TA-2800: the best consumer electronics product I've ever owned

doesn't give time elapsed for C-100 and C-110 tapes

Back about ten years ago I decided to get the best Dolby C cassette deck I could find (Dolby S was brand new, which might give you a better idea of the date than my memory provides). After a lot of research I settled on the Onkyo Integra TA-2800, with auto bias and user-ajustable Dolby calibration (using built-in test tone). To my amazement, with top-quality metal tape it made tapes that were only *subtly* less good than CD's (and I have a pretty discerning ear, I think -- the speakers are Vandersteen 2C's, the phones Sennheiser HD600's). It's unbleievably solid, has been used a ton (including being shlepped around) and has never given me a single second of trouble. You'd still think it was new. If you see this on sale (and it's going to be an estate sale, I bet), buy it in a heartbeat.

Similar Products Used:

decks by Teac, etc.

Onkyo made this 3-head cassette deck about ten years ago. It's part of Onkyo's Integra line. I bought mine for about $300 dollars back then. Sadly I hardly ever use it these days, but it is a great deck and loaded with features. It has Dolby B & C, HX Pro, logic transport controls, real time counter, bias adjustment, forward automatic search, and LED meters. It makes great tapes, however after listening to CDs, I find it hard to listen to cassettes, but that's me. If you're still into cassettes for music or a home studio, check out a 2600 if you see one for sale.