29 December 2019

Lenco C 2003 (1977) - 3 Head Deck Rarity

cassette deck

Lenco is mostly remembered for their turntables but in 1977 they introduced a totally unexpected model, a very special 3 discrete head cassette deck. The deck features a 2 motor transport with an a.c. servo-controlled direct drive motor for the dual capstan transport and an asynchronous motor for reel drive. The direct-drive capstan motor is provided with a 3 mm capstan spindle and controlled by servo. It drives the pre-capstan - which is designed as a flywhell - by means of a belt. If the pinch rollers are not engaged the two capstans rotate at approximately the same speed. Only when the pre-capstan is braked by means of the rubber pinch roller the flat belt allow a slip of about 2%. As a result the tape between two capstans is streched. During playback the tape speed can be varied by about +/-2.5%. The die-cast head support assembly includes the heads, tape guides and rubber pinch rollers. The deck is a 3 discrete head head construction with 1 ferrite erase head of double gap design, 1 ferrite record head (3 micro gap) and 1 hard permalloy playback head (1 micro gap), however the deck has no monitoring function, you have to use the switch on your preamp. 

The deck features both manual recording level setting with large illuminated level meters and ALC (Automatic Level Control) with time constant adjusted for optimal recording of speech. Automatic level control of music was deliberately omitted since the results cannot be satisfactory and would not be compatible with the high standard of the unit. The deck was adjusted at the factory for BASF LH super C 60 (standard), Maxell UD XL I C 60 (high output), BASF Ferrochrome C 60 (Fe-Cr) and Maxell UD XL II C 60 (CrO2 - auto select). In order to avoid the occurence of heterodyne frequencies and interference with the Dolby system a switchable 19 kHz Multiplex filter is provided. This filter is also active for the 30 kHz carrier used in the CD4 Quadro LP records. The headphoe volume can be adjusted by means of two separate knobs while the DIN microphone connectors have a 5 volt d.c. supply for electret microphones. Frequency response is 30-18,000 Hz +/-3 dB (FeCr and CrO2 tape), wow and flutter is +/-0.07% WRMS, dimensions: 460x285x85 mm.

(Some info kindly provided by M.E. from resus.ch )



cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

20 December 2019

WEGA Modul 42 (1978) - Kiss That FROG

hifi system

The history of WEGA starts in Germany in the year 1923 with the manufacturing of radio receivers. In 1975 the company is aquired by SONY Japan. Initially under Sony ownership WEGA had designed his own components for a while (using Sony parts) but later all components had turned into SONY rebadged products such as the WEGA C120 cassette deck from the 1001 Hi-Fi Collection. A particullarly successful series of mini Hi-Fi components were introduced in 1976 that culminated in 1978 with this WEGA Modul 42 Series. This industrial design masterpiece is the work of famed designer Hartmut Esslinger (founder of FROG Design). Components of this system are: Modul 42V stereo amplifier (90 w/ch DIN 4 ohm) using LEC (Low Emitter Concentration) transistors from Hitachi and a large toroidal transformer, Modul 42T Stereo tuner with "Digital Graphic Display", Modul 42C cassette deck with Sony Ferrite & Ferrite heads and a frequency response of 30-15,5 kHz (FeCr), Modul 42E grafic equalizer, Modul 42P Direct Drive turntable (Sony BSL-Motor). For even more immersive sound there was available the ADC-2 Acoustic Dimension Complier, a 30 W/ch amplifier that could add (to the existing stereo amplifier) adjustable space and reflection characteristics. For visuals the Wega color 3050 TV could be added while for the components there was one dedicated rack for the components and a separate one for the turntable. All components have the same size, 35 x 15 x 26 cm and they were available in black, dark grey and white. I believe that the red amplifier shown in the last picture was only an Esslinger prototype.


