Need info: Marantz PMD-430 vs. Sony TC-D5M
Paul Remington
I am in the market for a good quality professional portable cassette
recorder. I have looked at most of the commercial brands in disgust.
They are far too cheap and bulky for my needs. I chatted with a fellow
at the Eastman School of Music about this, and he suggested either the
Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
their chamber performances on tape.
I know -nothing- about either of these decks and was hoping some kind
soul could offer some advice on the quality of these units. I have two
Shure SM-57 mikes I would be using with the deck. Should I expect decent
quality recordings with either of these decks? Can anyone inform me of
some technical specifications? Frequency response, S/N ratio, etc.
I am leaning towards the Marantz because it offers fine bias control,
and variable pitch adjustment. It accepts a low impedence mike input
(XLR?), and offers both Dolby B and DBX. I know Marantz is a US company
that's been making these decks a heck of a lot longer than Sony, but that's
all I know. I know of nowhere locally that sells these units, so I have
no source to go to. It'll be a "blind" buy, which scares me!
Can anyone help me out?
Garry Simmons
: Hiya friends!
: I am in the market for a good quality professional portable cassette
: recorder. I have looked at most of the commercial brands in disgust.
: They are far too cheap and bulky for my needs. I chatted with a fellow
: at the Eastman School of Music about this, and he suggested either the
: Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
: popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
: their chamber performances on tape.
[stuff deleted]
: no source to go to. It'll be a "blind" buy, which scares me!
: Can anyone help me out?
I've been the happy owner of a Marantz PMD-500 dual-well deck for a couple
years FWIW. I was shopping for a portable mono cassette deck for recording
industrial noises (don't ask :-)) and the PMD series was recommended to me.
Supposedly the CIA/FBI use these things a lot according to the guy at
Sweetwater Sound (not a very good price though)...
Hope this helps,
douglas....@crc.doc.ca
> Hiya friends!
>
> I am in the market for a good quality professional portable cassette
>recorder. I have looked at most of the commercial brands in disgust.
>They are far too cheap and bulky for my needs. I chatted with a fellow
>at the Eastman School of Music about this, and he suggested either the
>Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
>popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
>their chamber performances on tape.
>
>soul could offer some advice on the quality of these units. I have two
>Shure SM-57 mikes I would be using with the deck. Should I expect decent
>quality recordings with either of these decks? Can anyone inform me of
>some technical specifications? Frequency response, S/N ratio, etc.
>
> I am leaning towards the Marantz because it offers fine bias control,
>and variable pitch adjustment. It accepts a low impedence mike input
>(XLR?), and offers both Dolby B and DBX. I know Marantz is a US company
>that's been making these decks a heck of a lot longer than Sony, but that's
>all I know. I know of nowhere locally that sells these units, so I have
>
> Can anyone help me out?
Both decks are very popular with news services, ethonomusicologists, and
linguistics researchers also.
The Marantz has 1/4 inch mic inputs. It has more features but strikes me
as less sturdy than the sony. I have a PMD-360 which is an older
no-longer-available model, the newer models (PMD-430 etc.) are less stable
in pitch than mine. Monaural models are available.
Marantz took over Sony's "Superscope" brand name, these decks are the heirs
of that heritage. Marantz is as American as Magnavox and RCA - not very.
The sony gives you not many features but tremendous relaibility and
excellent sound quality. Sony has been making recoders used by the press
for ever. They are known for being very reliable.
Martin Brenner
allign). Marantz is 3 head. Both have unballnaced inputs (sony tcd5 pro
had XLR's but no metal tape). Marantz has DBX? and dolby B. Both units
are better than 10 years old in design, why can't these folks make a
decent modern machine. (XLR's Dolby S, HX pro, Phantom power under 800
dollars). I have used the sony, very good speed control good ergonimics
had one in 1982. For this kind of money have you considered TCD7 DAT
Machine?
Best Marty B.
Paul Remington (Paul.Re...@f222.n2613.z1.fidonet.org) wrote:
: Hiya friends!
Mike Lieman
>Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
reasons.
peace
Mike
Mike Rivers
> Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
> popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
> their chamber performances on tape.
I've had a TCD-5M for years and it's solid as a rock. I recommend it
highly. There're a couple of variations, but I'm not sure what's
available now. One model had XLR mic inputs, but no RCA line level
inputs, and I don't think it accommodated metal tape. Mine has 1/4"
unbalanced mic inputs, and I use it with a pair of adapters and decent
dynamic mics. It's not a DAT, but it's more rugged and more reliable
than most portable DAT recorders in it's price range, and for casual
recordings that nobody but me or my friends listen to, it's quite
satisfactory. Runs on two size D cells for about 10 hours. Try that
on your DAT, folks!
