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Old 4th Dec 2019, 12:32 am   #1
JayBee66
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Kilkenny, Ireland
Posts: 138
Default How noisy are reel to reels?

I have a Hitachi TRQ-730D reel to reel. Made in about 1970.

The machine is acceptably quiet in standby, with just the fan running but when I engage the functions; play, record, fast forward, rewind then the mechanics make quite a bit of noise. About the same amount as my old cine projector did.

How can anyone record from a microphone with that racket going on?

I downloaded the service manual and followed the oiling instructions but it wasn't all that dry or dirty. No improvement.

How much noise should I expect?

As I don't have any use for it I might convert it into a tape delay (a la Watkins Copicat), bypass the old mechanics and drive the pinch wheel with a small 12V motor. Just enough to drag a small tape loop around.

In the meantime, if I can quiet it down then I will.
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