Could Have Been A Winner. The Sony EL-7 Elcaset Tape Deck. A Part Of Forgotten Vintage Audio History

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In this video I show my Sony EL-7 elcaset tape deck. The elcaset format is many times a forgotten piece of audio history. It provided open reel tape deck performance with cassette tape deck convenience. The elcaset is a sound design that I feel came a few years to late. I show the issues I had with my Sony EL-7 as well as testing it against a Nakamichi Dragon cassette tape deck and A Teac X-1000R reel to reel tape deck.
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6 фев 2020

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Комментарии : 88

@thorerik678 2 года назад

The Elcaset tape format was an attempt to combine all the positive aspects of open reel decks (3.5 ips tape speed, quarter inch wide tape, Dolby noise reduction, three head format, closed loop dual capstans, etc) with the convenience of a cassette deck. I don't recall ever seeing one of these decks with auto reverse which was a detractor for me. While stationed overseas I had an opportunity to use a Elcaset deck and found that it performed as good as open reel decks. I already had sizable investment in cassette decks and open reel and decided that it wasn't worth the trouble to add another tape format. All the Elcaset decks I ever saw were of the same design, The tape was actually drawn out of the cassette shell because there wasn't room in the shell to accommodate the pinch rollers and heads. An open reel deck with 10.5" reels provided a lot of listening time especially if it had an auto reverse function. Almost everyone I knew only used their tape decks to record a record album for the first time in an attempt to preserve the record.

@vintageaudioaddict 2 года назад

Thanks so much for sharing and for your service. I purchased a Teac X-1000 in 1980 and your correct. I recorded albums, friends albums so I wouldn't have to go buy them myself, lol. I probably didn't save much with the tape expense but it was cool having an open reel deck. I still have my X-1000.

@johnnyg1700 4 года назад

Yep, I remember the Sony EL-7 & it's younger sibling the EL-5 back in the mid to late 70's when I worked in a Hi-Fi shop as a young teenager doing a Saturday job. I loved this deck and the performance. It sounded absolutely superb compared to other standard tape decks of the time from the likes of Sony and others. The only deck that came close was the sloping fronted Nakamichi 600, which I drooled over back then. Sony also produced a demo tape for the EL Cassette, which really showed off what it could do. I made a recording of that demo tape onto compact cassette back in the day, which I still have today. It will be very rare to find nowadays though. Anyway, thank you for sharing your experiences of these wonderful vintage machines, I love it.... As a collector and restorer myself, I always enjoy watching your videos. Please keep doing what you do. All the best to you.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Your welcome and thank you for sharing your story. Working in s Hi-Fi shop must of been great until the boss told you to load up Mr. Smith's car with his new stereo system, LOL., Actually I wished that I had your job. I worked at Pizza Hut as a teen. Thanks again for your kind words.

@mikecampbell5856 4 года назад

I was in the Navy in the 70s and I came sooooo close to buying one of these.I bought a Teac cassette deck instead.I was very happy with it.

@magnusforsman9150 3 года назад

It's a great deck! my EL-7 was passed over to me when my father passed away, now it's stand beside my TC-765 reel to reel and sometimes i light them up and just starring at them before playing anything 🤣 Thanks for a interesting and useful video 👌🏻 Regards from Stockholm, Sweden

@patricknicolucci5073 4 года назад

I sold audio in the late 70's and early 80's I sold a few of these they sounded amazing like a reel to reel deck

@Badassvidsz 4 года назад

Elcasets' standard speed is 3' 3/4 it's excactly the double speed of a normal cassette deck sure they have some more advantage to normal decks : I'm sure you'd already known that as a seller you've been : They are some kind of a reel to reel deck transferred to a cassette deck but for some reason they didn't have the success they deserved to :-( Why did they fail do you know ?? As a seller you'd might know why just a guess of mine :-) Thx for any reply :-)

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Yes, nothing was wrong with the design. They worked well.

