This is actually my SECOND time through, watching the entire series. Tony you are the man, and you do such a thorough and meticulous restore/repair that I would watch you flip a pancake, if that’s what you decided to record! Seriously, not only am I in awe of your abilities, but am always blown away by the complexity, build quality and materials used in vintage stereo - ESPECIALLY something like this tape deck. Can you imagine how much it would cost in today’s money to design & build such a machine!? Simply amazing.
Hi @xraytonyb. I apologize for coming in late here (just now seeing these videos as I have recently discovered your channel...came in on the Carver M400). Back in the day, I did align and work on these decks (but we're getting back 40 years or so now). In your videos, I never saw you really do the mechanical alignments on the heads/tape path, beyond a rough, by eye, height adjustment of the left pinch roller. I cannot emphasize enough getting the mechanical alignments as dialed in as possible, before adjusting any of the electronics. The height adjustment on the CT-F1250 (tape head/cores relative to tape/tracks) is done with that left pinch roller adjustment. You want to max out both channels (using calibrated tape) with the adjustment but be incredibly careful because as you go beyond the range, you run the risk of damaging the tape as the plastic guide pushes the tape beyond where it can move. I used to make my own "height alignment" tape after I had a machine dialed in so it would be more disposable and preserve the measured tape. For azimuth, the gold-standard (using calibration tape) is putting your scope into X-Y mode and adjust azimuth for a perfect Lissajous 0-deg pattern (straight line at 45-degrees from bottom left to upper right (one channel on each scope input). As you go up in frequency, it will get more and more touchy. But you should be spot on for even the highest frequency on the tape. If you don't get this right, all of the electronic adjustments done is trying to compensate for a mechanical issue and will never be as good as it should be. Because of how Pioneer does their azimuth (hinge the head mount), you may find that height has to be slightly tweaked as there is some interaction. For all adjustments where looking for a peak or peak then -3dB (I seem to recall that being the spec for the CT-F1250 but again, it's been decades), I ALWAYS used an analog meter. Looking at a digital meter bouncing around isn't too helpful. But an analog millivoltmeter with good ballistics make adjustments a lot easier, if not more accurate. Setting PB frequency response one does use the recorded tones (and, again, I'd use an analog meter and mine had a dB scale were one could calibrate the reference and see the needle move in dB...that will quickly let you see where you are and if you do any adjustments, where you want to be. I just find that a lot easier. When injecting a signal to measure frequency response, I used pink noise with an Real Time Analyzer (RTA). Again, you quickly see what you are looking for in the response and any adjustments for flatness are apparent on the RTA. This can be particularly useful when setting up the recording section and checking Dolby NR characteristics. If you get things correct, switching Dolby NR in/out, regardless of level, should yield no change. If you see HF attenuation, then that is an indication that you had an issue before moving onto the Dolby NR or there is a calibration issue with the NR circuits. If you look at the +3dB indicator on the CT-F1250 meters, you'll see that there is a dot instead of the line used on all of the other levels. That is to indicate Dolby-Level (officially, a licensed deck is supposed to indicate Dolby Level on the meters and that is how Pioneer did it). At that point and above, Dolby NR should have ZERO effect on the signal. Below that point, it should have compression/emphasis on record and expansion/de-emphasis on playback. As for the meters, while I'd calibrate them, I never used them for calibration. I'd use my bench meters. There just isn't the resolution in the deck's meters. Lastly, if you don't have the owner's manual for the CT-F1250, obtain it. That goes over the user calibration with the front panel controls and, as I recall, are not discussed in the service manual. As I recall, using the front controls, there is this procedure where one turns the knob fully CCW, then fully CW and then adjust until the calibration arrows balance out. That position will be different than if you just grab the knob and balance the arrows. Thank you so much for posting these videos (in general)...some of it is a trip through memory lane, some of it is seeing things that are now decades older and in need of your TLC.
Thank you for your videos . CTF Alignment is a nightmare if you follow manual , its a dream using your explanation . My challenge now is fix a TASCAM 302 / 202 , many of them . Digital capstan motor is the issue . Best Regards !
