A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a portable audio system or a part of a home component system. In the latter case, it is also called a component cassette deck or just a component deck. [1] [2]
The first consumer tape recorder to employ a tape reel permanently housed in a small removable cartridge was the RCA tape cartridge, which appeared in 1958 as a predecessor to the cassette format. At that time, reel-to-reel recorders and players were commonly used by enthusiasts but required large individual reels and tapes which had to be threaded by hand, making them less accessible to the casual consumer. Both RCA and Bell Sound attempted to commercialize the cartridge format, but a few factors stalled adoption, including lower-than-advertised availability of selections in the prerecorded media catalog, delays in production setup, and a stand-alone design that was not considered by audiophiles to be truly hi-fi. [3]
The compact cassette (a Philips trademark) [1] was introduced by the Philips Corporation at the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin in 1963 [4] [5] and marketed as a device purely intended for portable speech-only dictation machines.[ citation needed ] The tape width was 1⁄8 inch (actually 0.15 inch, 3.81 mm) and tape speed was 1.875 inches (4.8 cm) per second, giving a decidedly non Hi-Fi frequency response and quite high noise levels. [6]
Early recorders were intended for dictation and journalists, and were typically hand-held battery-powered devices with built-in microphones and automatic gain control on recording. Tape recorder audio-quality had improved by the mid-1970s, and a cassette deck with manual level controls and VU meters became a standard component of home high-fidelity systems. [1] Eventually the reel-to-reel recorder was completely displaced, in part because of the usage constraints presented by their large size, expense, and the inconvenience of threading and rewinding the tape reels - cassettes are more portable and can be stopped and immediately removed in the middle of playback without rewinding. Cassettes became extremely popular for automotive and other portable music applications. Although pre-recorded cassettes were widely available, many users would combine (dub) songs from their vinyl records or cassettes to make a new custom mixtape cassette.
In 1970, the Advent Corporation combined Dolby B noise reduction system with chromium dioxide (CrO2) tape to create the Advent Model 200, the first high-fidelity cassette deck. [7] Dolby B uses volume companding of high frequencies to boost low-level treble information by up to 9 dB, reducing them (and the hiss) on playback. CrO2 used different bias and equalization settings to reduce the overall noise level and extend the high frequency response. Together these allowed a usefully flat frequency response beyond 15 kHz for the first time. This deck was based on a top-loading mechanism by Nakamichi, then soon replaced by the Model 201 based on a more reliable transport made by Wollensak, a division of 3M, which was commonly used in audio/visual applications. Both featured an unusual single VU meter which could be switched between or for both channels. The Model 200 featured piano key style transport controls, with the Model 201 using the distinctive combination of a separate lever for rewind/fast forward and the large play and stop button as found on their commercial reel to reel machines of the era.
Most manufacturers adopted a standard top-loading format with piano key controls, dual VU meters, and slider level controls. There was a variety of configurations leading to the next standard format in the late 1970s, which settled on front-loading (see main picture) with cassette well on one side, dual VU meters on the other, and later dual-cassette decks with meters in the middle. Mechanical controls were replaced with electronic push buttons controlling solenoid mechanical actuators, though low cost models would retain mechanical controls. Some models could search and count gaps between songs.
Cassette decks soon came into widespread use and were designed variously for professional applications, home audio systems, and for mobile use in cars, as well as portable recorders. From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s the cassette deck was the preferred music source for the automobile. Like an 8-track cartridge, it was relatively insensitive to vehicle motion, but it had reduced tape flutter, as well as the obvious advantages of smaller physical size and fast forward/rewind capability. A major boost to the cassette's popularity came with the release of the Sony Walkman personal cassette player in 1979, designed specifically as a headphone-only ultra-compact wearable music source. Although the vast majority of such players eventually sold were not Sony products, the name Walkman has become synonymous with this type of device.
Cassette decks were eventually manufactured by almost every well known brand in home audio, and many in professional audio, with each company offering models of very high quality.
Cassette decks reached their pinnacle of performance and complexity by the mid-1980s. [ citation needed ] Cassette decks from companies such as Nakamichi, Revox, and Tandberg incorporated advanced features such as multiple tape heads and dual capstan drive with separate reel motors. Auto-reversing decks became popular and were standard on most factory installed automobile decks.
