kevinmi Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 They sold the crap out of tape head demagnetizers back in the day. Funny thing is that the heads are made of stainless steel which is impervious to magnetization! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinmi Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I still have a cassette deck, and make tapes for my 87 Vette which has the original Bose cassette stereo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 1 hour ago, muel said: Gotta keep 'em clean! Store bought tapes require a cleaning after one play it seems. Just don't do it. I never play 'standard' store bought tapes. The only store bought tapes I play are very high quality ones like the Nakamichi Reference Series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 26 minutes ago, kevinmi said: They sold the crap out of tape head demagnetizers back in the day. Funny thing is that the heads are made of stainless steel which is impervious to magnetization! I don't know about that. Back in the day, the audio shop I frequented would host factory reps and engineers in the store periodically. The Nakamichi engineers would look over your tape deck, measure and adjust things, and clean and demagnetize the heads. They did it to mine several times. I'm not sure what the heads are made of, maybe there is some ferrous metal in there. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinmi Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 4 minutes ago, Opus said: I don't know about that. Back in the day, the audio shop I frequented would host factory reps and engineers in the store periodically. The Nakamichi engineers would look over your tape deck, measure and adjust things, and clean and demagnetize the heads. They did it to mine several times. I'm not sure what the heads are made of, maybe there is some ferrous metal in there. ? I don't know either, but I think we were duped. I own at least 2 head demagnetizers! I've never heard an improvement after demagnetizing heads. A RTR tech that I use , who worked for Teac, told me I was wasting my time with demagnetizing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 16 hours ago, kevinmi said: I don't know either, but I think we were duped. I own at least 2 head demagnetizers! I've never heard an improvement after demagnetizing heads. A RTR tech that I use , who worked for Teac, told me I was wasting my time with demagnetizing I seem to recall it is more of an issue if you use 'metal' tape. But, I don't have a demagnetizer and my tape heads have not been demagnetized in years. I use 'metal' tape almost exclusively. While my tape deck is setup and ready to use in my main 2-channel system, I don't run tape very often these days. Mostly I just use it when a guest comments on it. I like to show them how good cassette can sound Most people are very surprised how it sounds, because they have never heard a good tape setup. They just remember their JC Penney 'hi-fi" system with the built in tape deck, playing back those pre-recorded white shell cassettes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I got this from Tapeheads.net, where a lot o folks posted their thoughts. What is mentioned most often is that most cheap demags barely work on cassette heads, much less on the rest of the transport pieces. --- I do de-mag the heads regularly, especially if I am using high-frequency test tapes. I've seen the level on 15 kHz tape to drop by 2 dB in one pass when I've forgot to demag the head once. However here my two cents: 1) If you just bought an old deck it would be wise to de-mag the heads as you don't know it's history. Same goes if you use a test tape and want it to live longer. 2) In a regular use it is important to understand that different material heads suffer very different level of magnetization. Ferrite heads in particular, from my experience, can be easily magnetized and it is better to de-mag them regularly. Permalloy heads are much better in this respect and amorphous better still. I am not sure about sendust heads. 3) In general, a regular de-mag is only needed on a 3-head decks or on PB-only units (walkmans etc.) . 2-head decks have a very efficient auto de-mag built in, it is called the recording mode . Just switch the deck to record for few seconds and the heads are demagnetised! 4) You should never de-mag thin film MR heads on the decks like Technics RS-AZ6 and AZ7 5) On some decks the PB amp input circuit can actually cause the PB head magnetisation. If that is the case the PB amp needs a modification. In particular some circuits with a differential FET input (like on the Sony TC-K870ES, the Technics RS-B965, the Marantz SD-60, the Revox H-11 etc. ) could be quite bad it this respect during the power on and power off moments. I've discovered it when I've replaced a permalloy head on the Technics RS-B965 with a ferrite one and noticed quite quickly that the noise level on playback rises by about 6 dB after I've switched the deck off and on again. After a de-mag noise was gone but reappeared again after another power off-on cycle. On the original permalloy head that effect was not readily noticeable - but it was obviously there in a first place and would gradually magnetise the head more and more. I've implemented a very simple mod on all decks in my collection with that kind of PB amp input and it completely cures this problem - just a small Shottky diode from the common source point of the differential FET stage to the signal ground with the diode anode towards the ground - it prevents any chance of a DC current through the gate of the input FET and hence through the PB head coil. Also quite a few decks have an opamp input with a small but not insignificant DC current floating through the PB head and it could also create some magnetisation over period of time. 6) I've seen more than once magnetized spots on capstans when these spots actually recorded clicks and pops on the tape during playback. In that case a thorough de-mag is the only cure if you don't like your precious recordings to be spoiled. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT FAN Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 21 hours ago, ricktate said: I got an Akia GX F-71 3 head deck from Crutchfield and it still kicks butt. I had the GX-51 & loved that machine, great sound and mechanics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/26/2019 at 11:18 PM, Budman said: still have my Pioneer CT-F1000 Nice! I had one of those too.... in fact, it was the very first piece of audio equipment I bought.... followed by my Electrovoice Interface D's. Anyone see any problem yet with me having a nice tape deck....nice speakers.... and nothing (and I do mean nothing) else?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 2 minutes ago, Coytee said: Anyone see any problem yet with me having a nice tape deck....nice speakers.... and nothing (and I do mean nothing) else?? Except you have amps and other gear to go with it all. Plus your outdoor movie system... I'm sure there is more around that you aren't taking about. 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT FAN Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I had close to 1,000 cassettes at my peak and even after giving away armloads of them I still have several hundred. I was a dedicated Maxell fan, XL II S, TDK SA in a pinch. I am lucky enough to own a Nakamichi Dragon and even though it needs a service call it still sounds great. I own a large collection of bootlegs and radio broadcasts on cassette and have converted a couple of them to cd. My goal is to burn the higher quality ones to cd and then chuck the garbage. Since my car still has a deck in it, I still routinely listen to cassettes, and they still sound good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 1 hour ago, Marvel said: Except you have amps and other gear to go with it all. Plus your outdoor movie system... I'm sure there is more around that you aren't taking about. 😉 Nope, not at the time. I was 18 years old... starting to acquire things. In fact, I knew my mother would flip a lid if she saw these huge speakers so I left the entire ensemble at my girlfriends house and built it in her bedroom until I bought my first Yamaha receiver. (she plugged the things into her Sansui) She was a bit bummed when I pulled the stuff out to take it home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khorn51 Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Cds never sounded as good as tapes made on my nakamichi dragon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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