You have done very well in thoroughly repairing and test recording with the recording alignment levels for standard,,chrome,,and Dolby recording and playback,,,as it,s something I've learned just in case I ever get a cassette deck this size for repairs,,realignment,,etc. Never really had seen a machine with line input level controls,,,along with the recording level controls,,,and quite a fair few smaller controls for the bias alignment,,,etc. Such a very nice machine with the woodgrain cover on top too,,,it almost looks like new to me altogether.
Never was a fan of Dolby B, but Dolby C on the other hand was a must! I use those cassette adapter thing's in my car for my phone and Dolby C works well! Dolby S was also good! I have DBX noise reduction on one of my cassette decks which is amazing but anything that I recorded with that doesn't work elsewhere if DBX decoding isn't available....
hey i dont mind it tony this machine is great study an look into its inner workings its far more cassette that i thought it was!!! pioneer produced some amazing machines never realy cutting corners on quality .
I don't like Dolby B either. As a matter of fact, when I record with cassette or reel to reel, I use DBX. Some people don't like it, but I do. Great job on this unit : )
Indeed dbx is superb, but because of its' rarity in audio equipment, one can't "share" easily the fruits of one's mixed tape recordings with others. I keep my use of dbx to reel to reel as it's not a portable medium, BTW, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed all 7 parts of Tony and his "technician"'s Pioneer CT-F1250 rejuvenation. Thank you Tony!
I repaired a DXB 5BX unit, but didn't do a video, as I didn't think anyone would be interested. I think I may have a 3BX in storage somewhere, but not sure. I agree, DBX was orders of magnitude better than Dolby B.
Who the heck would suggest to use a low quality car adapter as a test tape? Test tapes need to be recorded a) according to a reference magnetic flux (e.g. 250 nWb/m at 0dB) and they also need to be recorded in b) full track configuration (with very few exceptions like the T-10 height adjustment tape) so a deviation in head height won't influence setting the playback levels since both channels will always get the same level AND phase on a full track tape. Which is also why azimuth test tapes are usually full track at 10, 12 or even 16 kHz (for Nakamichi, that is).
Proper alignment tapes are also recorded full track, or one track.The tapes will say "This side out" or "Do not use this side" printed on side B.There is equal magnetic energy across the full width of the tape, this is why you can't make your own test tapes on another machine, because you would be recording in 4 track mode.
zulumax disculpa que te contradiga, pero si se pueden hacer cintas de alineación en Platinas que estén en buen estado, Yo hace como 15 años atrás hice una en un TASCAN 122 MK2 y me dio buenos resultados, LA TASCAN era totalmente nueva, la calibre con su tono de 400 HZ y 10KHz verifique que lo grabado quedo exactamente como lo reproduci y ese Cassette lo use para alinear muchas platinas después, lamentablemente se me extravió ese Cassete, pero si se puede. Usando un buen Nakamichi, o un Revox o un DENON de alta Gama que estén en buen estado si se puede.
Tony como siempre excelente video, me imagino que ya debes estar hastiado de la CT-F1250 pero ellas son así ja ja ja. Hubiera sido bueno que hubieras hecho una calibración con sus controles de BIAS, LEVEL y EQ y después grabar y ir alternando entre TAPE y SOURCE para que se viera que realmente la grabación es casi idéntica al original, que es por lo cual se caracterizan las platinas de tres cabezas. Y yo he escuchado estas y de verdad graban muy bien estando bien calibradas. Pero de verdad muy bueno todos los videos de esta platina y muy buena explicación por lo cual NO se puede usar esos Cassette adaptadores para la alineación.
I believe this is technically a three head unit, as it has individual record, playback and erase heads. The only difference is that the record and play heads are on the same mounting block. I think a separately mounted rec and play head would be a bit more difficult to align, though.
In addition to the reasons you mentioned why a cassette adapter would not work for an alignment, here is another, there would be no way to adjust the speed.
If you don't like to use Dolby when playing/recording a tape, try using it on a properly working Nakamichi deck. I can't hear the difference during source/tape comparisons other than a slightly higher background noise during Dolby B reproduction. Like your series. I used to own a CT F750 among the numerous decks I went through before my Nak.
You brought it to a point where it plays nice and clean with good HF extension. Congratulations for that. Its the service manual is very 70s style with a zillion spot checks and typos, plus confusing phrasing that tires you. The electronics adjustment goals are always the same between decks no matter their individual procedures: A. Correct bias for best response at -20dB on normal chrome and metal tapes. B. Still in spec THD at 0dB with that bias. C. Correct zero Dolby level. Say you had no service manual, what would you do? Simply after establishing correct speed, azimuth, and Dolby level with reliable test cassettes, you would just fire up some frequency response analyzer to tweak the bias for best and equal response both in level and extension between channels with your most likely to record cassette formulations.
