Akai Model 345 (1964–1965)
A four-track quarter-inch machine that promised near-professional stereo for the price of a good used car - and, by one account, hissed like one.
Overview
The Akai Model 345 is a four-track, two-speed deck, switchable between full stereo and monaural. Total output is rated at 20 watts, and a pair of V.U. meters keep an eye on levels. Akai's UK distributor, Pullin Optical, advertised it at £208 19s plus £6 10s for the remote control. That was serious money in 1964, when the same distributor's Model 707 mono deck listed at £38 4s and the M-7 at £139 13s. The 345 sat near the top of the range, priced roughly where the ad copy promised "something near professional in stereo."
The feature list is long. Fully automatic operation, a protected circuit, and an automatic re-play device all appear in the advertising, and remote control was a factory option rather than a hack. The transport runs two speeds. The four-track format gives twice the playing time per reel compared to a two-track machine, which is the practical argument that sold a lot of Japanese decks in this period. Akai's advertising around the launch leaned hard on the "X'-Field" cross-field head design, billing it as the world's first tape recorder built around it.
The advertising doesn't say what the deck sounded like in the room. Studio Sound (May 1964, p.9) caught the 345 at the 1964 Audio Festival and reported that it produced very pleasant quality through the system on demonstration. It also noted a background hiss, which the reviewer blamed on the sad absence of a de-gausser among the exhibitors rather than on the deck itself. The same report treated the deck as a semi-professional machine alongside the Revox 736, which is where it was priced.
The Model 345 was launched into a market where the British hi-fi press was already skeptical of imported gear. Amateur Tape Recorder (April 1964, p.24) flagged the 345 and the M-77 together as the models worth a look from the Akai stand at the 1964 International Audio Fair. It described the 345 as intended for amateur and professional use.
A year on, the price picture shifted. Studio Sound (June 1965, p.7) reported that Pullin had cut Akai prices again, with the Model 345 dropping to £229 19s. That is actually up, not down. The 1965 price is higher than the 1964 figure. The article's headline says "prices down again," but the 345's number went the other way, so original pricing is better taken from the individual figures than from the headline.
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