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Vintage Cassette Decks - Collectors/Anyone Bother?

I have a rather non-vintage H/K cassette deck from the late 80's - not BPC though. It's got the biggest VFD I've ever seen on a cassette deck, and a very awesome motorised drawer loading mechanism. With a little hatch in the top to clean the heads...

I'd like a silver Pioneer deck though...the H/K is built pretty well, but the front panel isn't quite as thick as the vintage stuff. :D

Other things I tend to hoard and not use are old RtR decks. I've got a pair of tubed Marconiphones and a wooden Tandberg. Both aren't usable due to the very heavily worn heads, but I just like 'em. I did have quite a few more (a Philips, Revox, crackly old EMI and a couple others), but I decided those weren't worth putting time and money in to get them working.
 
thilaseen said:
Where in Aus are you ejecta? I'm in Tassie, which most people would think is a bit light on for vintage audio bargains.
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I'm in south west Sydney (Ingleburn) - unfortunately people here seem more interested in tiny units with crappy rubberised buttons than elegant aluminum faced powerhouses that can double as boat anchors.
thilaseen said:
. These get thrown at me. Aagh no smilies on quick reply
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Heh, well if you've got things you don't want... ;)
 
It sounds like a CD... but with a wee bit hiss.

EQ_Deck.jpg
 
3-heads

Lady Ayeka, very nice 3-head Pioneer deck... way to go:thmbsp:

I recently found a box of about a dozen TDK SA-90 tapes made back in the late 70's on a run of the mill JVC unit. Don't know what happened to that player but was able to dust off my newer JVC unit from the 80's (w/ 3 heads) and they sounded great.

By the way, as I'm sure most readers know, the nice thing about having 3 heads is that during recording, you have the choice of either listening to what's going to the deck (listening to the source) or listening to what is actually being put onto the tape (and played back through the amp).

Happy listening :music:
 
First Cassette deck I bought was a JVC KD-A7, wish I hadn't sold it. I got a Nakamichi 480 next. The last deck I bought on a compulsion buy was a Nakamichi CR-2A.I only use the decks to ops check other pieces of equipment.If I listen to any tape , its RTR.
 
ejecta said:
Does anyone else have gear they don't use and have bought purely "because"? If so what were you reasons, or am I just crazy and moved into hoarding territory!
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I have about 15 cassette decks. :scratch2: Don't quote me on that as they multiply when I am not looking. I have a few vintage 1970's decks, but most are from the 1980's. Whether I collect or hoard them I am not sure. I just like getting a bargain on decks that were hundreds of dollars new and can be had for a handful of dollars today.

I also have quite a few tapes, probably 500 or so that I have recorded and another 500 or so new tapes. Again I lost count :scratch2:

If you are looking for a vintage silver faced pioneer and it is mostly for looks I would get a CTF 500 or 700 or 750 or 850 or 900 as they can be had for a very small amount these days. I am not sure on all the model numbers but most of them have the blue flouroscan meters, I believe the 700 has analog meters. All are silver faced though.
 
A decent cassette deck is a must have 4 me as I can not part from the radio cassette player in my car :)
So I got me a simple NAK
 
MunkeyQ -- sounds like we have the same little odd H/K deck! I've never seen another before, and it's so cool that I'll keep it, though it probably won't ever get much use. Don't believe that it's late 80s, though -- pretty sure it dates from around '79-early 80s, as I remember staring at those little separates as a youngster. Wish I could find a couple of the little amps that went with it. :thmbsp:
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tape is still my preferred format for in car..especially through an alpine head unit:thmbsp:...i have 5 cassette decks including an aiwa af 3090 cassiever, marantz sd 40, marantz sd451 auo reverse and an hitachi de-7 that needs a replacement belt..and most recently a sharp gf-9090 boombox that needs a bit more tlc to address a slightly fast but thankfully stable tape speed
my favorite is my only direct drive model..an akai gx-52...
great sounding deck...
i've hoarded enough blank tapes over the last year or so to keep them all 'busy' for a while yet..
scored some Scotch XSII 90 recently in good used condition..and was surprised how good they still sound on even this relatively mid priced cassette deck
 
Very popular subject everytime it comes up, and great timing, I just bought a 1978 Technics 631 ( http://www.vintagetechnics.info/tapedecks.htm for more info) yesterday for $6.99. Beautiful unit, huge meters, very heavy, lots of switches etc...The cassette tray is heavy duty and built like a tank. I still love the cassette tape format and use tapes every once in a while...I also have a fairly large collection of walkman's and boomboxes, my only complaint is those damn belts...I'd love to have a tub of them to get half of these things running again...
 
