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#1
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
Hi folks.
I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
On 29 Jul 2006 09:44:56 -0700, "dodecatheon"
wrote: Hi folks. I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. You can rock the replay head gently from side to side while it is playing. If the sound improves one way or another, then get out your screwdriver. If you hear an improvement it is still 50/50 whether the new NAD or the old machine was out of adjustment. d -- Pearce Consulting http://www.pearce.uk.com |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
On 29 Jul 2006 09:44:56 -0700, "dodecatheon"
wrote: Hi folks. I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. Yes, adjusting the playback head azimuth could well make a difference. Clean it first, though. Yes, cassette tape sounded pretty bad :-) |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes justsound that bad?
Laurence Payne wrote: On 29 Jul 2006 09:44:56 -0700, "dodecatheon" wrote: Hi folks. I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. Yes, adjusting the playback head azimuth could well make a difference. Clean it first, though. Yes, cassette tape sounded pretty bad :-) Not on a Nakamichi it didn't ! Graham |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
"Eeyore" wrote in message ... Laurence Payne wrote: On 29 Jul 2006 09:44:56 -0700, "dodecatheon" wrote: Hi folks. I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. Yes, adjusting the playback head azimuth could well make a difference. Clean it first, though. Yes, cassette tape sounded pretty bad :-) Not on a Nakamichi it didn't ! Graham Actually just about any tape deck that was made in the latter days of cassette that had metal tape capability and Dolby HX Pro could make tapes that sounded pretty good. But commercially made tapes still sounded pretty bad. James. ) |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
The most common causes of your description, is that the head is clogged
or dirty, or magnetized, or is out of alignment. It is also possible that the head is warn. If the deck is very old, it is possible that there are capacitors that have become out of spec, thus effecting the frequency response. The best solution is to take the deck to a service centre that has people who know about servicing tape decks, and have them do the proper checks to tell you what the fault is, and give you an estimate to service it. -- Jerry G. "dodecatheon" wrote in message oups.com... Hi folks. I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? The system sounds fine with other sources - CD, tuner and phono. |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:50:15 GMT, "James Lehman"
wrote: Actually just about any tape deck that was made in the latter days of cassette that had metal tape capability and Dolby HX Pro could make tapes that sounded pretty good. But commercially made tapes still sounded pretty bad. Did you like metal? Sure, it would take the level. But I never thought it sounded very nice. I don't know if there's any technical justification for that. And I can't really be bothered to Google up an opinion :-) |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
"Laurence Payne" lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote in message ... On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:50:15 GMT, "James Lehman" wrote: Actually just about any tape deck that was made in the latter days of cassette that had metal tape capability and Dolby HX Pro could make tapes that sounded pretty good. But commercially made tapes still sounded pretty bad. Did you like metal? Sure, it would take the level. But I never thought it sounded very nice. I don't know if there's any technical justification for that. And I can't really be bothered to Google up an opinion :-) I was never a real cassette head. I was way into vinyl. It is my understanding that the very best you could do with a cassette deck was with good-old normal bias tape. A brand new normal tape, recorded once and played back for the first time had the best fidelity, but they wore out the fastest. Other formulae were more about improving the longevity of the medium. Metal was played back with normal bias, but it required more energy to make the recording and it was WAY more abrasive to the tape head. Back in the day, if you wanted to make a really good audio tape recording, one of the better ways was to use a video tape machine with stereo hifi sound; or just pay the big bucks for an open reel deck. James. ) |
#9
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
James Lehman wrote: Metal was played back with normal bias, Bias is NEVER used for playback. It is applied at recording as a means of assuring that the recorded levels are confined to the reasonable linear portion of the tape's B-H curve Perhaps you meant "playback equalization." |
#10
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
"James Lehman" wrote in message . .. Actually just about any tape deck that was made in the latter days of cassette that had metal tape capability and Dolby HX Pro could make tapes that sounded pretty good. You mean less bad. But commercially made tapes still sounded pretty bad. But for some reason people still bought them. A bit like some paying as much for MP3 downloads these days, as buying a CD. PT Barnum's saying didn't allow for the population explosion. MrT. |
#11
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
wrote in message oups.com... James Lehman wrote: Metal was played back with normal bias, Bias is NEVER used for playback. It is applied at recording as a means of assuring that the recorded levels are confined to the reasonable linear portion of the tape's B-H curve Perhaps you meant "playback equalization." In which case he would still be wrong though. MrT. |
#12
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Is my tape deck out of adjustment or do old prerecorded tapes just sound that bad?
"dodecatheon" wrote in message oups.com... ** Groper alert ! I bought an old NAD 6240 tape deck of ebay to play some of my wife's old tapes from the 80s, just for fun. The sound quality is rather poor - bass is muddy and treble is kind of muffled. ** Try switching the " Dobly " off ....... ( Or go watch the Spinal Tap DVD. ) Is my tape deck in need of serious adjustment, or is this the best that can be expected from old prerecorded tapes? ** It is all that can be expected from old CRAP bought off Ebay. ......... Phil |
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