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 last update: Sept 13 2009

The following commentary focuses on specifically the EL-4, EL-5 and the EL-7 Sony Elcaset recorders; not only the general aspects, but also provides unbiased in-depth technical information obtained from my many years working on and experimenting with these fascinating machines. This site will probably be the most informative place you will find devoted entirely to one of the most underrated cassette recording formats sadly never to catch on to the public.

In 1959, Fidelipac, the leading manufacturer of broadcast products in New Jersey, introduced a 4-track cassette cartridge on an endless tape loop (developed in 1952 by Bernard Cousino of Toledo,Ohio) of 300 feet of 1/4 inch tape that ran at 3 3/4 ips (inches per second) for up to 2 hours with limited success. In 1964, William Powell Lear of Lear Jet fame then introduced another version of the endless loop cassette with the 8-track cartridge (pix1). The popularity of both 4-track and 8-track cartridges grew from the booming automobile industry. In 1965, Ford Motor Company introduced built-in 8-track players as a custom option. By 1966, all of their vehicles offered this upgrade. Thanks to Ford's backing, the 8-track format eventually won out over the 4-track format.

Meanwhile in 1963, an all new cassette format under the name compact cassette was being introduced by Philips of the Netherlands. Designed primarily as a dictation device and at the time not intended for hi-fidelity at all, the first rudimentary recorders had a sound quality of no more than 100-7000 cps (cycles per second). Some later model cassette based dictation machines could also run the tape at 15/16 ips (inches per second) as playback quality was not critical. Although there were other magnetic tape cartridge systems at the time, the compact cassette became dominant as a result of Philips' decision to license the format free of charge. Once the general public caught on about an easy to operate sound recorder, companies began manufacturing home versions of the cassette format as a hi-fidelity recording medium- which appealed to the average consumer because of its convenience in recording onto a small compact cassette that could both fast-forward and rewind and was also easily removable. All one had to do when the tape reached its end was to eject the cassette, turn it over and resume recording- quick and simple. No bulky reels of tape that had to be threaded onto an equally bulky machine and rewound to the beginning or end just to change tapes. You can see why the cassette format became increasingly popular as a higher quality recorder than the endless loop cartridges but still lacked the fidelity of the bulky open-reel machines.

As more and more companies began producing and refining the cassette recorder, open-reel companies also began producing much more refined machines hoping to appeal to sound enthusiasts who still appreciated clean sound quality despite the bulky boxes. During this time, many open-reel companies (mainly STUDER/REVOX, OTARI, TEAC/TASCAM and AKAI) produced what are still considered classic recorders. A sort of war began to capture the vast majority of recorder buyers. Then in early 1974, a joint effort between the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company (MEI), Sony Corporation (a Latin word meaning "sound" which began in 1945 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in Japan) and the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Corporation (Teac) led to the development of a remarkably well-built machine designed to bridge the sonic gap between the cassette and open-reel recorders. It was Sony that became licensed to carry and distribute the new format named the ELCASET (pix2).

Although Sony gave no origin for the name Elcaset, it was thought to have derived from L-cassette or "E"xtra "L"arge cassette. It is more than likely a Japanese or European phrase meaning simply "CASSETTE" or it could also be nothing more than a name concocted by one of the designers but this is only speculation and has not been substantiated. The Elcaset was intended to have all the appeal of not only convenience but also of the quality of recorded music all in one single unit. The designers did this by realizing (or so they thought) that the consumer population wanted a small, convenient, easy to operate recorder that sounded every bit as good as the home open-reels and in mid-1976 Sony introduced the EL-7 into the European market place along with the EL-5 (a few months later) and the EL-4 in 1977. North America's debut of the three units did not appear until well into 1977.

