stereo cassette deck ('78-'81)  $400

Completely restored, this hard to find Optonica RT-6501 stereo deck features beautiful rosewood side panels, brushed aluminum faceplate and a custom mica-stone-red textured metal top.   

Servicing included new belts, new idler wheel, new take-up rubber capstan and new intermediate gear.  Additional services included calibration of meters, all caps checked and found to be within values, all switches and contacts cleaned and tested.

At first glance, the deck looks formidable with its multiple switches, pushbuttons and control knobs.  However, it all boils down to convenience once it's set up and in use.  The 6501 has many computer assisted technological advances for its time;  rumor has it that they built the 6501 to compete with the upcoming Sony and Marantz series of "computer assist" tape decks but at a lower price point.  Listing for a hefty $420 in 1978, the 6501 was fairly expensive.

The cosmetic design of the 6501 is undeniably attractive.  The interior build quality is also extremely well thought out.  As mentioned above, the bench servicing was thorough, extensive and very time consuming but, it had to be done to assure a long life of continued operation for this lovely piece of vintage gear.

A copy of the owner's manual is included.

Specs:
Type: 2-head, single compact cassette deck
Track System: 4-track, 2-channel stereo
Tape Speed: 4.8 cm/s
Heads: 1 x record/playback, 1 x erase
Tape Type: type I, FeCr, CrO2
Noise Reduction: B
Frequency Response: 30Hz to 17kHz  (FeCr tape)
Signal to Noise Ratio: 68dB  (dolby B)
Wow and Flutter: 0.058%
Dimensions: 17.5"H x 6"H x 14"D
Weight: 11 lbs

About OPTONICA (Sharp Electronics of Japan)...
The Optonica brand was created and first launched by Sharp in 1976 as a separate high-end brand to compete directly with Pioneer, Technics (Panasonic), Fisher, Marantz, Nakamichi, Sansui, Kenwood and Sony.  Sharp Electronics Corporation of Japan was founded in 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder’s first inventions, the "Ever-Sharp" mechanical pencil. Obviously, they also designed and sold much more over the years.  By the mid-70's their electronic equipment (mostly gadget oriented items sold in catalogs and department stores) was well situated in the USA.  Major decisions were made to move into the select high-end stereo component market.  They absolutely hit a home run with their Optonica lineup. Unique, powerful and definitely well built, they are now very well known and commanding prices approaching the better Marantz and Pioneer units.

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stereo cassette deck  ('74-'76)  $400

Obtained locally and "rescued" from many years in storage, this magnificent *original version Tandberg TCD-310 stereo cassette deck has been completely restored.  This beauty is in great cosmetic condition and fully operational. 

Servicing included:
~complete disassembly right down to the bare bones.  
~new belts
~all mechanical points of contact cleaned and lubed
~head assembly removed, inspected, cleaned, demagnetized and aligned
~both meters calibrated for accuracy
~fast forward / rewind speeds are lightning fast
~play, pause and stop functions are smooth
~one of the walnut side panels was damaged (on the rear bottom section) and repaired

Back in 1978, when compared to the competition, the Tandberg TCD-310 was one of very few cassette decks that had such goodies throughout such as soft-touch transport controls, azimuth & bias correction, 3-heads and Type IV tape.
This deck is based on a 3-motor closed-loop dual capstan drive with two Ferrite heads, a Dolby noise-reduction and even a "special" selector for CrO2 / Type II tape. There are two AC motors for the reels and one hysteresis synchronous motor for the capstan.
There is also an auto-adjustable input amp which maintains dynamic range and keeps noise low whatever the source recorded whether it's line, microphone or radio.
Up until around 1982, Tandberg made its best cassette decks but they simply had no more room to develop and sell because they were "cornered" by the Japanese (as everybody else was at the time.)

*Note: TCD-310 vs TCD-310MK2:
The MkII replaced the original 310 (no surprise given the names)... basically the same dual capstan transport but the cosmetics were updated with a new top plate, metal frame tape door vs. the all-plastic one on the 310. Cosmetics on the meters are greenish/red for the 310, blue/red on the MkII. Both have Dolby B and switching for normal or high-bias tapes but don't support metal tape. The 310 has a mono/stereo button that was replaced on the 310 MkII by an FM multiplex filter switch, for those recording FM broadcasts.

