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69.19.14.26
Ok, now to the worst. We covered the best in the last post so now lets cover the turkeys. Not the cheapest decks but the decks in the price range for higher fidelity that dont deliver. Overpriced and hyped. Built cheap and sold high. Or one with a zillion gimmicks that dont help performance that much. Is there a particular deck model you remember or a whole line of really crappy ones from a well known manufacturer. Maybe one that always would break or need constant adjustments. Lets dont leave out appearance too. Name some ugly ones and post pictures. Thanks for your last answers
Follow Ups:
In addition to what has been said....
I've not had any of them, but from what I see on eBay Germany (And I follow many many auctions), the worst big brand seems to be philips.
Sadly to me, as I have always been somehow an enthusiast of this company.
Philips is large, has had a large catalog yet there isn't any deck that can compete in the best 50. Some of their best decks are poorly paid, the only possible exception being the FC-950 (later 3 head model), but mostly by its aesthetics .
Marantz could be included in this list, as it only has one or two models (even the SD-930 with autoazimuth is not much valued).
Onkyo: this brand has been associated with good hi-fi from Japan (at least, here in europe). However, in cassette decks is a minor and marginal player that made no bad nor exceptional decks. It's only exception can be the 120 eur valuated TA-6711 with dolby S. I had a TA-2570 plenty of features but modest sonically, and a entry model TA-6110 (or so) that performed quite well for its prince range.
There are also some european brands, telefunken, saba, and grundig that have made a lot of decks with limited sound quality and poorly engineered but with good final construction. Exceptions are possibly Grundig CF-5500 and TElefunken RC-200 and RC-300.
Most of the big market players have had plenty of cheap models . So probably to finsih the answer to this question, I would go back to those brands NOT having cheap and junk deck on its catalog... REVOX, NAKAMICHI, TANDBERG, TASCAM(teac), ASC any other? All the others have cheap designs and can be more or less included
Sansui decks were called Sansewer by techs for a good reason.
Yup. I almost mentioned Sansui as well. Even their top 3-head models had big quality control issues. I liked their amps, though.
Cheers,
Bobbo :-)
At least during the 80s & 90s. I have never seen one that wasn't pure garbage. I'm guessing that's why you don't see many of 'em these days. They were horrible in regards to wow & flutter and were mechanically very unreliable.
I've had relatively good luck with Pioneer & great luck with the upper-end Sony decks, though.
Cheers,
Bobbo :-)
Except for maybe their first one the model 80. It was made by Nak and was essentially an Advent 101 crammed into a smaller case and without the large single meter (to small meters instead). They did have problems with bad connections though...
Dave
Every Sony deck i have ever had eats tapes..
For that to be an issue with more than one deck is a surprise, unless you were using old or budget Sonys.
Sorry if you don't like my answer.
I see nothing wrong with you stating your experience with your cassette decks. Unusual to have the same problem keep occurring. I was just pointing out where I thought the problem might have been nestling.
I would say Luxman's 100 series decks from the late 80s would be a good one to list. Not so cheap, low on performance parts, built cheap, and performance only so so. I have a K-112 and its only an ok deck.
Second this, perhaps the only exception is K-109
I like to refer to them as the "Blue Light Special" CTF- 1250, 950 etc. All glitz, no guts. My opinion.
Had many years of faultless service with a couple if CT-F1250's but after a while the rubber failed and the replacements were always very poor quality off eBay and needed constant changing. I got to be very good at rubber changes and the access is quite good and straight forward. The bias oscillators needed rebuilding after a while also. If you can find some good rubber, then they would be well worth sorting out if in good condition. Those damn aluminium faceplates seemed to get scratched if you just breathed on them!! Fine looking I agree.
Best Regards, Ben
I can't speak on the CT-1250 series, but the later Pioneer decks such as the CT-A9X, CT-93 etc are excellent. I personally have never cared much for Sony decks.
Problem decks? I think (something mentioned here the other day) that Aiwa are hard to get right after they've been opened. My Aiwa AD-F270 is a source of frustration. TASCAM units can be overbiased on the internal trimpots by the service agents.
Sony? - No horrids with those yet - I have a TC-KE600S (same as the US voltage version the TC-KA2ES). It's perfect so far - very capable indeed. Otherwise I don't run my decks into the ground. I treat them like gold too. All the decks I have bought new, look like new. I have an Alpage AL-50 bought in 1983. It's possibly the best example in the world. Possibly, not probably, perhaps there's a certain Mr Sahamoto in downtown Yokohama.... Like cars, you get bad owners too.
Cheers all- MH
I have found this debate interesting - Pioneer. I have three Pioneers but they are all new generation Dolby S decks and just excellent.
But I always wondered about the CT-F800/900/1000/1250. Impressive to say the least and yet always on ebay getting flogged off with tons of high resolution photos and no commentary on sound ever. And why so many being sold?
Strange..thanks - MH
I have a 900 I got for next to nothing and then had that dubious guy (who advertised on ebay for awhile), restore it. You may remember him, for around $200 he would go "completely through" your Pioneer unit, breaking down motors, making them run faster than factory, replacing all rubber, calibrating etc. I waited over six months, was in the process of claiming against him (you had to pay all upfront) and magically, my deck was ready. Got it here, big dent in the top, can't get it to record off my TT without playback inaccuracies.....however off the FM radio, it's dead perfect recording copies. I'm not sure I understand that one....but I doubt if he calibrated it perfectly, as he said he would. I think the guy has the knowledge, just gave me a 'rush job' and he was hard up for cash-told me as much with a sad tale of his career.
They're beautiful decks-the whole "Silver Series", but it will be my last one-in fact I will list it soon on ebay, wart and all.
I would have liked to try the 1250....I think they are so popular for nostalgia reasons, not so much for performance. Inside, they are grossly mechanically complex and not for the average tinkerer. It was before microprocessors simplified all those mechanical relays.
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