Other companies expressing interest in the Elcaset format began producing versions of their own (pix3). These include:

- Aiwa

- Akai

- JVC LD-777SA (this was the prototype for the LD-777)

- JVC LD-777

- Lo D (aka Hitachi) D9000 (the Japanese version of the

  EL-7 under the Lo D name)

- Marantz

- MediaTech M950 (a black faced EL-5 under the

  MediaTech name)

- Sony EL-D9 (the first prototype Elcaset by Sony)

- Sony EL (this was the prototype unit for the EL-7)

- Sony EL-7

- Sony EL-7B (the Japanese black faced Sony EL-7)

- Sony EL-5

- Sony EL-4

- Sony EL-D8 (the portable)

- Teac EL (this was the prototype for the AL-700)

- Teac AL-700

- Technics RS-7900 (a prototype for the RS-7500U)

- Technics RS-7500U

- Wega E-4950 (a German version of the EL-7 under the

  Wega brand name)

Incidentally, "Wega" (pronounced Vega) was a pioneering German audio/video manufacturer producing some of Germany's earliest radios. In 1975 the company was acquired by Sony Corporation and was known throughout Europe for high quality audio equipment. The Wega brand was phased out by Sony in early 1990.

Fisher and Sanyo even went as far as using the format in their Elcaset PCM recorders. Essentially an early idea for the DAT. These versions were the:

- Fisher ELE 5500 PCM

- Fisher ELE 5600 PCM

- Sanyo PCM

Although the PCM versions were actually a very brilliant idea, only these prototype units were ever produced.

All three Sony Elcaset units (which this commentary deals with) included a demonstration cassette (pix4). This 30 minute tape is now considered quite rare, as the first thing new owners would do is record onto the blank side and if that wasn't enough, record over the 4 demo tracks on the other. These tracks are (or were had they not been erased) as follows: (1) Opening Theme by Time Cycle (2) Yesterday Once More by Time Cycle with strings & Liberty Bells (3) Vergnugungszug Polka by Staatliches Wiener Volksopern - Orchester (4) Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) by Time Cycle with strings. It would be very interesting to find (and acquire) the duplicating Elcaset recorders that were used to produce these demonstration tapes. The Elcaset incorporated a cassette of tape much the same as the standared Philips cassette - only much larger; 6 inches wide by 4 1/8 inches high by 5/8 inches thick compared to the compact cassette at 3 15/16 inches wide by 2 1/2 inches high by 15/32 inches thick (at it's thickest part). Philips cassette format used a 1/8 inch wide tape stock meaning that each mono track was only 1/32 inch wide. Stereo was comprised of 1/16 inch wide tape with a speed of 1 7/8 ips. The Elcaset used a wider tape stock of 1/4 inch (pix5). Each mono track would be 1/16 inch and stereo was comprised of 1/8 inch wide track with a tape speed of 3 3/4 ips (same as the 8-track cartridge). Both formats had an identical tracking system; tape was divided into 2 halves for side A and side B, each side permitting mono or stereo recording and playback. Why was this important? The wider Elcaset tape running at 3 3/4 ips increased the amount of physical space in which a signal can be recorded for each channel decreasing distortion and increasing frequency response, dynamic range, signal to noise ratio and headroom which we'll get into later. The magnetic tape oxide was not cramped as it is with the regular cassette but had ample room to place the audio signal pattern onto the tape. This 'room' was increased again at a higher tape speed and also allows for a 3 to 5 decibel improvement in signal to noise ratio (or tape hiss). The end result was a far more superior sound recorder than the cassette and in its day equaled the "home" open- reel recorders. The truth is - that to compare the Philips cassette to the Elcaset would be so futile that it was like David and Goliath the day David forgot his slingshot on the dresser.

