Sony TC-KE500S

[Web Police]

I just picked up one of these decks at a local pawn shop. I may get banned for saying this but I bought it because it was a bargain not because I needed it. :p

Anyway for $14.99 you can't go wrong. If I dont like it it will make a nice door stop. I mainly bought it because it has Dolby S and 3-heads. This is my first Dolby S deck. I know it is the bottom of the Sony Chain, but none the less it has a certain appeal.

The same pawn shop also had two Denon DRM-22 3 head cassette decks for $24.99 each. While that was too much for me, this Sony fit the bill of disposable cash.

So far the playback sounds very good. I have yet to record anything.
Anyone else have any experience with this Sony Line of decks?

I cleaned and demaged the tape path but I have yet to clean the face of the case. The pawn shops put all those sticky stickers all over electronic equipment. :-/->

http://home.earthlink.net/~web-police/Sony%201.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~web-police/Sony%202.jpg

[Marc Hugo]

Hi Fluxman,

You've got a winner there!! Thats for nothing. The unit you have there is identical to the TC-KA1ES. Same owners manual etc. That is one of those anomalies - the 500S was not supposed to have been marketed in North America. (It was released in UK and Europe first). The TC-KE400S (the 2-head Dolby S model) was for both markets. By the time the 600S came out, the TC-KA2ES (identical model but for 110V) was being released together with the A1ES in North America.

Just to be B-minded, Sony awarded the longer guarantee to the TC-KA1ES and not the TC-KE500S to keep the ES concept pottering on.

Its a great deck - extremely clean and clear sound - and very steady. I have the 600S. Note also, that unlike many decks that struggle a bit with metals and double layer tape, this one delivers exceptional performance with them. It may be partly due to the 160kHz bias frequency.

Enjoy it!! See how neat and compact it is.

Cheers - Marc

[Web Police]

Thanks for the Information Marc. I found an owners manual over at HI FI Engine. You are correct the owners manual also lists the TC-KA1ESA.

[Scorpion8]

Want. Need. When it comes to audio tape gear, is there any difference? Nice looking deck. I recently made an agreement to acquire a Sony TC-RX470 that has "issues" that appear to me to be easily solved by the common tinkerer. It looks in great shape, so I'm hoping it also has an easy cure.

[Web Police]

Scorpion, I hope it is an easy fix also.


I don't particularly like buying from a pawn shop, but the chain of pawn shops here give you a 7 day money back warranty so you can buy without worrying whether or not the thing will work. I have bought a few things from them that didn't work correctly and they gave me my money back. :)

[NAD613]

I may have to check out some of the pawn shops around here. The last time I did was in the mid-90's & they said they didn't want components, only bookshelf systems. Why, I have NO idea. The prices they charged for them was as much as Target or WalMart. Then again, that one chain has had trouble with the state attorney general's office, so who knows.

[Scorpion8]

We have 1 decent pawn shop and they use eBay as a pricing guide. Outrageous. You see junk brought in with crud so thick you can scrape it with a fingernail and they want top dollar. I peruse there for unique items, but have always passed on everything else.

[Fast Forward]

Nice buy Web should clean up nicely

[R.Daneel]

Hi! I have an tc-k511s which seems a lot like your own decks. It has the exat same switches but at a slightly different arrangements and yes, for the price you can get one, it can make really good recordings. Just use a good type-II tape and manual calibration and it will shine. IMO, as a beginner, this is one great deck for me... but I am not sure it shares anything with the ES line. ES decks seem more massive and are alll made of thick metal whereas the k511s is not. But it still seems well enough.

Regards!