Pioneer CT-F1000

The Pioneer CT-F1000 Cassette Tape Deck (1977-79).

2 motor, 3 head design, with dolby-B, MPX filter, 400hz test tone, bias adjustment, pitch control, big vu meters with peak lamp, analogue counter with memory stop function and more!

The CT-F1000 really was a supreme piece of engineering which, apart from the blue lamps in the meters, is all original and still going strong. She came with SA-9500 MKII and matching tuner and they didnt come cheap. Sadly the tuner is faulty in stereo mode but all units in very good condition, with manuals and schematics!

 

When you take off the lid, the inside is filled with goodies, big transformer (for a tape deck), big solid looking transport, a nice array of circuit boards on the right standing up on end. Everything looks good, the inside matches the outside and this has some serious looks!

The transport buttons are solid aluminum with engraved icons. The head is "UNI X'TAL FERRITE" what ever that means. You have a 400hz test tone which can be used to fine tune your recording. Dual capstans help ensure low wow & flutter and is surely a tell tail sign of superior build quality.

 

So, how dose she sound?

Well for those of you who think tape sounds better than CD...you'll get no joy here. No cassette deck is really going to match a high-end cd player. The top end is just not there, 16khz upwards is very nonexistent and the sub-base? forget it. But most of us wouldn't expect such standards from an older format that was never intended to be super high-end. Even so, I have to admit I was ever so slightly disappointed with this beast. It had the looks and the build quality but the sound did nothing for me. Its a good machine and sounds fine but Its nothing like an RS-9900 and Im sure the more recent cheap & cheerful direct drive machines from Technics had far more clarity than this old Pioneer thing.

Am I pleased I bought her? You're dam right I am, but I probably wouldn't buy another.

If you're looking at buying one of these to simply mate with the rest of your Pioneer stack, you should be very pleased. If you're looking for good sound from a cassette deck, maybe give this one a miss. Better still, get a reel to reel machine!

Until the next time, zzzzzzzzzzz