hifi system

hifi system

hifi system

hifi system

hifi system

hifi system

hifi system

 hifi system

07 December 2019

AKAI UC-5 (1980) - High Quality Audio Life

AKAI UC-5 mini hifi

The AKAI UC-5 mini Hi-Fi system was introduced in 1980 and it was the top-of-the-line model of the Mr. COMPO (Japan market name) series. This was followed by the smaller UC-4, UC-3 and UC-2 systems. The heart of the system is the UC-W5 pre-amplifier and UC-A5 power amplifier with a power rating of 56 W/ch (Sinus DIN 4 ohm). The two source components of the system are the UC-S5 Quartz Synthesizer tuner with digital display and 6 memory presets and the UC-F5 cassette deck with 2-motor mechanism, Twinfield Super GX heads, fluorescent level meters and digital counter. The whole system can be remote controlled with the additional RC-5R remote receiver unit and the matching handheld RC 5T infrared remote-control unit. The matching loudspeakers are the Akai SW-N5 two-way speakers.  

AKAI UC-5 mini hifi

AKAI UC-5 mini hifi


AKAI UC-5 mini hifi

AKAI UC-5 mini hifi


30 November 2019

TELEFUNKEN M1 (1980) - Small, Funky and Big Sound

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

The Telefunken Mini-HiFi M1 system was introduced in 1980 and the same year it received the "Deutschen HiFi-Preis 1980" for design excellence. The heart of this system is the MA1 stereo integrated amplifier that can deliver 50 W/ch (4 ohm) with a THD of less than 0,1% at 1 kHz (45W/4 ohm). The all DIN plug systems allows connections of a  tuner, two tape, auxiliary and phono source. The amplifier can be used with two pairs of loudspeakers, one set is for DIN speaker plugs while the other is of a push terminal type. All switches have red LED feedback while for power output there are two 12 segment LED power meters with meter range switch. The MT1 tuner is a Quartz Synthesizer model with digital display and 10 memory presets. This is a FM stereo - AM - LW tuner with manual tuning or direct frequency input model. Again, each button has red LED feed back. Next there is the MC1 cassette deck recorder. This is a two motor - two Sendust head, logic controlled model. It can handle all cassette types: normal, chrome, Fe-Cr and Metal (30-18000 Hz) The primary noise reduction system of this model is the High-Com system (74 dB chrome tape) invented by Telefunken. For further compatibility the deck features also a playback only Dolby system (hence the half Dolby logo) For manual tape recording there is a 12 segment/ch LED peak level indicator, and again all controls have red LED feedback. A detailed description of the similar HC 750 M model (introduced in 1982 as replacement for the MC1) can be seen in the 1001 Hi-Fi Collection. The recommended loudspeaker for this system was the Telefunken TLX 11 Professional. 

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

TELEFUNKEN M1 mini hifi

23 November 2019

MITSUBISHI micro 01 (1979) - High Performance, Small Package

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

Mitsubishi (Diatone in Japan) has put big audio performance into a series of precise little audio components - microcomponents. Stereo components that are compact, but can hardly be called compacts. They have the same high-performance characteristics as full size components. The Micro FM tuner is using a quartz-PLL synthesizer tuning system that has absolutely no drift. The Micro Cassette Deck has a Dual Capstan Drive mechanism mounted in a precise die-cast chassis, 2 head configuration, separate Bias and EQ settings, Feather Touch Logic Control and Dolby noise reduction system. For power, the Micro power-amplifier was unbeatable at this size. The little "direct coupled" powerhouse puts out 70 watts per channel. Total harmonic distortion is only 0.01% for 30 watts per channel. The Micro Preamp is made to complement the power amplifier and faithfully conduct any signal source that goes through it. It has a built-in moving-coil head amplifier and a signal-to-noise ratio of 77dB and 0.005% THD. The final touch was to finish them with Champagne Gold faceplates. The MITSUBISHI micro 01 (DIATONE µ in Japan) cosnsists of  M-F01 tuner, M-P01 pre-amp, M-A01 power-amp and M-T01 cassette deck.