I'm sure you loose fidelity (accuracy) in the electro-magnetic-electric conversion using that adapter. I have a cassette head "de-magnitizer" that looks like that. I'm surprised you didn't have a scope hooked up to monitor the input .vs output signals and also the difference between the 2 channels. That would have been interesting to see. Cassette playback is notorious for compression and distortion, especially near its bandwidth limits. ...And now for something completely different....can't wait.
I heard rumors that some manufacturers didn't always have the best quality control on all models, but I've never confirmed it. I bet in some cases these could have been "fine tuned" after they were purchased, as long as you had a reputable service tech to do it.
MFR58. Amigo créalo yo escuche una de estas nuevas, y de verdad era increíble como grababa y sonaba, pero son muchos años ya y de alguna forma tienen que fallar. Yo diría que lo malo de este Deck es el transporte, la rueda loca, el REV y el FF, dan muchos problemas pero de resto es una platina excelente, el sistema de calibración es muy efectivo.
@@xraytonyb Nakamichi actually used that as a marketing point in a brochure. "The 30-step adjustment procedure each BX-150 and BX-100 undergoes during assembly is costly, but it guarantees you Nakamichi performance."
Surprised they only use a 2k frequency for bias adjustment. A lot of other companies use 400 & 10,000 hz frequencies to catch lower and upper frequencies. But you did two frequencies in a later adjustment. What is the difference in adjustments? Also, for being a high end deck, it does not have auto bias adjustment. Is the deck from prior to companies starting auto bias adjust?
Hi Angelo from Australia i need a capstan motor and a tape head for my ctf 1250 deck and I can’t seem to get anywhere your help would be appreciated thank you..
33:28 There's a huge amount of hiss before you can see the tape rolling; it might simply be the way you edited the video, don't know. Despite the elevated noise floor, the sound is quite good; I think I heard the tiniest bit of flutter, otherwise quite impressive for cassette. Link to the music used?
Hey, Tony. I just had a Pioneer CT-F9191serviced and it sounds good. One of the two motors needed replacement. Are the electrolytics in these critical to sound quality? Should I have them replaced just in case? 🤔
"In modern times, your mobile phone; anything that has a headphone jack" You can tell your interest in electronics does not extend to portable fruit-based math machines. To which I say, thank God! :P
@@xraytonyb lol. I figured this last experience with tape probably had you saying "good riddance" after you had finished. Actually I think you would find them fun to work on, its just an expensive hobby. Parts and full restore kits are readily available for Revox and Studer units, it can just get pricey, especially for blank reels since only two companies in the world still make them (ATR and RTM), and calibration tapes are a little pricey... But the sound quality of even a prosumer reel to reel unit leaves the compact cassette for dust ;) I just had a Revox B77 MK2 fully restored and I have master grade tapes that have been recorded at 15IPS and the sound is just gorgeous.. Analog bliss :) Well, maybe one day if you are not feeling too traumatized by tape experiences, you might look into it :)
12:26 I don't; I think you spent ten minutes dignifying a very stupid question. Short answer: to align a tape deck correctly you need a precision tape (as would have been used at the factory, when new) not some cheap work around for some even cheaper car stereo. No doubt the people behind the original question would happily have their car wheels balanced by judicious use of blu-tack.
I don't think it was a stupid question. We ask questions in order to learn. Not all of us spend a lot of time learning the fine details of tape recorders. To many of us, this sounds like a good idea to try, until you consider the issues related to these devices. I think it was well worth my time to explain to those who didn't know. Asking questions is how we get smarter ;) Thanks for the comment!
@@xraytonyb I agree. While happen to know the answer, not everyone does. You described the reasons very well. You also answered another common question as to why tape heads are not interchangeable from brand to brand , even deck to deck.
@@xraytonyb "Asking questions is how we get smarter" Asking questions is how we learn; we don't increase our IQ by asking questions. In my opinion the question was stupid, in your opinion it wasn't; so be it, we are entitled to our own opinions. Thanks for the feedback.
