Insights from Mr. Shinji Tarutani, President, TAD

Posted by Tan, 

I count myself a TAD fan. TAD’s disc player and loudspeakers are permanent residents in my audio system since the day I got smitten by the TAD-CR1 loudspeakers. So, when AV Designs, TAD’s distributor in Malaysia, told me that TAD’s President Mr. Shinji Tarutani was coming to the KLIAVS 2023, I jumped at the opportunity to meet up with him. We sat down for a conversation on all things TAD. Here is a brief write-up (this is not a verbatim transcription, but rather I hope to convey the essence of our discussion).

Tan: About TAD’s motto we see on TAD’s website and in brochures – “The Artistic Intent, Intact”, can you share with us the thinking and the philosophy behind it?

Mr. Tarutani: That is the guiding principle for our designs. 

You see, the recordings we listen to is the product of multiple parties – the singer, musician, producer, recording engineer, mastering engineer etc., each one of them contributes his/her artistry and professionalism to the process. The final product is the culmination of every party’s expression, their artistic intent. Our aim is to respect this artistry and professionalism, as such, our role is to reproduce everything they put on the recording faithfully, for you, the listener, to experience every bit of it.  

The role of our electronics and loudspeakers is to retrieve all the details on every recording accurately, not adding, subtracting, or altering anything. We don’t want any coloration in our music reproduction.

Tan: Can you tell us a bit about your current product line-up?

Mr. Tarutani: Our home audio line-up is complete as of now with the latest additions of the TAD-GE1 (Grand Evolution) loudspeaker and the TAD-C1000 pre-amp in our Evolution Series.

We now have disc player/DAC, pre amp, power amp/monoblock and multiple loudspeaker models in both the Reference and Evolution Series. We are one of the very few HiFi brands in the world from which a user can assemble a complete system.

I wonder whether you have noticed something about our loudspeakers. Our loudspeaker designs come in pairs. Every floorstander model has a smaller brother in the form of a stand-mount/bookshelf, or, looking at it the other way round, every standmount/bookshelf model has a corresponding bigger floorstander version. 

In the Reference Series, we have the R1TX (Reference One) and CR1TX (Compact Reference One), you can see similar design language from the floorstanding R1TX distilled down to the standmount CR1TX. 

In the Evolution Series, we released the CE1TX (Compact Evolution One) first before its bigger brother, which is now being brought out as the GE1 (Grand Evolution One). The GE1 is the CE1TX extended to be a floorstander with an additional woofer. 

Further down the line, we have the E1TX (Evolution One) and ME1 (Micro Evolution One) pair, where we took the top half of the E1TX and made it the ME1. The enclosures, the finishes and the drivers are of the same design.  

There is an exception though. Our TAD-E2 (Evolution Two) floorstander is unique, in the sense that it will stand on its own without a smaller brother. The TAD-E2 serves the purpose for us to show that we can also do great loudspeakers apart from our normal design. The TAD-E2 2.5-way design is a departure from our usual 3-way design. The TAD-E2 does not use a coaxial driver for the tweeter and midrange, rather, the tweeter is set into a horn guide, which harks back to our early days of producing horn speakers, it is an expression of TAD’s early tradition. 

Tan: I see that for source equipment, TAD focuses on disc player (CD/SACD) and DAC but not a streamer. Will TAD consider releasing one? 

Mr. Tarutani: We currently have no plan to build a streamer. We see our music making role begin at the point where we receive the digital music signal. There are many excellent streamers available on the market now, our customers can choose one to match to our DAC and get great result. 

By the way, do you notice that our Reference TAD-D700 disc player/DAC does not have a USB input? The reason is to keep our reference disc player pure and avoid any possible source of noise pollution. If you prefer to stream using USB but want to get the best performance by using the converter inside the TAD-D700, the best way is to use our DA1000TX or D1000TX (which are also standalone DACs in their own right), to receive the USB signal, and let one of the DA1000/D1000’s digital outputs (S/PDIF or AES/EBU) feed the TAD-D700. This is what AV Designs’s demo system in this Show does, and that is the best way to do it. 

Tan: An interesting function on TAD’s stereo power amps is its ability to switch from stereo to bi-amping use. At the same time we also have the TAD-M700 monoblock. Comparing the bi-amp arrangement using two M700S to a pair of M700 monoblocks, which is better?  

