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Topic: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions? (Read 4730 times) previous topic - next topic
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Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Hi all,
First off, apologies for the long post, but I am clueless on this front so I figure the more I can elaborate, the better.

I am by nature more confident in the world of digital audio, and even then I only mess around with things. When I was a kid in the 90s, I used to play with cassettes. Back then my concern for quality was not great, I just wanted to clearly hear what was going on. However that preference has changed throughout the years. Over the past few years I have wanted to transfer all of my cassettes to the PC. I finally started this about 9 months ago. When digitizing, I just let the thing record, trim the ends of each side, and save to flac. No restoration or processing is done after that unless I later decide it is needed, and even then the original transfers aren't going anywhere so I can fall back on them. Of course I will always keep the cassettes around. This project is strictly about preservation and discovery since I really don't know what is on half of these.

While doing some research on how to improve cassette playback, I quickly discovered how much went into cassette playback and transfer for an audiophile. While I am somewhat of an audiophile about my digital stuff, I decided that for cassettes, I didn't have the patience or the know-how to do them professionally. I am also visually impaired with very little useful vision, so some things are difficult for me to get the hang of, particularly in mechanical work which cassettes seem to warrant a fair amount of for best performance. I'm not opposed to learning but I'd not want to use these tapes as experiment pieces, because none of them were purchased or recorded on for the sake of quality, and quite a number of them have degraded and sound rough, with the rest heavily used and abused. I do rewind and fast forward a cassette several times before a transfer, as I have heard that is good for the tape and smooths things out.

I decided to digitize my writable cassettes first because they contain the most memories. I was about halfway through this when the deck I was using, which was a cheap little thing from Radio Shack which was over 20 years old, started giving out. One of the channels started crackling a great deal and suddenly just would not work. I wasn't about to try to figure out how to fix it. The few people I knew who could potentially fix it were very busy and most were reluctant to do anything. Not willing to settle for one channel, I stopped transferring until I found another deck.

A few months later a family friend asked me to digitize some old cassettes for him, because he was simply too busy to do them and figured I knew more about digitizing than he did. He allowed me to borrow a good Yamaha deck of his to do the job. He is also blind so couldn't give me any information on the deck other than how to physically operate it. While I doubt it was anything too special to most people, it was to me. It had solenoid switches, auto-reverse, and schemes for Dolby B and C NR. I don't know what kinds of tapes it could take, or for that matter what kinds of tapes I actually have. It was still fun to get a small peak at what I was missing as it was miles ahead of what I had used. I ended up digitizing the cassettes I was asked to do, as well as just under 40 of my own before I felt bad for keeping it and gave it back. AT this point most of what was left were non-recordable cassettes.

My parents, who I occasionally talk to about these sorts of things, decided to try to help me find a new cassette deck. It surprised me a bit when they got me one for Christmas, but I was pretty happy. They told me they had talked to our family friend and he had recommended this deck, so I went into it with good expectations. The deck I got was a Marantz Professional PMD-300CP duel cassette deck. It has USB transfer and dubbing, which I would never use, and I immediately got the sense it looked cheap, but so long as it sounded okay, I didn't really care.

I auditioned several tapes and at first everything sounded fine. But I soon noticed that there was one annoying problem that I find difficult to accept. The thing outputs this strange hum along with a whine any time the motors are running, though oddly it doesn't change in pitch or volume with the motor's speed. I've tried both through RCA and USB and they sound exactly the same. What I hear is a quiet grounding hum and a more prodominant whine/buzz at around 240 HZ. It even happens with no tape inside. None of this happened with either of the two other machines I have used. The deck that offers the recording functionality has a noticeably louder and somewhat higher pitched whine than the other deck, but they both have it. It is easily drowned out, but I was just about to digitize some audio books and music, which were considerably cleaner than what I had digitized up to that point, so the whine would be bothersome during pauses. While tape hiss and defects on the cassettes are things I won't complain about, a strange noise generated by some kind of bleed in the equipment does start to test my tolerance. It strikes me and will probably also strike you as paradoxical that a little problem like this is going to be a big deal, after I sort of wrote off the idea of improving transfers.

