Customer Reviews

Sony TC-WE305 Dual Cassette Deck

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

 

 

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!

I've had no problems with my deck. It still runs the same as when I bought it. I do pampere my equipment however. I've even recorded from my studio equipment to the deck and had minimal generation loss.

This is by far the worst dual cassette deck that I have ever purchased. The play back and record have very poor sound quality. The tapes regardless of what kind, do not play at the right speed, in other words they play slower then other tape decks.
Very unhappy.

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.

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.

I picked this up at the Salvation Army over Independence Day for a measley $15. If you're not aware, a lot of thrift stores have 50% off sales over the holidays.

Also managed to snag an unopened 10 pack of TDK D60's at the same thrift store for $2!

Anyway, I have been making a lot of DJ mixes on my iMac and I really wanted to commit them to tape. This guy is perfect! There is a minimal amount of tape noise that I have always heard from any tapes. Its called tape hiss... to be expected. I haven't had any problems just playing from my M-Audio Fast Track Pro 4x4 Mobile USB Audio/MIDI Interface with Preamps straight into the "in" rca port in the back.

Unfortunately, there is no "bypass" switch, so I can't listen to anything straight through it without having the Record button down. This is to be expected with older tape decks and not really a big deal considering I've got a lot of other line options with the fast-track. This may be something specifically wrong with my TC-WE305- I haven't looked into the manual to see if bypass is something that should be working. It makes sound when I am recording and listening to tapes so that's all I really need from it.

Feature-wise it is pretty good, has compatibility for 3 different tape types. 2 types of dubbing speeds and support for Dolby NR that you can turn on or off. Adjustable recording volume to pad or trim your mixes, etc.

The best part of this thing is how accurate it is with stops and starts. As a kid growing up in the 80s/90s I made a lot of tapes with cheap equipment and I could never get smooth sounding mixes because every time I stopped the tape and started it there was always an audible click. No clicks whatsoever with this unit. You can even use the pause button to get really finite drops... if you have the patience you could make some really good mixes just using tapes like back in the day. I love it!

I've had this model for a few years of satisfactory operation, then the plastic that holds a rubber wheel in place deteriorated and the darned thing's become a real nuisance. The wheel apparently what slows the tape to correct audible speed (with the wheel out, the tape advances at fast-forward and the sound is useless). Now it pops out virtually whenever I remove a cassette tape, and I have to replace it using tweezers. I'm looking for a new cassette deck because I enjoy listening to audiobooks, but I'll be looking for a brand other than Sony.

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.

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

This is an excellent cassette deck. It works as it should, i.e., it plays and records music very well.