The Dolby B noise reduction system was key to realizing low noise performance on the - compared to reel-to-reel-technology - relatively slow and narrow cassette tapes. It works by boosting the high frequencies on recording, especially low-level high-frequency sounds, with corresponding high frequency reduction on playback. This lowers the high frequency noise (hiss) by approximately 9 dB. Enhanced versions included Dolby C (from 1980) and Dolby S types. Of the three, however, only Dolby B became common on automobile decks. [8]
Three-head technology uses separate heads for recording and playback (the third of the three heads being the erase head). This allows different record and playback head gaps to be used. A narrower head gap is optimal for playback than for recording, so the head gap width of any combined record/playback head must necessarily be a compromise. Separate record and playback heads also allow off-the-tape monitoring during recording, permitting immediate verification of the recording quality. (Such machines can be identified by the presence of a monitor switch with positions for tape and source, or similar.) Three-head systems were common on reel-to-reel decks, but were more difficult to implement for cassettes, which do not provide separate openings for record and play heads. Some models squeezed a monitor head into the capstan area, and others combined separate record and playback gaps into a single headshell.
In later years, an auto-reverse feature appeared that allowed the deck to play (and, in some decks, record) on both sides of the cassette without the operator having to manually remove, flip, and re-insert the cassette. Most auto-reverse machines use a four-channel head (similar to those on multitrack recorders), with only two channels connected to the electronics at one time, one pair for each direction. Auto-reverse decks employ a capstan and pinch roller for each side. Since these use the same opening in the cassette shell normally used for the erase head, such decks must fit the erase head (or two, one for each direction) into the center opening in the shell along with the record/play head.
In later auto-reverse machines, the auto reverse mechanism uses an ordinary two-track, quarter-width head, but operates by mechanically rotating the head 180 degrees so that the two head gaps access the other tracks of the tape. There is usually an azimuth adjustment screw for each position. Nevertheless, due to the repeated movement, the alignment (in particular, the azimuth) deviates with usage. Even in a machine with a four-channel head, slight asymmetries in the cassette shell make it difficult to align the head perfectly for both directions. [ citation needed ]
In one machine, the Dragon, Nakamichi addressed the issue with a motor-driven automatic head alignment mechanism. This proved effective but very expensive. Later Nakamichi auto-reverse models, the RX series, was essentially a single-directional deck, but with an added mechanism that physically removed the cassette from the transport, flipped it over, and re-inserted it. Akai made a similar machine but with the mechanism and cassette laid out horizontally instead of upright. This permitted the convenience of auto-reverse with little compromise in record or playback quality.[ citation needed ]
As a part of the Digital Revolution, the ongoing development of electronics technology decreased the cost of digital circuitry to the point that the technology could be applied to consumer electronics. The application of such digital electronics to cassette decks provides an early example of mechatronic design, which aims to enhance mechanical systems with electronic components in order to improve performance, increase system flexibility, or reduce cost. [9] The inclusion of logic circuitry and solenoids into the transport and control mechanisms of cassette decks, often referred to logic control, contrasts with earlier piano-key transport controls and mechanical linkages. One goal of using logic circuitry in cassette decks or recorders was to minimize equipment damage upon incorrect user input by including fail-safes into the transport and control mechanism. [10] Such fail-safe behavior was described in a review by Julian Hirsch of a particular cassette deck featuring logic control. [11] Some examples of fail-safe mechanisms incorporated into logic control decks include: a mechanism designed to protect internal components from damage when the tape or motor is locked, a mechanism designed to prevent the tape from being wound improperly, among others. [12] Some logic control decks were designed to incorporate light-touch buttons or remote control, among other features marketed as being convenient. [13] [14] In the car stereo industry, full logic control was developed with the aim of miniaturization, so that the cassette deck would take up less dashboard space. [15]
Bang & Olufsen developed the HX Pro headroom extension system in conjunction with Dolby Laboratories in 1982. This was used in many higher-end decks. HX Pro reduces the high-frequency bias during recording when the signal being recorded has a high level of high frequency content. Such a signal is self-biasing. Reducing the level of the bias signal permits the desired signal to be recorded at a higher level without saturating the tape, thus increasing headroom or maximum recording level.
Some decks incorporated microprocessor programs to adjust tape bias and record level calibration automatically.