The Sony EL-7 typically sold for around $920 to over $1000, the EL-5 about $670-$710, and the EL-4 sold anywhere from $500-$540 in North America depending on the individual retailers mark-up. A tidy sum even in today's market and by 1980 the last of the Elcaset recorders that weren't sold were auctioned off to Finland where they were purchased for next to nothing. The Philips cassette format won out and became the choice for home recordists. Open-reel recorders where still being manufactured, however, but were being targeted primarily at the audiophiles and studios who felt the cassette was still substandard, and rightly so. Even though the cassette did eventually achieve a higher audio performance, its small sized format had just too many physical limitations placed on it. By the early '80's and long after the Elcaset format phased out, the Philips cassette recorders had reached their full design potential. Sony, the very same company that had launched the Elcaset less than a decade earlier became increasingly famous for their introduction of the "Walkman" portable cassette players. From the very basic models to the top of the line D6C, the Walkman eventually made it into the Guiness Book of World Records as the most successful venture in audio history. Quite impressive for a narrow gauge format.

Now we'll get into the performance aspect of tape recorders to better illustrate Elcaset's capability. As the Elcaset tape was wider, the frequency response improved. This is an indication of a recorders ability to uniformly reproduce all frequencies across an audible bandwidth of 20Hz to 20kHz. With the open reel recorder, a frequency response of 15Hz to upward of 45kHz is not at all uncommon as is the case with the Teac X-2000M. This is not overkill. Research has shattered the belief that the upper "threshold" of the human hearing sense is no higher than 20kHz. Using highly sophisticated equipment, tests have shown that brief peaks as high as 40kHz or more are clearly audible. Supersonic frequencies do indeed have significant effects on musicality and tape recording performance quality. Although ignorance refers to these high frequency overtones as "inaudible", they are necessary in giving a recording the airiness and natural spaciousness found in a live performance. This is opposed to technology that deliberatly deletes all frequencies above 22kHz resulting in the sharp, edgy and compressed sound so often talked about. For example, the overtones of a cymbal after it has been struck contain many high frequency sounds mixed together that will escalate to WELL beyond 20kHz. The most critical frequency range for the intelligibility of human speech is from 2kHz to 4kHz yet sibilants in the voice can escalate to as high as 12kHz (or more with the singing female soprano). The deliberate removal of these transient overtones is extremely detrimental and diminishing to the recording quality.

To be useful, the frequency response must be qualified by a +/- . For example: a recorder who's frequency is measured at say 35 to 18,000Hz +/-1db, this would mean that all the frequencies in-between 35 and 18,000 are recorded and reproduced faithfully to within +/-1db deviation- a relatively linear waveform with minimal frequency deviation. The +/- indicates the ability of the recorder to record and playback the sound waveform as close to linear as possible- ruler straight if you will. This is difficult to achieve for analogue tape recorders including open-reels as sound is recorded onto tape by mimicking the original waveform. Lower +/- numbers are best. Although the Elcaset and Philips cassette both fell into the +/-3db category, The Elcaset still held it's position ahead of the standard cassette for it's physical attributes such as running speed and increased tape width both to double that of the cassette.

Signal to noise ratio, or S/N ratio, is also measured in 'db's' and indicates how loud a tone recorded (usually 1,000Hz) at 0db is relative to the background noise level on the tape (tape hiss). Without noise reduction, look for figures of 56db or more; with Dolby B type: 63db or more; Dolby C type: 71db plus; and with dbx type 1 or 2, look for 90db to 100db or higher. An average home cassette deck using Dolby B noise reduction would have an S/N ratio in the mid to high 60db range. Add around 10db using Dolby C. Dynamic range is the difference in loudness between the loudest peak and the noise floor of your equipment - it is the result of the effectiveness of the noise reduction: a loud passage of sound would be loud and a soft passage would be soft -not compressed like downloaded music. A live performance would yield a dynamic range of approximately 110 to 120db. Signal to noise ratio and dynamic range are usually regarded as being the same but they are actually two very different sound components which happen to share the same decibel figures. Headroom is the ability of a recorder to record at a hotter or higher level without over saturating or distorting the tape. In other words there is enough room left at the top to be called upon should the need arise. The Elcaset recorders: Sony EL-4, EL-5 and EL-7 all had superior specifications to the Philips cassette deck in its day and when properly calibrated, can maintain a higher level of performance.

