SANSUI SC-D77

Commentary

This 3-head cassette deck employs a direct-drive system and direct-and-direct mechanism based on direct-drive and direct-steering systems.

For the mechanism part, a direct drive system in which the drive motor directly turns the capstan is adopted in a 2-mote configuration.
The capstan is directly driven by an FG servo motor, eliminating the troublesome mechanism of rotating the flywheel by a belt drive. In addition, the reel drive uses a simple mechanism without a beltless slip clutch that is used in open reel decks. In both cases, the drive part is small, so energy loss is reduced and the torque of the motor can be transmitted to the reel. Moreover, the performance is improved because the capstan is resistant to external disturbances.

The SC-D77 uses SANSUI's original direct-sensing system.
In this system, the cassette half is held by a spring to enable accurate head touch of the tape. This system and the direct drive mechanism greatly improve the characteristics.

Equipped with SASF (Sansui Active Scrape Filter) originally developed by Sansui.
The mechanism of anti-scrape measures has been used for open-reel decks for a long time, but SANSUI succeeded in reducing the size and commercialized it for the first time for cassette decks.
In this SASF, a scrape filter that rotates in conjunction with a capstan shuts out the minute vibration of the tape, greatly reducing modulation noise and realizing clear sound quality without turbidity.
The mechanism installed in the SC-D77 improves the dynamic characteristics and constantly monitors the tension of the tape by the back tension servo, so that the back tension of the tape is kept constant.

All Fesialloy combination heads are used for recording and reproducing heads.
The recording and reproducing heads are made of Fesialloy (Fe-Si-Al alloy) and are integrated with no contact loss. They are separated and housed in a single housing.
The recording head is designed to have a relatively wide head gap to form the optimum magnetic field, while the reproducing head is designed to have a narrow head gap. The high magnetic saturation level provides excellent high-frequency characteristics, low distortion rate, and high wear resistance, resulting in improved frequency characteristics.
With a 3-head configuration, it is equipped with separate amplifiers for recording and playback, allowing simultaneous playback monitoring while recording.

A 2-gap Hi-B ferrite head is used for the erasing head.

Equipped with a 3-step switching type tape selector.

Equipped with a bias fine circuit, the bias can be adjusted by ± 20% according to the tape to be used.
In addition, 3-head simultaneous recording and re-monitoring is possible so that playback sound after recording can be compared with normal playback sound instantly, and the optimum bias value can be quickly selected.

The front panel features a 2-color LED16-dot meter.
This meter is equipped with a Oatley setting mechanism that holds only peak values for 2 seconds and then automatically resets.

Equipped with an FM / MPX filter switch, cutting the 19 kHz pilot signal for beautiful recording.

Full logic control by computer is adopted for the operation system, and various auto operations are realized by the plunger of light operation.
It is equipped with an auto-play function that stops when rewinding is completed and starts playing automatically. In addition, since it is equipped with an auto-repeat function, if you turn on the auto-repeat switch, it is automatically rewound at the end of the tape and repeated playback is possible.
The Memory Auto-repeat / Play function is built-in. If the memory counter is set to 000, it will stop at 999 and play automatically during Oatley Pete / Play rewind and normal rewind.
In combination with the memory counter, you can auto-repeat and auto-play from any place. In combination with the tape lead-in and auto-play, you can skip the head of the tape.

Self-lighting type feather touch key is adopted for operation buttons of all modes, direct change is possible by computer control and operation status can be understood at a glance.

It is equipped with a flashing REC-MUTE switch which can make silent recording part with one touch.
Flashes every 1 second during operation.

Equipped with a tape lead-in mechanism, it can jump over the beginning winding of the cassette tape by exactly a fixed amount with one action.

In combination with the optional timer (sold separately), you can record your absence or play an alarm clock.

Equipped with Dolby NR as a noise reduction system.

The equalizer amplifier section uses a 3-stage direct-coupled circuit.
The recording amplifier uses shunt regulated PP. In addition, separate power supply circuits for the mechanism, logic circuit, and amplifier circuit are used to improve sound quality.
In addition, the SC-D77 uses a low-distortion push-pull oscillation circuit for the bias oscillation circuit to further improve its performance.

Equipped with halfback lighting that makes it easy to see the remaining amount of tape.

There are 2 color variations of silver and black.

Remote operation is possible by combining with the separately sold remote control unit RS-7.

Model Rating

Type	Cassette deck
Track format	4-track, 2-channel recording / playback
Heads	Recording / Playback : Feiziloy Combination Head Erasing : Hi-B double-gap ferrite head
Motor	For Capstan : FG Servo / DC Direct Drive For Reel : Electronically controlled DC Motor
Wow flutter	0.035% or less (WRMS)
Quick winding speed	Approximately 75 seconds (C-60)
Frequency Response (Recording / Playback)	Metal Tape : 20 Hz to 22 kHz 25 Hz to 21 kHz ± 3 dB High Bias Tape (CrO2) : 20 Hz to 18 kHz 25 Hz to 17 kHz ± 3 dB Normal Tape (LH) : 20 Hz to 17 kHz 25 Hz to 16 kHz ± 3 dB
Signal-to-noise ratio (recording / playback, 1 kHz, signal level = 3% THD)	Metal Tape : 60 dB or More Metal Tape, Dolby NRon : 10 dB or more improvement at 5 kHz or more
Input Sensitivity / Impedance (0 VU, 1 kHz)	Mic : 0.4mV/200 Ω ~ 5k Ω Line : 70mV/47k Ω
Power level (0 VU, 1 kHz = 160pwb/mm)	Line : 400 mV (maximum output control, 47k Ω) Headophone : 95mV/8 Ω
Bias frequency	85kHz
Power consumption	23W
External dimensions	Width 430x Height 128x Depth 282 mm
Weight	5.9kg
Sold Separately	Remote Control Unit RS-7