Pioneer RT-707
A 7-inch reel deck that behaves like a 10-inch machine. It has auto-reverse, a repeat button, and a stackable rack-mount chassis that slid right into the rest of the Pioneer rack.
Overview
Pioneer built the RT-707 to answer a complaint that had nagged open-reel owners for years. The good features lived on the expensive 10-inch decks, and the 7-inch machines got the leftovers. The RT-707 was the company's attempt to cram that big-deck technology into a compact 7-inch-reel chassis. It is a quarter-track stereo deck running 7½ and 3¾ ips with auto-reverse. Per Pioneer's own advertising of the period, buyers could not count on finding auto-reverse at this price point on a 7-inch machine elsewhere.
The layout is the deck's calling card. The transport controls sit grouped at the lower right as quick-acting pushbuttons driving a solenoid system - direction selectors, pause, fast rewind and the rest. The input-level controls cluster at the lower left. There, a dual-concentric pair handles mic level and a similar pair handles line, flanked by standard ¼-inch jacks for stereo headphone out and left/right microphone in. Two large VU meters anchor the front panel. Modern Recording (February 1978, p.78) walked through that arrangement in detail and noted the pitch control with its center detent. It lets the user vary nominal tape speed over a ±6 percent range, enough to nudge a tape back into tune or match pitch between sources.
Two conveniences separate the RT-707 from the ordinary 7-inch crowd. The first is a repeat button that lets tapes play endlessly without babysitting. The second is timer circuitry, which allows the deck to be hooked up to an external timer so recordings can be made unattended. Add the pitch control and the auto-reverse, and the feature list reads like a machine a size up. The 7-inch reel capacity is the one honest limitation. This is not a 10½-inch machine. Pioneer's pitch was that nothing else had to be compromised to fit the smaller reels.
Rack mounting is built in, and the deck is also stackable, designed to sit in line with the rest of a component system rather than demanding its own shelf. Collectors who have run one for years tend to talk about the transport first. The solenoid pushbuttons have a positive, quick action that makes the mechanical controls on lesser decks feel vague by comparison. The quarter-track stereo format at 7½ ips is the sweet spot for everyday listening, with 3¾ ips available when tape length matters more than headroom.
On the used market the RT-707 turns up regularly, and period classifieds show what things looked like almost immediately after launch. A 1980 broadcast-equipment listing offered a rack-mount RT-707 described as two months old, complete with box and manuals. Another seller advertised a used unit "brought back to full specs, new heads, etc." at $495, which tells you head wear and transport condition are the things to check on any survivor. A 1981 Audio classified listed a "mint" RT-707 tape deck at $345. These decks were worked hard in production and newsroom service, so provenance and head condition matter more than cosmetics.
What the RT-707 asks of an owner today is patience with age rather than any inherent design flaw. Solenoid transports, rubber parts, and decades-old capacitors are the usual suspects on any deck of this vintage, and a unit that has been serviced — heads relapped or replaced, transport cleaned and lubricated — is worth far more in practice than a cosmetically perfect one that hasn't run in years. For someone who wants the 7-inch reel experience without giving up auto-reverse, repeat play, pitch control, and rack-friendly dimensions, the RT-707 remains one of the more complete answers Pioneer ever offered.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.