What Are The Most Important Specifications of a Cassette Tape Deck?

Whether a fist time buyer or a seasoned cassette tape archivist – what are the most important specifications of a cassette tape deck?

By: Ringo Bones

Given that the “lowly” cassette was the only egalitarian music medium for the budding audiophile back in the mid 1980s, it is easy to say that most of us have his or her own view when it comes to what specifications make a great cassette tape deck. But if you ask me, what I will rank from the most to least important goes as: (1) frequency response, (2) wow and flutter, (3) signal-to-noise ratio, (4) speed accuracy and (5) distortion – although some audiophiles may rank distortion higher as the most important specification.

Frequency response that’s flat- i.e. within ±3dB - and extends from 30-Hz to 18,000-Hz – could be considered impressive. But you should pay attention on how flat the response is, a frequency response specification of ±6dB is not impressive. However, if the specifications were ±3dB and applied to a range of 30-Hz to 16,000-Hz would be considered acceptable. Better still would be a much flatter range of ±2dB over such a frequency range. A high frequency range that extends to 19,000-Hz instead of just 16,000-Hz will not make an important difference to most listeners – especially “older” audiophiles. 

The wow and flutter should measure no higher than 0.05% peak. Although, people who are more sensitive than others when it comes to wow and flutter might require a tape deck with better specification in this department– i.e. 0.025% or lower.

The signal-to-noise ratio should be at least 75dB or better when using Dolby C noise reduction. And the deck should offer better S/N ratio results when a more advanced noise reduction system is used – like Dolby S.

Speed accuracy that that will deviate no more than 0.5% from correct speed. While some engineers consider such deviation in pitch is inaudible to most people, vinyl LPs are mastered on a device whose pitch deviation is under 0.2%.

Low distortion is of vital importance, especially if you exclusively play recorded acoustic instruments because it is much easier to hear distortion creeping in with a violin recording – than with a Gibson Les Paul played through an overdriven Marshall stack.