Mr. Tarutani: That is an interesting question, I was asked this quite a few times. We don’t like to delve into which way sounds better as listening preference is subjective, suffice to say that no listener will be disappointed with either, though my engineer did mention that using a pair of monoblocks could be more powerful. Both approaches are equally valid, it boils down to personal preference at the end of the day.

On the other hand, I’d like to ask you this, you have heard the TAD-R1TX driven by just one M700S power amp, right? Did you even find the performance inadequate? 

Tan: No, I didn’t find anything amiss. I found the control, accuracy, speed, dynamics, scale etc. quite amazing even from just one M700S! I reckon using 1 stereo power amp, or biamp with 2, or using a monoblock pair is just a matter of how far you intend to push the performance envelope.

Tan: Some HiFi brands have regular product updates. Every 2-3 years they would come up with a mk2, mk3 etc.. However, TAD seems to have a very long product lifecycle, up to 10 years even. How do you decide that a model is due for an update? 

Mr. Tarutani: We want our customers to enjoy their investment in TAD HiFi equipment for the long term, so we don’t do regular model changes just for the sake of it. We usually do a model change when the parts used are no longer available. Since new parts are used, we need to give it a new designation. Design improvements may be made in the new models, and most likely there would be sound differences since the parts are different, but whether it sounds better or not, again, our view is that it is a subjective matter for the listener to judge for himself/herself.

Do you know that in our lab we still use the first-generation TAD-R1 loudspeakers as our reference? Our engineers do their listening tests on the same reference loudspeakers in order to ensure that we always achieve a consistent TAD sound quality.

Tan: How about your future product development plan? Will TAD release something cheaper than the TAD-ME1 loudspeaker? Or will you come up with a speaker model above your flagship TAD-R1TX?

Mr. Tarutani: No, we’ll not be bringing out a loudspeaker below the TAD-ME1, we can’t achieve TAD quality and performance at a lower cost unfortunately. 

On the other end of the scale, there are indeed some demand/queries for a bigger loudspeaker than the TAD-R1TX from some of our markets, such as China and Vietnam. We need to look into this further, we have not decided yet. 

Tan: TAD has a ‘Professional’ division that makes raw loudspeaker drivers, but I don’t see TAD using these drivers in your finished loudspeaker models. Is the Professional division totally separated from the Home Audio division? Will these professional drivers be used in TAD’s future loudspeaker projects? 

Mr. Tarutani: No, both are the same team. We have been making the Professional loudspeaker drivers since our early days, they are our important legacy and tradition. The professional loudspeaker units are currently not used in any of our finished home audio products, but I have a personal dream, my dream is to revive our horn loudspeaker designs from decades ago that use these drivers. Those loudspeakers were marketed under the Pioneer Exclusive name then, and they are still treasured by many enthusiasts till this day. However, nothing is concrete yet, but I hope I can realize this dream. 

Well, as a TAD user yourself, which one would you like to see TAD do? Should we extend our lineup to include a bigger loudspeaker than the R1TX, or consider reviving our horn loudspeaker design with our Professional drivers? 

Tan: Me? As a TAD fan I personally like to have a listen to TAD’s horn loudspeaker design. That will be a great audiophile experience as it is something hailing from TAD’s illustrious loudspeaker making tradition. Not that I don’t like to see a bigger TAD loudspeaker than the R1TX, but I believe the R1TX is already an awesome flagship loudspeaker in its own right.

Tan: What is TAD’s relationship with Pioneer? Is TAD a totally independent company now? 

Mr. Tarutani: Pioneer still owns 100% of TAD. On the design, engineering, and commercial side, TAD is operating entirely separately from Pioneer, since Pioneer is no longer involved in home audio (Pioneer now focuses on car audio and ICE (in-car entertainment)). 

In the last few years, we worked extensively to project TAD into the HiFi community. We participated in shows, we built up our distributor network, and I personally travelled to many places to gain greater exposure for TAD. We aim to build a greater awareness of the TAD brand as more and more audiophiles get to experience TAD’s performance and sound quality. 

Tan: Indeed, I now see more news and reporting on TAD. It is great to see TAD getting the exposure that it deserves. 

There were much about TAD that I would like to ask Mr. Tarutani, but time did not permit. Hope we’ll meet again in the future. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Tarutani for his time and sharing. Looking forward to Mr. Tarutani’s future visits to KLIAVS and Malaysia.

