Best Vintage Cassette Decks: A buying guide from 100$ to 1000$

hello everyone welcome welcome back to anna dialogue the dialogue on analog music reproduction today we are going to take a deep dive in our analog c yes because we are going to take a look at the best cassette decks in their section okay in their budget are you ready you've been asking for this a very long time here it is all for you [Music] okay guys i want to keep this video very short it has to be a practical guide we're gonna see the main decks in three sections three macroscopic budget sections the first one 100 300 or euro it depends more or less it's the same price in the end from a you and the us second tire 300 600 or euro the third and last tire it's hundred one thousand dollars a year okay and we're going to take a look at three or four models per section are you ready let's start [Music] okay before we start i want to make it clear a few of these i know others i don't i did a thorough review online some are very famous and renowned i had to put them so it's a mixture of all these three elements but i think that when i'm recommending these liberally sound and solid there i mean okay they're concrete recommendations you can't be sure about that obviously i'm gonna try to recommend something that you can find currently on the web okay there's no sense in recommending something maybe even more famous than the ones i selected but it's uh completely impossible to find so that's not helpful at all so the ones i'm going to list i did a research and i've seen a few models obviously they're going to end at a certain point but i think that they're going to come back sooner or later plus the the ratio quality performance is outstanding in all of these okay let's start with our first section our first section is 100 300 for our first deck i'm gonna have to read there's so many specs we're going to mention the yamaha kx300 this is a 1988 up to 1990 model two head frequency response is 30 hertz to 20 kilohertz it has hx pro which is something good for recording it regulates the bias the signal to noise ratio is 76 db pretty good while in flutter 0.05 percent total harmonic distortion which is not every time indicated is one percent a little high but no problem i mean it's an excellent deck it's famous and renowned deck let's go immediately to our second deck okay the technics rs b555 now this is a excellent deck but there are also other technics models there's so many technics models okay out there so if you find something with similar specs i'm gonna list go for it no problem and remember we're in the lowest part i mean these are really cheap but the sound is going to be very good okay the b555 is a 1989 1990 production two head frequency response is 20 hertz up to 19 kilohertz it has hx pro signal to noise ratio 74 db while flutter is 0.05 fantastic here is our first nakamichi because obviously i had to put at least one in each section the nakamichi i want to recommend for this tire is the bx125 this is a 1985 1987 model two head 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz signal to noise ratio 68 db while in flutter 0.06 total harmonic distortion 1 okay this was our first sector i told you i'm going fast this has to be practical let's skip now to our second tire our second section go okay for our second section which is the budget from 300 up to 600 we have an iowa fd fdf880 there are going to be also other uh lower and lower models by iowa but i think this is the best for this sector for this budget in terms again in quality and performance and expense in any case if you see other models the 660 i don't remember now the the names the 770 they're good but if you can go for this one and we're inside this uh budget okay here we are starting with three heads okay we're already talking about more serious stuff dual cap stand occ coils inside the dx heads which are uh have a bias shield fantastic heads it also has an amts damping system i mean these are features that you're gonna find on top of the line models and already here we're starting to find very good stuff frequency response is 20 hertz uptime up to 19 kilohertz signal to noise ratio 73 db while in flutter is 0.035 that's it excellent deck absolutely i also want to mention my here my duel like mine because i have one here and i also made a video my dual c 844 here is a link check that video for all the details i'm not going to say anything else it's an incredible machine i think it can rival with my dragon absolutely no question it's not a shocking phrase there launched there i do believe in that okay let's proceed then we have our pioneer again there's so many models from pioneer excellent models i'm gonna cite this precise model the the ct s 620 there are also other ones like for example the 610 the 800 820 the 920 or also also the line the ctf of the 70s those are very renown but they're usually more expensive that's why i could not insert them here so let's just stick with this one this is the cts 620 this is a model from 1993 1994 so pretty late three heads hx pro 15 hertz to 21 hertz frequency response kilohertz very very good signal