had never seen a 2 speed cassette deck.
These days there is NO way I would ever be able to hire that repaired. When you do find a repairman, the cost is way out of my reach.
 
1 7/8 IPS is the standard for cassette. One running at 3 3/4 IPS would be an odd thing, and you'd only be able to run your own tapes. Not that I'm a tape guy but I'm kind of surprised that even exists.
 
gadget73 said:
1 7/8 IPS is the standard for cassette. One running at 3 3/4 IPS would be an odd thing, and you'd only be able to run your own tapes. Not that I'm a tape guy but I'm kind of surprised that even exists.
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Yes...you are right. That would be 3 3/4 speed. I would love to have heard it at that higher speed. Here is the face plate I saved. Very nice Deck. It was nearly 18 inches wide and heavy.MCS face plate for AK.jpg
 
swechsler said:
Looks like that was a BIC T3 under the hood.

View attachment 3722499
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Uh oh. That probably is what mine was. I wasn't sure...I assumed it was an MCS because I had several pieces of MCS at the time. This was probably 35 or 40 years ago! Is this your deck in the picture? Is the higher speed worth having less music on the tape? What is BIC? I am guessing THAT is a rebrand.
swechsler said:
Looks like that was a BIC T3 under the hood.
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Zygmo said:
Uh oh. That probably is what mine was. I wasn't sure...I assumed it was an MCS because I had several pieces of MCS at the time. This was probably 35 or 40 years ago! Is this your deck in the picture? Is the higher speed worth having less music on the tape? What is BIC? I am guessing THAT is a rebrand.
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BIC is British Industries Corp; they were most well known for making inexpensive turntables and Venturi speakers (these days it's probably just a name owned by another company; although they do still sell Venturi-labeled speakers, I doubt they bear any resemblance to the originals). I doubt they made those decks themselves (they were probably OEMed by some Japanese manufacturer that didn't sell equipment under their own name). It's quite possible it was sold as an MCS model as well.

That's not my deck, I grabbed it off the web. I never owned one of those, although I was aware of them at the time.
 
The T-3 was a very capable deck. I won one while selling them and after playing with it sold it to a friend. I had reel to reel for home tape and only used a cassette to make car tapes.
 
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