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Old 6th Jul 2019, 12:20 am   #2
paulsherwin
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
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Default Re: How to set the speed on cassette decks.

The official way to do it is to use a manufacturer's reference tape and a lab grade frequency counter. I don't have either of those, so this is how I do it:

1. Generate some some sine wave tone using software, and save it as a WAV file.
2. Burn the WAV file to an audio CD.
3. Record the CD onto a cassette using a known good recorder.
4. Play the CD on a player while playing the cassette on the player needing adjustment.
5. Adjust the speed for a zero beat between the two.

Domestic deck speed stability isn't great and it can be difficult to find the exactly correct setting, but you can get very close.
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