Duette 260

The Duette 260 was an early portable cassette recorder manufactured in Korea. Here are some of its features and specifications.

• Mains and battery powered
• Automatic stop
• Built-in microphone
• Earphone output jack
• DIN socket

Review

This early cassette recorder is from a time when they had large metal tape transport mechanisms (TTM), full-size pinch rollers, metal pushbutton assemblies, and large metal flywheels. Consequently this unit is heavy due to all the metal parts including the screws and wiring. This is an interesting design having a DIN and jack sockets at the front under the long piano-key style tape control buttons.

The audio circuitry is minimal and clean due to the use of an IC. As well as the use of transistors, this unit has the KIA7313AP integrated circuit (IC) for the power amplifier to drive a loudspeaker. The tape transport mechanism is driven by a single motor and a single flat drive belt. The sound quality through the 8-Ω 1-watt loudspeaker is fairly good.

Value/eBay

This is a very early unit that I have not seen often for sale online. It would have been a budget-end mass-produced unit; however survivor units are getting fewer. This is a very repairable item as it was so well made; hence the price of a broken unit would still be of interest to many. A broken unit may be worth around ten pounds; however a unit in mint condition in its original box would be worth much more and bring much interest.

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