This cassette deck was designed in 1974 by the prominent industrial designer, Mario Bellini. The main thing you notice about it is, of course, how it looks. It is perfectly wedge-shaped and all black. (You will recall that during the '70s MOST audio equipment was NOT black). The odd shape of it means that it does not fit into your traditionally-styled audio rack. It demands a place up above where it can be seen, and why not? There were/are plenty of rectangular decks out there on the market already. It has the old style VU meters which I LOVE, and is very easy to operate in terms of ergonomics. The only minor complaint I can put in is that you are in danger of touching the tape directly when you push it into the deck, but if you play the deck sober you should be O.K. ... For those of you still reading, an unusual thing about this deck is it has an internal battery compartment, which I've admittedly never used. Sure it looks good, but how does it SOUND? I would certainly say it is a very good-sounding deck for this period of time. I have been playing it through both tube and transistor amplifiers, with chrome and regular cassettes, and it was definitely more detail than I was expecting. There is good solid action from the control keys, and it is durably designed internally from what I can tell. Yamaha has other "Natural Sound" decks, and I think that any of these decks will yield very good results also, but without the cool design of this particular model. I'm rating it a 5, just because the industrial design is excellent, but certainly the internal electronics are not up to the standard of more expensive decks.

Styling and ergonomic are excellent

Not very reliable, Had trouble with the pause button only after a few months of use. Dealer couldn't fix it to sastifactory.

I decided to buy the Yamaha instead of the Nakamichi 550 portable deck because I loved the styling on this deck. Besides the Nakamichi would cost me $550 instead of $400 for this deck (back in 1976). Performance was OK but certainly not macth the Nak deck. I had the problem with the pause button not release in timer play/rec mode. The dealer was unable to fix it correctly. The deck came with a case that look like an oversize attache.I got the deck, a pair of Yamaha HP1 headphones (also designed by Mario Belinni). I made many good binaural tapes using the deck and a pair of JVC headphones/microphones combo. I sold the deck for $200 in 1979 not a bad lost. Today I wish I still have it as the design was very nice. I wish Yamaha would make a new deck based on the design of this deck. I don't mind if it a DAT or some source of digital format.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi CR7-A, Onkyo Integra TA207