Practical advice when buying a Cassette Deck
The market for cassette decks has shrunk considerably recently with the introduction of CD players and recordable MiniDiscs. As a result good quality cassette decks are now cheaper. A cassette deck contains even more mechanics as a cd-player and must have the same precision on some points. For example the placement of the record/playback head must be very accurate. Many cassette deck playback features such as auto-reverse or music scan are useful but don’t really affect the way tape sound. Hence it is important to consider the following point before you purchase a cassette deck.
Type Heads Auto reverse Headphone Jack Noise reduction Colour
It is useful to find that the cassette deck you are buying is single or double. Normally single cassette deck has better performance but twin cassette deck on the other hand are useful in copying between two cassettes.
Separate heads/motors for forward, fast forward and rewind, prolong the life of your deck. When you have separated heads for recording and playing you can also adjust the recording while it goes on.
Very few cassette decks have got auto reverse facility as head has to turn around in order to handle the B side and there are more chance for Double Cassette Deck to have this facility rather than single. At the same time you must remember that auto reverse facility can degrade the decks performance.
An output that allows you to connect a set of Headphones. Once connected, it will usually mute the regular output of the device you are using.
The dynamic range available, between the noise floor and the highest signal levels that can be recorded without distortion, is a fundamental limitation of magnetic audio tape itself. Even if you make cassette recordings from noise-free sources like CD, when the music stops between songs, tape hiss intrudes. What we call hiss is the noise created by the magnetic particles on the tape, and it can obscure the quality of the music and become annoying. Dolby noise reduction has made it possible to protect the music from tape noise, and helped make cassette the most popular audio product ever devised. Here's how it works.
Cassette Decks are available in different colours and you can choose your favorite colour or colour to match other equipments in your room.