With a conventional Philips cassette, tape is guided by roller pins in the cassette itself, and the accuracy of tape travel is very much dependant upon the precision of that cassette shell (pix6). This has been an obstacle in achieving high performance with a conventional cassette. In the Elcaset, the heads do not move as they do in a cassette machine but rather the tape is automatically pulled out by the transport mechanism of the recorder (pix7). Therefore, there is no influence over stability of tape travel by lack of precision cassette shells. As a result, characteristics such as wow and flutter (the ability of a recorder to run the tape at a consistent speed), modulation noise, cross-talk (sound from adjacent tracks leaking into the next, usually due to narrow gauge track formats or misaligned heads) and level changes are also remarkably improved not to mention superior channel separation which widens the left and right stereo image gained by the wider tape.

All three types of tape were supposed to have been made available for the Elcaset. Normal-type I, FeCr-type II (also named DUAD), and Cr02-type III. Although the EL-4, 5 and 7 all had type III capability built into them, as far as I am aware Technics was the only company to have commercially sold a type III tape but in limited quantities. This was the yellow boxed RT-60/90 XALC (pix8). The other Elcaset manufacturers such as JVC, Aiwa or Marantz may also have produced their own brand of tape and would be interesting to actually see. Teac also produced a type I and II Elcaset cartridge although it is not certain if there was also a type III. All cassettes featured erasure-proof tabs which could be slid down to prevent accidental erasure or slid up to activate the record mode- unlike the Philips cassette tabs which had to be removed when recording was completed (pix9). If you wanted to re-record over an existing program these holes would have to be filled in. Has it ever happened when you where working on dad's old cassette deck and found small rolled up bits of paper that had fallen behind the mechanism- how many did you find???

The service manuals of the EL-5 and 7 illustrate a pair of center tracks running down the middle of the head. Absolutely nothing, other than this simple diagram is mentioned about these center control tracks. No literature was ever written about them and no circuitry of any kind was incorporated into the units, and certainly no heads were ever produced with the additional tracks (pix10). It's quite interesting however that the majority of information available on the internet about these control tracks incorrectly suggests that they are indeed incorporated into the units. In a copy of Stereo Review from 1976 the writer had this to say about the control tracks: ..."except that there is also a provision for a pair of novel control tracks running right down the middle of the tape, separating the two tracks of side one from those of side two...". Examining all the Elcaset heads and the interior electronics in great painstaking detail, I am at a complete loss as to where these provisions might be in any Elcaset unit. In this area I disagree with the writer who (in my opinion) has probably never even had an Elcaset recorder on his bench for a thorough testing. Nonetheless, if the control tracks were produced they would have narrowed the available audio tracks resulting in a degraded audio signal that in turn would have defeated the whole purpose of the Elcaset as a Hi-Fidelity audio recorder that was to bridge the sonic gap between the cassette and open-reel recorders. I'm guessing that maybe these control tracks were mentioned in the first place was probably because of what the manufacturers might have added later on once the units proved to be popular-but say they did add the extra tracks later on- new supplement copies for the service manual would have had to be printed or re-written altogether. They could also have been used either to record a signal which could be triggered during fast forward or rewind for music searches or to record pulse codes for the advancement of slides or pictures for presentations which again of course would have narrowed the available tracks but both of these conjectures are purely speculative. Another theory would be to install an add-on circuitry but as there are no plug-in ports in the interior of the units to incorporate them, this could not have been the intended purpose. Besides, the playback and record amplifiers as well as the actual heads themselves do not allow for this accessory. Why this simple diagram is even present in the EL-5 and EL-7 service manual remains a mystery!

