BASF 8200 HiFi Stereo Deck

The BASF 8200 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B and DNL noise reduction, it was introduced by BASF in 1973 and discontinued 2 years later in 1975.

The main features of the BASF 8200 are: 2 heads, analog 3 digit tape counter, tape type selection with support for normal and chrome tapes, belt driven single-capstan transport.

Typical of this deck is the 70's top loading layout with the cassette compartiment located on the left side of the deck. Tape eject is operated mechanically and the cassette needs to be placed with the side to be played facing forward in the cassette well.

Level meters used on the 8200 are analog needle VU reading meters. Mechanical transport controls for reliable 8200 transport function selection.

The Dolby-B system reduces tape hiss on tapes recorded on the 8200 by as much as 10 dB at the highest frequencies. Unlike the various Dolby systems, which require encoding and decoding, the Dynamic noise limiter (DNL) used by BASF in the 8200 works on playback only and reduces noise by as much as 10 dB.

For undisturbed listening a jack connector for a pair of stereo headphones is supplied. Connection to other audio components for plaback can be achieved by a RCA cable and recording from a source by a RCA cable.