Recommendations please...

Discussion in 'Cassette Decks' started by Michelle Knight, Jan 21, 2018.

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  1. mankamaz

    mankamaz Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Michelle

    There are a lot of good 3 Head decks, Pioneer CT93, Sony 909ES, Technics RS-B965, but if you want to do great recordings you need bias adjusting to tune each tape before recording, some of the top level decks has autocalibration (Pioneer BLE/AUTOBLE) but that decks are reallly expensive.

    In the mid range you can find a lot of good decks, for example, the AIWA AD-F810 is a 3 Head deck from 1995 and very easy to service, has bias control, and is easy to find.
     
    mankamaz, Feb 17, 2018
    #21
    Michelle Knight likes this.
  2. Michelle Knight

    Michelle Knight Active Member

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    Thanks :) ... I hope to get my 705 back next week... and then I'll have to start saving for a decent deck, and also one that I can either maintain myself, or get maintenance for.

    All this info is being filed for when I've got the free cash!
     
    Michelle Knight, Feb 17, 2018
    #22
  3. Michelle Knight

    Michelle Knight Active Member

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    I'd like to thank everyone for the recommendations. I did a bit of a hunt on e-bay and eventually ended up with this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-TC-K...DUAL-CAPSTAN-DDRIVE-NEW-BELTS-RC/302592945858

    Sony Japanese version of the TC-K909ES - I'm not sure if I'm going to have an issue with voltage... I'm fairly sure that it's a Japanese import and I'm going to need to convert from 240V to 100V ... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Any opinions on that, would be very welcome.

    Blew my budget to hell, but it's one of those things... if you miss it... it's gone.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2018
    Michelle Knight, Mar 5, 2018
    #23
  4. Boodokhan

    Boodokhan Well-Known Member

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    Hi Michelle
    that is a beautiful Deck. Its sold. Did you buy it?
    I have some component that made for 220V (Europe version) and i use a little transformer to convert 220 to 110V
     
    Boodokhan, Mar 5, 2018
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  5. Michelle Knight

    Michelle Knight Active Member

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    Hi, yes I bought it. I think it might actually come with a transformer. It'll take a week to get here, at least.

    Can't really afford it, but I knew that if I waited, it would be gone. Such is life. :)
     
    Michelle Knight, Mar 5, 2018
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  6. Yari

    Yari New Member

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    Hi, guys. I see that you have mentioned AIWA AD-F810 cassette deck here. In 2-3 days I have to choose between this one and AIWA AD-F880 - what will be a better choice soundwise? Thank you in advance.
     
    Yari, Mar 20, 2023
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  7. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I think the F810 is just a few years newer than the F880, they look nearly identical, they're probably nearly identical in sound reproduction. I've got an AD-F810 in my main rack, they're great decks.
     
    Mister X, Mar 21, 2023
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  8. Yari

    Yari New Member

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    Thank a lot for your advice, Mister X. Yesterday I also read on some forums that the mechanism on F810 has been simplified - still good but not as on F880. Plus one friend of mine from Ukraine, who used F880 for a long time, said that he had chosen this model as its audio circuit has slightly different elements, which a better than in F810. So I am still hesitating about what to choose: I like F810 for its real-time tape counter (almost all my decks had real-time counters) but do not want to sacrifice reliability and sound quality (((
     
    Yari, Mar 21, 2023
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  9. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I don't know about the insides and I just have the one AIWA, I might have another out in the shop somewhere. Hopefully they aren't too expensive over there, mine was around $15 at a thrift a few years ago.
     
    Mister X, Mar 21, 2023
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  10. Yari

    Yari New Member

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    Yesterday I talked to one guy who repairs Hi-Fi including cassette decks (and he has fine-tuned F880 for a friend of mine I'd mentioned above) so he told me that from his personal experience, F810 sounds better in stock condition than F880. So I already ordered F810 from my seller in Ukraine. Many thanks for your help too!
     
    Yari, Mar 22, 2023
    #30
    Mister X likes this.
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