Info on Optimus CTR-117 cassette recorder?

Elmer23

New member
I recently took the chance to acquire an Optimus CTR-117 cassette tape recorder (by Radio Shack or their brand at the time, Realistic). The specs in back of the manual are sparse, and important entries that normally get listed on spec sheets are omitted.
The only additional information I found was in a Proceedings of the Royal Society article, in which is written the CTR-117 was used by researchers, along with their WM-6DC Professional Walkman, for recording birdsongs. (BTW, I don't expect it to be near the overall quality of a Walkman Pro!) Is anyone familiar with some specifics of the CTR-117? Maybe even owned one? I'd be interested to know its frequency response, SNR, or just about anything else the manual doesn't tell me about it.
 
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They don't tell you that for a reason. You could record a 20Hz-20kHz sweep from your computers soiundcard
 
From what little I've garnered, the Optimus CTR-117 actually has some credibility as a consumer-grade cassette tape recorder. The fact that it was used by the Royal Society to record birdsongs for scientific research suggests it has the capability to be quite versatile with a good external microphone; I also found an educational website by NASA recommending the Optimus CTR-117 for use in a certain home astronomy project; and the sole review I found on Amazon was very positive.
It appears Radio Shack posted some specs to its less expensive brother, the Optimus CTR-69, which has the frequency response listed as 150Hz—6000Hz. But that's for the CTR-69, not the CTR-117. I can't assume they are identical.
I'm partial to your idea of doing a frequency sweep using my soundcard, but I don't have an oscilloscope to analyze the playback and determine which part of the spectrum was captured on tape. I'm open to ideas.
 
Just use your ears with the sweep. If you can, record at 0, -10- & -20. There were a lot of "desktop" recorders out there, and some were pretty good. I wasn't paying attention at the time and don't really know what they were marketing.

You can research birdcalls with about anything, but how do we hear what is above our hearing range ? hahah
 
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