I thought it would be fun to remake a mix tape that I once made of 80s/90s Heavy Metal Power Ballads. These songs remind me of an earlier time in my life.
I found the songs on Youtube and made two tapes on my Sony TC-KE400S. I even played them on my Sony WM-FX495 Walkman. This was as close to the 1980s as I could get with still-working equipment.
Ed
I found the songs on Youtube and made two tapes on my Sony TC-KE400S. I even played them on my Sony WM-FX495 Walkman. This was as close to the 1980s as I could get with still-working equipment.
Ed
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
Technics made excellent stuff, as long as this has been looked after it should be good: I had a similar model, but black.
Geoff
Geoff
Nad 6300 play issues.
After recording a tape, it want start playing or winding.
It's no reaction it spins for a quarter of a second when pushing play.
It's not raising the heads.
This fault is not due to the known dead spot reel motor, or the D, 709 case..
Reel motor are quite new.
Capstan motor runs with new belt.
So guess better start measure voltage around..
After recording a tape, it want start playing or winding.
It's no reaction it spins for a quarter of a second when pushing play.
It's not raising the heads.
This fault is not due to the known dead spot reel motor, or the D, 709 case..
Reel motor are quite new.
Capstan motor runs with new belt.
So guess better start measure voltage around..
Love my 70s Technics dual tape deck. Saved my cassettes from 50 years ago. Don't know why? Deck was a curb find needing one belt. Sounds as bad as I remember but love all the mix tapes we recorded off the radio. Kung Foo Fighting , Silver Connection good memories
My wife and I have cassettes from when they were current, so I've kept an Onkyo TA630D operational. It had barely been used by the old guy I got it from, but the belts had turned to tar so I replaced them. It sounds pretty good. Pic is off the net. I particularly like the thick glass tape door, but not so much the plastic 'piano' operating keys, given that everything else is aluminium. Still, it's a good unit.
Been away from this thread a while but currently working through a stack of Nakamichi CR decks that I managed to amass over the past couple of years.
Consisting of a CR1E, 2x CR2's, a CR3E and a beautiful CR4E.
All have/had their issues and I've completed the repair/refurb back to full functionality on 4/5 decks. The last one to do is the CR4E, the 'daddy' of the stack. Currently building up the courage and trying to find the time to do a complete strip-down of the transport to refurb the reel and mode motors. Not for the feint-hearted!
Checking the heads heights, tilt (zenith) and depth penetration and a thorough cleaning of the entire tape path is a good first step in order to ascertain how in or out of specification the playback signal is.
I'm finding that all of these decks' capstan flywheels are sufferering from varying degrees of 'zinc pest' which which can contribute to horrendous wow&flutter measurements.
Not much can be done to compensate for this unfortunately, apart from sourcing replacement flywheels and who has those??
Cleaning the transports and making sure everything is free from contaminants and detritus is a must on these decks
The original nakamichi belts should always be reconditioned and re-used if they are still elastic and show no signs of deterioration. I usually hit them with Platenclene (Naptha) which both cleans and reconditions, leaving them looking and feeling like new.
Before
After
Rushing to find out if a deck can still play tapes ok before cleaning the full tape path can result in minor calamities and a waste of good tapes.
Once the decks are re-assembled and made good for operation it's time to get down to tweaking the azimuth and play/bias/record levels. I'm using the excellent HansPeter Roth calibration tapes to perform all necessary calibrations and gaining nice improvements back towards factory-specification.
Dolby levels check out ok on this one.
Getting the play azimuth back in-phase requires a decent set of screwdrivers and a steady hand.
A 10 second average 0.068% W&F WRMS measurement on the original cpastan belt is acceptable.
The Nakamichi CR range (1-4) are some of the best bang-for-buck Nak decks you can get hold of. Their sound signature is wonderful, even the lowly CR1 and CR2 sound epic, while the CR3 and CR4 entertain on a higher level.
Once these are completed I have a stack of 7 yamaha decks to get through.
No rest for the wicked!
Consisting of a CR1E, 2x CR2's, a CR3E and a beautiful CR4E.
All have/had their issues and I've completed the repair/refurb back to full functionality on 4/5 decks. The last one to do is the CR4E, the 'daddy' of the stack. Currently building up the courage and trying to find the time to do a complete strip-down of the transport to refurb the reel and mode motors. Not for the feint-hearted!
Checking the heads heights, tilt (zenith) and depth penetration and a thorough cleaning of the entire tape path is a good first step in order to ascertain how in or out of specification the playback signal is.
I'm finding that all of these decks' capstan flywheels are sufferering from varying degrees of 'zinc pest' which which can contribute to horrendous wow&flutter measurements.
Not much can be done to compensate for this unfortunately, apart from sourcing replacement flywheels and who has those??
Cleaning the transports and making sure everything is free from contaminants and detritus is a must on these decks
The original nakamichi belts should always be reconditioned and re-used if they are still elastic and show no signs of deterioration. I usually hit them with Platenclene (Naptha) which both cleans and reconditions, leaving them looking and feeling like new.
Before
After
Rushing to find out if a deck can still play tapes ok before cleaning the full tape path can result in minor calamities and a waste of good tapes.
Once the decks are re-assembled and made good for operation it's time to get down to tweaking the azimuth and play/bias/record levels. I'm using the excellent HansPeter Roth calibration tapes to perform all necessary calibrations and gaining nice improvements back towards factory-specification.
Dolby levels check out ok on this one.
Getting the play azimuth back in-phase requires a decent set of screwdrivers and a steady hand.
A 10 second average 0.068% W&F WRMS measurement on the original cpastan belt is acceptable.
