Teac V-4 RX

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Teac V-4RX Manufacturer: Teac Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. UK distributor: Harman (Audio) UK Ltd., Mill Street, Slough, Berks SL2 5DD. Price: £249.

OVER the years, Teac have built up an enviable reputation worldwide for open-reel and cassette recorders of high quality and well conceived features. Their current range of cassette decks contains over a dozen models at prices from around £90 to £1200. This new V-4RX is therefore a moderately-priced unit, and there is a sister model, the V-2R,X (£315), having threehead off-tape monitoring and bias fine-control as additional features.

The V-4RX is reasonably compact, with the control knobs and switches small in size but helpfully identified by clear white labelling and touches of colour. The counter is in real-time minutes and seconds, which I much prefer to the ordinary numbers although the accuracy is only approximate. Unusually, a pair of microphone jack-sockets are mounted above the headphone socket, and there is multi-pin socket for an optional-extra remote control unit.

One important feature of the V-4RX is the provision of dbx noise reduction as well as the mandatory Dolby B (essential for playing commercial pre-recorded cassettes). For anyone who is really allergic to tape hiss, the dbx technique has a lot to recommend it. The full frequency spectrum is subjected to compression during recording (not just the frequencies about IkHz as in the Dolby B system) and then expanded during playback to restore the dynamic range of the original. The affect on tape hiss is dramatic, and the silence between words or musical passages is almost total. A comparison with Dolby B soon confirms that the latter's modest 10dB of noise reduction leaves a good deal of hiss and noise behind (though Dolby C of course achieves additional noise reduction). This dramatic dbx curing of noise does lead to side effects on certain types of programme; loud chords in a reverberant recording, for example, may produce a detectable step in ambient noise level. Yet, for my money, the latest dbx circuitry does a good job of disguising such 'breathing' or 'pumping' and many sorts of music show no ill effects at all. The V-4RX also has facilities for processing dbx-encoded LP records, of which I have quite a few, and here the silencing of disc surface noise is remarkable by any standards. I have also just received news from Harman (Audio) UK that they are importing a host of new pop and classical dbx records and encoded cassettes, so this could provide a selling point for dbx decks like this one. Also unusual on the V-4RX is a parametric equalizer. This gives up to 15dB of boost or cut with an envelope whose centre frequency can be tuned anywhere between 60 and 500Hz. The full effect on bass and lower-middle frequencies is more than one would usually need. However, subtle changes may improve the sound from given loudspeakers or headphones. A pre/post switch introduces the equalizer into the record or replay circuit.

All the usual features are included, such as timer-controlled operation, bar-graph level indicators calibrated from —20 to + 8dB, memory stop, play and block repeat-play, three-position tape selector for IEC I, II and IV tapes (with no fine tuning), pause and record mute.

Teac V-4 RX prices at