While most reviews on Amazon suggest the machine is nice, some did say they feel the deck was cheap and mildly disappointing. But most said it worked for its intended purposes, especially if all I wanted to do was play cassettes. other views on other boards though weren't so optimistic, with a general consensus that this sounds passable at best, and or is just a piece of garbage. But none have mentioned any sort of mechanical noise. The closest I found to that was that it was "noisy," which I interpret as meaning more hiss, which I assume would only be a big problem if you were working with quality tapes, or especially when dubbing.

My friend was actually pretty surprised when he learned about my problem, and suggested I call Marantz Professional support. On second thought I felt that returning it to Amazon where it was ordered from would be more efficient. From there, I haven't yet decided if I will seek a replacement or buy another deck, though my mom is encouraging me to just replace it to see if a new unit will be void of this problem. Part of me thinks I should find a quality secondhand consumer deck similar to the Yamaha one I borrowed. Buying secondhand is something I'm nervous about though. If this is just a faulty unit and a replacement unit ends up working better, then at least for now I will be satisfied unless of course something else comes up. But I still feel uneasy because I really don't take bad experiences well.

What do you all recommend? Feel free to throw stuff out there but try to be specific and somewhat simple if you can. Many thanks!

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #1 –
No deck should generate noise by itself, so first thing to do is return it and ask for new unit.
For playback purposes it should be enough - if you didn't used any other Dolby NR for recording your tapes other than Dolby B. But, if it were me, I would go for used deck in good condition, with Dolby B and C AT LEAST. Dolby S is quite OK, and works somewhat OK with Dolby B recorded tapes, lowering noise, but you will have to do some equilization after recording to get mids and highs at correct levels.
I had quite a few decks when I was younger, Technics, AKAI, Yamaha, AIWA, Sony... they were all nice machines, never had top-of-the-line decks because I had no money for them - but for playback purposes and archiving some low to mid class deck should be enough.
TAPE LOADING ERROR

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #2 –
Don't be fooled by the use of the word "Professional" in the product name. This particular Marantz is a very poor quality cassette deck in terms of frequency response (40Hz to 14kHz +/- 3dB), signal-to-noise ratio (58dB and no genuine Dolby NR) and wow & flutter (0.2% WRMS). The hum you're describing is most likely down to stray pick-up from your mains electricity supply due to poor head shielding.

I'd be inclined to ask if a receipt is available for a refund then set about tracking down a well maintained secondhand single-well machine of known good spec performance. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but this Marantz really is very, very poor indeed.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #3 –
Interestingly, your Marantz deck has a USB out on the back panel.  Are you using this to connect the deck to your PC?
Sorry, I re-read your post and see that you have.  I'd agree that an older, well-maintained deck is the better option.  One with proper Dolby, single well, and dual capstan.  Right now there is a Nakamichi 480 on eBay for $100 plus shipping.  This is the type of thing I'd be looking for.  Audiogon and craigslist may also have some options; SearchTempest can search all craigslist within driving distance.  Many people have had luck finding older equipment like this at their local Goodwill store.

Another idea is to contact a local hifi repair shop to see if they have any decks repaired but never picked up.  Electronics Service Labs in Connecticut is a shop I've used and they often have repaired decks for sale.  This has the benefit of knowing the wearable parts -- of which there are many in a cassette deck -- have been inspected and replaced if necessary.

Unfortunately, there isn't much available new on Amazon.  Not many manufacturers are still making these.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #4 –
One other idea: if you have the Marantz plugged into a power strip try plugging it into the wall directly.  Sometimes other devices plugged into the power strip can generate noise.  If no luck, try plugging it into a different outlet.  It's a long shot, but wouldn't be the first time I've heard of this being the solution.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #5 –
Hi all, thank you for your clear and concise responses.
Quote from: Slipstreem on
Don't be fooled by the use of the word "Professional" in the product name. This particular Marantz is a very poor quality cassette deck in terms of frequency response (40Hz to 14kHz +/- 3dB), signal-to-noise ratio (58dB and no genuine Dolby NR) and wow & flutter (0.2% WRMS). The hum you're describing is most likely down to stray pick-up from your mains electricity supply due to poor head shielding.
I'd be inclined to ask if a receipt is available for a refund then set about tracking down a well maintained secondhand single-well machine of known good spec performance. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but this Marantz really is very, very poor indeed.
You literally just said what I was thinking in more or less proper terms. I don't know what good specs are for these things, but from little I do know this one does indeed sound cheap. By the time I had submitted my post I was pretty set on doing just that.

