Average Cassette Deck
Written: Mar 20 '02
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Pros: Inexpensive, auto-reverse, Dolby-C, attractive, clean design
Cons: flutter, hi-speed dubbing
The Bottom Line: Recommended with the reservations listed in my review.
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| mdbrown's Full Review: Pioneer CT-W404R Single Cassette Deck |
Yes, cassettes are on the way out... quick. Even so, there are times when a cassette is more than enough and I had a rather sizeable amount of cassettes that were beginning to wear out. With that in mind I reluctantly sold my old 3-head, 3-motor, closed capstan single well deck and bought this Pioneer unit to dub with.
The Good. The price, I actually sold my 20 year old cassette deck for more than I paid for this unit. Auto-reverse is nice to have as the more important music I have on CD anyway so the 2 second dead time is liveable. Dolby C makes cassettes almost bearable in terms of hiss. Having Dolby C/HX Pro on this deck allows one to make a passable recording. While the noise floor still doesn't match a CD it should be adequate for non-critical recordings - which is all that should go to cassette anymore nowadays anyway. The front panel is logically laid out with duplicate controls next to each well and a well designed and informative readout dead center. The amber readout is a bit unusual and welcome.
The Not So Good. I admit I can be a fussy listener but the flutter from this deck is unacceptable even if I weren't. A steady note will reveal a slight warbling, not enough to be overly obvious but enough to be annoying nonetheless. I thought this might be a symptom of a defective unit but a replacement unit from a different store produced the same result. Even at this moderate price wow and flutter shouldn't be quite so prominent. I listed hi-speed dubbing as a con even though many companies push it because it's worthless. Most decks, especially those made nowadays that CD is king, are barely adequate at standard speed. Ask them to double the hi end freq. response and you end up with an effective response curve of around 10khz. Leave the dubbing alone.
Overall, this deck will likely fill the need for non-critical listeners. On music devoid of a lot of sustained notes (pop music, some rock music, rap) this well produce acceptable recordings and acceptable dubs (not hi-speed tho). If you listen to blues, classical, opera and the like this deck will not suit your needs, look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 109
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Epinions.com ID:
mdbrown
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Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 2 members
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