to noise ratio 79 db wow wow in flutter is 0.023 total harmonic distortion zero point six percent very nice let's come now to our last deck and it's going to be a nakamichi and it's the bx 300 i had to put it this is a 1984 1980 production three heads dual capstan 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz signal to noise ratio 70db while in flutter is 0.027 percent total harmonic distortion 0.9 i forgot to mention which maybe are my favorites clearly i do have a soft spot for the nakamichi in the other tire maybe the technics in this one besides nakamichi probably well the dual i just love maybe more than anyone else then the nakamichi and then probably the i one i don't know though it's difficult these are excellent okay let's proceed immediately to our third tire let's go okay our third group is from 600 up to 1 000 now these models i'm gonna mention fluctuate a little bit okay you're gonna find them even at lower prices or even a little higher prices i've noticed but more or less they should fall in this uh category let's say okay the first one i want to mention is the pioneer ct91 part of the elite types wow now we're already in a higher segment absolutely another great deck that i had to mention here is the ct 910 which it doesn't have that that's fancy stuff like obs but it's top notch quality inside how it's constructed absolutely in any case we're going to take a look at the even higher and better model the ct-91 elite which can go a little more than this budget here but you may find it even less this is a 1989 production three heads dual caps then it has a stat its own type of stabilizer hx pro bias adjustment manual 2023 hertz kilohertz frequency response signal to noise ratio 79 db while in flutter is 0.22 percent total harmonic distortion 0.6 percent very nice okay then we have our another again uh actually two i would say but mainly one iowa the xk007 or if you can find also the double o nine the features may seem better but they're they're both excellent maybe it's according to some that zero zero seven is even better it depends but these are two incredible products of the excellia the top of the line production they also made the 9000 and 7000 afterwards a lot of people claim these are even better and they cost much more the other ones so stick with these okay let's take a look at the zero zero seven this is a 1988 1990 production three heads again we have those we have those special features by iowa with occ coils in the dx bias shielded heads it has hx pro 2020 frequency response for its kilohertz um plus a signal to noise ratio of a whopping 95 db wow all these signal to noise ratio i am telling you are with the maximum selection of noise reduction system okay and usually with metal cassettes or chrome it depends one flutter is 0.025 percent and for our last top of the line of the at least of these groups is the nakamichi cr4 deck our last nakamichi this is a 1988 1990 production three heads dual capstan it has calibration 20 hertz 21 kilohertz frequency response signal to noise ratio 72db could have been better one flutter is 0.027 hertz total harmonic distortion 0.8 although a lot of these specs in the nakamichi i've learned during the years are uh quite uh low uh contained i mean when you start to to put some stuff on it and people do measurements they're way beyond that so that's why they are so good in the end also from a spec point of view okay guys this was very quick i hope i finally give you some answers a buying guide to know how to look i think i also gave you the sensation of which brands which models which features to look that is good if you can find something with a calibration even among other models i haven't told you i think that's always something very very useful and positive it's just going to optimize your recordings one last thing i want to say is that a a very serious professional and high quality list would have separated playback and recording decks but that's a further step okay you're gonna do this is a pack for starting or i mean if you take the last ones i mentioned they're excellent on both sides no problem okay what else can i say please leave your comments here below for other models you have tried your experiment that you think are good within these three sectors though and what else can i say can i add obviously that music is born analog bye guys bye well guys if you're enjoying my videos and you're enjoying my channel please consider to subscribe by clicking the black and white logo here below also don't forget to click the notification bell so you'll never miss an episode and you will become a true member of the analog community

Channel: ANA[DIA]LOG

Views: 68,778

Keywords: analog, analogue, audio, hi-fi, audiophile, anadialog, ana[dia]log, high-fidelity, music, cassette, cassettes, cassette culture, best vintage decks, best vintage cassette deck, budget cassette decks, high-end cassette decks, nakamichi, pioneer cassette decks, aiwa cassette decks, yamaha cassette decks, technics cassette decks, dual cassette decks

Id: F3Bv7EUhSy8

Length: 13min 29sec (809 seconds)

Published: Fri May 06 2022