Sony TC-100

Sony TC-100A

1 9 6 6 1966
1 9 6 8 1968
1 9 7 0 1970

The first Sony cassette recorder, launched after some lengthy negociations with Philips regarding the royalty fees to adhere to Philips' would-be standard.

Being the industry major it already was, Sony asked to lower, and lower more, said royalty fees. Then threatened to go with Grundig's other would-be standard, the DC cassette.
Philips finally accepted Sony's offer which wasn't really one : no royalties at all ! And a worldwide, successful, long-running standard was born.
You may read a somewhat politically correct, sanitized, version of this at Sony's own website.


The TC-100 still is monophonic and has a frequency response that tops at 10Khz but, surprisingly, the resulting recordings don't sound all that horrible !

However, emphasis was on the accepted worldwide standard (previsibly), portability, long recording time in a compact, easy-to-handle cassette with no threading or bulky reels to carry around : "Sony-O-Matic", the names says it all.

Available as accessories were a footswitch, a handy remote control with a microphone included, a mic mixer from earlier days (MX-600M), and a NiCad rechargeable battery pack. And a nice imitation leather carrying case. And even an in-car adaptor !

The TC-100 is a bit of a missing link between Philips' 1963 ameliorated dictaphone (5Khz response) and the high-end recorders of the early 1970s such as the harman/kardon TC1000 or Sony's own TC-177SD heavyweight.

At 1,75kg (batteries included !), 30 minutes of recording per side and ten hours of recording autonomy, the TC-100 could really damage the low-end reel-to-reel market. And it did.

Updated as TC-100A in 1968/69 with minor differences, the TC-100 garnered a japanese Good Design award.

A still functional and very cute retro thingy I do own, along with the later TC-K88B, TPS-L2, TC-20F, TC-FX7 and TC-FX1010.

Sony TC-100, image 1 Sony TC-100, image 2 Sony TC-100, image 3
Sony TC-100 specifications
Title Value
Power requirements : DC 6V (4x "C" size batteries)
AC 100 / 110/220 / 220/240V, 50/60Hz
Tape : Sony Compact Cassette (or equivalent)
Tape speed : 4,8cm/s
Tracks : Dual (monaural)
Power output : 1W
Inputs : MIC jack
Remote-control jack
AUX jack
Outputs : Monitor jack
10x7cm dynamic speaker
Componentry : 8 transistors
7 diodes
Recording time : 30 minutes per track, 1 hour in total
Battery life : > 10 hours
Dimensions : 14,6 x 6 x 23,7cm
Weight : 1,75kg (with batteries)
Optional accessories : TP-4S telephone pickup
MX-600M microphone mixer
FS-5 footswitch
BP-9 rechargeable battery pack
page online since : august 2008
page updated : march 2010
page type : LGT / KNB
page weight : 330.42 Kb / 129.56 Kb
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