Revelation Audio Labs Passage CryoSilver Reference DualConduit DB25 Umbilical Cord Upgrade for Pass Labs Preamp

 Posted by Tan

I was thinking about what I could do to improve my system further short of upgrading any of the main components and without a major financial outlay. My mind turned to cable. As I had been pretty happy with the cable combination I was using, from power cords to interconnects to speaker cables, I thought of one cable in my system that I had not done anything with, which was the umbilical cord that went between the 2-chassis Pass Labs XP20 preamp that connect the separate power supply to the main body. 

I had been using the umbilical cord supplied by Pass Labs with the XP20, a DB-25 cable similar to the parallel cable used to connect to our computer to a printer before USB connection became ubiquitous. Just that Pass Labs' version looks chunkier, felt heavier and is of a better build quality than the printer type. 

I googled to see whether there were any 'audiophile' DB-25 cables out there, the picking was indeed slim, I came up with just a couple, which was not surprising as the market for such cables must be very small. 

I chose to go with Revelation Audio Labs from the US (http://www.revelationaudiolabs.com/cables-power/index.htm, they make power cords, interconnects and speaker cables in addition to a few types of umbilical cords used in various manufacturers' products) as their version looked particularly well made, but of course I was purchasing on faith and luck as I had no means of testing it beforehand, being thousands of miles away.

Purchases with Revelation Audio Labs can be made via their website or ebay, shipping is free worldwide. The standard 0.75m length for the DB-25 cable costs USD999 and add US189 for every additional 0.25m. I made my enquiries and duly placed my order. During the (anxious) 2-month wait for the cable to arrive, my queries on the ship out status was promptly replied by Revelation Audio Labs, and there was no hiccup in the final delivery. 

Indeed, when I finally had the cable in hand, I was impressed with the build quality. The cable is made up of 2 separate cables intertwined into one. It has a wider girth than the Pass Labs' version. Revelation Audio Labs says that the analog power supply voltages is separated in a dedicated discreet conduit from the digital control signals within the cable. The connectors at both ends are mil. spec. Amphenol male-to-female DB-25 connectors and solid cast metal shielded shells. 

The cable is somewhat stiff but as my preamp's 2 chassis are placed closed together I had no problem in connecting them.

I thought I had to let the cable run in for a while before I could discern any significant changes but I didn't really have to. After I swapped in the new cable and pressed play on my cdp, I could hear clear changes, nay, improvements in my system's performance immediately (Revelation Audio Labs says that they run-in their cables before shipping). These improvements were consistently heard over the next days and weeks.

The immediate sensation I had was that the noise floor was lowered. The vocal and musical instruments were now playing on a darker background, the body of each became a tad cleaner and clearer, but the air around each, and also of the recording venue, was not diminished. In fact the ambiance in the recordings was further enhanced and easier to discern. Additionally, the little edginess in the highs in some recordings that I thought was from the recordings themselves was either diminished or eradicated entirely, the highs became just that bit smoother and silkier. 

With this, many low level details became more apparent, it was like turning the focus ring on a camera lens just so slightly to improve on an already good focus. What I thought was extraneous noise on some recordings before was actually little details captured, such as an unintentional touch of the finger on a string, or a soft smacking of the lips by the singer. Nuances and vocal inflections in the artists' performance were also better resolved, heightening my listening enjoyment. 

One improvement area that I thought was worth the entire upgrade cost alone was the bass. Bass became more impactful and better controlled. Bass notes were also better defined. On plucked double bass for example, the body of each note was better delineated, and I could hear the start and decay of each note more clearly. 

I am really impressed with the Revelation Audio Labs' DB-25 umbilical cord. It is a significant improvement relative to the outlay. If you have a Pass Labs preamp with external power supply, you owe it to yourself to try out this umbilical cord upgrade. This is a great product, highly recommended! 

A Post Modernist? Kenwood KX-5010 Cassette Deck

The Kenwood KX-5010 with it's accompanying original remote at press photo

What does one do after making possibly the best sounding product of an era? Well, Kenwood like so many other companies, started introducing convenience features. You see, the Kenwood KX-880G and all it's others in the series managed to stay in production from 1982 to 1989, in any industry especially consumer products, 7 years product life span is a mighty long............ time. In 1990, a new decade, Kenwood introduced the new generation of KX series cassette decks, now modelled as 5010 & 9010.

