Tandberg 6000X

Surviving period literature on the Tandberg 6000X is thin. It is almost entirely a series of full-page advertisements that ran in early-1970s hi-fi magazines. Those ads still show an ambitious open-reel deck that Tandberg positioned against far more expensive professional machines. The 6000X used the company's patented Crossfield biasing design, which put the bias and record signals on separate heads to get extended high-frequency response at slow tape speeds. Tandberg claimed the deck running at only 3¾ ips beat the 7½ ips performance of its celebrated Model 64, with a frequency response of 40-18,000 Hz at the lower speed (Audio, February 1970, p.3).

The deck had four hyperbolic, mu-metal-screened, precision-gapped heads. Features were what you would expect on a serious recording machine: mixing, cueing, source/tape monitoring, sound-on-sound, add-a-track and remote control, plus independent microphone and line inputs (Audio, February 1970, p.3). The list price in 1971 was $499.80. Tandberg's ad copy liked to point out that this was half what some "precise professional instruments" cost (HiFI/Stereo, January 1972, p.47). A recurring ad campaign in HiFI/Stereo through 1971-1972 boasted that both High Fidelity and Stereo Review had ranked the 6000X "in a class by itself" (HiFI/Stereo, January 1972, p.47). No full test reports from those magazines appear to have survived in the public record. Nearly everything known about the 6000X comes from these manufacturer-published claims. No service manual, user manual or third-party review has been located in the Archive's sources.

Known specifications (drawn from period advertising):

Type: Open-reel stereo tape deck
Heads: 4 hyperbolic, mu-metal screened, precision-gapped
Crossfield biasing: yes
Frequency response (3¾ ips): 40–18,000 Hz (manufacturer claim)
Features: mixing, cueing, source/tape monitor, sound-on-sound, add-a-track, remote control, independent mic/line inputs
Original price: $499.80 (circa 1971)