Rotel RD-850 Stereo Cassette Deck

The Rotel RD-850 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B and C noise reduction, it was introduced by Rotel in 1984 with a manufacturer suggested retail price of USD $229 and discontinued 4 years later in 1988.

The main features of the Rotel RD-850 cassette deck are: 2 heads, analog 3 digit tape counter, tape type selection with support for normal, chrome and metal tapes.

Typical front loading cassette deck with the cassette compartiment located on the left side of the deck.

Level meters used on the Rotel RD-850 cassette deck are generic digital peak reading meters. Soft-touch controls for fast and easy transport function selection of the Rotel RD-850 cassette deck.

Dolby C-type used in the Rotel RD-850 provides 20 dB of noise reduction above about 1,000 Hz, fully doubling the amount given by B-type.

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.

Historic events

1984 The first episode of the Miami Vice television crime drama series, premiered on NBC.

1985 Sony and Philips produced the standard for Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) computer discs that would use the same laser technology as the audio CD.

1986 IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer.

1987 S-VHS (Super VHS) introduction in Japan, an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer video cassette recorders.

1988 Sony begins producing VHS recorders