The Best Car Cassette Deck for You : A Guide
Jun 04 '01 (Updated Jun 07 '01)
The Bottom Line If you're set on getting a cassette player for your car just look into the numbers, features, warranty, and your own needs (be honest) and you should be fine.
Preface
Still using cassettes, huh? I don't blame you, I do too. I recently purchased a rather expensive deck (Sony TC-KA3ES) to get the most out of the tapes I still had. I fortunately just found 15 TDK MA-XG 90 mastering cassettes on Ebay, but that's another story. Maybe you have a home deck too? Maybe you don't want to get rid of that tape player in your car because your tapes still outnumber your CDs, or maybe you simply want to have a CD player w/o losing your ability to play tapes. Whatever reason you may have its not an issue because today's market still has many options popularly available to you from the pitifully low-end to deliciously high end.
Although the research and engineering energy that once went into the production of cassette decks is really no longer there, many of the better manufactures are still making acceptably good decks for home and car, though the internals may have remained relatively unchanged in the past few years. Many decks still offer Dolby B, some even offer C, tuners are a little better than they were 10 years ago, and more than anything else, prices on better decks are a lot less than they once were. Even with that said, I still believe you get what you pay for. If you purchase a KRACO deck from the local Pep Boys for $50 and it conks out in 3 months...well, you get what you pay for.
In this article I will mention a few brands and models. I do this more for reference than anything else. The models I may list have acceptable performance numbers (to me), are from decent makers, and will have features that I may be highlighting. I have not reviewed them all, and I have to say the ultimate judge is you, the consumer. Never be afraid to go to the local Best Buy, Circuit City, McDuffs, whatever and fiddle with a few models for a hour or so. Many models look great on paper until you go to the store play with the unit and realize that its cheaply made and VERY user unfriendly.
Features To Look For
Frequency Range - This is a key point to consider whether thinking in terms of the cassette performance. Keep in mind, human hearing is roughly 20Hz to 20,000Hz (20kHz), so the closer to those numbers the on either end, the better, the tape player will more faithfully reproduce the lows and highs. Decent tape response is about 30-18,000, great response is 20-20,000, and anything beyond that is excellent. This number will tell you a lot, but there's more to consider.
S/N - Signal to noise ratios, or S/N, is another key factor to look for. In the simplest terms, the higher the number, the better. This can be achieved through better components and engineering or by digitizing the analog signal (Pioneer). The average cassette deck has a rating around 55db to 62db. Anything higher than 65db is good, above 70db is very good, higher than 75db is outstanding for a car deck (I believe mine has S/N of 82db).
Tuner - This isn't much of an issue anymore, most tuners are quite good. The only spec number you might want to consider would be the FM sensitivity, most often expressed as dBf. I guess this may depend on where you live or drive. For those of us in cities it may not be so important, but for folks in more rural areas, the lowest value is your best bet. The lower this value, the better the chance of picking up weak or more distant stations. Again, this is all relative the the quality of the circuitry as well, but I have found Pioneer (KEH-P6010) and Sony to have some of the best. The only other feature to think about would be the number of presets you may want. Personally, I could care less, I only listen to about four stations regularly. Most decks will have about 18-40 preset slots.
Motors - One of the weak points of a cassette deck is the motor(s), whether one or two. I haven't run into a three motor car deck in the past ten years that I can think of. Most car decks simply have one motor that takes care of all functions you put the unit through. This motor plays, rewinds, FFs, even fast read (AMS, auto music search/programming). Over time, I don't think I have to tell you the motor will get less efficient. With as cheap as they are one could reasonably buy a new one every few years, but why? A good deck should last you five, ten, or more years. Two motor decks are more desirable and tend to last longer, all things being equal. One motor takes care of play functions, the other drives FF, Rew, and such. There are a few still out there, the Sony ES XR-CA610X is one.
Faceplates - It seems this, too, is a given these days. Even the cheapest of cassette decks now feature this. For those of you who have theft as a consideration its always a good idea. One nice thing about cassette decks is that a thief may see it is a cassette and hit another car instead, one with a CD player. Its virtually impossible to hock cassette decks these days so they aren't much of a theft risk as they might have been 10 years ago. The only other option here would be an "EL" face or "black panel". Most of these are detachable as well though, problem solved. I am not a fan of these, but I can see why people like them, many have detailed graphics programs and they look great at night.
Noise Reduction - Do your best to find a unit with Dolby B and C, this will allow you to better tailor your head unit to your tape collection. This is harder to find than you might think. Dolby B is still very common, but many recordings were made in C and to optimize playback you want both of these methods. Dolby S is not a consideration, I strongly doubt you have a single tape recorded in Dolby type-S noise reduction (that's not home made), but if you do Dolby C will be just fine. Decks that still feature B and C are rare, so if you find one, its worth consideration.
DSP - DSP simply stands for Digital Signal Processing. Units that have this feature generally have settings like "Hall", "Cathedral", "Club", or "Arena". In these modes various programs may be at work, but simply put all that is happening is some shaping and the addition of delay, sometimes only to rear speakers. This shouldn't be confused with units that offer "sound settings", as it were. Many of these "features" are simply an adjustment in treble and bass to better fit the music you choose to listen to. Some popular names for this are "Classical", "Rock", and "Soft".
