Pioneer CT-970 Stereo Cassette Tape Deck

The Pioneer CT-970 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B and C and DBX noise reduction, it was introduced by Pioneer in 1980 and discontinued a year later.

The main features of the Pioneer CT-970 cassette deck are: 2 heads, electronic tape counter with 4 digits, manual tape type selection with support for normal, chrome and metal tapes, belt driven single-capstan transport.

Typical front loading cassette deck 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 Pioneer CT-970 cassette deck are generic digital peak reading meters. Full-logic transport controls used on the Pioneer CT-970 let it respond to the slightest finger contact for fast and effortless transport function selection.

To ensure the best response from the wide variety of tapes available adjustment of, bias, equalization and sensitivity, to optimum levels can be performed prior to recording.

Dolby C-type used in the Pioneer CT-970 provides 20 dB of noise reduction above about 1,000 Hz, fully doubling the amount given by B-type. Dbx Type II found in the CT-970 is a simplified version of the Type I noise reduction system. The dbx Type II system was designed to be used with systems with limited bandwidth such as cassette based recorders and also uses a simple 2:1:2 compander to reduce noise.

To make live recordings this deck has 2 microphone inputs to connect microphones with a jack connector. 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.