BASF 8200 HiFi HiFi Stereo Deck

This BASF 8200 HiFi is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B and DNL noise reduction, it was first sold by BASF in 1976 and discontinued a year later.

The main features of the BASF 8200 HiFi are: 2 heads, mechanical 3 digit tape counter, manual tape type selection and capable of handling normal, chrome and ferro-chrome tapes (automatic 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 HiFi are analog needle VU reading meters. Mechanical transport controls for reliable 8200 HiFi transport function selection.

The Dolby-B system reduces tape hiss on tapes recorded on the 8200 HiFi 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 HiFi 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.