Harman Kardon TD392 Cassette Deck Review

One of the oldest companies in audio, Harman Kardon has long stressed the importance of an extremely wide frequency range in its products. In keeping with that policy, the TD392 cassette deck is specified for a ± 3-dB response all the way up to 22,000 Hz. The deck also uses special playback circuitry to minimize high-frequency phase shifts and incorporates the trebleextending Dolby HX Pro system. Separate record and playback heads, both Dolby B and Dolby C noise reduction, and a user-adjustable bias control are among the deck’s other attractions.

The transport section of the TD392 is fairly conventional. The single capstan is belt-driven by a single motor, which also turns the reel hubs. Solenoids (rather than a motor/cam system) are used to operate the head gate and brakes, and even the three-digit tape counter is mechanical. In contrast to most contemporary decks, the TD392 requires manual switching to select bias and equalization for the three tape types. The cassette well is not illuminated, though its clear door offers good label visibility and is easily removed for head cleaning and demagnetizing.

The TD392’s sendust/ferrite record and playback heads are housed in a common casing but are electrically separate, which enables you to check the recorded quality of your tapes as you make them. Separate record and playback head elements are also all but mandatory if full response at the very highest audible frequencies is to be maintained.

The Dolby HX Pro system operates automatically while the deck is recording, instantaneously varying the record bias in response to the varying treble content of the music. When the music has little high-frequency content, full bias is used to minimize low-frequency distortion. When the music has a lot of high-frequency content, the bias is slightly lowered, permitting more treble energy to be stored on the tape. HX Pro is used only in recording, and the tapes made with the process can be played on any deck.

Signal levels are displayed on twelve-segment-per-channel, peak-reading LED indicators. The display has a switch that selects either a normal (flat) measurement or one that is weighted to reflect the lower treble-saturation points of audio cassettes.

A small fold-down panel conceals the controls for playback output, input balance, and user bias adjustment. To optimize the bias for different brands of the same tape type, the user presses a button that causes the deck to record a low-frequency tone on one channel and a high-frequency tone on the other, then adjusts a bias control until the two tones show the same level reading. While this is not as refined a bias-adjustment technique as found in some higher-priced recorders, it is far superior to the usual practice of providing no tone generators at all, leaving the user to try to determine the correct amount of bias current by ear. The concealed panel also contains the switch for the FM-multiplex filter, which eliminates any residual subcarrier signals that might leak through from a tuner.

The simplicity of the deck’s electronics precludes elaborate programming Options; the only provision of this type is for indefinite repetition of a whole side of a cassette. No microphone jacks are provided, an omission that has almost become standard on today’s home cassette decks. The Harman Kardon TD392 measures 17-3/8 inches wide, 4-3/4 inches high, and 12-5/8 inches deep. It weighs about 12-3/4 pounds. Price: $550.

Lab Tests

Measured with our IEC calibrated playback tapes, the playback frequency response of the TD392 was extremely flat: ±0.5 dB from 31.5 to approximately 4,000 Hz. Above 4,000 Hz there was a slight treble rolloff, reaching approximately —5 dB at 18,000 Hz. Since the record-playback results do not reflect the same pattern, the azimuth-alignment tape that Harman Kardon used to set up our test sample must differ slightly from our BASF-produced test tapes.

We tested the frequency response of the TD392 using factory-selected, center-of-the-line samples of TDK AD (ferric), TDK SA (chrome-equivalent), and TDK MA-R (metal) cassettes. The effects of Harman Kardon’s “ultrawideband, linear-phase” design principles were much in evidence here. While most decks in this price class permit the response to fall off sharply below 50 Hz and above 17,000 Hz at the — 20-dB level, the TD392 measured within +2, — 1 dB from 20 to 20,000 Hz with all three tapes. The effect of the HX Pro system in reducing tape saturation at the uppermost frequencies, though less dramatic, is also apparent from the 0-dB-level curves, which do not fall off until a point several kilohertz higher than one would expect.

The measured signal-to-noise ratios were extremely high, comparable only with those of decks costing far more or equipped with the dbx noise-reduction system. On the other hand, the deck’s wow-and-flutter figures were only fair, reflecting the cost-cutting decision to use a singlemotor, single-capstan drive. Dolby tracking error was low; sensitivity and output levels were normal.

Comments

To the state-of-the-art oriented tester, the Harman Kardon TD392 had a slightly old-fashioned, though comfortable, feel to it, largely a result of its solenoid-activated rather than motor-controlled transport functions. The electronics were capable of making superb copies of both plaster-shattering and delicately nuanced music. In blind comparisons with our more expensive reference deck, the greater wow-and-flutter of the TD392 was evident, though I suspect that very few listeners would find it objectionable. For the serious home recordist, then, if not, perhaps, for the purist, the Harman Kardon TD392 represents solid value in its price class.

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