Many years ago, I've abandoned all of my cassette decks since the cd player came to our life instead.
Now I realize that it's a shame to throw them away without any benefits despite some of them used to be the high-quality build such as the Nakamichi, Pioneer, etc.
Since then I just bought a cassette adapter and use with ipod or iphone connecting to them. And the result was very surprised. 😱 They provided much more better sound than connecting ipod/iphone with 3.5mm cable directly to the amps.
But there's still a problem. Because of the tape adapter I got was China made. 🙄 So, I have to press the tape back and forth in order to get the suit position to head of tape deck.
I want to ask, Is there a modification on the tape deck in order not to use the tape adapter anymore by making the "aux in" for the tape deck instead ?
Can the directly soldering 3.5mm cable replacing the head in the deck possible ?
Thank you
Now I realize that it's a shame to throw them away without any benefits despite some of them used to be the high-quality build such as the Nakamichi, Pioneer, etc.
Since then I just bought a cassette adapter and use with ipod or iphone connecting to them. And the result was very surprised. 😱 They provided much more better sound than connecting ipod/iphone with 3.5mm cable directly to the amps.
But there's still a problem. Because of the tape adapter I got was China made. 🙄 So, I have to press the tape back and forth in order to get the suit position to head of tape deck.
I want to ask, Is there a modification on the tape deck in order not to use the tape adapter anymore by making the "aux in" for the tape deck instead ?
Can the directly soldering 3.5mm cable replacing the head in the deck possible ?
Thank you
I strongly doubt about it.
Otherwise, it could be a remote possibility that the resulting system derived from the head-to-head contact and associated electronics would provide an enhanced ( harmonics ) sound that satisfies you better.
I think the reason why when connecting to the tape deck providing better sound than directly connect to the amps is because there are the circuits inside the tape deck player that helps improving the sound before sending the signal out to line output to the amplifier, such as the equalizer circuit, DAC, pre-amp, etc.
Well, I had tried to modify it.
Fortunately, the head can be easily removed by only unplugged the socket locating on the main board. So I just unplugged it and connected the rca 3.5mm cable instead.
But it was failed. When pressing "play" botton, the vu meter indicates to its maximum. Why ???
I've seen somebody can do like this in car's stereo, but Why I can't accomplished it in home use ?
Or Do I need to add some components just like capacitor, resistor before connecting the cable to the board ?
Please help me,
This is the schematics of the main board.
Fortunately, the head can be easily removed by only unplugged the socket locating on the main board. So I just unplugged it and connected the rca 3.5mm cable instead.
But it was failed. When pressing "play" botton, the vu meter indicates to its maximum. Why ???
I've seen somebody can do like this in car's stereo, but Why I can't accomplished it in home use ?
Or Do I need to add some components just like capacitor, resistor before connecting the cable to the board ?
Please help me,
This is the schematics of the main board.
Last edited:
And you know how an head amp works, right ?
All that I know is : a tape head is a coil, has double for stereo and the flowing of electricity trough it it magnetizes the tape.
When playing a tape, the signal has to be amplified and equalized ( NAB curve ).
So no wonder if the signal at the output is fully saturated : you put 1 V instead of 0.1 V.
And it doesn't work like that: the only reason why a direct head-to-head signal caption exists is because some apparels don't have the aux (line-in ) input but only a tape deck...so they must be very old -
it's called a transition from one technology to another.
All that I know is : a tape head is a coil, has double for stereo and the flowing of electricity trough it it magnetizes the tape.
When playing a tape, the signal has to be amplified and equalized ( NAB curve ).
So no wonder if the signal at the output is fully saturated : you put 1 V instead of 0.1 V.
And it doesn't work like that: the only reason why a direct head-to-head signal caption exists is because some apparels don't have the aux (line-in ) input but only a tape deck...so they must be very old -
it's called a transition from one technology to another.
Not even that: the signal from the head is in the order of millivolts.
Apart from this, the gain is not flat, it is equalized. At the end you get similar signal level that you get from your iphone directly, but with strong bass boost. The playback amplifier is simply not suitable for line level buffer function.
The cassette adaptor makes sure that the overall gain is roughly flat. It has a coil that is coupled to the head like a transformer.
Last edited:
This is the link that I mentioned above.