@patricknicolucci5073 4 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict the one reason it failed is that the tapes were very large as compared to a compact cassette it seemed people were turned off but my response to those customers were that this is not a portable medium like cassette there are no ELcasets portable music players. price of the blank tapes were expensive again customers are comparing to compact cassettes. some real audiophiles i sold to got it the general public didn't see the need. in my humble opinion

@kanesmith8271 3 года назад

@@Badassvidsz why did you try bullying him?

@Badassvidsz 3 года назад

@@patricknicolucci5073 Thank you very much dear Patrick for your reply and sorry for my too late thanking but i've never taken the notification of your reply and i don't know why ? but it's just i've received a comment from Kane Smith to me 2 minutes ago and that's how i saw yours thanks again :-)

@markdavid7013 Год назад

I was a youthful electronic tech in those days...The shop I worked at derviced consumer audio equipment. I worked on a ton of tape decks, but never saw one of those.

@vintageaudioaddict Год назад

Thanks for sharing. I didn't remember seeing them back in the day either.

@ottodydaktyk 4 года назад

Huh. I never even heard of an Elcaset before. Thanks for sharing.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Your welcome and thank you as always for watching.

@djob3507 4 года назад

Wow beautiful machine

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Thanks

@statedace3 4 года назад

First id herd of these players.nice size Tape.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

I didn't know about them either back in the day.

@lazycalm41 4 года назад

The Elcaset was on a par with open reel at the time but had the convenience of Compact Cassette. the Sony EL7 was the flagship model I believe and highly desirable for me back in the 70's but way beyond my budget back then. You are so lucky to have found an EL7 for sale and still in one piece. This one looks superb.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Thanks. This EL-7 works very well. Cosmetically it's not perfect but that's okay with me. I have a lot of equipment that is a little banged up.

@KenSmith-bv4si 4 года назад

Way back in 1977 I was stationed at Kadena air force base Okinawa Japan , we called it the 8 track cassette , it used 1/4 tape like an 8 tracked also things were getting smaller and more compact , this was going in the wrong direction .

@rickbarton9130 4 года назад

Good point. The cassette was perfect for car audio. I know I loved my Pioneer Super tuner/cassette system in my 69 stang which I bought in 1978.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Thanks for sharing and for your service.

@gsmd770 4 года назад

Interesting? I've never heard of this type of tape deck? But I see you own a Nakamichi DRAGON!!!!!! I'm speechless! Those cassette's are huge?! You seem to have a great collection of audio equipment.?

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Yes, it's a pretty big collection. You can see some of it in my personal collection video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O1uT3j17d08.html

@2574mcu 4 года назад

I remember seeing the ad in either high fidelity or stereo review magazine.

@jeremytravis360 4 года назад

A fantastic machine. I bought one when I was a Sony dealer in central London.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Very Cool! Being a dealer you must have seen and got to tryout all of the equipment.

@jeremytravis360 4 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict Yes indeed. I could speak to my Rep Dave Thomas and buy a graded stock for the fraction of the retail price.

@johnnyg1700 4 года назад

Where abouts in London were you dealer Jeremy? I worked in a HiFi shop on Chelsea's King's Road doing a Saturday job when I was 14.

@jeremytravis360 4 года назад

@@johnnyg1700 My shop was called Teletape and we were based at Marble Arch London. Most of my customers came from Park Lane and Mayfair although I also had a lot of people from the BBC. I was also knew a friendly limousine driver who brought a lot of celebrities to my store. I was the buyer and manager of my shop.

@johnnyg1700 4 года назад

@@jeremytravis360 Sounds like a very upmarket place you ran there Jeremy from a very expensive living part of London. I got to meet some celebrities and also visited their houses with my Dad delivering Hi-Fi, Video reorders & TV's all around London. Rich foreigners also came into the shop buying loads of video equipment & Hi-Fi I worked at (Martins of Chelsea) and they use to tip well. Times were so different back then

@truck9moon100 4 года назад

Reading the comments is almost as good as the video. Thank-You very much.