> I am leaning towards the Marantz because it offers fine bias control,
> and variable pitch adjustment. It accepts a low impedence mike input
> (XLR?), and offers both Dolby B and DBX. I know Marantz is a US company
> that's been making these decks a heck of a lot longer than Sony, but that's
> all I know.
I've never found variable pitch in a portable deck to be an advantage,
but your mileage may vary. As far as bias goes, I set set up mine for
TDK-SA tape (not trivial, you have to change jumpers inside) and don't
need to mess with it any more.
The Marantz that you're thinking about is long gone. Sol Marantz sold
the name (to Sony, as a matter of fact) years ago. The Marantz
portables are good solid machines, though. They tend to be used more
in the broadcast market than in the music recording market, though.
Could be that the frequency response isn't quite as good in practice
as the TCD-5.
> I know of nowhere locally that sells these units, so I have
> no source to go to. It'll be a "blind" buy, which scares me!
Check with Greg Lukens at Washington Professional Systems. He sells
both and can tell you the tradeoffs and current prices.
------------
I'm really Mike Rivers (mri...@d-and-d.com) On the road.
Salt Lake City, home of the Mumblin' Pumpernickel Choir
Rick Cruz
>Path: magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!in1.uu.net!psinntp!sunsrvr6!root
>From: Paul Remington <Paul.Re...@f222.n2613.z1.fidonet.org>
>Subject: Need info: Marantz PMD-430 vs. Sony TC-D5M
>Message-ID: <D5EDr...@sunsrvr6.cci.com>
>Sender: ro...@sunsrvr6.cci.com (Operator)
>Organization: Northern Telecom Inc., D&OS
>Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 21:16:31 GMT
>Lines: 24
> Hiya friends!
> I am in the market for a good quality professional portable cassette
>recorder. I have looked at most of the commercial brands in disgust.
>They are far too cheap and bulky for my needs. I chatted with a fellow
>at the Eastman School of Music about this, and he suggested either the
>Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
>popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
>their chamber performances on tape.
> I know -nothing- about either of these decks and was hoping some kind
>soul could offer some advice on the quality of these units. I have two
>Shure SM-57 mikes I would be using with the deck. Should I expect decent
>quality recordings with either of these decks? Can anyone inform me of
>some technical specifications? Frequency response, S/N ratio, etc.
> I am leaning towards the Marantz because it offers fine bias control,
>and variable pitch adjustment. It accepts a low impedence mike input
>(XLR?), and offers both Dolby B and DBX. I know Marantz is a US company
>that's been making these decks a heck of a lot longer than Sony, but that's
>all I know. I know of nowhere locally that sells these units, so I have
>no source to go to. It'll be a "blind" buy, which scares me!
> Can anyone help me out?
You may also want to look at the Sony TCM-5000 series machines. They are very
reliable with excellent sound quality. The radio stations for The Ohio State
University have been using these for news gathering purposes. The only real
draw back is that they do not have an XLR connector. This problem is easily
solved by using an 1/8" to XLR cable. Than you can use a variety of mics with
this unit.
Rick Cruz
The Ohio State University
Kelley Mascher
>In article <D5EDr...@sunsrvr6.cci.com> Paul Remington <Paul.Re...@f222.n2613.z1.fidonet.org> writes:
>>Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
>>Path: magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!in1.uu.net!psinntp!sunsrvr6!root
>>From: Paul Remington <Paul.Re...@f222.n2613.z1.fidonet.org>
>>Subject: Need info: Marantz PMD-430 vs. Sony TC-D5M
>>Message-ID: <D5EDr...@sunsrvr6.cci.com>
>>Sender: ro...@sunsrvr6.cci.com (Operator)
>>Organization: Northern Telecom Inc., D&OS
>>Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 21:16:31 GMT
>>Lines: 24
Well, Marantz hasn't been a US company for about 30 years, now.
The name turned Japanese in the late '60s.
I have had a TC-D5M for about 12 years now and I cannot fault it
at all. With only minimal maintenance it still make some of the
best cassette recordings I have ever heard.
Kelley
>> Hiya friends!
>> I am in the market for a good quality professional portable cassette
>>recorder. I have looked at most of the commercial brands in disgust.
>>They are far too cheap and bulky for my needs. I chatted with a fellow
>>at the Eastman School of Music about this, and he suggested either the
>>Marantz PMD-430 ($500) or Sony TC-D5M ($630). He said these units are
>>popular amongst the chamber musicians in the school that like to document
>>their chamber performances on tape.
snip