Tape Deck Fever

Just a few days ago, A K.L. Hi Fi Fever man stumbled across a vintage SONY TC766-2 open reel tape deck in an electronics Shop and it was to end up in some 'Kopitiam' cafe as a decorative showpiece. Then LH offered RM250 to buy it after checking on the net that its one of the last few Sony tape deck with 15 inch per sec (studio Lab Equipment) capability. He confirmed the purchase and brought home. After checking that all functions are working perfectly although it sounds a bit noisy and distorted. He managed to restore its former glory.

Work on it for 2 days of cleaning and polishing the exterior and cleaning the mechanism and oiling, and most important the capstans, heads, rollers - the machine was superbly built - all metal, aluminium steel and wood, very minimum plastics. All knobs and switches heavy duty made for Vikings. The beast weighs some 60 lbs.

After all the servicing - it sounds wonderful playing the old worn tape that came with it. The highs and bass very natural. At 15 ips tape speed the frequency response is 20Hz to 30kHz and that’s better than CD !! And no tape hiss is audible to him. The electronics is still in good working condition. Probably some of the Electrolyte Capacitors are dried up!?

I have been using some Akai, TEAC Open Reel tape deck some 30 years ago, followed with Yamaha Cassette tape deck, now, I am having Nakamichi 680ZX cassette tape Deck.

I like TDK MAG-X tape for recording from my favourite LPs. The TDK MAG-X is made with Carbon Graphite cases, heavy Stainless Steel Screws. That tape is the Best I can find on Earth, I bought the last 10 pieces at HKD900.00 some 6 years ago. If you had a chance to see it. Don’t miss it.

Salute to the Analogue Tape Deck!

HK Snob