Onkyo DT-2001 (1987)
Onkyo's first DAT deck shipped with a 35-button remote, fiber-optic coupling between internal stages, and a microphone section that the reviewers politely told buyers to ignore.
Overview
The DT-2001 was Onkyo's first production DAT machine, a 1987 deck that carried an unusual amount of engineering into a format still fighting for its life in the American market. It weighs 30.8 lbs. (14 kg) and measures 18½ inches wide by 4¾ inches high by 16⅜ inches deep. That's a big chassis for a tape transport, and Onkyo filled it with circuitry. Frequency response is rated at 2 Hz to 22 kHz ±0.5 dB via the line inputs and 20 Hz to 20 kHz ±1.5 dB via microphone. Signal-to-noise is 92 dB on line and 70 dB on mike. Dynamic range is specified at 90 dB, THD at 1 kHz comes in at 0.005% line and 0.05% mike, and wow and flutter is quoted as below test-equipment limits - less than 0.001%.
Those numbers are the manufacturer's claims, but the period press put them to the test. Audio (December 1987, p.81) reviewed the DT-2001 as part of its Equipment Profiles series and found the deck's measured performance largely matched the specification sheet. The reviewer noted that the deck was the fifth DAT machine he had tested, and the fourth that could record as well as play back. Onkyo had packed it with features he had not encountered on any prior machine. These include analog microphone inputs with individual level controls for each mike, the ability to mix microphone signals with line inputs, and optical digital input and output using Toshiba's Toslink connectors. According to the review, the DT-2001 was the first DAT deck to incorporate optical digital connections at all.
A prototype unit was also tested by HiFi-Stereo (October 1987, p.69), which noted that the deck had been available in Japan for months while the recording industry fought to keep DAT out of American hands. The magazine reported that the review sample arrived without an English-language instruction manual. Audio (December 1987, p.81) listed the price as "not determined," and the reviewer offered his own estimate that the machine was worth at least $2,000, possibly more. No confirmed U.S. retail price or delivery date appears in the available documentation.
Key Features
Analog Microphone Inputs with Per-Channel Level Controls
The Audio reviewer said the DT-2001's microphone section was something he had not seen on any DAT machine he had previously tested. Two ¼-inch phone jacks on the rear panel accept microphones, each with its own input level control, and the deck can mix mike signals with line inputs. Input sensitivity is quoted at 250 μV for microphone and 200 mV for line, with an input impedance of 47 kilohms for both. The headphone output delivers 50 mW into 32 ohms. The catch is the noise floor. The 70 dB signal-to-noise on the mike inputs met Onkyo's specification, but the Audio reviewer did not consider that figure consistent with the rest of the deck's performance. He recommended that anyone serious about live recording use a professional microphone mixer rather than the built-in mike inputs.
Optical and Coaxial Digital I/O
Digital input and output are provided on both coaxial and photo-optical connectors, with an input and output level of 0.5 V peak-to-peak and a digital impedance of 75 ohms. The optical connections use Toslink. Audio (December 1987, p.81) reported that Onkyo claimed no consumer optical standard had yet been ratified by the EIAJ, and that Toslink was likely to become the default simply because it was the one companies were shipping. The limitation, as the review explained at length, is that these digital connections cannot transcribe CDs. CDs run at 44.1 kHz while user recordings on DAT run at 48 kHz, and CDs carry a copy-inhibit flag that tells the DAT machine not to record. The digital I/O is useful for copying user-made 48 kHz tapes between DAT decks and for feeding outboard D/A converters, not for dubbing commercial software.
Two-Speed Fast Search
Access time on DAT is fast enough that single-speed fast-forward and fast-rewind tended to overshoot the target counter position on machines the Audio reviewer had previously tested. Onkyo's fix was a two-speed system. Press fast-forward or rewind once and tape motion is roughly analog-cassette speed. Press twice and the deck goes into high gear, traversing a two-hour tape end to end in about a minute.
Fiber-Optic Coupling Between Internal Stages
Onkyo told Audio (December 1987, p.81) that the DT-2001 uses no fewer than thirteen discrete fiber-optic connections between internal stages. The company claimed this was superior to the simple opto-isolators found in some other digital components. Most of these links carry digital signals, but in the DT-2001 they are also used between the microphone preamps and the input stage. According to the review, this was Onkyo's first use of fiber optics to transmit analog signals. The period review doesn't settle whether it makes an audible difference.
Wireless Remote and Subcode Editing
The supplied wireless remote carries some 35 buttons and duplicates nearly every front-panel function, including subcode operations, play, record, and random-access programming. It can even change the tape-counter display mode. The deck supports sequential numbering of selections recorded on a tape, starting from a user-set program number, with any selection preceded by more than a three-second pause numbered in sequence. Small indicator lights above the operating buttons show function status at a glance.
Collectibility & Value
The DT-2001 sits in an awkward corner of the collector market. It is an early DAT deck, a format that never displaced the compact cassette in the consumer market, and its digital inputs are hobbled by the copy-inhibit scheme of its era. Audio (December 1987, p.81) listed the price as "not determined" at the time of review, and the reviewer's estimate of "at least $2,000 - possibly even more" is the only period valuation in the available documentation. No confirmed U.S. retail price, production run, or current market data appears in the sources consulted for this page. The period review flagged the microphone inputs as the deck's weak point, and DAT tape stock and test equipment are themselves scarce. Serviceability is not documented here.
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