27 February 2018

PIONEER SX-D7000 - A New Style

PIONEER SX-D7000

After a series of hugely successful receivers introduced during the 70's PIONEER finally decided that there is a time for a change. With a completely new esthaetics ready for a new decade PIONEER introduced in 1980 the SX-D7000. Behind this new aesthetics lies however a "classic" tried and tested amplifier - tuner technology. All controls (except VOLUME and BALANCE) and switches are sliders and pushbuttons, not levers, rockers or rotary knobs. Indications are all beautifully illuminated. You don't have to be a stereo "expert" to see how these new lines and contours add up to a distinctive kind of elegance, to see how the SX-D7000 gives the appearance of a preision transeiver, with all controls neatly grouped into three. The PIONEER SX-D7000 uses a Non-Switching DC power amplifier design. For FM radio reception it uses a Quartz-PLL synthesizer tuner with six FM and six AM memory for instant station recall. The FLUROSCAN power output and tuning meters are considered as a classic PIONEER trademark. Technical data: 120 W/ch min. at 8 ohms from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz with no more than 0.005% total harmonic distortion. Dimensions: 519 (W) x 180 (H) x 460 (D) mm. Weight: 19.2 kg.

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000

PIONEER SX-D7000



20 February 2018

Technics SA-1000 - The Most Powerful Receiver

Technics SA-1000

Introduced in 1977 the Technics SA-1000 was one of the most powerfull receivers ever made: 330 Watts per channel minimum RMS into 8 ohms from 20 Hz-20 kHz with no more than 0.03% total harmonic distortion. To capture the sheer dynamics of a live symphony, there was an equally dynamic amplifier section. Like 72,000 microF worth of high capacitance filtering, separate DC rectifiers, current-mirror loading and direct coupling. The results were impressive: tremendous reserve power, negligible transient crosstalk distortion and excellent stability. As good as all that sounds, Technics Acoustic Control made it sound even better, because it added low and high range boost and filter switches to enhance the tone controls. There was also a midrange control with a variable center frequency, 24 LED peak-power indicators and automatic load impedance detector.

Technics SA-1000

Technics SA-1000

Technics SA-1000

Technics SA-1000

Technics SA-1000

Technics SA-1000



13 February 2018

Nakamichi - Anatomy of a Dragon.

Nakamichi Dragon

The Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck was an exciting combination of innovative design, convenience features and outstanding performance. It was first introduced at $2,499 and it was targeted at serious high-end clientele until it was discontinued in 1993 after an 11-year production run.

Here are the highlights of the technologies used in the Nakamichi Dragon:

Because of Azimuth misalignment in tape reproduction high frequency response can be severely restricted. Nakamichi equipped this deck with a NAAC (Nakamichi Auto Azimuth Correction) system capable of extracting every bit of information stored on a cassette. NAAC automatically determines the actual recorded azimuth on the tape, aligns the playback head to it, and continues to track it throughout the program. It works on comercially recorded tapes, tapes borrowed from a friend and even if the tape has been recorded with improper azimuth. 

To exploit to the maximum tape performance, the Nakamichi Dragon was the world's first Dual-Capstan, Double-Direct-Drive, Auto-Reverse cassette deck. For speed stability this model uses two Super-Linear-Torque Quartz controlled direct drive capstan motors. 

For optimum recordings the Nakamichi Dragon is provided with separate sets of bias and record-level (sensitivity) controls for each channel and tape type. Self-contained test oscillators generates a 400 Hz signal for setting record level and a 15 kHz tone for adjusting bias. Technical specifications: 3+2 motor mechanism, Wow-and-Flutter is less than 0.019 WTD RMS, Frequency response 20 Hz-22,000 Hz (+/-3 dB, -20dB level) and Signal-to-Noise Ratio better than 72 dB with Dolby C and better than 66 dB with Dolby B.

Nakamichi Dragon
3 Head - NAAC

Nakamichi Dragon
Control Panel

Nakamichi Dragon
Direct Drive motor

Nakamichi Dragon
Tape pad lifter - 4 track head

Nakamichi Dragon
Nakamichi Dragon mechanism detail

Nakamichi Dragon


06 February 2018

Technics SV-P100 (1981) - Introducing DIGITAL Audio

Technics SV-P100


What a superb machine and what a failure. This is how one can see in 2018 the Technics (some markets Panasonic) SV-P100 Digital Audio Recorder introduced in 1981. This new PCM Digital Audio Cassette was intended for home and studio applications. It uses a very high-quality VHS video tape transport mechanism with advanced video heads and quartz locked direct drive motors. This technology was chosen because it was already available and the bandwidth of the video signal allowed to record Digital Audio instead of the video signal. Since the digital signal is recorded on the tape's video tracks, the space usually used for audio is left free. The SV-P100 uses these extra tracks for "jump" and "search" marks. 

It should be noted that this technology was already on the market but it consisted of a separate PCM unit that was used in conjunction with a conventional video recorder. Even though the Technics SV-P100 is significantly smaller than the two-box solution this recorder remains in audio history as an almost unknown device (There was an even more rare silver model). Rapid changes in this field meant that the world standard for Digital Audio implemented for CD players became the 16-bit resolution while the 14-bit resolution used by the Technics was no longer considered to be satisfactory. The Technics SV-P100 was capable of a frequency response of 2 Hz - 20 kHz (+/-0.5 dB) and a Dynamic range of more than 86 dB.

Technics SV-P100

Technics SV-P100

Technics SV-P100

Technics SV-P100

Technics SV-P100

Technics SV-P100