@2flyabove 3 года назад

I remember those big cassettes. They were quite rare. I never heard one play, though. I would guess they sounded very good because of the greater surface area of the tape on the head, rather than the smaller standard cassettes.

@michaelturner4457 4 года назад

I remember reading about Elcaset in the HiFi mags in 1976, of course I was only 13 at the time.

@Madjed2024 4 года назад

What a great video on this unique deck I have a few of the same and although they are in working condition each has a little something and they could benefit from a similar time up or repair and back to manuf specs Would you be willing to help with that?

@piptar 4 года назад

Why no sample??

@RM_VINTAGE_AUDIO 4 года назад

piptar ...because it doenst work. After all it is still malfunctioning for sure.

@oldradios09 2 года назад

Now this is gonna be the hardest and most expensive addition to my collection. I’ll probably get one in non functioning condition and send it to my repairman.

@vintageaudioaddict 2 года назад

It's a pretty cool piece to have in a vintage collection. Thanks for watching.

@oldradios09 2 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict it’s the only tape deck format I still don’t have. Just need to get this tape deck and my vintage HiFi collection is complete!

@oldradios09 2 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict Ok. I got the EL-5 model (I get what I can afford)

@ricklane8554 2 года назад

I've got the very same Deck from my late brother. Pity, the brake is not working well. When I put the play button after that, the tape is not wind up tight anymore and swallows it, unless I correct the tape before running. What could that be?? 🙂

@vintageaudioaddict 2 года назад

It probably needs the old grease cleaned up and new grease applied. Many tape decks that are this old just get gummed up. You can have all types of tape path issues like your having when that's the case. Probably nothing wrong with your deck electrically, it's the mechanical part.

@ricklane8554 2 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict Well thanks man. Do you think I can by some tapes (Casettes) in Holland or Europe?

@spinach1999 2 года назад

how did you get a test tape for this machine?

@vintageaudioaddict 2 года назад

The tapes are still around from time to time. You can usually find them on eBay.

@NateCraven318 3 года назад

It sucks that Elcaset never really took off; because they sound excellent!

@HelloKittyFanMan. 4 года назад

If you bought the cassette off of ebay, then what site did you buy it _through?_

@dednside5229 4 года назад

DAT , Minidisc , This ... It's funny how Sony was never really given it's true high fi rating and that goes for kenwood too Kenwood L series Sony TA series The only real competition was Sansui and strangely the yamaha b series amplifiers People dont realize sony made 35k Mono amps using the same FETs From the N7

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Sony did make some fine audio equipment and Kenwood also. So many other's that don't get mentioned often.

@rickbarton9130 4 года назад

Man, Sony just really took it in the shorts in the 70's trying to launch new platforms and categories. No way they didn't lose money on the elcaset (think R&D funding down the drain) and then most know of the debacle they endured with Beta losing out to JVC's vhs video platform. Of course RCA has multiple horror stories of their own trying to create platforms from scratch. Their vinyl video system (more or less a movie on an LP record) was a complete fiasco. RCA spent 60 million dollars on that white elephant. Whew!

@misterhat5823 4 года назад

Of course, that was due to RCA's internal management problems.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Yes, Sony did have a bad run on taking certain sides with new technologies back in the day.

@Nicholas.T 4 года назад

Rick Barton - And yet ironically Rick, other formats came into being almost by accident! Take for example, the Philips compact cassette. Philips developed it in the early 1960’s as a cheap low-fi dictation system and through an amazing evolutionary process, spearheaded by many other audio companies, notably Nakamichi, it became a true hi-fi recording medium, capable of rivalling some of the better open reel decks of the era!

@bluelithium9808 4 года назад

The sound of cassettes got good enough for consumers and was way cheaper and more convenient particularly for auto sound.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

The Elcaset just wasn't the right product for the time.