Both KX-5010(a 2 head, single capstan transport) and it's top of the line model, the KX-9010(3 head, dual capstan transport), now comes with remote control, a large horizontal FL display, neatly integrating the tape counter, tape type & L/R peak level meters, in an attractive yet easy to read from a far design. Styling wise, this is the biggest improvement over the KX-880 & 1100 series design, while novelty was nice when it lasted, now seems so very dated, especially that vertical L/R peak level meter in which the fonts used were too small to be seen from a far. Most transport control buttons were carried over to save cost as by the 1990's CD players have began to dominate the music format as source & cassette starts to lose it's dominance. So new models with carry over parts bin was a logical and clever move, costing wise when launching a new product. Car manufacturers do it all the time!

The back panel also has system remote trigger jacks, if you're into an all singing & dancing Kenwood stack system

Extra features are always welcomed, and that includes the ability to make a one touch test recording of about 30 seconds after blank tape is inserted, then automatically rewinds and playback the result for your sound quality evaluation. one can repeat the process several times at a touch of the "Record" button, until satisfactory sound recording setting is achieved, before goin for the full tape recording. It's like having a 3 head tape deck feature with 2 heads only! Another feature which I absolutely love about the Kenwood KX-5010 is the Direct Drive transport, despite being a single capstan transport design, wow & flutter spec is only 0.25% low, which many dual capstan design transport probably also cannot match. I now find Direct Drive transport very good with pulling power, especially during playback of old and sometimes slightly sticky tapes. When other decks are struggling, the Kenwood continue to play with stable speed. By the way, the Direct Drive feature is not new, but carried over from the previous KX-880 series.

I think Kenwood KX-5010 had a strong foundation to build upon, being based loosely around it's very capable predecessor of KX-880HX. Will it sound as good, with added features?

The internals also looking very similar to the older KX-880G!

Opening the cassette door reveals the single capstan, 2 head transport

Let's find out! From the first tape playback, the performance similarity to it's predecessor, the KX-880G is obvious. Crystalline clear tonality, speed stability, punchy bass and highly extended treble all shines through. However, I have 2 doubts started developing after a few tape playback. First was bandwidth, with familiarity, I just felt that perhaps the band width of the KX-880 series was still better in the regards, because the highs were more liquid, had less white noise. Next, another area the predecessor also did better in terms of micro dynamics, especially in tracks where double bass, or bass guitar plucks & piano pings were prominent, the older model certainly offered much more clarity on the proceedings.  In other areas of the performance of the KX-5010, the sound was clearly cut from the same cloth as the KX-880 series, just with a few more rough edges only. Both shared a similar tonal quality, stable speed & dynamic overall sound. Maybe in some cases, if remote control, post modern styling & recording feature is your thing, then the Kenwood KX-5010 cassette deck is up your alley. 

This Kenwood KX-5010 unit is in great cosmetic condition and comes with per-programed after market remote, supplied by mu buddy, Oh. Please contact him if one is interested in purchase of this deck. His asking price is not high, for a fully reconditioned unit which looks & sounds good!

However, if one priorities cassette playback sound above all else, then the KX-880G in which I previously reviewed, is the much better defacto choice of the two. I have made my choice the moment I heard the KX-1100G, in which playback sound performance wise, opens up a whole new level of performance over both the KX-5010 or KX-880G. The 3 head machine just cost much more, that's all!

I am now really starting to believe a folklore amongst cassette deck communities, that the best golden age for really great sounding decks were made from 1978-1982!  This due to the fact that as I narrow down my to keep cassette decks to last 5 surviving, despite the many I have written about here, I just realized 2 out of 5 in my collection are from the 1982 year,  That's kinda significant. Don't you agree?

Old Gold! Denon DCD-3500RG CD Player

The official release photo of Denon DCD-3500RG CD player back in 1989, that's 34 years ago!

As you keen followers have noticed, I have gone in to reverse gear when it comes to hifi since the last couple of years. I usually do not go too far back, but have stuck to the time line of 80's & 90's classics, that's like 30 or 40 years ago, which I felt hifi was at it's last golden age. This Denon DCD-3500RG CD player is probably one of the flagships made by the company over the years. I've had various Denon products over the years, and they are always technically correct in sound, but just never really hit my heart strings. However, this Denon CD player promises to be something different, and I've been waiting for my chance to find out since like 25 years ago. I was always eyeing for a good condition pre-owned unit for sale, but either I was always too late or just got distracted when one became available.

