Philips DCC-900 (1992–1993)
Little official documentation survives for the Philips DCC-900. The archive's fact sheet on it came up empty. The period hi-fi press covered it well, though, because this was the deck Philips chose to launch the Digital Compact Cassette format in the home. It appeared at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early 1992. DCC was the show's bright spot there, and competing new formats like MiniDisc and Dolby S-type were barely present.
Audio (July 1993, p.77) ran an equipment profile and found the DCC-900 thoughtfully equipped. A "CD Sync" mode synchronized the deck with Philips's 900-series CD players for disc-to-tape copying, an "Auto" input-selector system picked the active input, and a headphone jack with its own level control sat on the front panel. The magazine noted that two of these conveniences — CD Sync and the Auto selector — were absent from the otherwise similar Technics RS-DC10. The front panel also carried a Timer switch for use with an external timer and six buttons that worked the DCC marker system (Audio, July 1993, p.76).
The DCC-900 was a full-width component: 17 inches wide, 5½ inches high, 11 inches deep, about 20 pounds. The back panel had a full set of analog and digital connections - six phono jacks for line input and fixed/variable outputs, plus two coaxial digital connectors. A numeric keypad allowed direct track entry. Like every DCC deck, it also played standard analog cassettes, which was the format's backward-compatibility talking point.
The launch wasn't smooth. Philips had first announced the DCC-900 two years earlier as the high-end unit meant to anchor the new format. A number of commentators had suggested that the cassette-oriented consumers Philips needed might respond better to a portable machine. By late 1993, Philips was running a "relaunch" promotion in which DCC-900 buyers received a book of 12 coupons, each month good for one free DCC album chosen from three pre-selected titles.
Similar items on eBay
No exact Philips DCC-900 listings are live right now — these searches show current Philips and similar vintage audio gear on eBay:
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.
Related Models
- Akai CS-M40R (1983)
- Akai GX-7 (1970)
- Akai GX-8 (1975)
- Akai GX-F44R (1979)
- Akai GX-F71 (1982)
- Denon DRS-610 (1985)
- Sony TC PB5 (1970s)
- Teac V-2030-S (1975)
- Teac V-480 (1978)
- Teac V-50 (1978)