The Sony
TC-D5M
Intro and Manuals | Tips for Use

by Jay Allison

02/27/2005

We are dedicating some pages in our TOOLS Section to the venerable Sony TC-D5M.

In the early days of public radio, we went into the field with portable open reel recorders, like the Sony 800-B, and it was good. We felt like Alan Lomax or Tony Schwartz, shouldering our heavy, delicate gear to document America, back before every sound had been recorded and everyone had been interviewed.

Then, the audio cassette format came along and we carried the mono Sony TC-142, and eventually the stereo TC-D5M, which is the best of the bunch. All metal, reliable, simple, and fixable, it runs on two D-cells, not Satan's Rechargeables. Noah Adams of NPR just wrote us to say he's heading out again into the field with his old D5. This American Life staffers still use them. After the tsunami, reporters said their D5s kept on recording when tiny, spinning little minidiscs-and-dats gave up.

Besides our local users, a lot of people in developing countries come to Transom for advice. It is likely they will be able to get the D5 for some time to come. We want to help these machines keep cranking along, living useful and productive lives, like 1950s Chevys in Cuba.

Soon, Flash recorders may eclipse the older portable gear. We'll be the first to test them. But in the last few weeks before that happens, we're posting the basic instructions that Atlantic Public Media includes along with the TCD-5M rigs we loan out, plus PDFs of the Owner's Manual and even the Service Manual. For posterity.

(Notes for Printing: These documents have been set to match dimensions of the original pages. If your printer does not support these sizes, select "Shrink Pages to Paper" (or the like) from the printing menu.)

TC-D5M Owners Manual