Akai GX-F25 (circa 1981)
The Akai GX-F25 is a 2-head, 2-motor stereo cassette deck from the early 1980s, built in Japan. It was introduced around 1981 with an original price of ¥59,800. It handles four tape positions - LN, LH, CrO₂ and Metal. The heads are Akai's Twin Field Super GX type, which puts separate recording and reproducing gaps (4μ and 1μ, respectively) in a single housing using high-μ ferrite materials. This is the "Glass and Crystal" head design that gives the model its GX designation and accounts for the deck's durability.
The transport is microcomputer-controlled. An electronically controlled DC motor drives the capstan, and a separate DC motor drives the reels. Akai used a newly developed direct function mechanism with two silencer-type plungers, operated separately and in combination, plus a damper for quiet switching. The deck has memory stop and memory play, auto stop and auto play, and a timer standby mechanism. The auto-mute function records four seconds of silence and then engages record standby. A Dolby NR system is built in, with an MPX filter switch to cut the 19 kHz pilot signal. Monitoring is a 2-color, 12-segment LED bar meter with +3 dB and +7 dB peak indicators. A remote control unit (RC-21, ¥6,000) was available separately.
Measured performance from the period: wow and flutter is rated at 0.04% WRMS, frequency response is 30 Hz to 19 kHz on metal tape, distortion is 0.7% (metal), and signal-to-noise ratio is 60 dB with Dolby off. The deck consumes 20W and weighs 6.8 kg, measuring 440 × 118 × 285 mm. It came in black or silver and matches Akai amplifiers from the same era, such as the U33 and U55.
The logic controls are illuminated, and the lamp inside the tape door doubles as a power indicator. One owner on HiFi Engine noted that rewind and fast-forward problems can be traced to a rubber idler wheel, which takes moderate disassembly to replace, and that levels may need recalibration using the service manual. A 40-page service manual is available in English from manual-buddy.com.
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