Sound, 3 heads, Dolby B,C,S , Light indicator, Smooth mechanism, Atractive Appearance, Excellent recordings, Auto edject ( door opens and closes automaticly and plays the tape)

Not a typical "ES" feel,weight,built, No remote, No gold Rca connectors on the back , more plastic than metal construction, Other than sound this unit does not deserve the "ES" standard that Sony usualy gives to the more well built audio components that have the "ES" logo

Sounds great with extended highs and deep bass, Mids are well define and warm. Recordings come out excelent. The tape has 3 seperate heads. The operation is very smooth and quite. This unit has two speeds for faster rewind/foward. Has Dolby B,C,S for best recordings. I was a bit dissapointed to see the lack of built quality on a unit that claims to be from a Sony "ES" line. I owned several other components from Sony "ES" line and this tape deck does not reach the "ES" standards. It comes with no remote, Its made more of plastic than metal and it has poor silver connectors on the back. I guess all the resources was put into Sound because it does deliver in that department. The internal mechanism is very good. the tape operates very smoothly and it has 2 speeds for rewind/foward. Nice Digital counter and best of all a green backlight to see how much tape is left ( why dont all tape decks have this !!!! )
Its not that the tape is built poorly its just that I expected more feel and weight with golden connectors from a sony "ES" line. Compared to the asking prices of the Nakamichi decks I have to give this deck a 5 star since Nakamichi also has more plastic to there decks that cost over $650. I got this deck for around $240. The sound quality of this deck is excelent and you can record Cds to a tape without hearing a difference between the two sources. An "ES" sound/recording for sure.

Similar Products Used:

Sansui, Sony TC-WA7 ES

For the price, everything !

No variable output

I bought this tape deck for $350 new, with a 5-years warranty.
If not the top of the line, it has most of the important features : 3 motors, 3 heads, Dolby B/C/S, Dolby level and Bias calibrations.
I was amazed by the sound : excellent, better than my previous Nakamichi !
Dolby-S DOES work well, I wouldn't buy a deck without it. An important detail : This deck has 2 speeds to rewind tapes : very convenient.
A pity that there isn't a control level for the RCA and headphone outputs.
At the maximum position, the Bias was still too low with TDK SA tapes. I opened the case and found, on the left, the potentiometers to fix that.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi BX-2 & Deck 2, Pioneer CT-F650