Nakamichi TD-700 (1984–1987)
The Nakamichi TD-700 is an unusual entry in the company's cassette deck lineup: a mobile AM/FM tuner/cassette deck, built for car installation rather than home use. Produced from 1984 to 1987, it sat below the flagship TD-1200 in Nakamichi's car audio range — HiFI-Stereo (May 1985, p.42) described it as a less expensive and more compact alternative to that model.
The deck itself is a serious piece of engineering. It uses three heads (one playback, one record, one erase) — It handles Type I, II, and IV tapes, offers Dolby B, C, and dbx noise reduction, and claims frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz on metal tape. Wow and flutter is rated at 0.022%, and signal-to-noise at 72dB with Dolby C.
What makes the TD-700 particularly interesting is how it was configured for installation. The line-level outputs are brought out separately for front and rear speakers — two for the front amplifier and two for the rear — meaning a separate power amplifier is needed for each set of speakers. Audio (March 1986, p.61) praised this arrangement for using standard phono-tip jacks rather than hard-to-match multi-pin plugs, making DIY installation straightforward.
The front panel is packed with features: six presets for station storage, three rotary tone-control knobs (bass, midrange, treble) that push in flush with the panel once adjusted, and center-detented settings. Audio (March 1986, p.66) noted that the panel is so densely populated with controls that it may take a while to learn to operate the unit while driving. A remote control (RC-100) was included as an accessory.
The tuner section was measured by Audio (March 1986, p.60) with mono THD of 0.15% at 1kHz, stereo THD of 0.3%, frequency response of 30Hz to 15kHz ±3dB, and a capture ratio of 2.0dB. The preamplifier section offered selectable output levels of 0.35V or 1.1V, with frequency response of 10Hz to 50kHz ±1.0dB.
A nearly identical model, the TD-500, differs mainly in being less expensive. A period price list from HiFI-Stereo (November 1985, p.143) shows the TD-700 at $679 and the TD-500 at $499.
Known specifications:
- 4-track, 2-channel stereo
- 3 heads (1 playback, 1 record, 1 erase)
- DC motor
- Tape types: I, II, IV
- Noise reduction: Dolby B, C, dbx
- Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz (metal tape)
- Wow and flutter: 0.022%
- Dimensions: 435 × 113 × 228mm
- Weight: 4.2kg
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