Sony Stereo Cassette Recorder TC-K555 Cleanest Example On Ebay!

Description

Excellent used condition. I come from a family of hifi enthusiasts. This is from my late grandfathers collection. I am more into vinyl these days so I am looking to part with this. See below from hifi classics:
The Sony TC-K555 is a three-head, dualcapstan cassette deck with Dolby-B and Dolby-C noise-reduction systems, an elapsed-time tape counter, and solenoid-operated transport functions. The heads use Sony's Sendust-and-Ferrite construction for resistance to wear, and the separate record and playback heads have gaps optimized for their different functions and permit immediate comparison between the incoming and recorded signals. One motor drives the two capstans in a closed-loop configuration to minimize wow and flutter; a second motor is used to turn the reel hubs.
Cassettes are inserted, tape openings downward, into slides behind the cassette well door. The well itself is illuminated, and the door is easily removed for head cleaning and demagnetizing. LED indicators are provided for the play, record, and pause pushbuttons, and the pause button flashes for five seconds when the rec mute button is pressed. The muting period may be extended beyond five seconds manually, but in either case the machine is halted in the pause mode after muting. The words source, tape, dolby-b, dolby-c, and memory are illuminated when the appropriate pushbuttons are pressed; the memory function will either stop at or repeat play from the zero point on the tape counter.
The tape counter reads out directly in minutes and seconds, and, although it does not claim the accuracy of a true digital clock, we found its rough indications of elapsed time far more useful than the usual arbitrary and nonlinear counter units. Recording levels are indicated on a sixteen-segment peak-reading fluorescent display whose highest illuminated segment remains on for an appreciable period. The display is calibrated from -40 to +8 dB, and it is supplemented at the upper end of its scale by a line of red dots whose length varies with the tape selected and which shows the maximum recommended recording level.
Four pushbuttons are used to select proper bias and equalization for metal, ferri-chrome, CrO2-equivalent, and ferric-oxide cassettes. For Type I (ferric) tapes an additional adjustable bias control is included. This control has a detent for today's premium ferries and a marking at a slightly lower bias level for use with older or more economical formulations.
A dual concentric knob controls the recording level, and a second knob adjusts the volume at the front-panel headphone jack without affecting the output from the rear jacks. No facilities for microphone recording are provided. Additional switches are used to insert a multiplex filter for recording FM broadcasts and to permit the user to activate the deck via an external timer. A remote-control accessory is also available. The rear panel contains only the customary line-level input and output phono jacks. Overall, the Sony TC-K555 measures 17 inches wide, 4 inches high, and 11-1/4 inches deep; it weighs 13-1/2 pounds. Price: 0.
Laboratory Measurements
Our sample of the TC-K555 was factory adjusted for Sony SHF (ferric), Sony UCX-S (CrO2-equivalent), Sony FeCr (ferrichrome), and Sony Metallic (metal) tapes, and all easily met the published specifications. In two cases slightly better performance was obtained by substituting TDK SA-X (CrO2-type) and Fuji FR (metal), so we used these as the references for our evaluation. At the same time we tried a large number of other formulations in the various categories (from Maxell, BASF, Fuji, and Memorex), and all gave practically identical performance.
Playback frequency response, shown in the lower section of the accompanying graph, was measured using the new IEC-standard BASF test tapes, and it was extremely flat ( + 2, -1 dB from 31.5 to 18,000 Hz). On an overall record-playback basis the frequency response for all four of the reference tapes (measured at the customary - 20-dB level) was ±2 dB from approximately 30 to 18,000 Hz. Especially noteworthy was the lack of the usual "camelback" dip in response in the 1,000- to 5,000-Hz region normally found with ferrichrome tapes. At a 0-dB recording level the FeCr tape's response did fall off seriously (and typically) in the high-frequency area, and the Fuji FR metal showed an extraordinary ability to resist treble saturation, being down only 5 dB at approximately 16,000 Hz.
At a 0-dB recording level a standard 315-Hz tone produced 0.55 per cent third-harmonic distortion with the ferric Sony SHF formulation, 2 per cent with TDK SA-X (high-bias), 0.87 per cent with Sony's ferrichrome FeCr, and 1 per cent with Fuji FR (metal). To reach the traditional 3 per cent distortion level used for signal-to-noise measurements required increasing the input levels by 3.2, 1.1, 5.8, and 5.6 dB for the four tapes, respectively. On an unweighted basis, with no noise reduction employed, the respective signal-to-noise ratios measured 54, 54.6, 58.7, and 56.4 dB. Adding the effects of Dolby-B noise reduction and CCIR/ARM weighting increased these numbers to 65.3, 66.7, 70.8, and 68.2 dB.
Dolby-C noise reduction (again using CCIR/ARM weighting) increased the respective signal-to-noise ratios to 74, 75.2, 80, and 76.8 dB, which is truly outstanding performance.
The wow-and-flutter of the TC-K555 measured 0.05 per cent on the usual weighted root-mean-square (wrms) basis and 0.08 per cent according to the DIN peak-weighted standard. Input sensitivity was 93 mV for a 0-dB indication, which produced a 0.43 volt output at the line-out-put jacks. The Dolby-level indication on the recording-level display was perfectly accurate, and Dolby tracking error was within ± 1 dB for either Dolby-B or Dolby-C at - 20- and - 30-dB levels throughout the frequency range of the deck. A C-60 cassette took between 82 and 85 seconds to go from end to end in either fast-forward or rewind modes.
Comment
As its measured performance would suggest, the TC-K555 acquitted itself more than admirably both in playing top-quality prerecorded cassettes and in dubbing discs, FM, and master tapes. With Dolby-C switched in, the last vestiges of tape noise simply disappeared, and it introduced no objectionable side effects that we could discover.
No less impressive than the TC-K555's sonic performance, however, was the evident attention that had been given to its "human engineering." It is an exceptionally comfortable deck to live with and use. The counter is genuinely useful; the pushbuttons have an excellent feel to them; the overall illumination and choice of LED indicators is right; the mechanical noise level from the machine is low. And at the price-between 0 and 0 less than we guessed while testing it-the Sony TC-K555 is a real bargain in a cassette deck.
Sony Stereo Cassette Recorder TC-K555 Cleanest Example On Ebay!. Condition is "Used". Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.