Sony TC-645 Open Reel Tape Recorder

This is a 1974 vintage open reel tape recorder model TC-645, it has "Symphase which allows accurate reproduction of Quadraphonic sound" - not bad for 1974.

I've had it for years. It still works ok, playing, is my Father's original Quadraphonic Dark Side Of The Moon tape which also plays nicely.

The camcorder is shite and doesn't do the sound justice. Hehehehe, I noticed a paramedic going past in the background.

Oh, I have three of these machines, another boxed "mint" one with cover and service manual and another that was bought off eBay for 99p, supposedly totally dead, there was no fuse in the plug !?! That works fine too.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• sony
• open
• reel
• tc-645

[Deluxeta]

It"s slower than the original mix :\.

[cpmisalive]

Yeah, one of the capacitors had dried out, apparently it is a common fault, I fixed it ages ago.

All of the reel stuff is in storage at the moment, I don't want to be lugging these beasts around! I swear, if I hadn't opened it up, I would have believed it was a rather ornate block of lead ;)

[Vinylrecordsneverdie]

Perfect recording for a reel tape.

[Tylenole]

Pink floyd!

[phytoport]

Keep the reels spinnin'! I love it!!

From a reel to reel collector

[analoguebuff]

i have the same model in my modest collection, it sounds good with a balance of bass and treble, its been well looked after although an old model it just soldiers on!, rew and ff are very fast it also weighs a ton!

theres a lot of opinion that the sony machines like these sound better than the akai machines, more warmth to them. anyway good to see and keep on reeling!

[MichaelYettiBrown]

PINK FLOYD no wonder it sounds so freakn good!! holy cow!!

[elroslleida]

I LOVE PINK FLOYD!

[Meowbay]

The secret is simply speed and surface. With the tapes on open reels you could record at 15 inches/second on quarter inch tape. That's half the tape surface for your left channel, and the other half for your right channel. Plus you need to store those tapes the right way; Out of sunlight, preferably in metal cases, not too humid but cold, and upright (not flat on their sides). Then they will sound fine after 30 years easy. With CD I wonder if you'll reach that duration..

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I notice that music usually sounds better on open-reel machines than on cassette decks. I wonder why? The sound on open-reel decks is as good as today's CD's are IMO. It's great that people keep the old decks working.