@@xraytonyb Ok; I'll explain why I think it was a stupid question. Here's an analogy: why shouldn't I jump into a swimming pool with a concrete block tied around my ankles? Apart from those saying why don't you, here's the mathematical reason: the concrete block has a greater density per unit volume than water. So, the volume of the concrete block around my ankles will have a far greater mass than the same volume of water it displaces; this means that the gravitational force on the concrete block will be greater than that of the surrounding water and therefore there will be a net downward force pulling the block and me with it. I just wasted thirty seconds typing the previous sentence. Most people wouldn't need to know it, they'd know that if they jumped into a swimming pool attached to a concrete block they'd drown. Similarly how could a cheap piece of junk MP3 cassette player, which was never meant to act as a piece of precision test equipment, be used to calibrate a cassette deck; to me it was self-evident that just inserting it into the player might actually damage the recoding head of the player; additionally it was clearly never built have any sort hi-fi pretensions and (as you said) would probably be highly non-linear. To me you were explaining the obvious; but that's just my opinion, to which most of us are thankfully able to freely express.
A great deal of "detailed" work. This is a good training series. BTW, took your suggestion for Signal Gen and purchased that 4162. Thanks for the look.
This is actually my SECOND time through, watching the entire series. Tony you are the man, and you do such a thorough and meticulous restore/repair that I would watch you flip a pancake, if that’s what you decided to record! Seriously, not only am I in awe of your abilities, but am always blown away by the complexity, build quality and materials used in vintage stereo - ESPECIALLY something like this tape deck. Can you imagine how much it would cost in today’s money to design & build such a machine!? Simply amazing.
what a master class! Thank you so much for sharing this series. Very helpful! Please keep up your videos.
Beautiful deck. They had a great sense of aesthetics back then. Thank for this series.
I love tape decks. So long live tape decks and people like you that keep them going. Take Care
Really enjoying this series Tony, very thorough!
You could've made 5 more videos on this and it would've been fine with me. Thanks for the education! 👍👍
Hi @xraytonyb. I apologize for coming in late here (just now seeing these videos as I have recently discovered your channel...came in on the Carver M400). Back in the day, I did align and work on these decks (but we're getting back 40 years or so now). In your videos, I never saw you really do the mechanical alignments on the heads/tape path, beyond a rough, by eye, height adjustment of the left pinch roller. I cannot emphasize enough getting the mechanical alignments as dialed in as possible, before adjusting any of the electronics.
The height adjustment on the CT-F1250 (tape head/cores relative to tape/tracks) is done with that left pinch roller adjustment. You want to max out both channels (using calibrated tape) with the adjustment but be incredibly careful because as you go beyond the range, you run the risk of damaging the tape as the plastic guide pushes the tape beyond where it can move. I used to make my own "height alignment" tape after I had a machine dialed in so it would be more disposable and preserve the measured tape.
For azimuth, the gold-standard (using calibration tape) is putting your scope into X-Y mode and adjust azimuth for a perfect Lissajous 0-deg pattern (straight line at 45-degrees from bottom left to upper right (one channel on each scope input). As you go up in frequency, it will get more and more touchy. But you should be spot on for even the highest frequency on the tape. If you don't get this right, all of the electronic adjustments done is trying to compensate for a mechanical issue and will never be as good as it should be. Because of how Pioneer does their azimuth (hinge the head mount), you may find that height has to be slightly tweaked as there is some interaction.
For all adjustments where looking for a peak or peak then -3dB (I seem to recall that being the spec for the CT-F1250 but again, it's been decades), I ALWAYS used an analog meter. Looking at a digital meter bouncing around isn't too helpful. But an analog millivoltmeter with good ballistics make adjustments a lot easier, if not more accurate.
Setting PB frequency response one does use the recorded tones (and, again, I'd use an analog meter and mine had a dB scale were one could calibrate the reference and see the needle move in dB...that will quickly let you see where you are and if you do any adjustments, where you want to be. I just find that a lot easier.
When injecting a signal to measure frequency response, I used pink noise with an Real Time Analyzer (RTA). Again, you quickly see what you are looking for in the response and any adjustments for flatness are apparent on the RTA.
