TEAC A-450

Commentary

In order to record a piano solo performance which is difficult to record clearly, this cassette deck pursues the limit of the cassette by various recording mechanisms, Dolby system and adjustment technology which bring out the full performance of the tape.

The mechanism has been improved in order to realize a wow flutter of 0.07% which exceeds the detection limit of human. The left and right reel bases are equipped with a new slip ring mechanism that maintains a constant tension, 90 mm heavy-weight flywheels, the largest among all cassette decks, an outer rotor motor with excellent stability and durability, and a flat belt made of a new material.
In addition, the cassette half holding mechanism, capstan tape guide, pinch roller arm, head mounting plate, etc. are also being pursued with processing accuracy in the order of microns.

It is equipped with a 3-stage bias / 3-stage equalizer switch to bring out the performance of the tape.
In addition, the Chrome-tape playback equalizer improves the high-frequency SN ratio (4.5 dB at 10 kHz) by adopting a new standard (DIN 70 μ s).
In addition, considering that the sensitivity difference of the tape affects the Dolby system, the circuit which compensates for the sensitivity difference between chrome, low noise (Hi-Fi) and regular tape is built in and adjusted.

It uses an expanded type VU meter with excellent transient characteristics and wide scale.
In addition, in order to respond to sounds that cannot be followed by the VU meter, it is equipped with a peak indicator with a light emitting diode that lights up at + 6 dB from the 0 VU.

In order to maximize the effect of the Dolby System, the basic performance of the deck itself is enhanced.
In order to make the basic frequency of the deck flat and wide-band, a newly designed equalizer circuit is adopted, and an HD (high-density) ferrite head is also adopted.
The HD ferrite head is made of carefully selected ferrite and processed with ultra-precision diamond cutter for high precision processing. It has features such as good linearity of gap, excellent crosstalk, and little phase difference up to the high-frequency range. In addition, the core part that comes into contact with the tape is a hypervolic curve that is entirely covered with ferrite, and the contour effect is reduced, and excellent head touch is obtained by mirror finishing.

In order to correctly adjust the operating level of the Dolby system, adjustment circuits are built in to compensate for differences in recording sensitivity between the playback and chrome / low-noise / regular tapes, respectively. In addition, a stabilizing power supply circuit is used that does not change the operating level even if the power supply voltage changes.

Equipped with timer mechanism, timer recording and re-recording is possible in combination with timer.
During standby, the pinch rollers and idlers are separated so that the mechanism is not overburdened. In addition, taking into consideration the time required for the FM tuner to operate normally, it is equipped with a plunger operation incorporating a delay circuit that starts the tape several seconds after the power is turned on.

It is possible to operate A-450 in conjunction with a program source such as open-reel.
In addition, the A-450 has a built-in automatic stop mechanism that stops the power supply of the program source side when the tape finishes winding, preventing the loss of the tape copy.

The Dolby FM / Dolby Copy function enables you to record Dolby encoded radio waves and music tapes as they are.

It is equipped with a mixing mechanism of microphone and line, and the volume uses a long stroke linear slide volume that is easy to fade in and fade out.
In addition, the microphone input and the line input are completely independent, which prevents the SN ratio from deteriorating.

Equalizer amplifiers for recording and playback, including line amplifiers, are designed to provide a wider range of frequencies with flat characteristics. Bias, which affects recording characteristics, raises the oscillation frequency to 100 kHz and reduces waveform distortion, thereby improving the sound quality in the high-frequency range during recording.

Equipped with a cassette box that can store up to 6 volumes of tape.

Equipped with an auto end stop mechanism using a pure electronic system.

It comes with a smoked acrylic cover, so you can put the cover with the tape in the cassette box.

Equipped with two output terminals.

Equipped with AC outlet (maximum 150W) linked with timer switch.

It has a headphone port.

Equipped with a tape run pilot lamp that can check the running state of the tape.

Equipped with a tape counter.

Model Rating

Type	Stereo cassette deck
Track format	4-track, 2-channel stereo system
Tape used	C-60, C-90 Type
Tape speed	4.8cm/s
Motor	Hysteresis synchronous outer rotor motor
Wow and flutter	0.07%
Early winding time	95 seconds or less (C-60 tape)
Frequency characteristic	30 Hz ~ 16 kHz (Chrome Tape) 30 Hz ~ 13 kHz (Hi-Fi Tape) 30 Hz ~ 10 kHz (Regular Tape)
Signal-to-noise ratio	NR out : 50 dB (3% distortion level, audibility correction) Dolby Improvement : 5 dB (1 kHz), 10 dB (5 kHz or more)
Input Sensitivity / Impedance	Line : 0.1V/100k Ω or more Microphone : 0.25mV/-72dB/600 Ω ~ 10k Ω Compatible
Output Level / Impedance	Line : 0.3V/10k Ω or more Headphone : 8 Ω
Power supply voltage	100 VAC, 50Hz/60Hz
Power consumption	18W
External dimensions	Width 445x Height 176x Depth 270 mm
Weight	9.5kg