This unit belongs to a friend and as he was getting bored with it, fancied my proposal for a swap with my Teac VRDS-20 CD player, he wanted a small top up but that's fine, since I was bored with the Teac too. For me after a while the Teac with it's VRDS transport should have shined, but never got me emotionally wowed with music. Maybe it wasn't meant to be for me..........   

The CD loading tray come with built in suspension! A feature that is deemed redundant by now.

The Denon DCD-3500RG was launched in 1989, just towards the start of 2nd generation of CD players and it still have many features from the first generation machines deemed un-necessary today, like the suspended CD loading tray, the top Sony KSS-151A CD transport with magnetic rails, track programing calendar and best of all not only wooden cheeks, but the whole top & side panels are real wood finished in dark tone Urushi lacquer, which is very classy. Now a days, if you want your hifi equipment to come with that Urushi lacquer, be prepared to spend at least 6 figures or more! However, for the unit that came to me, that Urushi wood panels were termite infested and I had to sadly remove, throw away, and make new Nyatoh hard wood panels for it! The results, while not glossy like the original Urushi lacquer, came with it's own unique hard wood surface texture charm which is still nice. I can't get anyone to do Urushi lacquer restoration for me locally. Lastly this Denon uses a theoretical 18 bit decoding, courtesy of 4 units Burr Brown PCM58P-K, 2 per channel for balanced circuitry linearity. 

The Denon is another satin gold(not Champaign gold, as the tone is less rich, and a bit pale in comparison), battleship build quality CD player that weights in at 22kgs, came with all round copper coated 2 compartment chassis, which on the left was 2 power supply transformers(1 for audio & 1 for digital, so it says) at the back and the Sony KSS-151A transport in front, with the right compartment holding the dual mono audio PCBs. Very nicely organized. The front fascia is relatively clean with just a few buttons flanking the big CD tray & FL display, all other lesser used buttons are buried inside a flap below.  The back panel has the usual digital output, RCA & XLR audio outs.

The insides of the Denon DCD-3500RG CD player. Nice, right?

 

To reduce fascia design clutter, only the most frequently used buttons are left on the outside, all other buttons are hidden behind a drop down flap below. 

The back panel outputs.

My Denon DCD-3500RG after the wood panel changed, looks quite different doesn't it? Some may say the different wood panels will color the sound differently, but I didn't really heard that.

So far so good, however for a Denon, this CD player is really sounding something else! From the first CD play, I was transfixed by the sound. The bass was strong, bold and tuneful. The mids are slightly recessed, a little laid back but still very engaging. The highs are super refined, very airy but will bite if the music calls for it. The sound stage is big, but very laid back. Overall this CD player certainly has the PRAT factor, which make music very enjoyable. So far all is good, but comparing to my stable of CD players, this Denon does not sound as dark in tonality vs the Sony CDP-X7 ESD, it self a 1988 product. Then comparing to the Accuphase DP-70V which is a more aspirational product and priced(at least double?) to match in 1992, the Accupahse offers slightly more clarity, less digital haze(compared to both Sony & Denon), gives better mid range texture and just maybe slightly better micro dynamics and transient. If there's any comparison I would say both the half priced Sony & Denon offered possibility 85-90% of what the Accuphase can do. However, with most pop & rock recordings it's not easy to tell them apart. Only certain high quality recordings that truly allows the Accuphase to shine, put it on the pedestal, so to speak!

An area I do not like about the Denon is that it doesn't play CD-Rs & scratched disc too well. Only well kept original CDs will do here. But for me, this is no limitation, as I have the other 2 CD players in my stables that will play any disc any condition, especially the Accuphase. I strongly suspect the Sony KSS-151A transport laser in the Denon to be in it's last legs(since 1989!) and it will be a costly affair to source for replacement once dead. However, I feel this Denon is worth saving and to keep it going if the worst should happen. 

Even then, the Denon DCD-3500RG has been in my stables for over a year, and I must say that I've totally enjoyed it's musical company so far, and will be in my stables for a long time to come.

The Last Of A Kind, Teac V-7010 Cassette Deck

The Teac V-7010 finished in Champaign gold, and dark colored wood cheeks, tape counter window & transport buttons on the left, peak level meter display with recording level knobs and selector on the right! The whole fascia design is very elegant with this nice Champaign finish.

