Advent 201 cassette rec. - keep or trash?

[Michael Volow]

I have some old (dating from the 1970s) stereo components which I was
recently reviewing whether to keep. My old Dual 1219 turntable/changer works
well and I will certainly keep it for vinyl use.

But I also have an Advent 201 cassette tape recorder. This was one of the
first cassette recorders to have Dolby and to use chrome tape. It was
high-end at one time. It had all manual individual channel and master level
controls and a pretty decent external microphone pre-amp with balanced
inputs, which made pretty good location recordings. It still makes decent
recordings but I'm sure distortion levels and speed control are not up to
modern standards. It doesn't have auto-reverse or solenoid logic controls.

A couple of these are on Ebay with box for bids of $20-40, so it probably
has little financial value. I know that cassette is almost dead medium.

For those of you who are familiar with this unit, is this a component that
one might want to keep or not?

[Mark D. Zacharias]

Depends on the condition of the tape head - they wore out rather quickly -
and the pinch roller.
This was a 3m / Wollensak mechanism, the pinch roller rubber turned to goo
after a time. Last I heard one could still get the roller from Audio-Video
Parts in LaBrea CA.

In good working order an Advent would blow the doors off a modern cheapie
cassette. You'd need a Nakamichi to compete.

Mark Z.

--
Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam
have rendered my regular e-mail address useless.


"Michael Volow" > wrote in message
...
> I have some old (dating from the 1970s) stereo components which I was
> recently reviewing whether to keep. My old Dual 1219 turntable/changer
works
> well and I will certainly keep it for vinyl use.
>
> But I also have an Advent 201 cassette tape recorder. This was one of the
> first cassette recorders to have Dolby and to use chrome tape. It was
> high-end at one time. It had all manual individual channel and master
level
> controls and a pretty decent external microphone pre-amp with balanced
> inputs, which made pretty good location recordings. It still makes decent
> recordings but I'm sure distortion levels and speed control are not up to
> modern standards. It doesn't have auto-reverse or solenoid logic controls.
>
> A couple of these are on Ebay with box for bids of $20-40, so it probably
> has little financial value. I know that cassette is almost dead medium.
>
> For those of you who are familiar with this unit, is this a component that
> one might want to keep or not?
>
>
>

[Crashdamage]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 04:57:16 -0600, Mark D. Zacharias > wrote:
> Depends on the condition of the tape head - they wore out rather quickly -
> and the pinch roller.
> This was a 3m / Wollensak mechanism, the pinch roller rubber turned to goo
> after a time. Last I heard one could still get the roller from Audio-Video
> Parts in LaBrea CA.

> In good working order an Advent would blow the doors off a modern cheapie
> cassette. You'd need a Nakamichi to compete.

This definetly worth keeping, maybe even if it doesen't work. It's a
true piece of audio history, the original consumer cassette deck.

Mark Z. is right that, like all early decks, the heads did wear out
quickly, and the pinch rollers do go away. He is dead wrong that it
would "blow the doors off" modern decks, except maybe for for cheapo
Walkmans. In all respects - W&F, S/N, freq response, etc. performance
was fairly poor by modern standards. The Wollensak transport was no
jewel, but it's all that was available at the time. But it was good
enough to get the cassette format off the ground as a real recording
medium.

Keep it or sell this nice audio curiosity to a good home - don't toss it
in the trash!

Hey Mark - no top posting...

--
Registered Linux user #266531

[Mark D. Zacharias]

Gotta disagree. I work on these things, and most modern decks don't even
have a flywheel as we understand the term. A stamped round disk with a
plastic pulley attached does not qualify as a flywheel in my opinion.

These pieces of crap sell at 79.00 or less for a DUAL deck. How good can
they be? They don't use harder tape heads, they over-spec their frequency
response by a country mile, and certainly aren't built to last. Heck - they
mostly aren't even built by the companies whose names they bear. They're
built in China by Hu-Nos-Hu.

Besides, one's choices of cassette decks is very limited these days - it's
an obsolete technology.

If you record a dynamic classical piece on a new-condition or
well-maintained Advent, the SOUND QUALITY will easily beat the cheap crap
that's out there today.
BTW Advent wasn't the first modern cassette, but they were the first to use
Dolby, in their model 200, which was made by Nakamichi, by the way.
Also there were Wollensak models using the same mech which DID have the
ferrite heads.

I did neglect to mention other good quality Japanese decks that were made
from the mid-70s' through the late 80's or so. Many of these were definitely
worthy.

Mark Z.

--
Please reply only to Group. I regret this is necessary. Viruses and spam
have rendered my regular e-mail address useless.


"Crashdamage" > wrote in message
s.com...
> On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 04:57:16 -0600, Mark D. Zacharias >
wrote:
> > Depends on the condition of the tape head - they wore out rather
quickly -
> > and the pinch roller.
> > This was a 3m / Wollensak mechanism, the pinch roller rubber turned to
goo
> > after a time. Last I heard one could still get the roller from
Audio-Video
> > Parts in LaBrea CA.
>
> > In good working order an Advent would blow the doors off a modern
cheapie
> > cassette. You'd need a Nakamichi to compete.
>
> This definetly worth keeping, maybe even if it doesen't work. It's a
> true piece of audio history, the original consumer cassette deck.
>
> Mark Z. is right that, like all early decks, the heads did wear out
> quickly, and the pinch rollers do go away. He is dead wrong that it
> would "blow the doors off" modern decks, except maybe for for cheapo
> Walkmans. In all respects - W&F, S/N, freq response, etc. performance
> was fairly poor by modern standards. The Wollensak transport was no
> jewel, but it's all that was available at the time. But it was good
> enough to get the cassette format off the ground as a real recording
> medium.
>
> Keep it or sell this nice audio curiosity to a good home - don't toss it
> in the trash!
>
> Hey Mark - no top posting...
>
> --
> Registered Linux user #266531

[Crashdamage]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 07:17:01 -0600, Mark D. Zacharias > wrote:
> Gotta disagree.
(snip)
> I did neglect to mention other good quality Japanese decks that were made
> from the mid-70s' through the late 80's or so. Many of these were definitely
> worthy.

We could argue this forever, but I was talking in comparison to cassette
*decks* not boombox recorders, etc. And yeah, the few decks available
today are crap, but still maybe actually sound better (at least when
new and working right) than the original Advents with the unreliable
Wollensak transports (sorry, but they were) and no noise reduction.
The Advent was OK, but not really good-sounding and reliable 'till
Nakamichi started making them with Dolby and a decent transport.
A well maintained deck from about '78-'90 is the way to go for quality
sound and build, for sure.

Hey, dude, yer still top-posting...not nice...
--
Registered Linux user #266531