The Nakamichi CR range (1-4) are some of the best bang-for-buck Nak decks you can get hold of. Their sound signature is wonderful, even the lowly CR1 and CR2 sound epic, while the CR3 and CR4 entertain on a higher level.
Once these are completed I have a stack of 7 yamaha decks to get through.
No rest for the wicked!
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I have an interesting BIC but I need to find a source for belts. This deck seems rather obscure and I was told at some point that I would need to measure the belts to find substitutions.
I did lots of recording FM programs way back when and I transferred the tapes to digital long ago and I'm still impressed with the recordings.
I did lots of recording FM programs way back when and I transferred the tapes to digital long ago and I'm still impressed with the recordings.
I’ve got an Aiwa AD6900mkII.
I need to work on it a bit. Noisy motor.
New belts ,and that idler tyre.
It only needed a belt when I first got it.
It’s a great sounding Cassette Deck. I converted a few tapes and they were very good.
I like the sound of tape in general. All the different formats have their own character. Tape is like vinyl. You can touch it ,smell it. Look at it.
Like the old days.👍
I need to work on it a bit. Noisy motor.
New belts ,and that idler tyre.
It only needed a belt when I first got it.
It’s a great sounding Cassette Deck. I converted a few tapes and they were very good.
I like the sound of tape in general. All the different formats have their own character. Tape is like vinyl. You can touch it ,smell it. Look at it.
Like the old days.👍
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Unfortunately nothing, I don't have any experience with them.
Great work @ChrisCables .
In the past few years I got interested in cassette tapes again and got my hands on some Nakamichis.
Ended up restoring a few BX models, BX-2, BX-100, BX-125, BX-150, BX-300.
Afterwards some classic transport units like LX-5, LX-3 and the legendary ZX-9.
I just recently fixed a CR-3 and now have it in my office alongside a Nakamichi SR-2 (which supposedly has some Nelson Pass circuitry in the power amp section). The pair works and sounds great.
I have one unit left to go through, a ZX-7 that I acquired in a local Craiglist trade for some Klipsch Quartet speakers I had in my garage and weren't getting much use.
My little kids are pretty fascinated with the tapes despite using iPads and such to stream music. I made them a mix tape with some of their favorite songs from movies and TV shows and they love it.
In the past few years I got interested in cassette tapes again and got my hands on some Nakamichis.
Ended up restoring a few BX models, BX-2, BX-100, BX-125, BX-150, BX-300.
Afterwards some classic transport units like LX-5, LX-3 and the legendary ZX-9.
I just recently fixed a CR-3 and now have it in my office alongside a Nakamichi SR-2 (which supposedly has some Nelson Pass circuitry in the power amp section). The pair works and sounds great.
I have one unit left to go through, a ZX-7 that I acquired in a local Craiglist trade for some Klipsch Quartet speakers I had in my garage and weren't getting much use.
My little kids are pretty fascinated with the tapes despite using iPads and such to stream music. I made them a mix tape with some of their favorite songs from movies and TV shows and they love it.
Great to hear your kids have an appreciation for tape @itsikhefez .
I asked my 21 yr old nephew and his gf what they thought 'this was' when I showed them a cassette tape when they visited a couple of years ago and they had no idea.
They also needed an explanation of how a 'little plastic thing with a window' could make music in my hifi system.
It made me feel quite old. LOL
I asked my 21 yr old nephew and his gf what they thought 'this was' when I showed them a cassette tape when they visited a couple of years ago and they had no idea.
They also needed an explanation of how a 'little plastic thing with a window' could make music in my hifi system.
It made me feel quite old. LOL
Some of the pre recorded cassettes were little better then AM radio.
You had to use CrO2 tapes or better to hit 12khz .
The Nak Dragon was the only deck I ever saw that made normal tape recordings sound great.
You had to use CrO2 tapes or better to hit 12khz .
The Nak Dragon was the only deck I ever saw that made normal tape recordings sound great.
I am consistently surprised at how good cassettes sound (pre-recorded included) on my system, compared to how I remember them sounding.
Listening to them growing up was mostly on a cheap walkman with cheap earbuds.
My current system is fairly "transparent", using an RME interface as a preamp and Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier. Speakers are Troels Graveson Ekta mk2 that utilize ScanSpeak Illuminator drivers.
I once played the same album on cassette, vinyl, and digital streaming and you can differentiate between the three but the cassette still sounded very good.
Listening to them growing up was mostly on a cheap walkman with cheap earbuds.
My current system is fairly "transparent", using an RME interface as a preamp and Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier. Speakers are Troels Graveson Ekta mk2 that utilize ScanSpeak Illuminator drivers.
I once played the same album on cassette, vinyl, and digital streaming and you can differentiate between the three but the cassette still sounded very good.
I owned an AIWA AD-F990 which is a fantastic deck with tons of great features and a gorgeous look.
Picture hifi-wiki:
I still have a Tandberg TCD330. Build like a tank and (to me) an equal gorgeous look.
Picture from Ebay:
Lately, I was able to acquire a perfect Dragon.
Picture Wikipedia:
I still have a lot of tapes from my younger days (there was nothing else) that I enjoy.
Hugo
Picture hifi-wiki:
I still have a Tandberg TCD330. Build like a tank and (to me) an equal gorgeous look.
Picture from Ebay:
Lately, I was able to acquire a perfect Dragon.
Picture Wikipedia:
I still have a lot of tapes from my younger days (there was nothing else) that I enjoy.
Hugo
Indeed 🙂 I had the AD-F770 and the results were spectacular with its Auto Calibration. The Dragons killer feature was the auto azimuth. I always wanted one of those.