JVC TD-R272

The TD-R272 (TD-R272BK) is a cassette deck manufactured in China by the JVC Corporation. It is a 4-track, 2-channel deck with auto-reverse mechanism. It has a three-motor tape transport system, consisting of an electronically governed capstan motor (MSI-5B2LW), reel motor (MMN-6F4RA38), and cam mechanism drive motor (MSN-50257A). The wow and flutter figure is 0.08 % (wrms). The recording/playback head is METAPERM type, whilst the erase head is a 2-gap ferrite type. It also has the Dolby noise reduction system. This deck is for a stack system, and has the dimensions 435 mm × 140 mm × 297 mm, and mass 3.9 kg.

This cassette deck has many similarities with the JVC TD-R472, with similarly shaped front button design, however it has direct drive (DD) motor, Dolby HX Pro, and quick reverse mechanism. Hence the TD-R272 is the more basic version.

Review

If you are familiar with JVC amplifiers, then you might recall some models of the same period as this tape deck having the same type of front button design. At that time, JVC stack systems were designed to be matching from the outside. They also usually had the COMPULINK component connection system. This system controlled relevant operations between JVC hi-fi units. There were two versions; version 1 and version 3. Version 1 had COMPU LINK-1/SYNCHRO logo on the back panel, whilst version 3 had COMPU LINK-3/SYNCHRO logo. With this feature it is possible to perform synchronized recording between a tape deck and CD player.

This deck was from a time when microcontroller technology had entered the hi-fi industry and we see a fully automated design. The tape transport mechanism contains three motors, tape sensor switches, cam switch, and a hall sensor, which all relay information to the microcontroller computer. The front fascia is thick chunky plastic, and the buttons have micro-switches behind them. The mechanism is silent and the only discernable noise is when the record/playback head flips over. The sound quality is good providing you get a unit with good heads.

On the downside, this deck uses a flat belt to drive the two flywheels and unfortunately these types of belts are expensive and difficult to source. In addition, there is no facility to safely remove the cassette door; hence you will need a good head and pinch-roller cleaner tape.

The Dynamics Detection Recording Processor (DDRP) was their system to enable fully automatic recording from a compatible JVC CD player to a tape deck.

Price/eBay

If you have a JVC amplifier, then you may need a matching deck to go with it, however I have not seen many of these decks around. A unit in mint condition in its original box can fetch a tidy sum on a good day; however a broken one would not be worth much because the parts are difficult to source and expensive. I was lucky to find a broken one for ten pounds and was very impressed with the technology when I opened it for repair. You can see photographs of the inside electronic engineering in the following pages of this multi-page article.

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