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Dead Media Working Note 06.6
Dead Medium: the Elcaset cartridge tape and player
From: dmorton_AT_rci.rutgers.edu (David Morton)
Sources:
Reference 1: Larry Zide, "Will the Elcaset Make It," High
Fidelity's Buying Guide to Tape Systems (1978), pages 28-
30
Reference 2: "Elcaset" Hi-Fi/Stereo Buyers Guide volume
13 (January/February 1978), pages 48, 82.
The Elcaset was a cartridge tape format
introduced by several Japanese electronics firms in the
late 1970s for use in high fidelity audio home systems.
"Basically, Elcaset is a king size cassette [i.e.
Large cassette, hence the name] measuring about six by
four inches, versus about four by two and a half inches
for the Philips cassette. It is three quarters of an inch
thick; the Philips is a half-inch thick. The Elcaset runs
at 3 3/4 ips [inches per second]; the Philips at 1 7/8
ips. " [reference two]
The Elcaset was a compromise between the all-out
performance of an expensive reel-to-reel deck and the
convenience of a cartridge format. The machines were
heavy, sturdy devices more like professional equipment in
construction than most home tape recorders. Although the
tape was stored in a plastic cartridge, when it was
inserted in a player a loop of tape was drawn into the
workings of the machine, where the precision mechanism
pulled it smoothly past the tape heads:
"In the new format the tape transport is responsible
for accurate movement of the tape past the tape heads.
The tape is 'pulled' out of the Elcaset and moved between
guides built into the transport. In the Philips system,
tape movement accuracy is controlled by guides built into
the cassette." [reference two]
The tape was divided into six tracks; four were used
to store two stereo music programs, the other two were
control tracks used to store cueing information. Machines
used a form of Dolby noise reduction and some (like the
TEAC AL 700) could use optional, external Dolby units to
achieve slightly better performance.
Introduced at a time when ordinary audio cassettes
could not meet reel-to-reel performance, the Elcaset
seemed to have some appeal for serious home recording
enthusiasts. However, the machines were more expensive
than high-end cassette units ($650-1200) and record
companies never offered a catalog of recorded Elcasets.
The machines were pulled off the market within a couple
of years, following slow sales.
Models actually offered for sale included the JVC
LD-777 ($800), the Sony EL-5 and EL-7 ($630 and $880), the
TEAC AL-700 ($1100), and the Technics RS-7500US ($650).
Marantz announced a line of Elcaset recorders, but I
have not confirmed that they actually were offered.
Dave Morton
IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering
Rutgers University
d.morton_AT_ieee.org
Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |