Buy Califone 3432-IR Infrared Cassette Recorder/PlayerCalifone 3432-IR Infrared Cassette Recorder/Player Product Description:
- Helps meet NCLB requirements for struggling readers and language learners
- Offers 1:1 instruction for 20 cord-free students or seven wired students using built-in headphone jacks
- 15' line of sight range to Infrared 34B-IR headphones (sold separately)
- Durable ABS plastic exterior withstands the rigors of daily use
Product Description
The Wireless Cassette Recorder/Player provides cord-free audio transmission to its infrared headphone receivers and can also be used as a traditional wired listening center for up to seven students. It is ideal for language learning, literacy groups, ELL/ ELDand library uses.
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By Amazoot
After going through 5 Radio Shack shoebox-style cassette players in 4 years, I have given up on RS. 2 years ago, though, I had already started looking for a replacement "shoebox"-style tape player. I stumbled across Califone early on, but I couldn't find any info on them or their products so was reluctant to take a chance on the possibility of getting another short-lived cassette player. Califone has barely any info about their products on their own website (www [dot] califone [dot] com) , and I couldn't find a single external review anywhere. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't stand being without a tape player any longer and went ahead and bought this one. I'm trying Califone because I'm hoping their products really are made to stand up to being used in schools (see www [dot] califone [dot] com) and that I won't end up buying yet another new tape player again in 11 months.I have only used the player about 4 hours, so this review isn't too much about how the player works -- although, so far, so good -- but rather, since there is almost no info about the player itself anywhere, it's more to describe what the machine is like. If I had had this info 2 years ago, I would **definitely** have bought it 2 years ago.I'm giving 4 stars to start with because it has good fit and finish and has an encouragingly substantial feel to it. I'm keeping one star in reserve because, even though it has worked perfectly, that's only been for about 4 hours so far. If I remember to, after I've used it some more, I'll come back later and let you know how it's been holding up.----------------Califone Cassette Tape Player-Recorder 3432AV-IR13 3/8 inches long6 5/8 inches wide2 9/16 inches tall, case only...... and 3 inches tall overall, including the infrared transmitter's dome, see more on the infrared transmitter belowWeight unknown, guessing approaching 2 lbs.LABEL ON UNDERSIDE OF CASSETTE PLAYER-RECORDER CASE:CALIFONE® International, Inc.San Fernando, CA USAMADE IN CHINAFABRIQUé EN CHINE9 VOLTS (C CELL UM-2, X 6) DC OR120 VOLTS 10 WATTS 50/60 Hz ACAUDIO SYSTEM 1SW1MODEL 3432AV-IRSERIAL/SéRIE [serial number of unit]DO NOT EXPOSE TO RAIN OR MOISTUREHere's a 5-page PDF with a diagram of the player-recorder and some additional brief descriptions of the machine's features, including the cord wrap (see 4th paragraph down for the cord wrap)Unit is heavy compared to other shoebox player-recorders. It must have a lot of metal in it for the headphone jacks and wiring, and the ABS case is noticeably thicker than any other shoebox-style player-recorder I have handled.POWER SPECIFICATIONS, from the label on the case:AC power: 120 volts, 10 watts, 50/60 HzDC power: 6 "C" cells (6 UM-2 cells)Note: There isn't any DC connection for, for example, using this in a cigarette lighter socket. You could use the AC cord to play it using a car's cigarette lighter socket via an inverter with a 3-prong outlet, though. Power label says player uses 10 watts.Power Cord: 3-prong, 5-ft., heavy-duty power cord, permanently attached. The cord is the thick, round, black kind you see on small machines and on appliances with motors, like refrigerators. It's pretty stiff. There is a short piece of clear plastic tubing around the power cord right where the cord comes out of the case. I take it to be for reducing the amount of flexing that the power cord will be able to do right there, and to keep the case's edge from sawing the cord. The cord comes straight out of the rear vertical panel of the case, on the far left, next to the corner.For storing, the cord wraps around the rear jack-extension panel. See more about the extension panel below, under "HEADPHONE JACKS."SPEAKER: Monaural, not stereo. 3 watts. One 3.5-inch speaker located on the top of the unit, on the rear half of the top.CONTROLS ON THE TOP OF THE PLAYER:VOLUME: Black knurled thumbwheel to the right of the tape control pushkeys. I turned the volume up as high as it would go: 1. Quite loud for a "shoebox"-style player. 2. No distortion, not even at max volume.TONE CONTROL: Black knurled thumbwheel to the left of the tape control pushkeys. Adds a little "brightness" when turned up. If you're losing your hearing in the mid vocal range, like I am, it makes recorded speech clearer.TAPE COUNTER: 3-digits, 000 to 999. Counter is mechanical analog: 3 little numbered bands rotate as the tape moves. Counter can be manually reset at any time to 000 with a little pushbutton. The label says, "2X COUNTER." For a 60-minute tape, the counter goes from 000 to 532.TAPE MOVEMENT CONTROL PUSHKEYS: The pushkeys are laid out the same as they are on all tape players nowadays. Going from left to right, starting with the red button in the Amazon.com picture: The red pushkey is Record. The first black one: Play. Then: Review (also Rewind). Cue (also Fast Forward). Stop-Eject. Pause.The pushkeys are wide enough to press comfortably without pressing two at once, and they have non-slip texturing. You have to push the keys somewhat firmly to get them to latch and stay down. They're not fussy, they just need a firm push. When they latch, they make a satisfying, sturdy "click."You can go directly from one pushkey to any other, except RECORD, without having to go through STOP each time.