The TCD 3034/HIFI 3020: Born in Norway, made in the Far East

In 1981 Tandberg introduced probably the best-ever two-headed cassette deck made by the Norwegian company. Yes, I know about the famous TCD 420 horizontal cassette deck, but the Tandberg TCD 3034 has been developed to take care of the most demanding sound challenges. The TCD 3034, which is superior at the same price point, was intended as an entry-level model to rival the competition. They abandoned the conventional three-motor principle in favor of a single motor to accomplish this. The necessity to produce in the Far East was prompted by the prohibitively high cost of producing in Norway.



The Tandberg TCD 3034 has been specially designed to harmonize seamlessly with the other separate components of Tandberg's renowned 'Series 3000'. However, its remarkable capabilities extend beyond this exclusive circle, enhancing the audio experience of any hi-fi equipment it's paired with.

Unlocking the full potential of metal tape requires an unconventional technological approach. Designing a cassette deck with a combined metal tape record/playback head without compromising quality is a difficult task. Tandberg has brilliantly overcome these challenges by implementing the following unique systems:

DYNEQ® - Dynamic Recording Equalisation System

Conventional recording amplifiers use steadily increasing gain at high frequencies to achieve a flat frequency response across the audio spectrum. This process, called equalization, can introduce distortion at high recording levels, especially during loud passages. Most recordings have an energy distribution that falls within the high frequencies. However, occasional spikes in high-frequency energy can overload conventional recorders, resulting in significant intermodulation distortion. Tandberg's solution to this problem is the DYNEQ dynamic equalization amplifier. This self-regulating circuit adjusts the gain at high frequencies based on the input signal level, resulting in a dramatic reduction in intermodulation distortion and optimal recordings, even of complex, high-frequency musical passages.

ACTILINEAR® - the unique recording system

The advent of high-coercivity metal tapes brought new challenges to Hi-Fi cassette decks. Tandberg's ACTILINEAR recording system offers an innovative solution. By redesigning the recording amplifier, this system offers several key advantages over conventional designs, including reduced intermodulation and interference between the recording signal and the oscillator. It has a 15 dB overload margin, making it ideal for recording on high-coercivity tapes, including metal tapes. Using active semiconductor circuits, this amplifier system ensures more linear recordings, especially at high frequencies.

Multi-core Senalloy Recording/Playback Head

Metal tapes require powerful recording and bias currents, which can saturate an ordinary recording head and introduce unacceptable harmonic distortion long before the tape itself saturates. Tandberg has elegantly solved this problem with a diamond-cut multicore Senalloy record/playback head, known for its significantly higher saturation limit. This choice results in a longer head life and ensures consistently high-quality performance.

Optional extras such as side panels, rack handles, a dust cover for the cassette compartment, and a professional rack-mounting kit for 19" IES (DIN) standard racks added to the versatility and utility of the TCD 3034.

The music that comes out of the Tandberg receiver TR 3030 speakers from the TCD 3034 is as close to natural sound as technology can provide. It immortalizes the sonic journey, whether it comes from digitally recorded records or your guitar. With the TCD 3034, the sound is captured and preserved as an exquisite sonic photograph. The Tandberg TCD 3034 is the epitome of audio excellence.

The main disadvantage of TCD 3034 was its reliability. This is a result of the cassette deck's Far Eastern manufacturing. The Tandberg TCD 3034 Stereo Cassette Deck was produced in Malaysia on one of ITT's production lines. It's important to note that ITT's quality control in Malaysia was lacking, resulting in over 50% of production normally being rejected. Later, in the mid-80s, when Tandberg underwent a restructuring that resulted in the creation of Tandberg Audio, production of the TCD 3034 was discontinued. However, ITT continued to produce this cassette deck until 1985 under their name ITT HIFI 3020, without the original designation on the front panel and only appearing on the underside of the tape heads.