![]() It also attacks tape with higher level signals instead of standard -20 dB, so it mimics real-life music. To cut a long story short, this one calibrates level, bias and equalization using 5 tones: 400 Hz, 3, 10 12 and 15 kHz. Just to mention, old Pioneer’s like CT-A9 or CT-9R had just “Auto BLE”, and this new acronym had to mean something. ![]() Of course, Pioneer also put Dolby S in this decks, so it could win bad noise.Ĭalibration process is called Super Auto BLE XD. The small Pioneer PA0059 IC is responsible for all of this and is located just before signal leaves the deck. In case the signal complies with the distribution mentioned above, the FLEX circuit automatically turns itself off, until the next track on the tape. This is working by testing every track for three seconds and then the system decides if the music is in order with 1/f level curve, as the most music has this kind of level vs. Other options include Pioneer’s patented FLEX system for sqeezing more life from old, frequency spectrum limited tapes, and helping in slight azimuth misaligned recordings. I can’t applaud to the display, I would like it larger and higher quality since it’s contrast detorieted quickly over time. Many other options are also present: multi mode real time counter and variable range peak meters are one of them. Comparing it with CT-S640S cheap ALPS mechanism is like driving a small city car against Toyota RAV. It is among quitest you could ever get: motor, belt and gear driven head movement mechanism is very gentle and not loud at all. Large capstan flywheels, closed loop dual capstan and reel motor with robust idler that lasts for decades are Pioneer’s trademark regarding this. The heart of this mere 5 kilo deck is the Pioneer Reference Master Mechanism. Some more copper covered parts are evident, like heatsink etc. Power section has been upgraded and some audiophile components like Nichicon Muse capacitors have been used. Pioneer price was around 430 British Pounds, and around 900 DEM in Germany, which was not a small sum of money.Ĭomparing to CT-S640S the electronics looks almost identical, but it isn’t. In the case the cover is removed, you will find that the back side of the deck is bending as being held just by one screw (although copper covered :)) and it looks like the whole unit would just fall apart. Everything else is almost the same: thin steel sheets and the deck that is very compact and not very deep, like we are talking about 80’s Fisher components, not upper line Pioneer. Smaller part of it (under the cassette door) is made of plastic and can be removed to get access to the heads in case of readjustment. But, taking a closer look reveals front mask almost all made of metal. Looking at the front, it is almost the same as CT-S640S. I mentioned that it would be benefitial if company would have produced it with Reference Master transport, a very good component Pioneer made and kept for years in it’s upper class models. Some time ago I tested Pioneer CT-S640S which I found very good for the list price. Of course, I remember some good Nakamichis, Sony TC-KA6ES and TEAC V6030/8030 next to few others, but there was a clear evidence of future disapperance of this kind of equipment. This meant that the small amount of them still in production were made using cost cut philosophy or were d éjà vu models with some make up. During this era, cassette decks declined in bussiness plans of all manufacturers.
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