Connect an MP3 player to a tape player
It seems very easy just soldering a little bit. Ummm
Connect an MP3 player to a tape player
It seems very easy just soldering a little bit. Ummm
It is strange that a cassette adaptor (a low-fi bodge to allow playback through car audio without an aux jack) should sound better than a direct input to your amp; perhaps you would be better investigating why direct input is so bad?
I cannot believe that instructable works in any sensible way.
However your circuit (post 2) shows a line level input - that should work when you press "record".
I cannot believe that instructable works in any sensible way.
However your circuit (post 2) shows a line level input - that should work when you press "record".
Yes, the line in works with record mode but I'm not gonna use it. I'll use the input by tape head instead.
Does anybody know how to fix the vu meter max level problem ?
It's weird that I just connected the cable without mini jack or mobile phone installed. I forgot to tell it.
Does anybody know how to fix the vu meter max level problem ?
It's weird that I just connected the cable without mini jack or mobile phone installed. I forgot to tell it.
The playback amplifier is too sensitive. It picks up hum, that makes the VU meter max out. Or it is simply overloaded. You can add a 100:1 input voltage divider if you insist on using the playback head.
Wow! That sounds interesting.
Please tell me how to do next ?
With my little knowledge of electronics, I understand that you said I just add the resistor to the mini-cable, isn't it ? Is there any more complexity ?
Please help me (There is very little knowledge about electronics in my head) 😱
Thank you
A voltage divider is just a series resistor (like 10k) from the source to the head input, and another (like 100R) between the head input and GND. You can disconnect the head itself. But as said before, there will be strong bass boost. It could also be made flat, but it would need more in-depth surgery.
Hey, I got something new interesting!
Auxiliary Port for Any Radio/Cassette Player (Monsoon from Jetta MK4)
This link above tells that the author only added 10k ohms into the mini cable.
So now I have two choices.
Choice A - suggested by the link above : Add only 10k ohms to the cable.
Choice B - suggested by lcsaszar : Add 10k ohms to the cable and shunt 100 ohms to the ground.
Which one is more suite to my case ?
Auxiliary Port for Any Radio/Cassette Player (Monsoon from Jetta MK4)
This link above tells that the author only added 10k ohms into the mini cable.
So now I have two choices.
Choice A - suggested by the link above : Add only 10k ohms to the cable.
Choice B - suggested by lcsaszar : Add 10k ohms to the cable and shunt 100 ohms to the ground.
Which one is more suite to my case ?
Update!
I've tried to series the 10k ohms resistor to the RCA cable and it works great. I can play music via this cable without the tape head. But there was a problem that the gain was a little much. I have to reduce to volume on the mobile phone to its very low and the bass is boosted too much.
So I just add the 1k ohms shunting to the cable, now I have a complete voltage divider 1:100. It works better that it reduced the gain further. So I could set the volume on mobile phone about 50%. But there's still bass extended.
So I'd like to ask everyone to reduce the bass ?
I've tried to series the 10k ohms resistor to the RCA cable and it works great. I can play music via this cable without the tape head. But there was a problem that the gain was a little much. I have to reduce to volume on the mobile phone to its very low and the bass is boosted too much.
So I just add the 1k ohms shunting to the cable, now I have a complete voltage divider 1:100. It works better that it reduced the gain further. So I could set the volume on mobile phone about 50%. But there's still bass extended.
So I'd like to ask everyone to reduce the bass ?
Hi presscot,
About the bass boost, it is inherent in the playback circuit. You can partially compensate it by connecting a series 3.9k - 33nF RC circuit parallel to the 100k resistor. In this case you might need to reduce the 1k shunting even further (47R to 100R).
Technical explanation: the playback has a bass boost with two time constants: -6dB/octave rolloff from 3180us (50Hz) to 120us (1326Hz), and flat onward, according to the IEC norm. The recommended attenuator will have the inverse function.
About the bass boost, it is inherent in the playback circuit. You can partially compensate it by connecting a series 3.9k - 33nF RC circuit parallel to the 100k resistor. In this case you might need to reduce the 1k shunting even further (47R to 100R).
Technical explanation: the playback has a bass boost with two time constants: -6dB/octave rolloff from 3180us (50Hz) to 120us (1326Hz), and flat onward, according to the IEC norm. The recommended attenuator will have the inverse function.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.