EQs - A good thing to have, more so than just a simple bass and treble option, which is more common. An EQ allows you to, in most cases, boost or cut a specific frequency as opposed to choosing a preprogrammed setting. I have seen EQs on headunits with up to ten channels of adjustment. This type of feature will be a price point though, so many times, you will only see it on higher end models.
Amplifiers - Get an external amplifier if your interest or budget will allow. There are many good headunits with strong amps out there (Pioneer), but ideally you want to use an external for a couple of reasons. If you play your music hard often, you will have a headunit that remains very toasty as has been my experience with all my internally powered Sony decks, and they got VERY hot! Also think about this, how much good, clean power can you really draw from and amp confined to such a small area? You would certainly never want to power a sub with a headunits amplifier! Internal amps often provide up to about 30 or so relatively undistorted watts max, many peak at 50 or more. Reality check, you will never be able to get the bass punch you want from a small internal amp. Even a reasonably small external amplifier will deliver big sound assuming its a sheer minimum of a 35w/ch RMS. But if you are a mild listener who isn't looking for massive sound pressure levels, the headunit by itself will serve well.
Connectivity - Most people have CDs and just because you own a tape deck doesn't mean you can't have a CD player too. Whether a slave unit below your tape deck, or in a double DIN configuration (twice the size of a standard head unit) or a changer in the trunk, your tape should AT LEAST have the ability to run one other source. Almost all decks today have this ability, many with the ability to also provide options to run an MD, TV, DVD, or even a VHS! If possible try to get a unit with at least front and rear "pre-outs", this will aid in the future addition of an external amplifier (recommended). 4 volt or higher is a good bet for a pre-out, there are slim advantages to them being at a lower voltage, but not enough to go into it. Simply put, a higher voltage generally ensures a stronger signal.
Bells And Whistles
There are quite many of these out there depending on the brand. What do I mean by bell and whistle? Well things you don't need. Things like dolphins swimming on your stereo screen, intro music when you turn on your car, even remotes that are larger than the ones I have at home. Who will have the time to look at a complex remote while in traffic doing 70? Not all remotes are useless in my opinion, some are rather well designed. I have heard nothing but praise for the Blaupunkt "Thummer". My Sony is also very well thought out. In either case, the point is that you do not have to look at it to use it. World bands and weather bands are bells and whistles...unless that is what you are looking for, but whatever it is there's bound to be a semi local AM that will cover your need. Another key bell and whistle to aware of? Access cards. If a thief wants your unit, he'll have it, and there will always be a buyer/fence for them get rid of it. Buy an alarm if you want security.
Will It Fit?
Sure it will. Car stereos are, for the most part, pretty darn standardized. Most units will fit in most vehicles, usually with some type of adapter kit which usually cost about $16. Many japanese cars have what are called "double-DIN openings, meaning you can also install an external EQ, single disc CD, or even an MD if you wanted to. If you have a car with a non-standard opening, companies like Pioneer, Jensen, and Clarion make stereos specific to those applications, usually american cars. The only other thing needed will be a wire harness to fit your stereo to your car, these will cost about $16 as well. Most stereos are relatively easy to install and won't take you more than a couple of hours. Companies like Crutchfield cater to that audience with diagrams, tech support, and good install kits. A professional install is always good too. If you have any questions, usually the store that sold can help, though you may run into an idiot or two, so its always good to have an after market car manual.
Summary
The numbers say a lot but they aren't the whole story. As I said before, there are quality build issues at stake too. In my opinion, I think JVCs are kind of cheap looking and don't feel all that strong. Although I love Sony, their build quality doesn't seem to be what it used to. Eclipse seems like very good stuff, it feels firm, heavy, and strong. The same is generally true of Alpine as well. But I wouldn't have these opinions if I hadn't gone and played with them at various stores. I do things like taking the face off looking at the internals if I can get a peek in there, even looking at the connections in the back if the unit isn't hooked up, sometimes even if it is. A copper chassis is a good feature if you see it, it helps to block out some interference.
A good deck shouldn't run you more than about $300. Many good decks can be had for $200 or less, bare bones decks are around $100 if all you want is for it to play tapes, period. Look on the net, go to yahoo (or your preferred site), search under car stereo, car electronics, or even cassette deck and scour what it returns. Check consumer reports too, its a great resource. See what people on this site have to say about the model you want. Once you do know though, hit the internet, whatever it is it is always cheaper on the net. Consider though that when you buy on the net, you won't have the ease of walking back into the Best Buy, Circuit City, or whatever with a bad unit and simply walking out with a replacement, its a nice feature of walk-in stores, and I have used it at Best Buy more than once.
Also, remember that you will be driving. Think about this when you are looking at which unit to purchase. Little buttons can be hard to find in heavy traffic. Some deck are more ergonomic than other relying on single toggles to do everything. Remotes help this, but fiddle with it first and think about how hard those buttons will be to find and use w/o looking. Are the buttons textured, uniquely shaped? Think about this when shopping. Looks are a buying point as well, some decks even feature multiple illumination colors, generally green, amber, blue, or red depending on brand. Overall, I rarely use my faceplate for functions unless I am stopped, they are so small I always end up hitting the wrong one, day or night.
Well that's about it, I hope this has helped. Happy driving and use your turn signal!
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