The TEAC Z 6000: a wonderful machine!
My TEAC Z 6000 above. A manual version of the Z 7000.
"Every once in a while a masterpiece is created"...that's part of Teac's "Z" series advertisement, but in reality we have to agree with them. The 3 cassette decks, part of the Master Cassette Deck offering from Teac in 1982, are indeed a "MASTERPIECE". This was a "cost no object" project and it shows! Many innovations were put into play in these machines, specially the Z 6000 and Z 7000. The Z 5000, still a nice machine, but not in the same league as its elder sisters. Innovation, technology and performance are embody on all 3, though. Take a look above of a Z 6000 interior. It's a complex machine. Not every technician knows how to deal with it and in the USA only 2 or 3 remaining techs from the TEAC's Factory Service Centers era are still servicing these behemoths, but with some kind of reservations. Most parts are no longer available and these guys has to be creative in order to keep these beauties running. I know Russ in New Jersey and Sam in Chicago...they know these machines by heart and both has serviced our collection.
The Z 6000, almost similar to its sibling the Z 7000 but with less whistles, is constructed on a solid diecast chassis, highly resistant to vibrations, resonance and warpage. 3 independent motors are built onto this chassis with a 0.019% wow and flutter rating! It's a dual capstan close loop system that reduce the modulation noise. The tape guides of the 6000 are similar to those of the 7000: high precision ceramic.
The playback head is made of ferrite and the recording head is fomed of sendust. Both heads are integrated into a single housing for a perfect head alignment. The Z 7000 tape calibration is fully automatic while the Z 5000 and Z 6000 has a precise manual calibration control. Like some of the TOL Nakamichis', it has individual calibration controls for both channels for bias, level and eq. This flexibility allows the perfectionist to calibrate each tape and perhaps this is why some persons prefer the 6000 over the 7000. Also, a factory preset reference for all 3 parameters is available for those "rush" recordings.
The 6000 offers dolby B, C and DBX noise reduction (including dbx disc). Recording a tape with dbx on this machine is the closest experience you could ever have to a sound similar to an open reel or even a CD! I'm kidding not.
Some automatic features are included like: auto tape selector, intro check, memory stop/play, memory repeat and a 30 segment fluorescent peak level meter with a one second peak hold is standard. The monitor sync function automatically switches the deck's tape/source function, the record mute has an auto-spacer of 4 seconds and the pitch control provides a 10% of pitch variation. Unfortunately, the ALPS pots used in the series are almost non-working in many of the remaining 6000 and 7000. Fortunately, Mouser Electronics has some substitutes that could be retrofitted in the machines with similar results. The Z 6000 has ALPS pots for HP level and PITCH control. It has some other goodies, but these are the most relevant.
MPX filter is available for FM broadcasts, gold-plated RCA connectors are standard as well as rec/play timer capability, output level control, headphone output level control, L & R mic inputs and remote control capability (RC 201). It weights almost 37 pounds and it's really big: 17 x 6 x 17.
My Z 6000 above the little sister Z 5000.
BUT HOW IT SOUNDS? Let's see...
Amazing! That's the first word to come to my mind when describing the sound of the Z 6000. Definitely, it's flexibility of manually calibrating any tape makes a difference. Even using the reference parameters (factory preset) it makes wonder with almost every tape you throw at it. Maxell XL II, TDK SA, AKAI Normal and TDK MA XG! We tried it with all kind of music: classical, rock, pop, disco, salsa and even opera yielding excellent results with all genres. This is a serious machine, ladies and gentlemen, a pure gem in audio cassette reproduction. We compared it with the other siblings, Z 5000 and Z 7000, and still impressive. One thing these decks has in common is the visceral bass. The 5000 sounds with less "air" on the extended highs, but the lows are solid. Even more than the other 2 sisters.
On Mids and Highs the story is completely different and the scale shift towards the 6000 and 7000. On these 2, the sound is almost similar and it's what we expected. Both are made with similar parts and transport but the Z 7000, like the Revox B 215, makes an auto calibration for all tapes used. The Z 7000 do also have a factory preset option that the B 215 doesn't.
Since the Z 5000 is not in the same league as the other 2, we decided to leave it resting at ease on the shelf and continued our listening tests between the Z 6000 and Z 7000. We used 2 tapes, BASF Chrome Maxima, each one recorded on each deck with the same selections. Since the azymuth is fully compatible among all our decks, it was very easy to switch back and forth among the 2 contestants. We calibrated the tape using the manual cal. feature on the 6000 and the auto cal. on the 7000. Folks, what can I say, AMAZING. With all honesty we didn't find any noticeable difference between both. Both are excellent machines and the sound is almost identical! What means that if we have to choose between both, then, sound is not the decisive factor but the other features each one came with and in that department the Z 7000 is the clear winner by far!
My Z 6000 "ON".
Listening on other cassette decks:
We wanted to know how well these cassetes would sound on other decks besides the TEAC's and tried our NAD 6300, Nakamichi ZX 9 and Nakamichi Dragon. My fellow audiophiles, after hearing both tapes recorded on the 6000 and 7000 respectively on any other cassette deck, I did have to change my underwear!!! This is truly one of the best sounds ever achieved on any recording anywhere. The impressive thing is that both tapes sounded even better on the other NAD and NAKs decks than on the TEAC's itself! That was a real surprise and so much for the old bullshit of " a tape recorded on a Nak, sounds better on another Nak". That's a myth. PERIOD. We have proof that when your decks are all properly calibrated and serviced, any tape from anywhere would sound good all the time. That's the truth. Now, tapes from the NAD and NAKs also sound amazingly good on the TEACs too! We are so happy with the results that we encourage all those recordist amateurs and collectors to try adding these gems to your collection. Yes, we know that are scarce and perhaps expensive to find one in good condition, but having the priviledge of owning one of these would change your cassette recording experience. That's why we have all 3!
CHEERS!
