itzmike
11-16-2010, 04:01 PM
I purhased it off EBAY 6-7 years ago. It had been well cared for. The sound is better than I could have imagined! Tapes made from my Tandberg 3014A with Dolby off sound clean and crisp. I can hear the small details and very low hiss. I use it with a Grado 325 headphone. I had to be in the hospital 2 different times last year, twice myself and twice my wife. Id push the play button and its almost like bringing my home stereo with me. When I had to sit with my wife, Id play it and just close my eyes. It made the hospital stays less dreaded. I have close to a hundred cassettes recorded. Most are from my record collection. It is analog heaven. I have listened to the Ipod. It sounds OK. You can hear the digital signiture. I have not heard a well set up Ipod with uncompressed files and a good in the ear headphone. My walkman is good enough for me. Right now im out of work with major foot surgery. My 2nd week of 4-6 weeks. It has been a dear friend to me. Especially the first week back when I was too immoblized to venture to my stereo room. All those hours recording and tweaking have really paid off. Im 48 years old and have witnessed the cassette in its heyday. In my opinion It still a viable hi end format if done correctly. It can be finicky and testy and patience will usually prevail. Oh I might as well tell ya, I just took 2 oxycodone pain pills an hour ago. I feel pretty good and decided to write. Warning. I am being stingy with my meds. These pain releivers can be detrimental to your hearing. Look it up. I have a ringing in my ear for years and these pills make it worse. Back too cassettes, I like seeing the tape go round. Its making music. Got 2 decks in shop right now, My Tandberg is coming back. Tech said he could not fix VU meter. I just took my HK 491 with a junk 391 for parts to my local repair shop. 2 buttons are missing and the Euro power cord will be changed. There is some noise in the unit. The LED meters will still have 2-3 bars on with master control on zero. I can turn the unit off and on and it will go away. Been letting it run for 2 days. I recorded a couple of songs yesterday. I could tell a little distortion. I recorded today on differnet tape and it was way better. Maybe by letting it get burned back in made a difference. I do know mine is one of the latter better models. FYI, Decks made with serial #s more than 10601 had modifications to improve performance. I researched HIFI engine. I do have a 392 im going to sell simply cause Ive got the 491. Probably will put it up on EBAY. It would be a good starter deck for someone. It is in my bedroom system. Anyway I appreciate all your opinions hear visit almost everyday. Mike