This can be particularly useful when setting up the recording section and checking Dolby NR characteristics. If you get things correct, switching Dolby NR in/out, regardless of level, should yield no change. If you see HF attenuation, then that is an indication that you had an issue before moving onto the Dolby NR or there is a calibration issue with the NR circuits. If you look at the +3dB indicator on the CT-F1250 meters, you'll see that there is a dot instead of the line used on all of the other levels. That is to indicate Dolby-Level (officially, a licensed deck is supposed to indicate Dolby Level on the meters and that is how Pioneer did it). At that point and above, Dolby NR should have ZERO effect on the signal. Below that point, it should have compression/emphasis on record and expansion/de-emphasis on playback.
As for the meters, while I'd calibrate them, I never used them for calibration. I'd use my bench meters. There just isn't the resolution in the deck's meters.
Lastly, if you don't have the owner's manual for the CT-F1250, obtain it. That goes over the user calibration with the front panel controls and, as I recall, are not discussed in the service manual. As I recall, using the front controls, there is this procedure where one turns the knob fully CCW, then fully CW and then adjust until the calibration arrows balance out. That position will be different than if you just grab the knob and balance the arrows.
Thank you so much for posting these videos (in general)...some of it is a trip through memory lane, some of it is seeing things that are now decades older and in need of your TLC.
Thank you for your videos . CTF Alignment is a nightmare if you follow manual , its a dream using your explanation . My challenge now is fix a TASCAM 302 / 202 , many of them . Digital capstan motor is the issue . Best Regards !
You have done very well in thoroughly repairing and test recording with the recording alignment levels for standard,,chrome,,and Dolby recording and playback,,,as it,s something I've learned just in case I ever get a cassette deck this size for repairs,,realignment,,etc.
Never really had seen a machine with line input level controls,,,along with the recording level controls,,,and quite a fair few smaller controls for the bias alignment,,,etc.
Such a very nice machine with the woodgrain cover on top too,,,it almost looks like new to me altogether.
Never was a fan of Dolby B, but Dolby C on the other hand was a must! I use those cassette adapter thing's in my car for my phone and Dolby C works well!
Dolby S was also good!
I have DBX noise reduction on one of my cassette decks which is amazing but anything that I recorded with that doesn't work elsewhere if DBX decoding isn't available....
Hope you enjoyed your vacation, Tony. Good to have you back.
Great project Tony, I loved it!
hey i dont mind it tony this machine is great study an look into its inner workings its far more cassette that i thought it was!!! pioneer produced some amazing machines never realy cutting corners on quality .
Grat videos my friend, thanks a lot for thid very valuable informaton
Great series Tony! Thanks so much.
I don't like Dolby B either. As a matter of fact, when I record with cassette or reel to reel, I use DBX. Some people don't like it, but I do. Great job on this unit : )
Indeed dbx is superb, but because of its' rarity in audio equipment, one can't "share" easily the fruits of one's mixed tape recordings with others. I keep my use of dbx to reel to reel as it's not a portable medium, BTW, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed all 7 parts of Tony and his "technician"'s Pioneer CT-F1250 rejuvenation. Thank you Tony!
I repaired a DXB 5BX unit, but didn't do a video, as I didn't think anyone would be interested. I think I may have a 3BX in storage somewhere, but not sure. I agree, DBX was orders of magnitude better than Dolby B.
I would like to see you get into reel to reel tape deck's.
I think that would push me over the edge ;))
You deserve a holiday after that !
Thanks.
So now we know and knowing is half the battle.
Who the heck would suggest to use a low quality car adapter as a test tape?
Test tapes need to be recorded a) according to a reference magnetic flux (e.g. 250 nWb/m at 0dB) and they also need to be recorded in b) full track configuration (with very few exceptions like the T-10 height adjustment tape) so a deviation in head height won't influence setting the playback levels since both channels will always get the same level AND phase on a full track tape. Which is also why azimuth test tapes are usually full track at 10, 12 or even 16 kHz (for Nakamichi, that is).
Proper alignment tapes are also recorded full track, or one track.The tapes will say "This side out" or "Do not use this side" printed on side B.There is equal magnetic energy across the full width of the tape, this is why you can't make your own test tapes on another machine, because you would be recording in 4 track mode.
zulumax disculpa que te contradiga, pero si se pueden hacer cintas de alineación en Platinas que estén en buen estado, Yo hace como 15 años atrás hice una en un TASCAN 122 MK2 y me dio buenos resultados, LA TASCAN era totalmente nueva, la calibre con su tono de 400 HZ y 10KHz verifique que lo grabado quedo exactamente como lo reproduci y ese Cassette lo use para alinear muchas platinas después, lamentablemente se me extravió ese Cassete, pero si se puede. Usando un buen Nakamichi, o un Revox o un DENON de alta Gama que estén en buen estado si se puede.
