Have you ever experienced walking into a shop, with a specific purpose of explicitly locating an item, yet end up spending time with something that caught your eye, causing you forgot what your original purpose was?
It happened to me earlier today.
Cables were my purpose but as I have a habit of just wandering my eye at different places, this piece of nifty and woody audio equipment caught my eye. At first, my caffeine-starved brain could not comprehend what it was, rather specifically, its construction as it looked like a cross between a wooden drawer and fantastically complex piece of industrial equipment. Turns out, it was kind of both.
Abandoning briefly my search for cables, I tinkered with Teac V-95RX a bit and it sounded quite fantastic to my ear and it was a feast for my eyes. The casing on this thing is not metal sheeted with cheap wood veneer – the casing is actual wood and front panel is a bunch full of goodies that a gearhead can spend quite a bit of time just looking at the thing.
Released in 1982, this Teac, which was mistaken labelled in the video as a Technics, has the specs that make a tape deck junkie a happy camper. Take a read at the specs below:
Specifications:
Type: auto reverse, 3-head, single compact cassette deck
Track System: 4-track, 2-channel stereo
Tape Speed: 4.76 cm/s
Heads: 1 x record/playback, 2 x erase
Motor: 1 x capstan, 1 x reel, 1 x aux
Tape Type: type I, CrO2, Metal
Noise Reduction: B
Signal to Noise Ratio: 69dB (dolby B)
Wow and Flutter: 0.07%
Total Harmonic Distortion: 2.2%
Input: 275mV (line), 0.35mV (mic)
Output: 0.436V (line)
Dimensions: 436 x 129 x 280mm
Weight: 6.3kg
Year: 1982
As usual, my lazy bone kicked in and I did not bother to match speakers with it. However, I personally don’t think one can’t go wrong with the Marantz receiver that was driving a pair of vintage Dual speakers. The most of the buttons are placed flush on the front panel and the reaction time of the Teac (after you press the button) is near instantaneous. Now, my fascination with this wooden wonder was kind of dampened what I saw it was an auto-reverse unit. I am no fan of auto reverse, particularly rotating heads, which this Tead has. Not to say that auto-reverse is a bad thing overall but any rotating head tape decks will most probably have azimuth and alignment issues in the long run and it could be a challenge to correct both if not done properly.
Having said that, I did not audibly detect any azimuth and alignment issues with Ms. Woody, as old James Taylor sounded like James Taylor and not some troubadour who had one too many pints of beer before performing. I almost totally forgot what I was at the shop for and was almost just content to listen to James. But, all good things had to end and the end of my listening nirvana came to an end with a text asking where the bloody hell I was. So, I got my cables, stepped off the shops doors while saying to myself "The oaf who will get that Teac will be one lucky bloke." Good thing it was not I, as if I brought home another tape deck, I would probably sleep on the street tonight.
Good thing I like my bed better that this deck.
Interested in getting your hands on this beauty? If you are, hit About then Contact on this page. The people at their physical store will be more than happy to accommodate you.