Stereo Review magazine report (Feb 1976):
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-Stereo-Review-IDX/IDX/70s/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1976-02-OCR-Page-0036.pdf

Deep dive technical description:
https://stereonomono.blogspot.com/2014/04/tandberg-tcd-310.html

About Tandberg...
This highly respected Norwegian company's products are still commanding high prices in the world of vintage HiFi due to the excellent quality in just about everything they built.   Tandberg was founded by Vebjørn Tandberg as Tandbergs Radiofabrikk (the Tandberg Radio Factory) in Oslo in 1933. The company's first radio was named "Tommeliten" (Tom Thumb) and used only earphones.  In the early 1950s, Tandberg opened a branch plant in Oslo to produce reel-to-reel decks. Their first model was the TB 1, introduced to the market in 1952. Over the next decade, Tandberg quickly incorporated a number of leading-edge concepts in the tape deck design and production.  Tandberg tape recorders dominated the Norwegian market, and had a reputation for advanced technology and high quality at reasonable prices. It was on Tandberg reel-to-reel machines that JFK recorded many meetings in the Cabinet Room (White House) including those associated with the Cuban missile crisis.  A serious economic downturn in 1976 disrupted the company, and by 1978 it was insolvent. A shareholder revolt removed Vebjørn Tandberg from control of the company, and he committed suicide in August. In December 1978, the company declared bankruptcy.

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CD player (2022)  SOLD

Essentially brand new, only taken out of the box for a few hours of testing, this Rotel CD11 Tribute CD player comes with the original factory remote, owner's manual with the box and packing materials.  
The remote controls all the functions and also allows the capability to dim the power button and screen LEDs.

https://www.rotel.com/product/cd11-tribute

"An impressive score at the very affordable end of the market, but the CD11 Tribute is very special. It's built on an already accomplished platform with more warmth and definition, and above all that intangible quality: soul. Nevertheless, plaudits should be shared by both the original engineers and tuning team – for this CD player is unmistakably created by people who love music."   ~HiFi News

The back story (kudos to HiFi News):
Without any sense of irony, the man most identified with rival brand Marantz for 40 years is *Ken Ishiwata.  He is posthumously recognized for his work in 'tweaking' Rotel's budget CD.  This review of the Rotel CD11 Tribute was a year to the day since the passing of audio legend Ken Ishiwata. The anniversary was marked by his daughter with a YouTube video of some joyously retro Latin music performed by an all-Japanese vocal group. 'Instead of making this a very sad day,' she wrote, 'we would like to share one of his favorite songs with you. He used to play this all the time, it brings back lovely memories and a smile upon our faces'.

This view of Ishiwata as a family man is one unfamiliar to those who knew him only for his work in the audio arena, but it was Ishiwata's son and daughter, Jun and Miki, who signed off on the completion of the product we have here, the fruits of the last project on which he was working at the time of his death. Out of leftfield, perhaps, but Rotel's CD11 Tribute CD player is unmistakably the product of the thinking he applied over more than four decades of audio design and development in his previous 'home' at Marantz.

Ishiwata and Marantz went their separate ways back in early 2019, and given that Ken was never the 'retiring' type, many hi-fi pundits were keen to discover 'What will he do next?'. Now we know… Development of this 'tuned' version of Rotel's established '14 Series' actually began in the third quarter of 2019, Ishiwata working with Rotel's engineers to make improvements on what were already excellent components

The CD11 Tribute was designed to conform to the idea (relatively rare these days) that a CD player should do just what it says on the front. There are no digital inputs to hook external sources into the onboard DAC (a 192kHz/24-bit device from Texas Instruments) while outputs are available on line-level RCAs and a coaxial digital socket only. No USB, no network connection and no SACD playback; just load up the CD and press 'Play'.
Typical standard track skip, track selection and program play are included.
The design upgrades are both mechanical and electronic, with the application of damping materials helping to deaden vibrations in both the top cover and main chassis. The DAC stage sees the replacement of eight capacitors and one resistor with upgraded types, while all nine capacitors in the PSU have also been switched for preferred alternatives. Furthermore, the electrical ground paths within the player have been re-routed.

*Ken Ishiwata...
The man, who knew and shaped the audio sector like no other, passed away on November 25, 2019 of an autoimmune disease. His career began when he, as a young student, heard Julie London via the Marantz system of a fellow student's father. An audiophile-erotic experience, of which he liked to report and which meant the start of his audiophilia. Ishiwata still worked with the legendary Saul Marantz and remained loyal to the company for over four decades. His "AI" modifications of normal Marantz products as well as extensive developments such as the "Ruby" set consisting of SACD player and integrated amplifier on the occasion of his 40th Marantz anniversary at the end of 2018 are unforgettable. Ken Ishiwata, who represented a timeless claim and always made a secret at his age, was 72 years old. 