Great job what an epic. well done. The only thing I dont like is the wooden sleeve, we didnt have those in UK.
Tony como siempre excelente video, me imagino que ya debes estar hastiado de la CT-F1250 pero ellas son así ja ja ja. Hubiera sido bueno que hubieras hecho una calibración con sus controles de BIAS, LEVEL y EQ y después grabar y ir alternando entre TAPE y SOURCE para que se viera que realmente la grabación es casi idéntica al original, que es por lo cual se caracterizan las platinas de tres cabezas. Y yo he escuchado estas y de verdad graban muy bien estando bien calibradas. Pero de verdad muy bueno todos los videos de esta platina y muy buena explicación por lo cual NO se puede usar esos Cassette adaptadores para la alineación.
You should post on how to do a 3 head alignment! Not easy compare to a 2 head. : )
I believe this is technically a three head unit, as it has individual record, playback and erase heads. The only difference is that the record and play heads are on the same mounting block. I think a separately mounted rec and play head would be a bit more difficult to align, though.
Great series....cheers.
In addition to the reasons you mentioned why a cassette adapter would not work for an alignment, here is another, there would be no way to adjust the speed.
If you don't like to use Dolby when playing/recording a tape, try using it on a properly working Nakamichi deck. I can't hear the difference during source/tape comparisons other than a slightly higher background noise during Dolby B reproduction. Like your series. I used to own a CT F750 among the numerous decks I went through before my Nak.
BEL lavoro,gran pioneer
You brought it to a point where it plays nice and clean with good HF extension. Congratulations for that. Its the service manual is very 70s style with a zillion spot checks and typos, plus confusing phrasing that tires you.
The electronics adjustment goals are always the same between decks no matter their individual procedures:
A. Correct bias for best response at -20dB on normal chrome and metal tapes. B. Still in spec THD at 0dB with that bias. C. Correct zero Dolby level.
Say you had no service manual, what would you do? Simply after establishing correct speed, azimuth, and Dolby level with reliable test cassettes, you would just fire up some frequency response analyzer to tweak the bias for best and equal response both in level and extension between channels with your most likely to record cassette formulations.
Thanks for the advice! Stuff like this really helps!
I'm sure you loose fidelity (accuracy) in the electro-magnetic-electric conversion using that adapter. I have a cassette head "de-magnitizer" that looks like that. I'm surprised you didn't have a scope hooked up to monitor the input .vs output signals and also the difference between the 2 channels. That would have been interesting to see. Cassette playback is notorious for compression and distortion, especially near its bandwidth limits. ...And now for something completely different....can't wait.
cows are flying through the air ruunn aawwaayyy!
it's hard to believe these decks were ever set up properly in the factory....
I heard rumors that some manufacturers didn't always have the best quality control on all models, but I've never confirmed it. I bet in some cases these could have been "fine tuned" after they were purchased, as long as you had a reputable service tech to do it.
MFR58. Amigo créalo yo escuche una de estas nuevas, y de verdad era increíble como grababa y sonaba, pero son muchos años ya y de alguna forma tienen que fallar. Yo diría que lo malo de este Deck es el transporte, la rueda loca, el REV y el FF, dan muchos problemas pero de resto es una platina excelente, el sistema de calibración es muy efectivo.
@@xraytonyb Nakamichi actually used that as a marketing point in a brochure. "The 30-step adjustment procedure each BX-150 and BX-100 undergoes during assembly is costly, but it guarantees you Nakamichi performance."
Surprised they only use a 2k frequency for bias adjustment. A lot of other companies use 400 & 10,000 hz frequencies to catch lower and upper frequencies. But you did two frequencies in a later adjustment. What is the difference in adjustments? Also, for being a high end deck, it does not have auto bias adjustment. Is the deck from prior to companies starting auto bias adjust?
Hi Angelo from Australia i need a capstan motor and a tape head for my ctf 1250 deck and I can’t seem to get anywhere your help would be appreciated thank you..
