Philips FC-60 (c. 1990)

The Philips FC-60 is thinly documented, but it has one solid entry on the record: a full test report by Craig Stark of Hirsch-Houck Laboratories, published in HiFi/Stereo Review (June 1990, p.51). It was a three-head cassette deck, and the report specifically notes separate recording and playback heads. The most interesting feature was the recording-bias system. It adjusted bias according to the high-frequency signal level, easing off whenever strong treble threatened to saturate the tape.

Measured performance was mixed. At the usual -20 dB level, TDK AD held response to within 1 dB at 20,000 Hz and 1.5 dB at 24 Hz. Signal-to-noise was described as extremely good, particularly with chrome-equivalent TDK SA. The Dolby noise-reduction systems showed almost no frequency-response error, which the reviewer partly credited to a sensitivity adjustment that allowed exact source/tape level matching. Flutter was less impressive, and absolute tape speed ran 1.8 percent fast, which the reviewer called poor. Fast-winding speeds were merely average. The deck also had a four-digit electronic counter and a pushbutton-defeatable FM-multiplex filter.

Beyond that review, the record goes quiet. No production years, original price, or lineup positioning turned up in the sources available to the Archive. If you own an FC-60 or its manual, the details would be a help.