Have a picture of Yamaha KX393 Cassette Deck?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Richard Welsh.
| Sound Quality | 8.7/10   |
|---|---|
| Features | 8.8/10 |
| Value for Money | 7.8/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 8/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.5/10 |
Full review by
absintheboy
expert review 
on 12th Apr 2007
User Rating : 8
Respect :
+1
Good Points: Play trim - great for playing tapes made on other machines Very good sound for the price Headphone socket with volume control allows variable output to a PC "tape tune" system automatically tunes the bias when recording on a new tape.
Bad Points: Build is a tad flimsy
General comments: So like a fool I entrusted my Nakamichi to my parents while I sorted out the service it needed, only to find out a year later that they'd thrown it out!!!!
I needed a halfway decent cassette deck, and the Yamaha not only looks stylish but has the "play trim" function. The Nak used non-standard bias settings so this was an essential feature for playing my old recordings. And the Yamaha does a better job than anything other than another Nakamichi.
As for its own recordings, they are fine. The LED meters are more than adequate (I've used some crappy ones in my time) and while it doesn't sound like a Nakamichi...nothing else does and a Nak costs 6 times as much!
Reproduction of pre-recorded material is very good too. It's not a top end deck, but then it doesn't pretend to be one. What it does do is play tapes very well, especially for the price and make very passable recordings. I'd recommend one to anyone who isn't using cassettes as a major source of music, and lets face it who is today? If you've got a bunch of old tapes that you want to listen to or dub to CD then you won't go wrong with this Yamaha.
absintheboy's review and ratings | 255 words
Review by
beemer
on 25th May 2006
User Rating : 10
Respect :
+1
I recently purchased the Yamaha KX393 to add to my Marantz system. I didn't want to spend a lot on a tape deck as I hardly use tapes anymore. I purchased my deck online for a bargain price of £70.00 the sound quality is superb and the spec and build quality is excellent. I would recommend using a good quality interconnect to truly appreciate the sound quality of the Yamaha I would recommend the QED qunect 1 cable a top quality cable and only £20. In conclusion anyone looking for a q ...
beemer's full review | 122 words
Review by
A Holyoak
on 8th Sep 2004
User Rating : 10
Respect :
+1
Yamaha KX393 - I bought this because I couldn't justify the £250 price tag of the KX580. I don't regret it at all because this is a well-engineered piece of kit. Recordings are nice & clear with fine detailing - chrome tapes sound very good. If playing back on the KX393, the play trim facility is fanatastic - adding a little extra top-end without fizz or distortion. I upgraded to better interconnect cables & this made a difference as well. All in all a good purchase.
A Holyoak's full review | 108 words
Review by
ANDREW JAMES.
on 14th Dec 2002
User Rating : 9
Respect :
+3
KX393 Is a good tape deck at the price you pay. I bought mine ex-display without box or remote control but only paid £60 for it. So far I have recorded about 2000 hours of music on it at shows and partys and played them back on to minidisc for recording to archive. I had no problems
with record quality since I used a demag tape on it and the quality is the same as day one apart from giving it a gentle tap. The problems easy to solve but I might get a new tapedeck yet.
roaddj....
ANDREW JAMES.'s full review | 137 words
Review by
pwb.
expert review
on 14th Oct 2001
User Rating : 10
Respect :
+1
A relatively easy to use machine with double cassette and auto reverse. Recordings on normal and chrome tape sound very good, especially using Dolby C. Only complaints are minor, most notably the noisy auto reverse mechanism which clunks when tape is started. Labels on controls could be higher contrast, slightly larger/bolder print - but partly my eyesight.
I bought this to replace my 20 year old AWIA which had met its maker (play would not stay on). Although the AWIA was a top of the ra ...
pwb.'s full review | 120 words | 2 comments added.
Review by
Paul Nadin.
on 28th Feb 2000
User Rating : 1
Respect :
-3
Initially very pleased as it feels well made and has lots of buttons to play with. I am not too fussed about sound quality on a cassette deck as I use it mainly for speech recordings. After six months it is now broke and I cant find the receipt (sob sob sob). The sound warbles irrespective of what tape I put in.
Think I will send an email to yamaha.
Paul Nadin.'s full review | 70 words | 4 comments added.
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