I've got an old Yamaha K-1020 in storage that needs some pinch rollers (and maybe belts) but I just can't bring myself to get rid of it.
 
Tape is pretty much a dead format for me.I do have a Sansui sc-5300 that I paid $300 for at a military px in 1981.Also have a pioneer ct-9191 that plays but wont ff or rw.I would use them more but I gave almost all my tapes away over ten years ago.They still want to much for tapes at my local thrift.
 
I have four at home, soon to be three. I hardly ever play cassettes any more, but do come across them at the thrifts for $.10 each, so it's nice to have a deck around. I've stumbled into some high end Yamaha decks for very little money lately, including the TC-1000 that was mentioned as being at Merrylander's for repair. I showed my 15-year-old daughter how to make mix tapes on it, which she thinks is pretty cool. I also have a K-1020, which is the best sounding deck I've heard, and a TC-920B, that I just had serviced. I'm selling my TC-520 that my daughter was using prior to the TC-1000 being pushed into her rack.
 
I have 3 decks, not counting portable Walkman-type players. They are:

NAD 613 w/Play Trim feature. One of the best features on any piece of hi-fi hear I have.

Teac, A-103(?) late 70's, charcoal gray; looks & plays great

A top-loading Realistic from the mid-70's. Nice deck, works, has all the typical stuff (bias selector, Dolby B), haven't used it in years.

One of those Pioneer, silver faced models from the 70's w/curved sliding door for the cassette well. Had it fully serviced in '01, haven't used it since. The walnut cabinet is shot, thinking of having a new one built with a rosewood or black piano finish.

There are some repairmen online that specialize in restoring cassette decks. I ran across one guy who prides himself on fixing stuff most repair shops won't touch or will say is unfixable, can't get parts, etc.. Some almost go as far as saying they can restore anything. If you've ever seen some of their workshops, you'd believe it. Some even have machine shops where they fabricate parts! Now THAT'S dedication & pride in their work.
 
With my OCD thingy going on I must have close to 30 decks, some good some bad but all still here. I am in the process of getting a few of them up to snuff and see which one does the best job for what little I need. So far the luxman K118 is a very nice deck, better that the sony ES unit it went against. I really want to get one of the bigger pioneers running, even if it performs only half as good as it looks it will be a winner.
 
Picked up a Nakamichi LX-5. It sounded pretty good, but mechanically needed a tune up. This is not the fanciest Nak deck, but has the most important "evolved" transport features. A little mechanism even pushes the cassette felt pressure pad away because the pad adds nasty resonance of its own. Anyway, I sent it to a place in New York, with an interesting name:
"In House Sevice Company." They are in Setauket (631)751-1803. For $145, they performed a "standard overhaul with cleaning, new belts and alignment" with a 6 month warranty. Well, they know their stuff! The old Nak (1980 or so) sounds incredible. The Dolby C works to remove the hiss, but the high end is fully intact. It is just fabulous for recording the really good FM Jazz shows on the NPR stations I receive. Hats off to "In House Service Company" and the Nakamichi LX-5 ; )
 
I had a Pioneer CTF-1000 and loved it to pieces. It was my favorite of all time for it's flexibility! The mic/line inputs, balance control, pitch control. And beautiful VU meters! Just a great deck.

I have about 10 I'm guessing. Probably 5 or 6 that work. Mostly I use a Tascam for transferring to my computer, and a Nakamichi in my main system.

Nowdays I use MiniDisc for most of my recording needs. But cassette is still dear to me. I also use R2R, but not often.

Rick
 
i have 2 cassette deck's a akai gx-5x (folby b,c, dbx) and a technics rs-b201 (dolby b,c)

the akai is very good thanks to the GX heads and dbx noise reduction
 
I used to buy anything good in sight that was cheap.
Garage sales,used paper ads etc,
Especially if the brand names were there.
What do you do with several cassette decks,tuners,amps,speakers etc?
Now I don't bother as most of this electro mechanical stuff may require belt(s) some adjustment and or whatever or is on last legs.
As is with work mixed in such just no time.
 
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