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Your favorite cassette deck displays?

B

Brian74

Fast Procrastinator
Okay, I'm sure there must be other cassette deck collectors out there like me who are just as attracted to a deck's display as they are to it's other features. Here are some favorites from my own collection:

Zenith CV 670: Beautiful multi colored illuminated LCD display with spectro peak indicator. It puts on quite a show! Incidentally, this deck is the same as a JVC KD-V400.

Pioneer CT-520: Simple but very attactive blue flourescent display with unusually shaped segments for the meters.

Yamaha K-960: Another simple but very attractive flourescent display, in green.

Teac V-66C: A relatively simple dual green/red LED design, but backlit in a nice green glow. Just wish mine worked!

Akai HX-R5: Really nice light blue/brick red flourescent display meters with digital counter and lots of indicators.

JVC TD-W709: An early 90's dual deck with an attractive orange/red flourescent display.

Onkyo TA-2050: Attractive analog VU meters brightly illuminated in yellow.

Sony TC-FX4: Another simple green/red LED display nicely illuminated in an unusual yellow-green color. And it's got a neat touch pad control panel, too.

So, what are your favorite cassette deck displays?
 
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Some very nice machines you mention, and it's even more amazing you actually own them - me likes :yes:

Generally spoken, my cassette display preference also depends a bit on the overall colour of the particular deck. My favorite combo is a black deck with amber/red flourcent display.

I happen to own this, as my one and only deck: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=5420484&postcount=6

Despite not being black (it's titanium) it rank very high for me.

Function wise, I prefer LED/flourecent ones with some kind of peak hold / peak meter. Again, the above JVC scores high here.

I also like a green/red combo of LED's, especially on black machines. The bluish/greenish flourecent ones doesnt "peak" for me :no:, though the bluish ones can look very cool on a silver deck. I find the greenish goes best with black decks.

That said, I can still fall into a reverie, if I should be so lucky to come by a working VU meter :music:

Despite my son is 14 and therefor never had the interest, nor knowledge of cassettes, he's very amazed by the display on my JVC :thmbsp:

PS: I'm pretty sure my mommy had the Akai HX-R5, or at least a very similar one.
 
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Although I realize that the Marantz decks are not very highly thought of from the technical leading edge perspective, I personally really like the looks of the Marantz 5020, especially when matched up with a matching Marantz receiver. The black and silver face combined with the illuminated tape well and the blue and red VU meters just has the right look for me. I own a Marantz 5025B tape deck, and while I like the looks of the blue and red VU meters, the overall look is not quite as unified in my opinion.

In a more modern deck from a technical perspective I really like the looks of the Aiwa AD-F990. Of course I am a little partial to this one since I own it, but I also own its little brother the AD-F330 which I purchased new back in the day. I guess you could say that I have always enjoyed this particular look.

Here are some pics:

Marantz 5020 (not my deck, although I certainly wouldn't mind having one)
Marantz5220CassetteDeck-02.jpg


Marantz 5025B (this one is my deck)
IMG_1165.jpg


Aiwa AD-F990U (this one is also mine)
IMG_1268.jpg
 
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DareDevil: That JVC TD-V1010 is one nice looking machine! The TD-W709 dual deck I have is the same color.

Treker: I like the Marantz blue/red VU meters, too. And that AD-F990 is a looker, too. I saw it in the other thread you posted.

Just thought of another one in my collection I happen to be quite fond of: JVC KD-35. Now, it's illuminated analog VU meters by themselves aren't extraordinary, but when combined with the brushed aluminum front-which is a real piece of aluminum, not just a facade-and it's many circular knobs and buttons, it's got a classic old school look that's really nice. It was made in 1977 and definitely looks it!
 
My hifi-interest has been on hibernation since about 1996 or so - and I had almost forgot about all those wonderfull tapedecks. Aiwa's, like the AD-F990, always fascinated me, though I never had the luck of owning one.

Thanks for the compliments on the JVC. Okay, this is about displays, but I cant help but mentioning that the JVC TD-V1010TN looks great inside too. Surprisingly there's no pics on the internet, I'll take some one of the days.

But back to the displays: That JVC KD-35 certainly is as classic as it's gets, almost an icon.

I've never seen the Philips N5846 before, that's an amazing looking machine and indeed the displays looks very cool. The entire face reminds me of a cockpit :tresbon:
 
Here are some of the displays from the decks in my collection. From left to right: Zenith CV670, Pioneer CT-520, Yamaha K-960, Akai HX-R5. Sorry they're not better quality photos...
 

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On the left is the display and touch pad control of my Sony TC-FX4. On the right is my JVC KD-35.
 

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I'm torn between the vertical VUs of my Teac V-5RX, my JVC KD-55's meters, and my Kyocera's thin vertical LEDs.

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I loved my JVC KD-D40 display. Not only interesting looking but it was very useful. I miss that deck. The photo below doesn't completely show the 5 band frequency monitor on the left, but you get the idea.

JVCKD-D40.jpg
 
There is one cassette deck which never let me down in all these years. That is my 1972 Advent 201. Which still functions superbly even today.
 
I like the displays on the JVC decks I seen. I own the Zenith CV 670 which is like the JVC KD-V400 and the KD-A7. Really cool the frequency spectrum displays on those deck.
 
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