Quote from: Apesbrain on
One other idea: if you have the Marantz plugged into a power strip try plugging it into the wall directly.  Sometimes other devices plugged into the power strip can generate noise.  If no luck, try plugging it into a different outlet.  It's a long shot, but wouldn't be the first time I've heard of this being the solution.
This idea crossed my mind more than once. I tried plugging into two power strips. One nearly empty but with everything turned off, and other more full and with a lot of things already turned on. That didn't make a bit of difference. I didn't try an outlet, but I don't think that will help either since I've never had this issue with anything else.

Upon further thought, I just remembered that the noise I was hearing was also being attenuated by the Dolby B circuit, as though I was playing a normal cassette with Dolby B engaged. The whine simply became duller along with the rest of the material,  so this suggests an internal problem.

Quote from: Apesbrain on
I'd agree that an older, well-maintained deck is the better option.  One with proper Dolby, single well, and dual capstan.
Just to entertain some curiosity for a bit. I swear this machine at least has a Dolby B switch on it. Are you saying that its Dolby B is not really proper Dolby support? I'd not be inclined to argue, since Dolby C, for the brief time I experimented with it, was pretty cool, and from what I've read is fairly common on a mid to high-end product. It's possible I have gotten models confused, though I highly doubt it.

Quote
Right now there is a Nakamichi 480 on eBay for $100 plus shipping.  This is the type of thing I'd be looking for.  Audiogon and craigslist may also have some options; SearchTempest can search all craigslist within driving distance.  Many people have had luck finding older equipment like this at their local Goodwill store.
This is very helpful advice. I knew Nakamichi has very high regard but expected to pay easily three times that for even one of their lower models. Furthermore I'd guess that for my simple needs it would work fine even if it wasn't in mint condition. So long as nothing is close to its death bed.

Quote
Another idea is to contact a local hifi repair shop to see if they have any decks repaired but never picked up.  Electronics Service Labs in Connecticut is a shop I've used and they often have repaired decks for sale.  This has the benefit of knowing the wearable parts -- of which there are many in a cassette deck -- have been inspected and replaced if necessary.
That is something else I hadn't thought of. Unfortunately I don't think there are many such places in our area but I will have to check. It's certainly worth looking into, and it would be the option I would be most comfortable with.

Quote
Unfortunately, there isn't much available new on Amazon.  Not many manufacturers are still making these.
I became aware of this after my first deck died, and found it frustrating. But I can't complain too much.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: raygrote on
I swear this machine at least has a Dolby B switch on it. Are you saying that its Dolby B is not really proper Dolby support?
What it has is a "Noise Reduction" switch; some sort of ersatz Dolby B.  They didn't want to pay licensing fees to Dolby Labs so they implemented something of their own design.  It should still have some effect.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Apesbrain on
Quote from: raygrote on
I swear this machine at least has a Dolby B switch on it. Are you saying that its Dolby B is not really proper Dolby support?
What it has is a "Noise Reduction" switch; some sort of ersatz Dolby B.  They didn't want to pay licensing fees to Dolby Labs so they implemented something of their own design.  It should still have some effect.

The Dolby patents had the usual sunset at 18 years which was up decades ago, but trademark registration last a lot longer. So, anybody who wanted to could sell a cloned or reverse-engineered system that performed the same, they just couldn't call it by the trademarmed name.

Re: Marantz Professional PMD-300CP cassette deck opinions?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Slipstreem on
Don't be fooled by the use of the word "Professional" in the product name. This particular Marantz is a very poor quality cassette deck in terms of frequency response (40Hz to 14kHz +/- 3dB), signal-to-noise ratio (58dB and no genuine Dolby NR) and wow & flutter (0.2% WRMS). The hum you're describing is most likely down to stray pick-up from your mains electricity supply due to poor head shielding.

Agreed. I believe that Marantz pro gear is actually a separate business from the consumer gear, which comes out of the same factories and engineering labs and is run by the same business as Denon.

Back in the day, the brand of cassette machines that had a lot of respect among pros was Tascam (Teac).