New tape formulations were introduced. Chromium dioxide (referred to as CrO2 or Type II) was the first tape designed for extended high-frequency response, but it required higher bias. Later, as the IEC Type II standard was defined, a different equalization settings was also mandated to reduce hiss, thus giving up some extension at the high end of the audio spectrum. Better-quality cassette recorders soon appeared with a switch for the tape type. Later decks incorporated coded holes in the shell to autodetect the tape type. Chromium dioxide tape was thought to cause increased wear on the heads, so TDK and Maxell adapted cobalt-doped ferric formulations to mimic CrO2. Sony briefly tried FerriChrome (Type III) which claimed to combine the best of both; some people, however, stated that the reverse was true because the Cr top layer seemed to wear off quickly, reducing this type to Fe in practice. Most recent decks produce the best response and dynamic headroom with metal tapes (IEC Type IV) which require still higher bias for recording, though they will play back correctly at the II setting since the equalization is the same.
With all of these improvements, the best units could record and play the full audible spectrum from 20 Hz to over 20 kHz (although this was commonly quoted at -10, -20 or even -30 dB, not at full output level), with wow and flutter less than 0.05% and very low noise. A high-quality recording on cassette could rival the sound of an average commercial CD, though the quality of pre-recorded cassettes has been regarded by the general public as lower than could be achieved in a quality home recording. [16] There was a call for better sound quality in 1981, surprisingly by the head of Tower Records, Russ Solomon. At a meeting of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Retail Advisory Committee in Carlsbad, California, Solomon played two recordings of a Santana track; one he had recorded himself and the pre-recorded cassette release from Columbia Records. He used this technique to demonstrate what he called "the tunnel effect" in the audio range of pre-recorded cassettes and commented to the reporter Sam Sutherland, who wrote a news article printed in Billboard magazine:
"The buyer who is aware of sound quality is making his own." "They won't be satisfied with the 'tunnel effect' of prerecorded tape. And home tape deck users don't use prerecorded tapes at all." Yet, contended Solomon, while Tower's own stores show strong blank tape sales gains, its prerecorded sales have increased by only 2% to 3%. With an estimated 15% of the chain's total tape business now generated by the sales of blanks, "it would appear our added tape sales are going to TDK, Maxell and Sony, not you." he concluded. - Billboard , Vol. 93, No. 38, 26 September 1981. [17]
A variety of noise reduction and other schemes are used to increase fidelity, with Dolby B being almost universal for both prerecorded tapes and home recording. Dolby B was designed to address the high-frequency noise inherent in cassette tapes, and along with improvements in tape formulation it helped the cassette win acceptances as a high-fidelity medium. At the same time, Dolby B provided acceptable performance when played back on decks that lacked Dolby circuitry, meaning there was little reason not to use it if it was available.
The main alternative to Dolby was the dbx noise reduction system, which achieved a high signal-to-noise ratio, but was essentially unlistenable when played back on decks that lacked the dbx decoding circuitry.
Philips developed an alternative noise reduction system known as Dynamic Noise Limiter (DNL) which did not require the tapes to be processed during recording; this was also the basis of the later DNR noise reduction. [18]
Dolby later introduced Dolby C and Dolby S noise reduction, which achieved higher levels of noise reduction; Dolby C became common on high-fidelity decks, but Dolby S, released when cassette sales had begun to decline, never achieved widespread use. It was only licensed for use on higher end tape decks that included dual motors, triple heads, and other refinements.
Dolby HX Pro headroom extension provided better high-frequency response by adjusting the inaudible tape bias during the recording of strong high-frequency sounds, which had a bias effect of their own. Developed by Bang & Olufsen, it did not require a decoder to play back. Since B&O held patent rights and required paying license fees, many other manufacturers refrained from using it too.
Other refinements to improve cassette performance included Tandberg's DYNEQ, Toshiba's adres and Telefunken's High Com, and on some high-end decks, automatic recording bias, fine pitch adjustment and (sometimes) head azimuth adjustment such as the Tandberg TCD-330 and TCD-340A.
By the late 1980s, thanks to such improvements in the electronics, the tape material and manufacturing techniques, as well as dramatic improvements to the precision of the cassette shell, tape heads and transport mechanics, sound fidelity on equipment from the top manufacturers far surpassed the levels originally expected of the medium. On suitable audio equipment, cassettes could produce a very pleasant listening experience. High-end cassette decks could achieve 15 Hz-22 kHz±3 dB frequency response with wow and flutter below 0.022%, and a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 61 dB (for Type IV tape, without noise-reduction)[ citation needed ] . With noise reduction typical signal-to-noise figures of 70-76 dB with Dolby C, 80-86 dB with Dolby S, and 85 - 90 dB with dbx could be achieved. Many casual listeners could not tell the difference between compact cassette and compact disc.
