Saturday, January 10, 2009






Technics RS M224 Cassette Deck

My example died today. The last time it had been to my repair guy in Columbus was in January 2005. He advised me that the component that had failed would fail again - and there were no replacements available. Years of manufacture for this model were 1982-83. Back then their list price was $180.00.

By way of contrast - a less than 6-year old Sony TCW - WHO the Devil Cares went belly up today. The last time it was in the repair shop was January 2008. The logic circuit that controls the fabulous autoreverse mechanism went crazy and wound about ten feet of tape around a spindle. I never liked this unit with its' manual the thickness of a Phoenix Metro phone directory and its legion of nested functions - any one of which could go south in an instant. It was an exercise in cold technology.

I'm replacing the Technics RS M224 with another Technics of slightly older design - a Technics RS M24. It was made in 1980 and listed at $260(!). I aso note that it weighs 11-lbs vs the 8.75-lbs of the just retired deck. I'm looking forward to this machine.

Yeah - I'm old school.



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