Cassette deck ads and reviews

I love this ad, Pioneer Tape Decks against Nakamichi 1978, for a young kid this was worse than computer science but one of the reasons I love audio, so many buttons and knobs to tweak. I hate to say it but the Nak is kind of ugly, my silver-faced Tri-Racer is much more high-tech looking. Maybe I should go for the grudge match against my CT-F750, it might be an even fight.

 

Pioneer CT-4141 from 1973. I've never seen a horizontal Pioneer before with Dolby, one of the first.

 

Anybody have one of these? The Yamaha MT44 from 1984

 

An early JVC from 1974, the 1655

 

One of my favorites, the Nakamichi 700. Horizontal decks were still fairly new and this was a short-lived popular style.

 

Pioneer's Finest?, the Pioneer CT-A1 Cassette Deck

 

The Vintage Knob has a nice write-up on the Phase Linear Version
http://www.thevintageknob.org/pioneer-CT-A1.html

Love the JVC, I don't have that version but I have a handful and I love them.

 

Kenwoods Tape Decks are pretty rare around here but this one looks really impressive. The Kenwood KX-1030.
It's always interesting to see the freebies, this has 30% off of 12 Maxell Cassettes, they probably retailed for $36 USD which was big money back then around 1/2 the cost of an album. No wonder the record labels were going crazy with all of the taping.

 

Sharp Eye Tape Decks from 1977, I think this is what's called The Searcher on the boomboxes but I've never seen this before. Interesting technology that was soon found on a lot of tape equipment, I wonder if it was licensed or a different system.

 

TEAC A-103 from 1977, I got one of these last year but haven't got a chance to rebelt yet. Not bad looking but the plastic front makes it look more mass-produced.

 

AIWA AD-6550 from 1978. AIWA Decks form the 70's were always difficult for me to find, I'll have to look and see if I have any.

 

Another rare one over here and a late entry into the horizontal decks the Dual 939 from 1978. I wonder how the "Six ways to install" work? The LEDs must rotate...

 

Nakamichi 1000 II from 1978, just a hair under $2000 USD!

 

Marantz 5030 from 1978

 

TEAC A-106R from 1978

 

AIWA AD-6900U from 1978
1978 was a real turning point for component decks, I'd love to see a showroom full of all of this goodness. I wonder what the rest of this AIWA Rack Series looked like? And younger members, remote control meant it had a 20' cord on it.

 

BIC from 1978, different tape speeds, unusual for a component deck.

 

Toshiba 5460 from 1978 with Dolby FM added, I'm not sure if they ever broadcast with Dolby and I'm wrapping my head around how you'd get it to your tape deck.

 

TEAC Z-6000 from 1983