All three Elcaset units were initially produced without the simulated walnut veneer sideboards, but later, only the US/Canada models began to include them (pix11). Over time these boards would become chipped and scratched up resulting in a poor cosmetic exterior. A quick fix would be to simply remove the 4 screws, remove the boards and replace the screws. Sounds reasonable but very dangerous. All three units power supply boards are located vertically at the rear left of the Elcaset- precisely in- line to where the screw would be inserted (pix12). With the sideboards (if the owner's option was to install them) the remainder of thread left for mounting is approximately 3/16 in length. Take away the sideboards and you now have over 3/4 of an inch - much too long to be reinserted. Failure to take the extra length into account WILL result in a cracked power board if screwed in all the way (pix13). Since there are no parts available anywhere (other than used recorders) your choices are almost nonexistent that the unit could be repaired. If you are lucky enough to find a service technician willing enough to take on the monumental task of repairing the board, chances are your Elcaset may never perform properly again because even after a repair the Elcaset would most probably require a total re-calibration, and without the necessary alignment tapes it would be a lost cause not to mention the stress placed on surrounding components. If the board is cracked when the power is on, severe component damage will result effectively destroying the unit. This power board could have been repositioned quite easily by simply positioning it 3/4 of an inch towards the front of the unit during the manufacturing process or better yet placing the board 1/4 inch upwards and out of the way. There was ample room to do either of these but for some unexplained reason the designers, in their infinite wisdom, must have thought placing it on the side vertically and in- line with the cover screw was a good idea. I'm often left wondering if the US/Canada models were re-designed to include the sideboards with the hopes that someday the owner would experiment with their removal, crack the power board when the mounting screws were reinserted, and render the unit untenable. This in my opinion is a major flaw in the design, as it would require costly repairs or the purchase of a whole new unit-most probably the latter. Sony would then sit back and collect the revenue. It would also seem that since the Elcaset recorders where built especially resilient and did not need maintaining very often, the North American distributors saw fit (in their greed) to include the sideboards in fear that their units would not need future repairs and therefore loose potential repair revenue but this of course is only the opinion of the writer, and as such, should only be taken in that regard.

Always use extreme caution when working in this area. Even when unplugged the capacitors still carry enough of a charge to cause serious damage to the circuitry and yourself. The slightest mistake can short the unit and more often than not it will be the components that operate the plunger drives that would blow first. If this happens, a quick component replacement is possible but unlike the EL-5 and 7, the EL-4's power supply board is not hinged which makes for a rather difficult servicing procedure. As a precaution it would be advisable to install a hard plastic cover over this area since these units do not include removable fuses (pix14).

All three units sold for European export had slightly different power transformers than those sold in the U.S. and Canada. These UK-AEP versions of the Elcaset recorders could be manually selected for 110V, 127V, 220V and 240V at 50/60Hz. Except for the voltage selector and removable power cord on the rear, all units where otherwise identical.

Brand new, the US/Canada models came with a small round cardboard hang tag stating that the sideboards where simulated wood veneer and hung around the input select switch of the EL-4 and the record level controls of the EL-5 and 7. On top of the recorders a red caution sticker was attached (pix15) stating in four languages: Before inserting the ELCASET, take up the tape slack with the supplied tape driver. Close the cassette holder gently. A strip of masking tape was placed over the glass cassette door so as not to rattle and possibly crack during shipping. Each recorder was then wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in its own shipping container surrounded by molded Styrofoam blocks. A separate plastic bag was also included which contained a head cleaner, connection cord (RCA cable-model: RK-74H), power cord (European models) tape driver (used to take up tape slack), instruction manual and the demonstration tape. Included with the EL-7 units was a metal key like slot screw driver with the logo: "SONY" stamped into the metal and was used to turn the CAL controls and/or the FM CAL controls on the rear- although they were easy enough to turn with your fingers (pix16). These keys are just as much sought after as the remote control units. If you have kept these accessories consider yourself extremely fortunate, as they are THE FIRST supplied accessories to go missing.

Now that we've covered the introduction of what an ELCASET is, we'll concentrate on the three more popular units that actually had some success as a recording medium: The Sony EL-4, EL-5 and EL-7.