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m0cemdave · 10th Nov 2019, 9:39 pm

I found the biggest problem with cassettes was poor interchangeability between machines. It was rare to find two players with the same azimuth alignment, and the resulting poor frequency response was exaggerated if Dolby was in use.

When I needed to copy cassettes recorded on various random machines to my Revox (usually demo's, or board tapes of shows I had mixed live) I found I could get surprisingly good results by carefully aligning the head to each tape. I fitted a long screw to the head on my Akai cassette machine to make this easier. The technique was to first adjust the head for maximum HF whilst listening in mono, then repeat the procedure listening to one channel only. Some years later later I used a method of feeding both tracks to a double beam scope and aligning them visually.

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Does anyone remember the Elcaset? It was like a compact cassette but twice the size. A pro-audio manufacturer that I worked with had one in their loudspeaker demo room, along with the usual disc and reel-to-reel, and it sounded very good. It was one of those products, like Betamax, that failed in the mass market due to bad timing rather than inferior technology.

10th Nov 2019, 9:39 pm	#21
m0cemdave Octode Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, UK. Posts: 1,223	Re: Back To The future with a C90 I found the biggest problem with cassettes was poor interchangeability between machines. It was rare to find two players with the same azimuth alignment, and the resulting poor frequency response was exaggerated if Dolby was in use. When I needed to copy cassettes recorded on various random machines to my Revox (usually demo's, or board tapes of shows I had mixed live) I found I could get surprisingly good results by carefully aligning the head to each tape. I fitted a long screw to the head on my Akai cassette machine to make this easier. The technique was to first adjust the head for maximum HF whilst listening in mono, then repeat the procedure listening to one channel only. Some years later later I used a method of feeding both tracks to a double beam scope and aligning them visually. ----- Does anyone remember the Elcaset? It was like a compact cassette but twice the size. A pro-audio manufacturer that I worked with had one in their loudspeaker demo room, along with the usual disc and reel-to-reel, and it sounded very good. It was one of those products, like Betamax, that failed in the mass market due to bad timing rather than inferior technology.