I bought this big thing at a fleamarket for apx. $7
What does it do???

Click image for bigger picture!


... just kidding...

I am however interested to know if someone knows anything about it. Is it good or bad...
It's a Fisher CR-W915, "Studio Standard", N.D.S. (New Digital Series) Double Auto Reverse Stereo Cassette Deck

I never heard of that brand and it seems to be pretty old. Have you got any docs or something for it? Judging from the picture it can't "do" anything special and the playback quality is most probably determined rather by its age than brand. Try to ABX

Doesn't seem to do anything special...

... oh it supports Dolby NR, nice.

I guess you must connect it to an amp before it can drive external speakers, right?

As far as tape decks go, it looks pretty good. Though I can't recall the brand name Fisher, nor can I figure out what is exactly "digital" about your model

In it's heyday it must've been pretty good, the auto search function (finds gaps of silence between audio tracks and will auto FF/REW to them) was definitely a premium feature. Manually fast-forwarding and rewinding was a PITA. Auto-reverse and Dolby NR are big plusses also.

What do you plan on doing with it?

Yep.
It has the standard white/red (L/R) phono plugs. One pair in and one pair out.

Dolby B or C?

http://www.fisher-hifi.de/eng/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery_Fisher

Don't know yet...
Bought it 'cause it was cheap and looked "quality" (probably not Hi-Fi though)
I might use it... still got tapes here and there...

This el-cheapo double tape deck doesn't feature any important function ... it doesn't even allow you to balance your input for recording. The peak meter isn't fine enough to properly level out your recordings, it has no sort of tape calibration, no Dolby HX Pro and the tape transport is subpar, too (no dual capstan or direct drive) ... with high wow and flutter, e.g. piano music won't be fun to listen to.

If I were you and if I were really interested in tapedecks, I'd try to get a used Pioneer CT-737 MKII/CT-757 or CT-939 MKII/CT-959 (expensive, but rocks) ... Kenwood KX-90x0 series or KX-1100HX (older from 88 or 89) might be a good choice, too. AKAI GX series were known for good quality either (with life-long warranty on their glass-coated GX heads).

Not speaking of Nakamichi ...

Doesn't say. Dolby NR is just an ON/OFF switch.


Might use it to copy the soundtrack of "Smokey and the Bandit" to my computer and make a CD out of it. I'd rather buy the CD but i doesn't exsist
... but I recently bought it on LP (also at a fleamarket). If the LP has little noise it might supply the best sound (got a Kenwood KD-3055 Turntable).

If there is only one Dolby NR setting, it's always the "B" version ...

Why? What's wrong with Nakamichi?

Anyways, yes I can vouch for Kenwood's. They are built like a tank... the ones I borrowed from my church to salvage my cassettes.

JeanLuc did not say anything was wrong with Nakamichi, just the opposite....
I understand he thinks Nakamichi is clearly even better than Pioneer or Kenwood

I'm starting to feel really old. Wait a minute, I am really old. anyway, "Fisher" was a very famous brand before the electronics business was dominated by Asian brands. The company founder, Avery Fisher, had a deep love for music and Hi-Fi. The Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in NYC was named after him. Couldn't resist sharing a bit of nostalgia with all you young people.

The Nakamichi Dragon being the best cassette deck money could buy (if you could afford to spend $3000 on a cassette deck). Unfortunately the company failed to make the transition to the digital age and went bancrupt. The brand has be ressurected today by the company that acquired it, however it no longer commands the respect it once did as the design teams are long gone.

Funny how businesses buy a brand and think that's enough, that it will some how retain its value even without the design teams which built the products.

Incredible deal at $7. Bad news is Fisher was not considered to be HiFi equipment when I was selling audio gear in the mid to late eighties. Bargain brand at best.

But if it works.... Fantastic deal.

I remember the Fisher brand, although I never owned one I remembered always seeing them in local retail stores when stereo equipement was ridiculously high priced. The digital part of it I reckon are the controls, e.g.; Play, Stop, etc., they don't use a physical mechanism and are controlled digitally.

Good bargain for $7. A good cassette deck is always useful to get those old tapes that aren't on CD yet onto the PC versus letting them demagnetize over the years and become useless.

Too bad it doesn't have HX PRO and Dolby S NR because if it did you could use the crappiest Type-1 cassettes and still have good sounding recordings.

Brings back memories of the 1980's and earily 1990's to me.

Cassette decks are still quite useful. I use one as my main transport!
I must admit I only use the case, which I converted into a mini-itx music server that fits in my stereo rack.

Nakamichi were "the" deck in the days when cassettes were in...

Hi Fi isn't defined anywhere, any maker can describe any sound equipment as "hi-fi" if they want and not be challenged, legally. Hi-fi is what your ears make of it. Years ago there were some standards set by the DIN (german) organisation which weren't overly high-spec but there was no obligation for any manufacturer to comply.

I can't speak of Fischer cassette decks but I still have and use a Fischer "Studio Standard" tuner and it's not a bad piece of kit, albeit not the most sensitive tuner.

With a bit of setting up (bias and recording/dolby levels) most half-decent cassette decks sound reasonable, provided they are actually adjustable (internal or external controls). Some better decks even have the facility to set up a specific tape for optimum recording. Bear in mind that no cassette deck can give truly high quality, by definition of the cassette standards.


A little harsh maybe? Dual capstan and direct-drive aren't guarantees of good wow & flutter performance, neither does the lack of them imply poor performance. Remember the dabate over direct versus belt-drive turntables? Truth is that either method works well IF designed well.

Anyways for $7 he hasn't lost a lot if it's a pile of cr*p. The only significant downside I can see to this is that it's a dual-deck, which tends to mean a compromise on quality to get two decks (one will be playback-only no doubt) without reaching a high price.

Thank you for the idea Rivers1080p

There was a fleamarket in my city over the weekend and I bought a casette deck too but I haven't played around with it yet, lacking the cables.
It's an akai with just one deck, two mic-ins, two volume sliders, two vu-meters and some other stuff.
Oh, and a beatles live and an elvis casette
And an AKG K240 for 5€
flea markets are great^^

Fisher was a pretty high-end company which declined in later years after Avery Fisher died. He is the fellow Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center is named after. He was a giant in the early days of audio and made some excellent equipment, top of the line. After his death it was just a name for lesser equipment. I think you have a lesser, but still good tape deck. Have fun with it.

If I may respectfully disagree, Fisher may have positioned itself as a high-end company but I think it produced high-quality equipment only in the early days of the company, if it ever did. I knew someone who worked for Fisher in the '60s or possibly before and he had nothing but scorn for Avery Fisher, who, he said, scoured the world for the cheapest parts to put in his products. That his name is still on the New York Philharmonic's concert hall is a bit of a joke, though even after millions of dollars of renovations it still doesn't sound that great and in many seats it is impossible to enjoy a concert (but that's a topic for another forum).
If the deck works, great. Have fun playing any cassettes the old folks have around. You certainly got some kind of bargain.