33:28 There's a huge amount of hiss before you can see the tape rolling; it might simply be the way you edited the video, don't know. Despite the elevated noise floor, the sound is quite good; I think I heard the tiniest bit of flutter, otherwise quite impressive for cassette. Link to the music used?
Hey, Tony. I just had a Pioneer CT-F9191serviced and it sounds good. One of the two motors needed replacement. Are the electrolytics in these critical to sound quality? Should I have them replaced just in case? 🤔
I think the caps in the audio path are critical to sound quality. The others didn't seem to be as big an issue, at least on this unit.
Why left channel was lower after adjustments?
Tony, Those trim pots may need cleaning!
You should show the difference from source and tape by simply pressing a button while recording! : )
They were a low quality contraptions. But then a low power and quity FM transmitter was even worse.
Yeah, nothing like converted TH-cam mp3 over your computer speakers...
👍
"In modern times, your mobile phone; anything that has a headphone jack"
You can tell your interest in electronics does not extend to portable fruit-based math machines. To which I say, thank God! :P
Next project should be a reel to reel tape deck ;)
I don't think my nerves could handle it :))
I have a dozen of those, two Teac which have even 6 heads, and a few 8-track ones with 1/2" tape. Enough work for a couple of years, I guess...
@@xraytonyb lol. I figured this last experience with tape probably had you saying "good riddance" after you had finished. Actually I think you would find them fun to work on, its just an expensive hobby. Parts and full restore kits are readily available for Revox and Studer units, it can just get pricey, especially for blank reels since only two companies in the world still make them (ATR and RTM), and calibration tapes are a little pricey... But the sound quality of even a prosumer reel to reel unit leaves the compact cassette for dust ;) I just had a Revox B77 MK2 fully restored and I have master grade tapes that have been recorded at 15IPS and the sound is just gorgeous.. Analog bliss :) Well, maybe one day if you are not feeling too traumatized by tape experiences, you might look into it :)
PS: And hearing a bit of tape print-through also adds to the charm ;)
12:26 I don't; I think you spent ten minutes dignifying a very stupid question. Short answer: to align a tape deck correctly you need a precision tape (as would have been used at the factory, when new) not some cheap work around for some even cheaper car stereo. No doubt the people behind the original question would happily have their car wheels balanced by judicious use of blu-tack.
I don't think it was a stupid question. We ask questions in order to learn. Not all of us spend a lot of time learning the fine details of tape recorders. To many of us, this sounds like a good idea to try, until you consider the issues related to these devices. I think it was well worth my time to explain to those who didn't know. Asking questions is how we get smarter ;) Thanks for the comment!
@@xraytonyb I agree. While happen to know the answer, not everyone does. You described the reasons very well. You also answered another common question as to why tape heads are not interchangeable from brand to brand , even deck to deck.
@@xraytonyb "Asking questions is how we get smarter" Asking questions is how we learn; we don't increase our IQ by asking questions. In my opinion the question was stupid, in your opinion it wasn't; so be it, we are entitled to our own opinions. Thanks for the feedback.
@@xraytonyb Ok; I'll explain why I think it was a stupid question. Here's an analogy: why shouldn't I jump into a swimming pool with a concrete block tied around my ankles? Apart from those saying why don't you, here's the mathematical reason: the concrete block has a greater density per unit volume than water. So, the volume of the concrete block around my ankles will have a far greater mass than the same volume of water it displaces; this means that the gravitational force on the concrete block will be greater than that of the surrounding water and therefore there will be a net downward force pulling the block and me with it. I just wasted thirty seconds typing the previous sentence. Most people wouldn't need to know it, they'd know that if they jumped into a swimming pool attached to a concrete block they'd drown. Similarly how could a cheap piece of junk MP3 cassette player, which was never meant to act as a piece of precision test equipment, be used to calibrate a cassette deck; to me it was self-evident that just inserting it into the player might actually damage the recoding head of the player; additionally it was clearly never built have any sort hi-fi pretensions and (as you said) would probably be highly non-linear. To me you were explaining the obvious; but that's just my opinion, to which most of us are thankfully able to freely express.
A great deal of "detailed" work. This is a good training series. BTW, took your suggestion for Signal Gen and purchased that 4162. Thanks for the look.