-- In order to press RECORD, the recorder has to be stopped first.ONE-FINGER RECORDING: To RECORD, you press the red RECORD pushkey. The PLAY key operates at the same time. The PLAY key automatically links to the RECORD key, so you don't have to press them both.MORE ABOUT THE PUSHKEYS: The pushkeys are completely manually operated, not electrically controlled. That means that, for example, if the power goes off during playing or recording, when the power comes back on, the player will resume exactly what it was doing before, right where it left off. It also means that you can either play or record at a certain time by plugging the player into one of those inexpensive on-off timers.A refreshing thing for me is that the pushkeys are all clearly visibly marked with symbols. They are hard to see in the Amazon.com picture, but the white markings on the narrower black panel above the pushkeys are the symbols. On the player itself, the symbols are silvery-colored, not white. Rewind and Fast Forward symbols are obvious: < for Review-Rewind, and > for Cue-Fast Forward. The others are easy to figure out.FAST FORWARD SPEED: 60-MINUTE CASSETTE: 2 minutes, 34 secondsREWIND SPEED: 60-MINUTE CASSETTE: 2 minutes, 34 secondsFULL AUTO STOP?: A label on the face of my unit says "FULL AUTO STOP," but my player does NOT shut off after finishing either Fast Forwarding or Rewinding.-- It DOES shut off okay when it gets to the end of the tape after Playing and Recording, though.INFRARED SIGNAL ON/OFF SWITCH: Small black slide switch. To the left side of the speaker grille, a little bit above the INFRARED TRANSMITTER dome.BATTERY/RECORD LEVEL: A little red light in between the cassette well and the speaker grille, just to the right of the tape counter. I've never had a tape recorder that had one of these. Can someone comment on what it does?JACKSAll the jacks are on the left vertical side and on a rear extension plate.HEADPHONE JACKS:All the headphone jacks and the AUX jack are the larger, older-type 1/4-inch phone (or "phono") jacks (not 3.5mm, not 2.5 mm, not "mini stereo"). (ht tp://en [dot] wikipedia [dot] org/wiki/TRS_connector) If you will be using the jacks, you can buy adapters to go from phone plug down to the smaller ones, if you need to. The adapters are fairly inexpensive. (I would buy the adaptors from Radio Shack. I've had good luck with RS for that sort of thing.) Also, since the Califone player is monaural, if you have stereo headphones or stereo powered speakers, and if this makes a difference to you, also get an adapter that goes from "mono to stereo" -- mono out of the cassette player, into the stereo headphones or stereo powered speakers -- otherwise you will have sound in only one ear or one speaker.Headphone jacks ("HP") jacks HP 1 and HP 2 are on the left vertical side of the case.In the picture on Amazon.com, the black thing on the other end of the case from the pushkey controls is an extension plate that has 5 more headphone jacks on it, HP3 thru HP7. The headphone cords will stick straight out horizontally, like 5 tails.If you don't have any headphones plugged in, the extension plate is plenty strong enough to use as a stand. So you can stand it up vertically if you want to, as I do, to send the sound out across a room instead of up to the ceiling. At first standing it up was weird because all the markings are upside down, but I'm used to it now.OTHER JACKS:LEFT VERTICAL SIDE:MIC. The microphone jack is a smaller type, not the larger 1/4-inch phone (or "phono") kind. I don't know anything about microphones. Maybe someone can comment on what size this is likely to be.REM. For a remote control. See- www [dot] califone [dot] com -to see what it's for.AUX IN. You can plug in a device such as an MP3 player and use the cassette player's speaker to hear your player's content. 1/4-inch phone jack. Needs adapter if your equipment has the smaller plugs I mentioned above.HP 1/EXT SPK. Plug in an external powered speaker here. 1/4-inch phone (or "phono") jack.OTHER DETAILSCASSETTE WELL AND MECHANISM: In the picture on Amazon.com, the largest black rectangle on the top of the unit is the cassette well.-- The front of the lid to the cassette well pops up from the top of the unit when you press STOP/EJECT.-- The lid is hinged on the side toward the rear of the unit.-- The lid is also the cassette-carrying tray.-- After you open the cassette well lid, you slide the cassette into the lid. (The tray on my player makes a snug fit to the cassette, so the cassette doesn't slide in by itself; I have to very lightly push it.) You press down on the lid to lower the cassette into the well and to latch the lid closed. When the lid is latched, the cassette is in position, ready to play or record.-- The play-record head is at the front of the cassette well, underneath the tape-movement-control pushkey labeling strip (see above).-- To remove the cassette, if the tape is moving, you press the STOP/EJECT pushkey to stop the tape, and press the STOP/EJECT pushkey a second time to open the lid of the cassette well. To remove the tape cassette, you grasp the visible edge of the cassette and pull it out of the lid, out from the cassette-carrying tray.INFRARED TRANSMITTER: The round thing on the top of the unit, at the bottom left corner of the speaker grille, is the infrared transmitter. It's for transmitting to listeners who are wearing infrared-receiving headphones. I don't know the transmitting-receiving specifications for using headphones. I'm just using this at home to play audio books using the speaker.A PULL-OUT CARRY HANDLE is on the vertical side below the row of the player's pushkey controls.THE RIGHT VERTICAL SIDE has nothing on it.
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