DAT Sound Systems on Way to U.S. Market : Technology: After a three-year wait, the rival to CD-quality sound will arrive this month--at prices from $900 to $1,700.

The biggest news to come out of the Consumer Electronics Show now in progress here is that digital audio tape decks--a cassette system said to rival compact discs in sound quality--will finally be available on the American market by the end of the month.

But they’re not cheap. The decks will be priced in the $900 to $1,700 range.

Several companies, including JVC, Technics and Denon, will be shipping units by fall, but Sony announced Sunday that it plans to be the first to market, delivering tape decks to retailers by the end of June.

Sony’s announcement generated the most interest because its decks not only will be marketed first but also at the lowest cost: the DTC75ES at $950 and the DTC-700 at $900. Discount stores may sell the latter unit for under $800.

Digital audio tape, or DAT, has been promised to American consumers for the past three years. It’s an audio-cassette system that uses a mini-tape to generate CD-quality sound. Some industry observers have predicted that, just as the CD has made the album obsolete, DAT will ultimately wipe out the standard audio cassette, now the most popular format among music listeners.

What’s kept DAT off the American market is fear that it would lead to extensive consumer copying of CDs, which in turn would cheat artists out of royalties, cut down on CD sales and ruin the standard audio-cassette market. But last August a compromise to limit DAT copying was reached that satisfied both the Electronic Industries Assn. and the Recording Industry Assn. of America.

The DAT decks will be equipped with copy-limiting circuitry developed by Phillips that will enable consumers to make unlimited copies of CDs on DAT tapes, but none of those tapes can be used to make other copies. So a DAT tape must be purchased for each copy.

Initially, most DAT owners will be limited to making copies of CDs because there’s very little prerecorded DAT software on the market. Sony will market a classical line of prerecorded DAT tapes, offering 10 titles at $19.95 each.

Blank DAT tapes won’t be cheap either. Available in 60-, 90- and 120-minute sizes, Sony, for instance, will market them in the $12-$18 range, while Fuji will offer a less-expensive line, $11-$13.

Sony owns CBS Records but, according to a Sony spokesman, there’s no indication that Sony will force the label to rush into the prerecorded DAT market.

Of the technological advances announced at the show, one, by Hitachi, may have far-reaching effects. In the fall, the company will market a full line of VCRs--both expensive and inexpensive--featuring a built-in automatic head-cleaner.

Dirty video heads, as most VCR owners know, cause all sorts of visual and audio distortions.

A spokesman at the company’s exhibit, which included a see-through machine showing the cleaner in action, said that this feature will be added without a price increase.

The cleaner is a drum-shaped mechanism that gently brushes the video heads each time a tape is loaded or unloaded. The system doesn’t require maintenance. Its non-abrasive, assuring longer life for the video heads, and expels the debris.

If this system is successful, other VCR makers will undoubtely adopt it, which will ultimately cut down on VCR maintenance and maintain a high level of picture-quality.