From the early 1980s, the fidelity of prerecorded cassettes began to improve dramatically. Whereas Dolby B was already in widespread use in the 1970s, prerecorded cassettes were duplicated onto rather poor quality tape stock at (often) high speed and did not compare in fidelity to high-grade LPs. However, systems such as XDR, along with the adoption of higher-grade tape (such as chromium dioxide, but typically recorded in such a way as to play back at the normal 120 μs position), and the frequent use of Dolby HX Pro, meant that cassettes became a viable high-fidelity option, one that was more portable and required less maintenance than records. In addition, cover art, which had generally previously been restricted to a single image of the LP cover along with a minimum of text, began to be tailored to cassettes as well, with fold-out lyric sheets or librettos and fold-out sleeves becoming commonplace.
Some companies, such as Mobile Fidelity, produced audiophile cassettes in the 1980s, which were recorded on high-grade tape and duplicated on premium equipment in real time from a digital master. Unlike audiophile LPs, which continue to attract a following, these became moot after the compact disc became widespread.
Almost all cassette decks have an MPX filter to improve the sound quality and the tracking of the noise reduction system when recording from an FM stereo broadcast. However, in many especially cheaper decks, this filter cannot be disabled, and because of that record/playback frequency response in those decks typically is limited to 16 kHz. In other decks, the MPX filter can be switched off or on independently from the Dolby switch. On yet other decks, the filter is off by default, and an option to switch it on or off is only provided when Dolby is activated; this prevents the MPX filter from being used when it's not required.
A key element of the cassette's success was its use in in-car entertainment systems, where the small size of the tape was significantly more convenient than the competing 8-track cartridge system. Cassette players in cars and for home use were often integrated with a radio receiver. In-car cassette players were the first to adopt automatic reverse ("auto-reverse") of the tape direction at each end, allowing a cassette to be played endlessly without manual intervention. Home cassette decks soon added the feature.
Cassette tape adaptors have been developed which allow newer media players to be played through existing cassette decks, in particular those in cars which generally do not have input jacks. These units do not suffer from reception problems from FM transmitter based system to play back media players through the FM radio, though supported frequencies for FM transmitters that are not used on commercial broadcasters in a given region (e.g. any frequency below 88.1 in the US) somewhat eliminates that problem.
Cassette equipment needs regular maintenance, as cassette tape is a magnetic medium that is in physical contact with the tape head and other metallic parts of the recorder/player mechanism. Without such maintenance, the high-frequency response of the cassette equipment will suffer.
One problem occurs when iron oxide (or similar) particles from the tape itself become lodged in the playback head. As a result, the tape heads will require occasional cleaning to remove such particles. The metal capstan and the rubber pinch roller can become coated with these particles, leading them to pull the tape less precisely over the head; this in turn leads to misalignment of the tape over the head azimuth, producing noticeably unclear high tones, just as if the head itself were out of alignment. Isopropyl alcohol and denatured alcohol are both suitable head-cleaning fluids.
The heads and other metallic components in the tape path (such as spindles and capstans) may become magnetized with use, and require demagnetizing (see Cassette demagnetizer).
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Analog cassette deck sales were expected to decline rapidly with the advent of the compact disc and other digital recording technologies such as digital audio tape (DAT), MiniDisc, and the CD-R recorder drives. Philips responded with the digital compact cassette, a system which was backward-compatible with existing analog cassette recordings for playback. However, it failed to garner a significant market share and was withdrawn from the market. One reason proposed for the lack of acceptance of digital recording formats such as DAT was a fear by content providers that the ability to make very high-quality copies would hurt sales of copyrighted recordings.
The rapid transition was not realized and CDs and cassettes successfully co-existed for nearly 20 years. A contributing factor may have been the inability of early CD players to reliably read discs with surface damage and offer anti-skipping features for applications where external vibration would be present, such as automotive and recreation environments. Early CD playback equipment also tended to be expensive compared to cassette equipment of similar quality and did not offer recording capability. Many home and portable entertainment systems supported both formats and commonly allowed the CD playback to be recorded on cassette tape. The rise of inexpensive all-solid-state portable digital music systems based on MP3, AAC and similar formats finally saw the eventual decline of the domestic cassette deck. As of 2020, Marantz, Teac, and Tascam are among the few companies still manufacturing cassette decks in relatively small quantities for professional and niche market use. By the late 1990s, automobiles were offered with entertainment systems that played both cassettes and CDs. By the end of the late 2000s, very few cars were offered with cassette decks. The last vehicle model in the United States that came standard with a factory-installed cassette player was the 2010 Lexus SC 430, [19] however the Ford Crown Victoria came with a cassette deck as an option until the model was discontinued in 2011.[ citation needed ] As radios became tightly integrated into dashboards, many cars lacked even standard openings that would accept aftermarket cassette player installations.
