Sony TC 880-2

Description

The TC 880-2 was a semi-professional three head tape deck with a 10½ ” reel capacity and tape speeds of 15 ips and 7½ ips. Half-track stereo record, half & quarter-track stereo playback.
The logic -controlled tape transport for the main capstan was direct drive from an AC servo-controlled motor with an outer-rotor inertia flywheel for the secondary capstan. two induction reel motors were used for take-up and fast forward.
This recorder had a very rugged and professional look, with large, chunky knobs and switches. It also had a LED display for record/playback levels with a peak reading  hold setting which was fairly innovative at the time.

Other features included…
– Stepped Attenuators for Record and Playback Levels with 2dB increments (Sony were early adopters as many other companies seemed to know nothing about this)
– 4-Digit Tape Counter in Minute/Seconds (Actual elapsed time at 15 ips- Multiply by 2 for 7.5 ips)
– 3 position equalization and 2 position Bias Selector switches, – Variable-speed Pitch-control
– Headphone Volume-control
– Walnut side panels
Still selling in the UK in 1980, this was a very heavy machine ( 80.4 lbs / 37 kg) and extremely expensive – in 1980 it cost over £1,400 or to put that into perspective, a little over twice the price of a Revox B-77.  I have owned three of these over the years and even when fully tuned up, was disappointed that the playback sound quality was decent but not great and know another collector who had the same experience/opinion.

Service Considerations
– Difficult machine to service
– In addition to bad transistors, relays and the edge-connector socket are also common issues. Check to see if there are any cracks in the edge connector hanging off the lower unit. Apparently it’sa very common problem.
– Sony custom made IC’s that can’t be found if something goes wrong
– Remote socket on the rear has to have a dummy plug inserted when you don’t have a remote control in order for the functions to work on this machine