Sony TC-WE305 Dual Cassette Deck

Comment: I've used this deck for years, and was surprised to read the other review panning it. It's an excellent unit, very easy to use, and very durable. I've recorded hundreds of hours on mine, and the resulting tapes sound clean, loud, and well-balanced. It plays back well, and doesn't try to do too much - auto-flip or double-sided tape decks have always given me maintenance problems. This deck works great.

Comment: The machine is an incredible piece of work for a vanishing recording format. I still need to find a deck with dual mike jacks and the controls
found on the old Radio Shack Realistic my son borrowed and never returned.

Comment: I was very pleased by the quickness of the delivery and the condition of the package. The Tape Deck worked beautifully. Thank You

Comment: This Sony TC-WE305 Dual Cassette Deck is good for DJ-Mixing. You can mainly press down on the pause record and then press down on the record + play button. You can then record a sound more instantly, when you press down on the pause key again. This is the only cassette deck that is available, that will allow to record a sound more instantly, without any delays. I personally like to make remixes on my cassette tapes. I can put beats and music together with this kind of cassette deck, without any space delays on the cassette tape. Like with the JVC TD-W209 Dual Cassette Deck, where you just tap the buttons, to get your recording started. With the JVC TD-W209 Dual Cassette Deck, whenever you try to record something on it, it puts a one second delay space, on your cassette tapes, before it starts recording. Therefore with the JVC TD-W209 Dual Cassette Deck, it is not that easy to be able to put beats and music together like you want them to be, when you are trying to make your remixes on a cassette tape, with the JVC TD-W209 Dual Cassette Deck. That's why the Sony TC-WE305 allows you to mix the music on a cassette tape, without any delays or spaces, being on the cassette tape. I personally prefer to get cassette decks that have the regular analog manual keys, where you press down on the keys, because you have more control over the keys, when you are trying to record. When you just tap a button to record something, you don't have very much control over with what you are going to record. So this is pretty much your last chance to be able to get a cassette deck here, that you can really make decent remixes on the cassette tapes. The JVC TD-W106 Cassette Deck is a collectable item to get from JVC. The JVC TD-W106 Cassette Deck pretty much allows you to do the same things as you could with the Sony TC-WE305 Dual Cassette Deck. The JVC TD-W106 Cassette Deck also has the analog manual keys, that you just press down on the keys. The Sony TC-WE305 Dual Cassette Deck is recommended, if you are into remixing the music, on to the cassette tape.

Comment: It's hard to find an audio cassette deck of any worth these days. I am no old-timer but I love audio tapes and know way more then most teens. First off, the fact it can hook up to your receiver is good, but not y u should buy it! It's compatibility. For one, there is not just one tape type. There is 3 [Type 1,II,and IV]! All new stereos and boomboxes tell u plainly not to use Type II and IV tapes because there non-compatible! Read your manual people! U can't make real copies of CDs or LPs without Type II and IV compatibility. That's what they are for. Secondly, Dolby B is a MUST for pre-recorded tapes. Virtually all tapes [new and old] have "Dolby System" or "Dolby B" written on them. Unless your tape deck has Treble control, u need Dolby B. Most decks today don't have anything. U need a decent unit like this. As far as Auto-Reverse, unless your a music-mixer or Dj, or something like that, u don't need it! It kills tapes! If your that lazy, get a CD player morons! Sorry but people irritate me with their laziness. Auto-Reverse is for people [as mentioned] who can't afford to stop and flip a tape over, otherwise your just damaging your tapes when using it! I may not be over 30 or any where near it, but I know u need a cassette player like this for standard recording: CD's,LP's, and off-air [radio] or pre-recorded tape duplication. As far as sound, it is not equal to CD's, but good. No static can be heard when using a Cr02 [Type II] tape withOUT Dolby B. All features are great and sound good. I haven't used Metal [type IV] due to availibilty issues, but Normal [type 1] and Cr02 tapes work great. The only problem is manually setting recording levels. While this is a must unless u are a DJ or mixer etc... ,for some reason it won't always record what u set it. This generally only happens on my Rap Cd's I guess due to loud Bass impact. A manual fine-bias-tuning control would help. That's when u adjust settings for different brands of tapes. Maxell [Cr02] tapes almost always distort on this deck while Sony CD-It [Normal and Cr02] generally don't. Memorex [Type II] tapes are good and actually go just a little bit lower then set. All in all, most recordings played on other decks [including Deck A of this unit] play lower distortion then Deck B. One more thing, clean your deck before CD recording or after ten hours of playing/recording. It may seem like trouble but it's worth it. If record and play doesn't work, u must immediately clean them. Don't Demagnitize until u hear hissing or very low sound witch probaly won't happen if u don't constantly use Metal tapes. If u use a Cassette Cleaner Tape, be sure to let recording
"Record" on the non-recordable leader [white or blue leader at end and beginning of either tape side] to wype dirt/magnetic particles from the erase head, where Tape version cleaner can't get. Best to just clean the heads with a non-lint Q-tip lighly moistened in Radioshack cleaning fluid for audio cassette decks. Happy shopping!