Contents

Introduction

Head Units

Cassette Receivers
CD Receivers
CD Changers

Speakers

Amps/Crossovers

Terms

Links:

If you're looking for a great cassette deck

I'm definitly a firm believer in tape decks in car audio systems. Let's face it. Cassette tapes have been around for many years and will be for many, many more. Tapes are advancing along with everything else and sound is pretty darn near the quality of a CD, yet much cheaper in price. Now, with the auto music search capibility, finding the music is almost as easy as CDs. Recording all of your favorite songs on one cassette can also be a plus. But most importantly, everyone has a stash of tapes, so why not be able to listen to them and have a CD Changer on the side(we'll get to that later). Here are some key features to look at when purchasing your cassette deck:

Full-logis Controls:

Feather-touch electronic controls, a big step up from the old-fashioned spring-loaded mechanisms.

Auto Music Search:

One touch lets you fast forward or rewind to the next song and play it automatically. Multi-track search lets you skip several consecutive tracks--hit the fast forward button three times to skip forward three songs.

Blank Skip:

Automatically fast-forwards through long periods of silence at the end of a cassette and starts play when it finds a song.

Dolby Noise Reduction:

A noise reduction system that decodes Dolby-encoded cassettes during playback to virtually eliminate tape hiss. Dolby decks have a higher signal-to-noise ratio.

Tape EQ Switch:

Selects the best equalization response for normal or high-bias tapes. In some decks EQ is automatic.

Signal-to-Noise Ratio:

This spec is a measure of the musical signal strength relative to background noise, in decibels(dB). The higher the number, the less noise or hiss. The average is about 60dB for cassette receivers.

Frequency Response:

This spec, expressed in Hertz(Hz), indicates the range of sounds, low to high, a CD player can reproduce. The wider the range the better

Wow and Flutter:

This spec indicates the accuracy of a cassette deck's playback speed. The lower the percentage the better.