AKAI GX-4000D Open Reel Deck Demo

Not the greatest open reel deck from the 1970's/80's but an excellent "beginner" machine for the newbie or non-demanding reel to reel recordist. I would have gotten a GX-4000D but saw too many in for repair. My Teac X-3 might "spec out" better, not sure. Still though, the GX-4000D has all you need to make good recordings.
I have a TEAC X-3 purchased on 8-27-1982 for $329 and it still works fine, that's 34 years. The TEAC X-3 offers wow/flutter of 0.06% @ 7 1/2 ips, signal/noise of 49dB's, THD of 1.5% and THREE heads and three motors ( one drive and two reel). Also has two tension bars for better tape control, and push button controls for functions (much smoother than mechanical switches). At 3 3/4 ips I can record one and a half hours on EACH side of the tape (UD 90). Talk about long playing! Even without Dolby noise reduction the sound quality is still great, especially for rock music where tape hiss isn't as noticeable.These figures are from the HiFi Engine web site, please feel free to check out the facts. For a beginner Reel To Reel buff, this is an excellent deck. I have an article on the X-3 as reviewed by Julian Hirsch in Stereo Review Magazine, quote "For the average home user the low price and excellent performance of the TEAC X-3 would be very hard to beat". That review helped me decide on this unit.

Author — Marty Jewell