Victor KD-D55 Stereo Cassette Deck

This Victor KD-D55 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B and C and JVC's ANRS noise reduction, it was first sold by Victor in 1982 with a list price of USD $380 and discontinued 3 years later in 1985.

The main features of the Victor KD-D55 cassette deck are: 3 discrete heads and off-tape monitoring, digital linear tape counter with 4 digits, manual tape type selection and capable of handling normal, chrome and metal tapes, belt driven single-capstan transport.

Typical front loading cassette deck with the cassette compartiment located on the right 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 Victor KD-D55 cassette deck are generic digital peak reading meters. Full-logic transport controls used on the Victor KD-D55 let it respond to the slightest finger contact for fast and effortless transport function selection.

With ANRS noise reduction used in the KD-D55 the signals of low level are compressed in the recording process and expanded in a complementary way during playback in order to reduce noise without altering the tonal quality of the original sound. In this Automatic Noise-Reduction System's process, the hissing noise inherent in tape recording in the region of 5 kHz, is reduced by approximately 10 dB. Dolby C-type used in the Victor KD-D55 provides 20 dB of noise reduction above about 1,000 Hz, fully doubling the amount given by B-type. The 19kHz multiplex pilot slgnal present in FM stereo broadcasts can cause false triggering of the noise reduction system. The switchable MPX filter of the KD-D55 filters out the pilot signal, and assuring proper Dolby processing of FM stereo programs.

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.