Onkyo TA-2090 Cassette Deck Review

The Onkyo TA-2090 is a three-head, dual-capstan cassette deck with an unusually complete list of useful features. It has dbx as well as both Dolby B and Dolby C noise-reduction systems. Along with the usual bias and equalization selector it has both automatic bias adjustment and Dolby HX-Pro bias-optimizing circuits. In addition to conventional rewind/repeat functions, its controls permit the user to define any segment of the tape for continuous automatic replay. And, while many decks today have eliminated microphone inputs and most use a simple hub-rotation tape counter, the TA-2090 provides both mike jacks and a convenient remaining-time indicator.

The transport of the TA-2090 is solenoid operated, and it uses three d.c. motors in a closed-loop, dual-capstan drive. One motor is directly coupled to the main capstan, a second supplies power to the reel hubs, and the third is used to operate the head assembly and hub brakes. This configuration, shared by several top recorders, is doubtless responsible for the extremely low wow and flutter we measured on the TA-2090. The separate record and playback heads are made of Sendust to ensure long life and high performance.

Sensors within the illuminated cassette well select the factory-set bias and equalization for the different tape types. Although the sensors cannot be overridden, users can fine-tune the recording bias for a specific tape by using the Accubias feature, which takes about 10 seconds to record and play back an internally generated test signal, adjust the bias accordingly, rewind the tape to the test’s starting point, and leave the deck in record-pause mode. An additional refinement is a switch-selectable REC CAL adjustment for tape sensitivity. Tapes of differing sensitivity play back at different levels when recorded with the same input levels. Uncompensated for, this can cause frequency-response errors in the Dolby noise-reduction process.

Yet another switch-selectable option in the TA-2090 is the HX-Pro bias-control system jointly developed by Dolby Labs and B&O. HX-Pro is a method of improving a tape’s high-frequency storage capacity. According to the HX-Pro designers, when audio signals contain a large treble element, the upper frequencies of the music produce a “bias” component of their own. This self-bias is added to the conventional ultrasonic recording bias, thus overbiasing the tape and thereby reducing its capacity for high-frequency (technically, short-wave-length) storage. The HX-Pro circuit monitors the audio signal going to the record head and lowers the conventional bias current when the music’s treble content provides an adequate self-biasing signal, thus keeping the total bias level constant.

A button entering the length of the cassette being used enables the tape counter in the TA-2090 to indicate the approximate time remaining on the side in minutes and seconds, which is a great convenience. Record levels are shown on two six-teen-segment-per-channel peak-indicating displays calibrated from — 30 to +8 VU. Additional front-panel displays show the status of nearly every switch setting on the deck, including which noise-reduction system and repeat feature have been selected and the tape speed and head positions during the automatic search process. The long-throw master record-level slider control is supplemented by two channel-balancing knobs and a separate output level control.

Overall dimensions of the TA-2090 are 17-3/4 inches wide, 4-1/4 inches high, and 14-3/4 inches deep. Its weight is slightly under 20 pounds. Price: $800.

Lab Tests

With our ferric and chrome IEC-standard calibrated test tapes, the TA-2090 showed a gradual, smooth treble rolloff above 1,000 Hz, reaching 4 dB down at the 18,000-Hz upper limit of the tapes. While this rolloff could be detected audibly in direct comparisons with our reference deck, the difference was very slight, and the Onkyo’s response could easily be flattened with our amplifier’s treble control. We suspect that Onkyo simply set up the deck with a different test tape.

For our overall measurements of record-playback response and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) we used the same cassettes for which the machine had been adjusted: Maxell UD XL-I (ferric), Maxell UD XL-II (chrome-equivalent), and Maxell MX (metal). As shown by the — 20-dB traces in the accompanying graphs, response was within +1, — 2.5 dB from 25 to 20,000 Hz with the metal and chrome tapes. The ferric tape had a slight (3-dB) peak at about 17,000 Hz, but this could be eliminated (at the cost of slightly lower response at the highest frequencies) by using the Accubias feature. The effect of switching in the HX-Pro system is shown in the 0-dB-level curves for the ferric and metal tapes. With the metal tape and both the Dolby C and HX-Pro systems enabled, 0-dB response reached 20,000 Hz at —2.5 dB. Since the HX-Pro system operates independently of the three noise-reduction systems, it can be used to make extended-headroom tapes without noise reduction (for portable use) or very-wide-dynamic-range dbx-encoded tapes.

The TA-2090’s signal-to-noise ratios were very good. The limiting factor with the dbx system appeared to be the output amplifier, and it is possible that an even higher measured S/N could have been obtained by careful trimming of the playback level. On the other hand, one of the advantages of using the dbx system is that it provides greater headroom, thus lowering distortion, so the + 12-dB level we selected may be near optimum in practice.

Wow-and-flutter measurements were excellent, as were the fast-forward and rewind times. Dolby tracking error was also low. Because of the segmented indicators, the 0-dB point on the record-level display could be read either as Dolby level (200 nanowebers/meter) or as the IEC-standard 250 nWb/m. In either case, it is a much more realistic reference record level than the old 165-nWb/meter setting still used on most decks.

Comments

Using either Dolby C or dbx, we were able to make superb dubs of digitally recorded material with the TA-2090. The audible difference between the source and tape switch positions was so slight that we would judge it for all intents and purposes inconsequential. No small part of this excellent performance, we feel, is the deck’s very low wow-and-flutter. The dbx system rolled off the lowest organ pedals slightly (below approximately 40 Hz), but there is so little recorded material and speaker response in this area that that can hardly be taken as a significant fault.

In terms of handling, we found the TA-2090’s buttons and knobs somewhat small and occasionally hard to see (black against a black background), but this was our only human-engineering caveat. Tape handling was sure and quiet, bespeaking an excellent design that is well worth careful consideration by anyone looking for a full-featured deck in this price class.

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