howie123
Stuck in the '70s
Here are some pics of my Sony Elcaset EL-7, which I purchased in late 1980. This deck originally sold for close to $1000, but by 1980, the Elcaset format was pretty much dead and most existing stock was sold off to a supplier in Finland. A local audio shop here in Northern New Jersey managed to get a few brand new EL-5 and EL-7 decks and sold them off for $80 and $100 respectively. At that time, I had a couple of decent cassette decks and just bought this due to the great price. It's a 3 head, 3-motor, closed-loop dual capstan deck and was the top of the line when these things were sold (1976-80). The format never really caught on due to the price of the decks and the Compact Cassette had already become a mainstay in most people's stereo systems. It's a shame, really, as the quality of the recordings made on it (using FeCr tape) equaled many reel-to-reel units running at twice the speed. I recently took it out of storage and it is now is part of my system that I recently resurrected (Kenwood KR-9600 receiver, Sony PS-3750 turntable). The recordings sound fantastic and the three head design allows you to hear the tape as it's being recorded. I had purchased a case of 12 LC-60 FeCr tapes for $20 with the deck and hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it for a long time to come. There are probably more than a few AK members who have never even heard of (or seen) one of these so I thought I'd share a few pictures...