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

MITSUBISHI micro hifi

16 November 2019

ITT HiFi8025 (1979) - Who Made Who ?

cassette deck

A very interesting cassette deck was introduced by ITT in 1979 for the European market. ITT (an American company) owned through it's subsidiary Standard Elektrizitätsgesellschaft several European brands such as Schaub-Lorenz, Ingelen or Graetz. The ITT HiFi8025 was part of their Performance-Line HiFi80 System. This is a high performance 3-Head (discrete) cassette deck with a 2-Motor Closed Loop Dual Capstan mechanism mounted in a die-cast chassis. There are several other high-tech features present on this deck such as: manual BIAS with test tone, azimuth adjustment, fluorescent peak level display, source input mixer, adjustable output (at the back) and soft touch logic tape transport control. No Metal tape capability yet on this model so its top performance can be achieved using Fe-Cr tapes (25-21,000 Hz). Previously hi-fi products in Europe were sold as ITT Schaub-Lorenz but this model was simply labelled as ITT, however there was another version of this deck sold as INGELEN HC 500 while the service manual had an ITT-Graetz logo on it. The 3-Head arrangement looks very similar to what Tandberg had used but it seems that this is actually based on the Mitsubishi DT-30 (DT-40). So why do I even mention the Tandberg name in this discussion? Well, it's because in the early 80s when TANDBERG introduced the TCD 3034 there was a version sold also as ITT 3020 (and a service manual with ITT-Graetz logo) All this looks like that there was a "love triangle" between ITT-Tandberg-Mitsubishi, but ... Who Made Who?cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

08 November 2019

AKAI DA-P9500 / DA-A9500 (1989) - The 60th Anniversary Model.

digital amplifier

To celebrate it's 60th anniversary AKAI created in 1989 a dream amplifier (sold as A&D in Japan). It was a 60 units limited edition Digital pre-power amplifier. Out of the 60 units made, 30 were sold in Europe. The AKAI DA-P 9500 pre-amplifier acts like a Digital Controller where the analog signal is converted to digital and the signal is transmitted in digital format to the power amplifier. There are 12 analog inputs, 4 digital coaxial and 4 digital optical. There is rec-out for tape, 2 vcr and 2 digital. The pre-amplifier has a digital parametric equalizer that can be controlled via the 2 way system remote. EQ settings can be easily visualized on the two way remote controllers display. Dimensions: 466x154x445 mm Weight: 19 kg
The AKAI DA-A 9500 is a 200 w/ch (FTC 20-20000Hz 8 ohm) power amplifier that has a built in D/A converter and can be used as an independent unit for digital sources and it can be controlled with it's own remote control. Dimensions: 466x214x498 mm Weight: 35 kg

digital amplifier

digital amplifier

digital amplifier

digital amplifier

digital amplifier

digital amplifier

26 October 2019

SONY TC-177SD (1973) - First 3 Head Cassette Deck

cassette deck

The SONY TC-177SD (TC-6150SD in Japan) was introduced in 1973 and it was the first 3 head cassette deck from Sony and probably a world first too. Assuring extraordinary sound quality are a ferrite erase head and Ferrite & Ferrite Record and Playback heads. F&F heads give excellent tape-to-head contact and wide frequency response, in addition to lasting up to 200 times longer than the standard permalloy variety. Adding to the excellent performance characteristics is the Closed-Loop Dual Capstan Tape Drive, which severely cuts down tape skewing, modulation distortion and wow and flutter. Being a product of the 70's the deck also had "surround compatibility" Through Symphase Recording, you can record 4-channel sound from an SQ or FM matrix source, and play it back through four speakers and an amplifier equipped with a 4-channel decoder. And the solenoid assited transport functions provide stable, fast and easy mode changes. Separate bias and tape select switches let you take the advantage of normal, chrome or ferri-chrome tapes. During its production years there were available two versions. The initial models had no azimuth control but later in production this was also added. With only one large motor the rewind and fast forward time was 90sec./C-60. Frequency response is 20 Hz to 20 kHz with both FeCr and CrO2 tapes. 


cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck

cassette deck


cassette deck