Kyocera D-811 Cassette Deck Review

The Kyocera D-811 cassette deck incorporates a large number of advanced features, including a direct-drive dual-capstan transport, Dolby HX Pro headroom-extension circuitry, a calibration system for the Dolby B and Dolby C noise-reduction circuits, and automated program search and memory replay.

The D-811’s transport uses three motors. The first is direct-coupled to the pulling capstan (the other capstan, the holdback capstan, is belt-coupled). A second motor drives the two reel hubs, and a third is used to operate the tape-gate and pinch-roller mechanisms for quiet, shock-free operation with soft-touch control buttons. A single sendust-alloy tape head is used for both record and playback functions.

The Dolby HX Pro headroom-extension system used in the D-811 was developed originally by B&O and Dolby Laboratories. The HX Pro circuitry continuously senses the high-frequency demands of the music and slightly reduces the bias current when necessary in order to prevent treble saturation of the tape. The result is significantly better high-frequency performance without an audible increase in low-frequency distortion.

The D-811 has a rather conventional cassette-well design. An illuminated area at the back of the well shows the remaining tape per side clearly, though label visibility is limited. While most decks today use sensors within the well to set the bias and equalization for the cassette type in use, the D-811 has manual tape-selector pushbuttons (unaided by led indicators) for this purpose.

A four-way, four-digit tape counter can be switched to display elapsed time, remaining time, tape length (C-60, C-90 or large-hub C-46), or conventional counter units. Signal levels are shown on a pair of twelve-segment-per-channel peak-reading indicators that are calibrated from + 7 to — 30 dB, with 0 dB indicating Dolby level. Two switches determine whether Dolby B, Dolby C, or no noise-reduction system is used. An auto-search facility enables the user to audition, then play or skip selections that have 4-second pauses between them; a second switch is provided to generate 4-second pauses in the record mode.

Memory rewind/replay switches and jacks both for headphones and for a pair of microphones are nicely concealed behind a fold-down subpanel. The same panel hides other less frequently used controls, such as those for headphone and output levels, record channel balance, bias adjustment, and a switch for a 400-Hz Dolby tone generator. The tone generator and a pair of rear-panel screwdriver controls enable the user to compensate, if necessary, for tape-sensitivity differences that would affect the calibration (and thus the frequency response) of the Dolby noise-reduction systems.

The main panel of the D-811 also contains switches for using an external timer and for activating or deactivating an fm stereo multiplex filter. In addition to the usual input/ output jacks, the rear panel provides a 200-watt unswitched AC outlet and a connector for an accessory remote-control device.

The Kyocera D-811 is slightly larger than an average cassette deck, measuring 18-1/8 inches wide, 5-1/2 inches high, and 12-1/8 inches deep. It weighs slightly over 18 lbs. Price: $625.

Lab Tests

The D-811 produced a very satisfactory frequency response, within ±2 dB, with our IEC-standard ferric and CrO2, playback test tapes. We checked the overall record-play-back response with certified center-line samples of TDK AD (ferric), TDK SA (chrome-equivalent), and TDK MA (metal) cassettes. At the customary — 20-dB measurement level, the response of all three tapes was within ±3 dB from below 25 Hz to our 20,000-Hz measurement limit. At the same time, the rising character of the treble responses shown in the graph suggests that the tapes were slightly underbiased. While the degree of correction required to optimize performance would be well within the range of the D-811’s user-adjustable bias control, we did not modify the bias.

At the IEC 0-dB level (250 nanowebers per meter), the positive influence of the HX Pro system is clearly apparent in the graph. The high-frequency headroom ( — 3 dB) was extended all the way to 20,000 Hz with TDK MA and nearly to 10,000 Hz with the more conventional ferric and CrO2-type formulations. The undulations in bass response below 100 Hz, typical concomitants of a two-head design, were too small to be audible.

The wow-and-flutter figures for the D-811 were very good, as was its tape handling in general. The measured signal-to-noise ratios were also good. Using metal tape did not produce the expected improvement over the other types, although this will not be an important consideration for many users. The Dolby B and Dolby C tracking errors were within the normal range, and they could have been improved on by use of the deck’s calibration controls, but the two-head design made the calibration procedure so cumbersome that we did not use it.

Microphone and line-level input sensitivities were both typical, though the microphone circuitry overloaded at a lower level than we would like. High-speed winding times were very good, and the speed accuracy was exceptional.

Comments

While we could not make instantaneous A/B comparisons between source and tape because of the D-811’s combined record/playback head, we were generally pleased with the sound quality of our test recordings. The deck’s low wow-and-flutter was evident in the clarity of piano tones, for example, though on wide-range material a small amount of residual hiss was audible even using Dolby C. And while the imaging capabilities of this machine could not match those of our reference deck, neither did its price.

Serious audiophiles will appreciate the ability to adjust the Dolby calibration, even though most tapes today do not require such adjustment and the D-811’s two-head design makes rapid, accurate calibration rather cumbersome. The single record/playback head and the lack of a calibrated tone generator also make it difficult to set the user-adjustable bias control properly.

The punch-in record capability, which allows you to enter the record mode directly from playback—as close to a real editing facility as you can get with cassettes—worked very well, without generating the usual turn-on clicks. The layout of the deck’s transport-control pushbuttons could have been improved, as could the legibility of the front-pan-el markings, but these are minor caveats. In general the Kyocera D-811 appears to be a well-built, well-behaved, and excellent-sounding deck suitable for all but the most demanding audiophile applications.

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