Customer Reviews

Pioneer CTW208R Dual Cassette Deck

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With cassette decks becoming more and more a rare commodity, and myself in need of one, thought I'd give this one a shot. Found a customer return on clearance for $97 (from Vanns), and looks to have been a good decision. The buttons are responsive, the mechanisms smooth and quiet, and my tapes sound darn good through it. Teac has a low budget one for around $90, but other reviews made it sound cheap and cheezy, plus there was no push-button tape eject mechanism on it. A review of a comparable Sony (around $150) said the unit could easily be damaged, simply by an incorrect button push while the unit was playing. No thanks. This Pioneer unit is solid, quality, nice looking, easy to hook-up and use. Considering the dated technology, it's ashame none of these deck units sell for lower cost. Makes me think the RIAA is somehow involved. But, if you want a quality unit for around $150, you can't go wrong on this one.

The sound quality of this deck is very good. This comes from a guy who owned one of the first commercially available home stereo cassette deck - the pre Dolby Ampex Micro 50. Had Panasonic, Teac, Technics, Sony, Nakamichi, Aiwa, etc... (Not a complete sentence). The sound quality is equally good on either deck, so I am pleased by this. What is lacking are many features that I used to take for granted.

No Tape Counter!! How can a serious recordist know when a tape being recorded will end?
No fine bias control. OK, this is a rarity anyway.
No mic inputs. See above.
No intelligent use of lights. You better have light on the face of this deck to see what you're doing. No light on play button or any others. No red light on the record button.Just small lights in the "light box" above the record level lights to display current function.
No back lights to view the cassettes.
No remote-it uses the "one remote for all Pioneer components". I hate that. You are forced to buy all same brand components. What a scam.
No individual record levels. One knob for both channels (L & R).

I was spoiled by the heyday of cassette supremacy. Lucky to find any decks at all these digital days.

A good basic deck for dubbing(copying) and listening. Shy on features, but good on sound.

this unit works great, it was needed to copy a collection of cassette recordings that were getting some age on them. it is good to find a quality unit still available at a reasonable price.

The Pioneer replaced a Sharp that finally died. Everything worked right out of the box. So, it was just a matter of learning the new control positions. I am very happy with the unit.

I am quite satisfied with this item. Wish its outer casing was more
attractive, with some part having wood looking panelling. received
in good time, good packing.

I replaced my old Sony Dual Cassette unit, which failed to work after many years ( I am getting fed up from SONY products), although hardly used. I like Pioneer products, right now I have their CD R unit, a very nice piece of appliance.
So why only 3 stars for this unit, although the sound quality is good, the Dolby works well?
It is without any frills. No remote!! Hardly anything lights up. It looks dead on the shelf and it is not really that cheap. Sure, no one buys cassette decks, unless they have a stash of cassettes not yet converted to CDs. So an unit costing 150$ or so should have some aesthetics!
It is still mechanical. After powering up the unit, one has to press the button to start and wait. Annoying. I haven't checked the recording meter, but so little LEDs, that we are used to.
Still a serviceable unit. Hope it will last.
A word about the dealer: VANNS. Very reliable, quick shipper and no mailing charges, just like Amazon.

I bought this as my last replacement cassette player as there are still some cassettes I needed to review and move music from. I have had it for almost two months and find it easy to use and it has a great sound quality (for cassettes). Well worth the price paid.