@AnalogWolf 3 года назад

@@vintageaudioaddict I was born in '83 and didn't get into high fidelity audio into my 20s. We had a few cassette tapes, but I wasn't that into music growing up. I started listening to music in high school when MP3s were the rage, and eventually learned that CDs were better and upgraded to them. When I got into LPs after a friend's mother was giving away a deck and I took it and bought some 50 cent LPs from the local charity shop as a lark to see how they sounded, I realized for the first time just how lovely music could be. While there are high quality digital formats for sure like SACD, it was never really used and unfortunately the standard is still MP3 with master recordings being made at CD quality most times. Sad to see how we have regressed. Last week I stumbled onto DBX encoded LPs and gave that a listen. Holy crap that sounded amazing, like a perfect LP with absolutely no background hiss. Goes to show just how good that technology can be and just how great an open reel 15 or 30 IPS master tape could sound. Seeing the Elcaset makes me wish it had taken off. Imagine the sound of reel to reel tape with modern noise reduction (Elcaset with Dolby C or S? Thank you, I'll take that!) and the convenience of a cassette. So when I see people pouring their heart and soul into quality pieces of gear like this, it puts a smile on my face. I'm not the only one in the world that cares about how music should sound as almost nobody I know who are my age or younger, heck even people much older than me cares. Thank you for caring.

@ahah1785 4 года назад

Its strange i have 8 various AKAI cassette decks from the 70's. Some of their belts are still original and have no issues whatsoever and some turned to motor oil....

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Yes, your correct about the belts.

@12vers 4 года назад

I wish Sony Elcaset could play the large RCA Victor tape cartridge, as I have quite a few of them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_tape_cartridge

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

I have heard of those but I don't think I've ever seen one.

@ahah1785 4 года назад

Those things cost a kidney today...and the tapes...boy if you're lucky to find one....i wish i have picked one up in the early 2000's ...now its to late...well its not but i cant justify the cash...

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

All the vintage equipment the past few years has really gone up in value. The days of finding deals are pretty much gone.

@thedayones4918 2 года назад

What’s the width of the tape?

@vintageaudioaddict 2 года назад

6.3 mm (1/4 inch)

@charlesbaker783 3 года назад

You didn't mention that the tape runs at three and three quarters inches per second.

@venturarodriguezvallejo9777 4 года назад

For some reasons (I suspect competitors were not the least of them), many SONY's greater innovations became a market failure. Elcasset, V-FET transistors, SACD and DATs are remarkable examples. Only Trinitron tv, CDs and Walkman were a success, being the strong oppossition to them from the industry unable to neutralize the public impact of these CONCEPTS. No one can be surprised the "retaliation" SONY took from the late 80's on, after absorbing the CBS, and later a predominant part of the very entertainment business wich have made so bitter the relationship between SONY and the contents providers.

@patricknicolucci5073 4 года назад

yes but some Sony products defined the medium CD for example Philips designed the laser and Sony the format just one example.

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Yes, it seems Sony remembered and they had deep pockets.

@Nicholas.T 4 года назад

Patrick Nicolucci - Actually Patrick, the critical part that Sony developed for the CD was their incredibly powerful system of error correction, known as CIRC, without which the CD system would not have been possible. It is so powerful that a perfect audio signal can still be maintained(regenerated) even if UP TO 4,000 bits of serial data is lost or corrupted from the laser head as it reads the disc!!

@Madjed2024 8 месяцев назад

I have been looking for someone to repair two El 7 for me in the Boston area and I also expanded the search to beyond my area but could not find anybody I really would appreciate your help I am battling cancer and I want to get these two going I am willing to pay for your time and shipping Thank you

@bobjerome5390 4 года назад

very hard to find and the price is very high i picked 2 of ebay hard grease was bad in them i pick one up at a car boot the front door was missing £10 i payed the seller did not know what he had

@vintageaudioaddict 4 года назад

Nice find! The issues that you had sound like the ones that I had with mine.

@HelloKittyFanMan. 4 года назад

"Similar in features to a cassette deck"? Um, that's because they ARE cassette decks!

@Nicholas.T 4 года назад

Hello Kitty Lover Man! - I think what he meant to say was, similar to a “Philips Compact Cassette” deck !!