UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Gulliver · 2nd Dec 2019, 1:31 pm

Dobly NR does require reasonable compatibility of alignment between the record and playback decks...for Dolby C, this often means rec and pb on the very same deck. Dolby B was a bit more forgiving hence most pre-recorded cassettes using Dolby B from the mid 80s onwards.

Case in point, back in 1990 I recorded a lovely David Bowie concert live on BBC Radio 1 onto a Sony HF-S cassette with Dolby C using an Onkyo cassette deck.
That cassette would only play back properly on the Onkyo...not the subsequent Namamichi or Yamaha decks that I had.

Fast forward to 2016 and I obtained another Nakamichi Cassette Deck 2 which I've given a thorough going over....and suddenly that Bowie recording comes to life with correct Dolby C tracking...sounds like the original broadcast to my ears which are still good to about 19kHz.

There's little doubt that ultimately RTR is better...my humble Akai GX210D can sound better than my Nak if W&F isn't too critical...but a truly decent cassette deck with a good cassette can be quite amazing given the limitations. RTR didn't really need the "jungle juice" cassette formulations...decent Fe2O3 was sufficient at 7.5ips to run rings around most cassette decks even using type II and IV cassettes. Though there were cobalt doped Maxell XL1 and the aforementioned EE tapes such as Maxell XLII produced in the early 80s.

I still use cassette and occasionally RTR to record from FM radio.

2nd Dec 2019, 1:31 pm	#20
Gulliver Hexode Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK. Posts: 469	Re: Nakamichi bliss! Dobly NR does require reasonable compatibility of alignment between the record and playback decks...for Dolby C, this often means rec and pb on the very same deck. Dolby B was a bit more forgiving hence most pre-recorded cassettes using Dolby B from the mid 80s onwards. Case in point, back in 1990 I recorded a lovely David Bowie concert live on BBC Radio 1 onto a Sony HF-S cassette with Dolby C using an Onkyo cassette deck. That cassette would only play back properly on the Onkyo...not the subsequent Namamichi or Yamaha decks that I had. Fast forward to 2016 and I obtained another Nakamichi Cassette Deck 2 which I've given a thorough going over....and suddenly that Bowie recording comes to life with correct Dolby C tracking...sounds like the original broadcast to my ears which are still good to about 19kHz. There's little doubt that ultimately RTR is better...my humble Akai GX210D can sound better than my Nak if W&F isn't too critical...but a truly decent cassette deck with a good cassette can be quite amazing given the limitations. RTR didn't really need the "jungle juice" cassette formulations...decent Fe2O3 was sufficient at 7.5ips to run rings around most cassette decks even using type II and IV cassettes. Though there were cobalt doped Maxell XL1 and the aforementioned EE tapes such as Maxell XLII produced in the early 80s. I still use cassette and occasionally RTR to record from FM radio.