Free Pickup: Realistic SCT-21 cassette deck

[Robb]

Picked up this free Realistic SCT-21 deck today. Not sure what year it is from, but seems like early 1970's ? Not sure if it is worth anything but I got it anyways. It is in real nice condition, and also comes with manual.
The thing weighs a tonne ! Seems like real good quality !
Not sure if it works as it should but owner says it did last time he used it.

Anyone have any info on it ?

Some pics.

 

[Beosystem10]

Looks 1980s to me, although it still has a ferrichrome position on the tape selector, it does accept metal tapes and the peak holding fluorescent meters, the bias fine tuning control as well as the mpx position on the nr switch (for defeating the spoiler tone on FM broadcast material so allowing recording from that source) all suggest '80s. I remember looking at one of these in Tandy, circa June '83, before opting for a similar but cheaper (on offer at Laskys) Sharp deck to do the job.
Good build quality right enough, and as I found when my one was about 20 years of age and I was prepping it to sell; easy to work at too.

 

[Terry]

I gave a non-working one of these away recently. I think John is right when he says '83, They are a 2 head unit.
The best way to check would be here: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

 

[Robb]

Some research i did:
It's Hitachi,
plays 4 types of tapes, rare.
According to the Orion Blue Book, it ran from 78 to 83 and was $300.00 in the USA. Probably closer to $400.00 in Canada

 

[Robb]

Update: powered up the realistic.. seems to work good..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lGd3BiSjxE&feature=share&list=UU9uww3n08iilZlA6BPw9HFQ