When the decks were sold, they were relatively reliable and easy to service, however the first series of heads used in the Sony decks were relatively soft, and it wasn’t unusual for a Sony deck to go through several sets of heads if used on a regular basis. Decks like the TC-250, TC270, TC-630, etc were all relatively similar under the hood, and I’m sure hundreds of thousands were sold worldwide. When Sony switched to solid state (transistor) machines, many models were based on very similar transports, using a single lever to switch between play, stop and rewind, with a separate button to go into FF mode. When these decks came out, they were considered high end, and the specifications and frequency responses were good for the time, 40-18Khz at 7 ½ IPS. In the 1960s, Sony did make a ton of reel to reel machines, first tube, including the TC-200 and the TC-500. I had one in recently, and other than control cleaning, it needed minimal work to get running. One of the earliest North American Sony reel to reels was the TC-102, a compact, mono, 2 speed tube machine. Here is my review of most Sony reel to reel tape recorders in two words.
