I am looking for a cassette deck that enables manual azimuth
adjustment for playback.Would consider a deck that does not record,if
playback is flawless.
Thanks,Raanan

On 3/27/05 8:01 AM, in article
, "Raanan Eylon"
wrote:

I am looking for a cassette deck that enables manual azimuth
adjustment for playback.Would consider a deck that does not record,if
playback is flawless.
Thanks,Raanan

Take the loading door cover off
Get a $6 set of mini screwdrivers
Go to it.

SSJVCmag wrote:
, "Raanan Eylon"
wrote:

I am looking for a cassette deck that enables manual azimuth
adjustment for playback.Would consider a deck that does not record,if
playback is flawless.

Take the loading door cover off
Get a $6 set of mini screwdrivers
Go to it.

Works well enough for the occasional job, but if you're doing this on a
daily basis the screw wears out. It's possible to retrofit a vernier
control on (I have done it to the Tascam 122), but these days it's probably
cheaper just to buy a used Dragon.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I thought at one time there was a deck that AUTOMATICALLY adjusted the
playback azmuth itself. Was this true?


If so.... How well did it work? I asumme it did some phase comparison
between the L and R.

Mark

Mark;

I thought at one time there was a deck that AUTOMATICALLY adjusted the
playback azmuth itself. Was this true?


If so.... How well did it work? I asumme it did some phase comparison
between the L and R.

Mark

The Nakamichi Dragon does this. It divides one track (not sure if it is
the left or right track) into an upper and lower half so it can compare
the phase response of a MONO signal and adjust the azimuth for optimum
phase alignment of the upper and lower windings of that track. The
azimuth adjustment is motorized. Any tape made on any machine could have
the azimuth optimized by this approach.

John Hardy
The John Hardy Co.
www.johnhardyco.com

thanks
Mark

Mark wrote:

I thought at one time there was a deck that AUTOMATICALLY adjusted the
playback azmuth itself. Was this true?

There were several of them. Nak and Sony both made some. Also, there
were a bunch of cart machines that did the same thing (cart machine
azimuth stability being even worse than that of cassettes, if such a
thing can be imagined).

If so.... How well did it work? I asumme it did some phase comparison
between the L and R.

Right, and for the most part it didn't work too badly, at least the Nak
ones didn't. They could take a minute or so to settle down, but once
they did, they worked pretty well. I'd rather have a manual vernier
control, but then I like driving a car with a manual transmission too.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

SSJVCmag wrote:
On 3/27/05 8:01 AM, in article
, "Raanan Eylon"
wrote:

I am looking for a cassette deck that enables manual azimuth
adjustment for playback.Would consider a deck that does not record,if
playback is flawless.

Take the loading door cover off
Get a $6 set of mini screwdrivers
Go to it.

I did that once many years ago when I was a college student. I was
poor, so I had my Sony Walkman plugged into my NAD receiver's tape
inputs. That Walkman had a little plastic piece that could be popped
out which left a hole where you could easily adjust the azimuth.
Cassette sound sucked, so I regularly adjusted the azimuth for
whatever I was playing.

One day I stuck my little mini screwdriver in there and started
adjusting like normal. Soon I smelled a funny smell of smoke and
iron, and I noticed the treble response had gotten much *worse*,
not better. Eventually I noticed the lack of treble wasn't just
with tapes but was with CDs and radio too. Then I realized the
funny smell was both my tweeters saying "goodbye, cruel world".

I still do not understand how it happened. I didn't have the volume
up high at all. It was quite some time ago, but I vaguely remember
that some kind of buzz or high-pitched noise would happen when I
inserted the screwdriver. The noise didn't seem particularly loud,
so I was never concerned about it.

I'd be interested to hear if someone can explain exactly what might've
happened. Perhaps the screwdriver triggered some kind of oscillation
for some reason, but I don't get why it would. (But then, I don't
purport to understand analog electronics on anything but the most
basic level.)

- Logan

The Nakamichi Dragon does this. It divides one track (not sure if it is
the left or right track)...

It's the left, as the left is closer to the edge of the tape, and thus more
subject to skew and other azimut errors.

Logan Shaw wrote:
One day I stuck my little mini screwdriver in there and started
adjusting like normal. Soon I smelled a funny smell of smoke and
iron, and I noticed the treble response had gotten much *worse*,
not better. Eventually I noticed the lack of treble wasn't just
with tapes but was with CDs and radio too. Then I realized the
funny smell was both my tweeters saying "goodbye, cruel world".

I still do not understand how it happened. I didn't have the volume
up high at all. It was quite some time ago, but I vaguely remember
that some kind of buzz or high-pitched noise would happen when I
inserted the screwdriver. The noise didn't seem particularly loud,
so I was never concerned about it.

It was ultrasonic stuff, which is why you couldn't have heard it.
And knowing the stability of some of the Walkman clones back then,
the screwdriver may have had nothing to do with it. But if you
were hearing a high-pitched squeal, that's not a good sign.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."