I had considered an Aiwa cassetted deck several years ago with Dolby S.
Nakamichi has been silent lately with new cassette product and I was
considering a new unit with the new technology.  An older Aiwa reviewed
in Stereo Review had reasonably good specs, getting out to 20 K with
Ferric tape.  A local dealer was going out of business and had
Harman/Kardon's top deck at a good price with Dolby S also.  But again I
did not move on it and H/K has abandoned their wideband legacy
(where all tape decks got 20- 2oK response with all tapes not just
metal) with their new units - they even have a double cassette unit -
something they NEVER supported years ago.  I periodically read Hifi
sound or Hifi Answers and note that lots of reviewers in the UK don't
like ANY noise reduction at all when making comments regarding the sound
of the cassette units under review.  An interesting concept.  I find the
hiss a bit too much in most cases and that the Nakamichis noise
reduction application not very intrusive at all.  They run the signal in
the Dolby chips at a level that is quite lower than most other
manufacturers to avoid overload.  Perhaps this is why they sound so
good.s
--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 2
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