Despite the decline in the production of cassette decks, these products are still valued by some. Many blind and elderly people find the newest digital technologies very difficult to use compared to the cassette format. Cassette tapes are not vulnerable to scratching from handling (though the exposed magnetic tape is vulnerable to stretching from poking), and play from where they were last stopped (though some modern MP3 players offer savestating electronically). Cassette tapes can also be recorded multiple times (though some solid-state digital recorders are now offering that function).
Today, cassette decks are not considered by most people to be either the most versatile or highest fidelity sound recording devices available, as even very inexpensive CD or digital audio players can reproduce a wide frequency range with no speed variations. Many current budget-oriented cassette decks lack a tape selector to set proper bias and equalization settings to take best advantage of the extended high end of Type II [High Bias] and Type IV [Metal Bias] tapes.
Cassettes remain popular for audio-visual applications. Some CD recorders, particularly those intended for business use, incorporate a cassette deck to allow both formats for recording meetings, church sermons, and books on tape.
High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.
VHS is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period in the late 1970s through the early 2000s.
The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released in August 1963.
An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for storage.
A Dolby noise-reduction system, or Dolby NR, is one of a series of noise reduction systems developed by Dolby Laboratories for use in analog audio tape recording. The first was Dolby A, a professional broadband noise reduction system for recording studios that was first demonstrated in 1965, but the best-known is Dolby B, a sliding band system for the consumer market, which helped make high fidelity practical on cassette tapes, which used a relatively noisy tape size and speed. It is common on high-fidelity stereo tape players and recorders to the present day, although Dolby has as of 2016 ceased licensing the technology for new cassette decks. Of the noise reduction systems, Dolby A and Dolby SR were developed for professional use. Dolby B, C, and S were designed for the consumer market. Aside from Dolby HX, all the Dolby variants work by companding: compressing the dynamic range of the sound during recording, and expanding it during playback.
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is a magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita Electric in late 1992 and marketed as the successor to the standard analog Compact Cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony's MiniDisc (MD), but neither format toppled the then-ubiquitous analog cassette despite their technical superiority, and DCC was discontinued in October 1996. Another competing format, the Digital Audio Tape (DAT), had by 1992 also failed to sell in large quantities to consumers, although it was popular as a professional digital audio storage format.
Elcaset is a short-lived audio format jointly developed by Sony, Panasonic, and Teac in 1976, building on an idea introduced 20 years earlier in the RCA tape cartridge.
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the supply reel containing the tape is placed on a spindle or hub. The end of the tape is manually pulled from the reel, threaded through mechanical guides and over a tape head assembly, and attached by friction to the hub of the second, initially empty takeup reel. Reel-to-reel systems use tape that is 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, or 2 inches wide, which normally moves at 3+3⁄4, 7+1⁄2, 15 or 30 inches per second. Domestic consumer machines almost always used 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) or narrower tape and many offered slower speeds such as 1+7⁄8 inches per second (4.762 cm/s). All standard tape speeds are derived as a binary submultiple of 30 inches per second.
Nakamichi Corp., Ltd. is a Japanese consumer electronics brand founded in Japan which gained a name from the 1970s onwards for audio cassette decks. Nakamichi is a subsidiary of Chinese holding company Nimble Holdings.
dbx is a family of noise reduction systems developed by the company of the same name. The most common implementations are dbx Type I and dbx Type II for analog tape recording and, less commonly, vinyl LPs. A separate implementation, known as dbx-TV, is part of the MTS system used to provide stereo sound to North American and certain other TV systems. The company, dbx, Inc., was also involved with Dynamic Noise Reduction (DNR) systems.
