Quote:
Originally Posted by gramofiend
I forgot , in my ramble, the best feature of the Nakamichi CR7E after the auto line up was the little black knob on the machine marked Azimuth!...
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It could have been the best feature of a whole lot of tape machines, including most Naks, if only they had had it.
It's interesting that in the early days, Nak provided a
record azimuth control (eg: NAK 700) but the much later CR7 had
playback azimuth control. When transferring old cassette recordings optimally, a record head azimuth control, as per some high end Naks, is of course of useless.
For me a front panel play head azimuth adjuster, coupled with Nak's "pressure pad lifter" on the dual capstan models are the two most important features.
Of course the downside of any "front panel" adjuster is that adjusting it incorrectly can cause more problems than it solves.
Another perhaps little known fact is that cassettes recorded on simple single capstan machines can drift in recorded azimuth from start to end of a tape side, as the changing tape back tension can also change the recorded azimuth. If played back on the same type of machine the error may not appear but played on a dual capstan machine, while good in other ways, can introduce an azimuth error.
Here's my "poor man's" little black knob mod fitted many years ago to a humble Nak 480 but it can be fitted to many dual capstan Naks without change. Simple direct drive on the playback azimuth screw.