Teac was probably the last of the cassette deck manufacturers to issue Dolby S noise reduction system in their product line up, by 1993 in the V-8000 series. That makes the 1992 Teac V-7010 the last of the Dolby C equipped TOTL deck by then, which itself is a facelifted model of the V-7000 series launched in 1990. By the time of the Teac V-7010, ten years has passed since the Kenwood KX-1100G that I last reviewed. The newer Teac has broadly similar specs to the Kenwood, except for the motorized tape well door & remote control capabilities. By this time in 1992, the CD format already reigns supreme at home hifi front, but in the car audio world, CD players were still a novelty, as manufacturers were finding ways to isolate the CD transport from the car's suspension movements which adversely affected the playback smoothness of the CD transport. CD players in cars would only start become the mainstream just before year 2000. Hence the market for cassette deck at this stage, was shrinking fast.

  

The Teac V-7010 is a nice weighty machine at almost 10kg, thanks to it's real wood cheeks & multi compartment for rigidity chassis, which is distinctively divided in to 3 unequal areas, on the left is power supply & regulation board, the front middle section is where the 3 head, dual capstan, direct drive transport remains isolated in it's own compartment, and the rest of the area behind the transport compartment & right side of box is dedicated to audio recording & playback circuitry. While some people may comment that the Teac V=7010 looks very spartan inside, I think that was possibly in the design brief to make things as simple as possible for shorter audio signal path to good sound.   

Inside the copper shielded chassis, the Teac V-7010 was the last to get this premium treatment, as the Dolby S equipped V-8000 series released in 1993 no longer have this treatment. 

As I have just taken delivery of the Kenwood KX-1100G about 2 months ago, along came this Teac V-7010 in which I was offered first right of refusal by a buddy who no longer sees the need for it. It was a hard decision for me as I am still warming up to my new toy, and I had secretly harbored to someday get a Teac V-970X which is another TOTL cassette deck from another by gone era. So the Teac V-7010 didn't exactly fit in to my plans, but I went to see it any way, how could I not?

At first glance, I have fallen head over heels for the Teac V-7010, this example in mint condition, finished Champaign gold, dark wood cheeks & a look behind the back panel which still has the importer(Auvi Malaysia Sdn Bhd) warrantee sticker on it, really just blew my mind! I could remember I was just a young adult at the time, just starting my first job, marveling at what was possibly this very unit on display at Auvi's showroom in SS2(which later became the iconic Mungo Jerry BKT shop), which I could not afford it's grand asking price back then. The icing on cake was that my buddy said, "this unit just came back from service by Mr Oh!" and that statement, sealed my fate! I was a happy dandy walking out from my buddy's house, with the Teac V-7010 in my arms.

This remote is from the same vintage but made for the model Teac V-5000, which has a belt driven 4 DC motor transport supplied by Sankyo.  The V-7000 is a direct drive transport supplied by the same manufacturer.

I went straight home, unplugged the Kenwood from my system, swapped the Teac in with high anticipation, and from the first time I pressed the play button, heavenly sound was coming from the tape format. Coming from the Kenwood, The Teac immediately impressed with it's quiet transport, no clunky noise here or there. Next the high frequencies were well extended with good refinement, the mid range has a lower bloom, which makes vocals sound like it has more meat compared to the Kenwood, and the bass is as solid & as tuneful as the Kenwood. Speed stability is impressive as well , just like the Kenwood, is direct driven. I am beginning to see that direct drive transport designs do have their advantages over belt drive designs. Being direct drive doesn't mean there are no pesky transport rubber belts to deal with, but just lesser only.  However, in terms of sound stage, the Kenwood does throw a wider & deeper, plus more layered picture. For the Teac, this was was a slight downer, but it's OK, the V-7010 still sounds very good by the way.

An official photo release of the Teac V-7010 cassette deck. 

Due to the unit didn't come with the originally issued remote control as my buddy had lost it during his last home move, I felt the unit was some how incomplete. So I scour the www in search of hopping to find one for sale, and after 2 weeks, found at remote specimen for sale at Yahoo Auction Japan. While this was not the exact original, which has a few more buttons, it was close enough and the asking price was sensible, unlike those Sony ES series remotes. About a month later the remote arrived and works! I later found out the remote unit I bought was for the Teac V-5000/5010 was has the missing open/close function for the tape well.

In a way, getting this Teac V-7010 cassette deck made me forget about the Teac V-970X as an idea, as I am blissfully enjoying what I got now. Some times, I guess fate does not give you what you wanted, but even then when you've being given something else, you'd be thankful with the end result. For me, I am enjoying my cassette deck collection journey to the max now!