Rotel and the Tribute...
After 40 years with Marantz, Ken Ishiwata's impressive track record – going right back to the company's original Special Edition models – was most recently celebrated with the KI Ruby SACD player and amplifier [HFN Jan '19]. In addition, in a role formalised in his latter years with the company as Brand Ambassador, Ishiwata played a major part in opening up then-emerging hi-fi markets – at one point he was surprised to find himself starring in a two-hour interview special on Chinese national TV! So how did he end up working on what would eventually become these Tribute products for rival brand Rotel?

As Rotel's CTO Darren Orth explained, 'I was in the same audiophile circles with Ken over the years, as was the Tachikawa family in Japan – founders and owners of Rotel. There was mutual respect for the talent and market position and a long desire to work together but the opportunity never arose. [It] did finally arrive in the late summer of last year when our initial discussions began, with the project becoming a reality in September 2019. All of the Rotel engineering team were delighted at finally having the chance to work with Ken'.

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stereo cassette deck (1977)  NFS display only

This gorgeous tape deck was completely restored in 2024 (inside and out).  ~All new belts
~Recapped power and control boards
~Switches removed and treated with Deoxit Gold
~New springs, sprocket and top hat
~Traces repaired on meter circuit
~Entire cassette mechanism was removed,stripped, degreased and reassembled with new graphite grease
~New tray lamp
~Demagnetized heads and spindle
~Factory service manual calibration performed

Sometimes a design is just right. Perfection is achieved when the designer puts in just the correct amount of features and quality, then wraps the whole lot up in a decently styled package. This was very much the case with the Sony TC-229SD cassette deck of 1977. Remembered mostly for its outward similarity to the failed Elcaset models EL-5 and EL-7, the TC-229SD is a fine recorder in its own right and went on to be the basis for Sony’s two top models as the 70's drew to a close. These were the TC-K7B (essentially the same thing) and the TC-K8B, which added exotic LCD peak programme meters – as seen on the TC-K60, amongst a select few others.
At around $360 in 1977 these were expensive machines but still sold well.  They are tough too, all the lifting and pushing is done by solenoids.The thought that has clearly gone into the design and the quality of its implementation makes the TC-229SD a joy to use.
Since it's been completely restored, set up and biased to the original factory specs, this TC-229SD gives bright and stable recordings set upon a massive sound stage, a good one like this one should run a mid-range reel to reel (such as Sony’s TC-399) close in sound quality terms. Pitch stability is excellent, there is no substitute for rotating mass it seems.

About Sony...
There are few companies as storied as Sony of Japan.  It was in 1946 that Mr. Masaru Ibuka and Mr. Akio Morita together with a small team of passionate and committed group of employees started to build “Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo” (Totsuko), or “Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute” into the well-known global conglomerate that it is today. The main objective of the company was to design and create innovative products which would benefit the people.
The company name of Sony was created by combining two words of “sonus” and “sonny”. The word “sonus” in Latin represents words like sound and sonic. The other word “sonny” means little son. Used in combination, Sony is supposed to represent a very small group of young people who have the energy and passion towards unlimited creations and innovative ideas. With the far-sight of expanding worldwide, it was in 1958 that the company formally adopted “Sony Corporation” as its corporate name. Easy to pronounce and read in any language, the name Sony, which has a lively ring to it, fits comfortably with the spirit of freedom and open-mindedness.

At the beginning of 1959, Sony founder (and President at the time) Masaru Ibuka spoke about his New Year's dream for a transistor TV in a magazine interview. Japan's first transistor radio had gone on sale only four years earlier. The next target was a transistor TV.

Ibuka spoke of it as a dream, but in fact things were already taking shape behind the scenes. Steady progress had already been made toward realizing that dream. Transistors with enough display power to be useful for TVs were comparably more difficult to create than transistors for radios, but Sony had perfected these special transistors the year before, in 1958, and work on developing a transistor TV was already underway.

Development accelerated sharply from the beginning of 1959. The first prototype was completed in April and numerous improvements and design studies were carried out. On December 25, Ibuka's New Year's dream came true with the announcement of Sony's first TV---the world's first direct-view TV. When it went on sale in May 1960, the TV8-301 8-inch portable transistor TV launched Sony's TV business.

As it happened, a group of market researchers representing US TV manufacturers visited Japan when the transistor TV was under development. Ibuka asked them whether they thought small TVs would sell or not. To a man, they said they would fail.

Looking back on this later, Ibuka said that it was common practice in the US to plan new products on the basis of market research, but it was also possible to carry out market research for the first time by actually putting something on the market. Since then, he said, he believed new products always involved market creation, too. "I'm now firmly convinced that brand new products must always create new markets."

Two years later in 1962, the TV5-303---which was even smaller than the TV8-301---became a huge hit in the US.
The rest, as they say...is history.

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