[SoundGoon]

I have a tape deck that I got from ebay a few years ago, and it is a very nice looking and very well built unit. However, it plays and records a slightly flatter (lower) than what it should. I replaced the belts when I got it thinking that that would fix the problem, but it didn't. Does anyone know what might cause this? Thanks.

 

[JackH]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by flatter/lower...

Do you mean the high-frequency sounds are missing/muted? If so, this could be misalignent of the head(s), or it could just be the tape's optimal bias is different from that for which the deck is adjusted. Have you tried different brands of tape? If it has any kind of manual bias fine-tuning adjustment, you could try that and see what happens.

Also, is the deck set correctly for the tape you're using? Unless it's very old, it probably has settings for type I ("normal" , "low noise") and type II ("chrome" , "high bias"); and if it's a little newer, it might also have a type IV ("metal") setting. Make sure this matches the tape you're using. A relatively small number of decks did this automatically; most left it to you.

 

[SoundGoon]

Hello; in terms of flatter, I mean the pitch - it sounds as though the deck maybe runs a little slow. I was wondering if this is a common problem and/or how to fix it. It is an older model, from the 80's, probably their top of the line consumer model.

 

[JackH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoundGoon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello; in terms of flatter, I mean the pitch - it sounds as though the deck maybe runs a little slow. I was wondering if this is a common problem and/or how to fix it. It is an older model, from the 80's, probably their top of the line consumer model.

It is indeed a common problem; speed adjustemnts seem to vary as a deck ages. Ideally, you'd have the service manual, a test tape, and a frequency counter, and the job would be simple.

The manual is a good investment if you plan to use this deck for a while. There's always something to fix, and having the manual will save you a lot of time and trouble.

In this case, you can probably get by without the manual, provided you can find the speed adjustment... it's usually a screw, located on or around the motor that drives the capstan. It can be hard to get to on some decks.

For the actual adjustment, you can try doing it by ear, using a commercially-recorded tape, or (even better IMHO) a tape made on a deck you know is adjusted right.

 

[JackH]

I just happened to perform this adjustment recently, and here's how I did it...

First, I bought a test tape. There are plenty of places that sell them; I got mine from Studio Sound Electronics. These tapes contain several test tones, including one that's meant for speed adjustment. Mine uses 1kHz.

The next step involved using my computer to generate a 1kHz tone. Most any audio editing software can do this; I use one called DC6. I generated the tone, and started it playing.

Now, the connections. I connected one channel from my computer's sound card output to one channel of my Pimeta (on topic at last!). I plugged one channel of the tape deck's output into the other channel of the Pimeta. And, of course, I plugged my headphones into the Pimeta's output, and turned everything on.

Now, all I had to do was play the test tape, and adjust the deck's speed until the two tones matched. It took a little fiddling with the sound card and tape deck level controls, but it worked quite nicely.

The accuracy of the adjustment should be quite good, assuming the computer's tone is highly accurate, which I believe it is. Listening tests seem to confirm this so far.