PMD-300CP | Dual-Cassette Recorder/Player with USB

I have a stereo receiver that has been sitting in a rubber maid container down in the basement for over thirty years. I converted my office at home into a spare room. I hooked up the receiver to my Marantz turn table, a CD player, the tape deck and a pair of Bose book shelf speakers. I listen to classical music and some old school rock & roll.I used to have an Akai GXC-75 D tape deck. The deck had a reverse direction feature to play in both directions without flipping the cassette. It was an excellent machine. They don't make them like that anymore. I have around twenty cassettes that still play.This Marantz tape deck is an excellent addition to my system.

Marantz PMD-300CP: Really high quality recording and playback from standard cassette tapes. Better than the Teak dual cassette deck that we had before and that one was pretty good. Play buttons are a bit hard to press since they manually press the pinch rollers on the tapes but since this deck is underneath the stereo receiver and DVD player, there is sufficient weight on it to keep this tape deck from moving when the buttons are pressed. It may be fine without the additional weight on it but we haven't used it that way. It comes with the two ears off which is what we wanted since ours is not mounted in a rack. Bought a second one for a friend (friend paid for it) since we liked the first one a lot. Expensive but guess one gets what one pays for, and Marantz has always been a top brand for audio systems. Hope the mechanics last a long time since that is usually the bane of tape decks.

If you want a tape deck for $150, this is a good value. It is almost as good as the deck I bought 40 years ago for about the same amount. However, I liked that old one more.The main problem is that the buttons are so hard to press, you may have to hold the top to be able to push the buttons. The other problem is that the tape doors do not close well. Push either door on the upper right corner and it will latch it shut.These two problems keep this deck from being very good. B&H sells two different Tascam decks with all-electronic controls that probably work great. However, the price is $499. That's still good value compared to the deck I bought 40 years ago, but it is probably more than you want to spend for something you won't use daily.

If you want a new Cassette Deck, this is about the only choice, you can buy this same unit with other names on it, basically the same deck, at least this one has a digital counter on it. Mine works as advertised, actually sounds good when hooked up correctly to your receiver. It does have a hum to it but I think it is due to being cheaply made, There is no hum on playback or record. Just don't expect the quality from the 80's and 90's.

I wanted so much for this tape deck to work. I have many tapes I would like to have played,including some of my precious (deceased) Mother and Dad. However, the moment I plugged it init had a LOUD HUM, that was present EVEN IF THE TAPE DECK WASNT POWERED ON...just pluggingit into the power socket caused it to hum. Turning off at the power switch didn't stop the hum!I wanted it so bad I was willing to tolerate that. The switches were awkward with unusual ergonomics. Again, I was willing to tolerate that because I wanted it so bad. The clincher was: IT WOULDN'T PLAY. It would go Fast Forward. It would go Fast Reverse. IT JUST WOULDN'T PLAY! BUMMER!...THAT I couldn't tolerate!SO...I SENT IT BACK! I would have rather had the Tape Deck player than the Refund/Credit that I very promptly received from AMAZON (Thank You!).Buy at your own risk. Other reviewers have complained about the same things. I was just willing to take the chance for the stated reasons. I lost!

I was surprised to discover there seems to be only a few new cassette tape decks on the market today, this one and one by Pyle, and one by Tascam at over twice the price ($499). In reading the reviews and looking closely at the pictures, it's apparent the Marantz and the Pyle are made by the same Chinese company. I do have a lot of custom-recorded cassettes and want to create more, but I wasn't willing to shell out $500 to replace my 25 year old Onkyo that recently had a motor die. This Marantz (and I assume the Pyle one) are very basic and don't give the impression of being well-made. The controls are all mechanical rather than solenoid-assisted. As others have noted, inserting the cassettes in either deck can be tricky so that the door closes properly. You have to make sure there's absolutely no slack in the cassette. After making several tapes of FM broadcasted music, upon playback it seems there may be some flutter, but I need to examine that more closely. I'm not looking for super high fidelity as I mostly listen to and record music from before the 70's. I thought with the apparent resurgent interest in cassette tape recording and playing, there would be something available from Sony or other name brand companies with deep histories in tape decks. "Marantz" BTW was a major quality company in the old days, before solid state amplifiers, but the name's been sold to the lowest bidder.

This Marantz 300 is exactly what I needed in a cassette deck. Playback is solid, recording is spot on, and hooking it up is easy .Cassette technology is 40 years old. If you are still using them it is probably your best bet to buy new. You can get a cheap deck for about $25, but given that your belts and motors are all at least 20 years past life expectancy, there is no guarantee that it'll still be working when you get it home. Repair cost on a typical dbl. deck is around $130 + parts. This new Marantz is about $170 after ship and taxes and has a warranty. Be smart. You can find some cheaper models new for about $100 on Amazon. Look at the name on them. I'll say no more .