SONY TC-7960
¥ 238,000 (released in 1975)
Commentary
The Secloff (セクロフ) series recording / re-auto reverse tape deck has three features : a closed-loop dual capstan system, an AC servo motor, and an F & F head + FET amplifier direct coupling system.
It uses the closed-loop dual capstan system, which is also used in professional aircraft.
In this system, two capstan heads are used and the head is placed in the center of the capstan, so that vibration and uneven tension during tape travel are suppressed in front of the head, and the sound quality is improved by reducing wow, flutter, modulation noise, and speed fluctuation.
Uses an AC servo motor.
This motor uses a coaxial frequency generator and servo amplifier to compensate for changes in rotational speed to maintain the correct rotational speed.
An F & F head is used for the head. This head uses an all-ferrite structure that uses homogeneous ferrite not only in the core part but also in the guard part. It achieves about 200 times more wear resistance than a permalloy head and improves frequency characteristics by suppressing high-frequency loss.
In addition, we have adopted a direct coupling method in which the head and the preamplifier are directly connected. This eliminates the need for capacitors and other elements between the head and the amplifier, resulting in no degradation of sound quality.
We have also developed and adopted a low-noise FET with excellent linearity and high-frequency characteristics in the first stage of the preamplifier to reduce distortion and noise.
The tape running system is almost perfectly symmetrical, and the characteristics are unified by adopting the roto-bilateral head system in which the recording head and reproducing head are rotated 180 degrees and replaced.
In addition to recording and reproducing Oatley verse, playback repeat is also possible.
If you set the switch to the repeat side, it repeats from SIDE1 to SIDE 2 and from SIDE 2 to SIDE1 as many times as you want.
Continuous recording is also possible by using the program timer (sold separately).
A logical control system is adopted.
Equipped with a 2-stage bias and 3-stage equalizer tape selector that can be used with Duad tape or SLH tape.
Microphone and line mixing is possible.
Equipped with a microphone attenuator that allows you to choose between two levels of attenuation : 15 dB and 30 dB.
It is equipped with playback volume with center click.
There was a dust protector sold separately.
Model Rating
| Type | Tape deck |
| Tape format | 4-track, 2-channel |
| Tape Speed | 19cm/s, 9.5cm/s |
| Heads | Erase : 2 Recording : 1 Play : 1 |
| Motor | One servo motor for capstan 2 motors for reel |
| Signal-to-noise ratio | 61 dB (Dual Tape Used) |
| Frequency characteristic | 30 Hz ~ 30 kHz ± 3 dB (19cm/s, Duad Tape) |
| Wow and flutter | 0.05%wrms(19cm/s) |
| Distortion factor | 0.8% (Duad Tape) |
| Power consumption | 60W |
| External dimensions | Width 435x Height 451x Depth 221 mm |
| Weight | 24.5kg |
| Sold Separately | Dust Protector DP-20 (¥ 4,800) Sensing Wheel for Reverse SF-2 (¥ 100) |