A nice basic cassette format tape deck
Perfect to play those cassette tapes you have been storing in the cupboard of your favourite indie band who never had their music released in other formats or I have had previous clients who recorded their family history on cassette tapes and now want to move all those valuable conversations over to a more stable/easily playable format such as CD or even USB.
This cassette deck will do the job for you ...
Technics Cassette Recorder/Player
Model: RS-B18
Made in Japan
Single cassette
4 track 2 channel
Released to market: 1984
110 or 240V (rear recessed switch) AC operation
Currently set for Australian use and fitted with an Australian plug
Tape selectable: Normal, CrO2 & Metal
Noise Reduction: B, C & dbx (Noise reduction can also be simply turned off completely)
Best frequency response (using metal tape) 20Hz - 17kHz
S/N Dbx: 92dB
Wow/Flutter: 0.07%
Single motor
NO auto reverse
REAR PANEL PORTS:
2x RCA inputs (Left-Right)
2x RCA outputs (Left-Right)
FRONT PANEL PORTS:
6.5mm stereo headphone socket
6.5mm mono microphone socket (2, one each for Left-Right)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Front panel controls are all complete, undamaged - nothing is missing
Side & rear panels clean and in very good condition but the top of the case does have some minor scratching
TESTING:
In my previous audio post production facilities I used a LOT of both reel to reel and cassette format tape machines, and while we tended to use Studer, Nakamichi, Tascam most of the time, at times we would call on machines such as this one for playback of a client cassette tape.
It has been well maintained and the "rubbers" kept in top condition during its time in the business but it has been sitting in my storage units for a number of years now. Its time that someone else got some use from this machine.
For the last week I have had this machine under test and the tape transport is fine (Play, Stop, FF, RW) all perform fine. Tape playback is nice and smooth.
Audio output is clean, balanced across both channels and nice frequency range with plenty of low and high frequency response.
The R/W head looks good, has been cleaned and demagnetised.
No "funnies" with any part of the machine, looks good inside - all buttons (soft touch operation) work correctly both physically and electronically.
SPECIAL NOTE: The various noise reduction buttons all work fine BUT it is important to ensure that the selected button is either fully activated or released because these are directly in the signal path - if they are only "half" activated, the audio output on both channels disappears. This is NOT a fault with the machine and just requires that the machine is used correctly.
Display is bright and clear, it is easy to see what is going on
Mechanical tape counter is working fine.
Eject, tape door opening is lovely being slow and smooth - not like some decks that "throw" the tape out at you!
PLEASE NOTE: I have tested ONLY the Playback of various test cassettes here - I have NOT made a test recording. I imagine most would only want to playback their old cassette tapes, not make new tapes but if someone wanted a Record test to be made, I could probably set one up here (need to find a good blank cassette first!)
