Beautiful! I have two JVC KD-A7 and they are amazing heavy built machines, i love them! Yes cassettes are the 'new vinyl' pure analog warmth.

Nice overview. Discussion of KD-A5 starts around 2:53.

I ALWAYS pick up those Realistic switching centers when I find them at bazars and yard sales! They're always a fraction of what they used to cost when new, and they're very useful! That Akai one is gorgeous!

This tape deck KD-A5 - 1979 here in Brazil he went out on a gradient cd version 5500. was the dream of many audiophiles. Congratulations.

And nice to see,your KD-10 works well now!!

I had one of these exact decks that I bought new in 1979. I still have the cassettes that I recorded on it. I upgraded to the top of the line KD-A8 by trading in the KD-A5 back to the dealer just outside the gate at Keesler AFB Biloix MS. The KD-A8 was priced $750. Don't remember the price of the KD-A5

These Akai tape selectors are going for a ton of money on the German ebay. I once tried to figure out how the internal circuitry would work just by looking at the front of that Realistic tape deck selector. Back then I really would have needed one of these :D Nice to see the KD-10 working again :) The A5 is another great one. I like it. But just like I said, if it breaks... ...so let's hope this doesn't break!!!

Speaking of cassettes, I've noticed that there IS a small movement in micro-indie labels releasing their stuff on very limited edition cassette. Some of them do look cool, but compared to vinyl, this seems to be even more of a fad. We'll see.

Now that's a nice deck!

Very fabulous! How I'd LOVE To raid your graveyard for an amp that has both speaker channels working! I found a cool one at the thrift today and inspired by your vids I grabbed it for 6.99 But I still like the one Craig gave me better. The one I grabbed was a Sharp and it had a crazy cassette deck built into the top!!

blue nazz! not sure if you’re still on youtube, but I have one of these decks and I’m trying to calibrate it. I can’t get into HiFi engine and download the manual, they’re not allowing new accounts to be made anymore, it seems. there are 5 little trim pots on the circuit board to the left of the transport, and I’m afraid to move them in case they aren’t for calibration lol

@The1970sInfatuate Yes, it slurs it bit when starting from a cold start. Sounds better after it warms up though!

Hi there, I'm sorry but I don't know what type of head the JVC had. I sold it not long after making the video. I would say that it was a very nice deck, one of the best from JVC that I have seen. Thanks for watching!

@pyestudiocolour Neil, I actually do have an NAD cassette deck and an NAD amp. As you know, they are industrial looking and not the prettiest things. Very high quality though. I will be featuring them sometime in the future!

@trudatsound That's an odd problem. I had one deck that corrected itself after I sprayed all of the controls with contact cleaner.

Thats also a nice JVC cassette deck! I have a Aiwa deck,that has analog VU meters too and also this LED meter in the middle.But this deck need unfortunately repair on the pre-amp section.

@DrCassette I knew the Akai was selector was rare when I picked it up at the charity shop. It was very cheap! Our second hand stores usually overprice things but they didn't know what this was (:->

@bluenazz I sorta figured you were using a little deadpan humor. But, it is true, for whatever reason, some small labels are releasing cassettes. It's certainly no threat to become a booming industry... I think they are generally pressed at the 100-300 copies level.

@FeCr3 I have yet to come across an Aiwa cassette deck but I would like to. I still have 2 Aiwa cassette walkmen and they are both of very high quality!

@JasonsVinylObsession Jason, I think that it's very 80's to do a cassette release which in a sense, is what the vinyl revival is all about. Mind you, I haven't personally experienced a vinyl revival because I never stopped buying records. I've heard that there are many 80's independent cassette releases that are quite collectible now. My comment about cassette being the new vinyl was a bit "tongue in cheek" (:->

@bluenazz Yeah,most of older Aiwa products are realy good!

With regards to the JVC heads, the SA was the better head they made and made a strong clear recording but the Metaperm which was on others was naff it gave a dull sounding recording.

Brazilian version of this JVC KD A5 is Gradiente CD5500. Exactly the same model.

@triangman1992 A couple of more JVC cassette deck videos still to come (:>

@sideshowtink A Sharp with a built in cassette on top, I'd love to see that Tink! I'd send you an amp but the shipping cost and customs problems from western Canada would be more than it would be worth. You can often pick up good amps and receivers for $20 or less now.

I've got that cassette player plus I got the receiver that matches it

I'm looking at getting a KD-10. I noticed it doesn't have the "SA" logo on the cassette door. Any idea what type of head it uses?

por isso eu digo, a gradiente não fabricava muita coisa não, ela mais colocava o logotipo nos aparelhos. exemplo: garrard, dd1 era pioneer tapes JVC e outros que nem me lembro.

Now it might need a new drive belt =).

@Vinylrecordsneverdie "Here Here" or is "Hear Hear" (;>

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