Topic: curious: is my tape deck any good?

[rhinowing]

My deck is a Sony TC-K630ES three-head deck, been in use since the late 80's. I was wondering if anyone knew anything specific about this deck? Obviously its no NAK, but would it produce a decent transfer? (I'd be going either headphone or RCA out into an R-09).

google dug up this page: http://www.vintagecassette.com/Sony/TC-K630ES/faqs

[spott]

If you're looking to improve the quality of the transfer add a solid A > D stage to the equation.... although as long as the capstans and azimuth are in good shape this should produce a good transfer, 3 heads are better for recording, but it's my understanding that it doesn't mean anything for playback - I think in a 3 head deck; 2 heads are allocated for playback and one is dedicated for recording (but it's been 10 years since I've thought about this).  Personally, I'd pop the thing open and give it a once over with some isopropyl alcohol / qtips and give it a shot...  also, I'd suggest the RCA's for output over headphone jack (and use some decent RCA's). 

Good luck!

[Todd R]

I have that basic model as well, always found it to be a pretty good tape deck.  I can't remember for sure what I have without checking, either the 630ES or the 615ES.  Dolby B, C, S, HX Pro, manual bias adjust and calibration, 2 motor I think, 3 head -- definitely a solid deck.  Use the RCA outs for sure, not the headphone out.

BTW, 3 head = 1 erase head, 1 record head, 1 playback head.  As opposed to 2-head deck with an erase head and a combined rec/play head.  Having separate record and playback heads allows you to monitor thru the playback head exactly what was put onto the tape from the record head during recording in realtime.  As opposed to recording the tape and then needing to finish, rewind, and playback to see what you got.