A tape head is a type of transducer used in tape recorders to convert electrical signals to magnetic fluctuations and vice versa. They can also be used to read credit/debit/gift cards because the strip of magnetic tape on the back of a credit card stores data the same way that other magnetic tapes do. Cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, 8-tracks, VHS tapes, and even floppy disks and early hard drive disks all use the same principle of physics to store and read back information. The medium is magnetized in a pattern. It then moves at a constant speed over an electromagnet. Since the moving tape is carrying a changing magnetic field with it, it induces a varying voltage across the head. That voltage can then be amplified and connected to speakers in the case of audio, or measured and sorted into ones and zeroes in the case of digital data.
U-matic or 3⁄4-inch Type E Helical Scan or SMPTE E is an analogue recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as opposed to the various reel-to-reel or open-reel formats of the time. The videotape is 3⁄4 in (19 mm) wide, so the format is often known as "three-quarter-inch" or simply "three-quarter", compared to open reel videotape formats in use, such as 1 in (25 mm) type C videotape and 2 in (51 mm) quadruplex videotape.
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
The history of sound recording - which has progressed in waves, driven by the invention and commercial introduction of new technologies — can be roughly divided into four main periods:
The RCA tape cartridge is a magnetic tape audio format that was designed to offer stereo quarter-inch reel-to-reel tape recording quality in a convenient format for the consumer market. It was introduced in 1958, following four years of development. This timing coincided with the launch of the stereophonic phonograph record. It was introduced to the market by RCA in 1958.
The Dynamic Noise Limiter, or DNL for short, was a noise reduction system introduced by Philips in the late 1960s to improve the quality of audio recordings on cassette tape. It is used on playback only, and does not require encoding the original audio signal. It was not widely used, as Dolby noise reduction became very popular. Third-party implementations called it Dynamic Noise Reduction, or DNR. As Dolby may be initialized DNR, there is some confusion between the two.
The Nakamichi Dragon is an audio cassette deck that was introduced by Nakamichi in 1982 and marketed until 1994. The Dragon was the first Nakamichi model with bidirectional replay capability and the world's first production tape recorder with an automatic azimuth correction system; this feature, which was invented by Philips engineers and improved by Niro Nakamichi, continuously adjusts the azimuth of the replay head to minimize apparent head skew and correctly reproduce the treble signal present on the tape. The system allows the correct reproduction of mechanically skewed cassettes and recordings made on misaligned decks. Apart from the Dragon, similar systems have only been used in the Nakamichi TD-1200 car cassette player and the Marantz SD-930 cassette deck.
Audio compact cassettes use magnetic tape of three major types which differ in fundamental magnetic properties, the level of bias applied during recording, and the optimal time constant of replay equalization. Specifications of each type were set in 1979 by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC): Type I, Type II, Type III, and Type IV. 'Type 0' was a non-standard designation for early compact cassettes that did not conform to IEC specification.
The Revox B215 is a cassette deck manufactured by Studer from 1985 until around 1990. A professional version with different control layout and audio path electronics was manufactured concurrently as the Studer A721. A later improved version was marketed as the Revox B215S. Because it was expensive compared to other consumer models and had exceptionally good mechanical performance and durability, the B215 was used primarily by professional customers—radio stations, recording studios and real-time cassette duplicators.
In magnetic tape recording, adaptive biasing is the technique of continuously varying the bias current to a recording head in accordance with the level of high-frequency audio signals. With adaptive biasing, high levels of high-frequency audio signals cause a proportionate decrease in bias current using either feedforward or preferably a negative feedback control system. Compared with the use of fixed bias current, adaptive biasing provides a higher maximum output level and higher dynamic range at the upper end of the audible spectrum and to a lesser extent, mid-range frequencies. The effect of adaptive biasing is most pronounced in compact cassette and low-speed reel-to-reel media. The first commercial implementation, the feedforward system Dolby HX was developed by Dolby Laboratories by 1979 and was rejected by the industry. The subsequent negative-feedback system Dolby HX Pro was developed by Bang & Olufsen and marketed by Dolby, and became the de facto standard of the consumer high fidelity industry in the mid-1980s.
Cassettes were originally disdained by audio critics as very low-end technology ... a very low perceived potential for sound reproduction
The transport controls are fully logic operated through solenoids. Any transport control button can be touched while the machine is running in any mode without risking damage to tape or deck. Even the button for the cassette compartment door can be operated while the tape is running.
There was a slight "clunk" from the solenoids as they operated, but the buttons themselves required almost no activating pressure, and the control logic appeared to be as foolproof as claimed.
The following conveniences are available: *Direct change of mode... *Light-touch button... *Punch-in recording... *Remote control...
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