Hello everybody!

Which models of hi-fi cassette players you could recommend? Of cause, i am not interested of usual models, only intresting hi-end devices produced by Sony, Panasonic and Aiwa (other companies?). My experince was  not successfull, started from brocken Aiwa jx707 (from internet market) but i want to buy something again, really good accordingly your oppinion and really working . I am interested retro technic, repairing tube (lamp) devices and repairing old cars but not experiencied in small hi-end cassette devices. I will be glad to answer your questions about lamp (vacuum tube) audio devices produced in Soviet Union. 

Thank you a lot before. Viktor. 

JVC makes the best-quality tape decks if you are talking about boomboxes.  As for home hi-fi cassette decks, Nakamichi is supposedly the best.

Nakamichi, tandberg or highend 3 head decks, stay away from dual well autoreverse decks. If you looking for a good tape deck, have a few that sealed in the box never been open, from lowend to midrange stuff and highend stuff. Just bought a huge lot of them, with other audio gear. Some from 70's to early 90's. Opening a retro electronics store soon, haven't even listed them on eBay yet, as I may be getting more stuff from another guy soon, as I need receivers and he what to force me to buy some tapes decks, to give me a deal and already have to many of them, from a different lot.

Your looking for a walkman, get a Sony D6C, but make sure it the later model, the early one have a known issues with the titanium capacitors and muting transistors going bad, or Sony DD9 if you want the best, the AIWAS have known capacitors problems, unless they been restored, even NIB they are going to have problems  

add to the above brands ...

old school - tandberg

later         - tascam

Agree with Reli on this one, except I'll go out and say that in my experience Nakamichi is the best in the home player catagory..IMHO

lol if you want a nice deck,contact this guy

The real show starts at about 2 minutes in,amaizing !!

and here he is,selling it all on the bay !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/saha...;_trksid=p4340.l2562

His price are out there, but did get hold of the real seller to come down on the prices. as I am buying a few receivers and turntables NIB from him, but at first he was trying to get eBay prices from me on a lot deal? Most of it 90's stuff, he sold most of the 70's gear already, he only has a few left, this video was over a year old.

that video is awesome   

wonder what his warehouse looks like now lol.prob looks massive now all that stuff has gone,that was a goldmine !!

stunning

Personally I use tantalum capacitors where required, maybe that was where Sony went wrong.

He's not irritating at all

Some high end small cassette players are :

Sony

WM-DC2

WM-D6C

WM-DD9

AIWA

HS-PX101

HS-PX303

HS-PX505

Panasonic

RQ-S80

Nearly all the above have faults due to aging, so be prepared to repair them.

I have to disagree with you on the Nakamichi Dragon, it does not even come in the top 3 of Nakamichi decks.

Because it has all the bells and whistles people think it’s the best. The Nakamichi CR-7 leaves it standing.

I would rate the Nakamichi’s like this

1000ZXL          1979 - 1984

CR-7          1986 - 1993

ZX9          1982 - 1985

Dragon           1982 - 1993

The Dragon is just hype.

that will teach me not to buy rubbish

Well i would not say it's rubbish

Just found this, may be of interest to you

http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=2308

interesting information there thanks ,  i was only meaning what decks i have had 

No problem, if you fancy a bargain try The CR-5

As a engineer, I avoid using tantalum capacitors in the designs for two reasons. The first reason is material to make them is rare and make them expensive and the second reason is, that they will blowup after time!! tantalum capacitors have high capacitance and low ESR, low operating voltages, plus ripple current rating is low, which is part of the problem. When tantalum capacitors fail it they blow up, I've seen them fail as little as 2000 hours. They sure only be used for high frequency circuits.

I seen even great techs with the d6c, think it failed muting transister or a IC failed, when it's the tantalums.  When value with voltage so the low frequencies will have even-harmonics distortion. If the signal across a tantalum capacitor causes reversed polarity then the capacitor is a rectifier producing severe distortion, in many cases. I fix over 30 Sony D6c and 28 of them had failed tantalums and electrolytic and that was it, problem is more notice after they heat up. They are worst then electrolytic in this aspect. Their only extremely reliable when used in the right circuit. 

Their Ideal for high frequency circuits, not walkmans.

Same way I would rate them, but another deck that great is the Pioneer Elite CT93. The dragon is to complex and unless serviced right, can't recommend, for what people charge for those deck on eBay.

@retrodos

I seem to have struck a raw nerve with the "titanium cap" quip. It was a light humoured poke at an incorrectly used word. I have no intentions to fall out with you over this, and if you have taken offence to a simple thing such as this then ...

Everyone's entitled to an opinion and I respect yours regarding tantalums. As I previously stated I only use them where required.

I am fully aware that tantalums explode / catch fire when they fail.

Simple fact is, they are used prolifically these days in modern electronics. The increased global demand for them has seen extraction of the raw mineral ore often from some dubious areas of the world.

I miss that, how I manage to mistype that?

When I worked at WBAI in NYC in the late 90s, early 00s, i made a few mods to these- All the reporters used 'em. Rock solid. Not that sexy, but top of the line professional portable. 

AIWA HS-J09/J600.

Agree on the D6C for portables.

Mine currently needs repair/replacement though- left channel is sounding muffled and seems to be slowly getting worse. Even without a tape in the hiss is imbalanced. Not likely an azimuth problem (checked that), probably is electrolytic capacitors.

DC2 is also a great machine, when the center gear is fixed.

(88ish-90s) Aiwas are very nice-when they work. Most of them don't, or require quite a lot of work to get back to top condition. The 707 you mentioned is one of them. My 505 is a very nice sounding machine though.

I also think about Sony D6c but the price is too high. Did you test model 

SONY TCM-80? It looks interesting. Also I found Sony 

WM-F701C with dolby C. Could not find information in the internet.

TCM-80 looks like a monaural basic voice recorder based on TPS-L2 (D6C is like a very highly upgraded TPS-L2, with DD)

WM-701c should be good, I have an EX-80 which is basically a 701C mechanism, but without Dolby C. It's not in full working order but sounds nice. 701C also comes in Anniversary silver and tiffany editions.

WM-F701C is a nice unit, but the amplifier is not very powerful if you intend to drive high impedance headphones.

Radio has got reasonable sensitivity and do not be put off from buying a Japanese version, as it is possible to unlock the frequency range from 76.0-90.0 MHz to 87.5-108.0 MHz.

I completely agree with Plop:

SONY DC2, D6C & DD9 (and I'll add DD30) are the best sounding toghether with AIWA PX101, PX303 and PX505. I'll add the DX100, Boodo Khan, AIWA JX505, PX1000 and sure I forget someone...