Re: Any Compact Cassette experts left?


bg Wrote:
Ben Stratford wrote in message ...

bg Wrote:
Ben Stratford wrote in message ...

I have noticed a new, never seen before phenomenon with my Pioneer
CT-F1250 cassette deck. After setting up the calibration for a
taping
session with various tapes, I tape the first side - all ok. If I
rewind it and play it back its fine. But then if I tape the other
side, the first side has little or no right channel indicated!!! Has
anyone any ideas?


--
Ben Stratford

A stereo cassette head will have either two tracks or four tracks.
The
two
track version requires that the tape be flipped over to switch sides,
whereas the four track version usually has a direction switch that
selects
the A side or B side of the tape. It is not possible to have one
track
in
alignment and one or more other tracks out of alignment, because as
the
head
is moved, all of the tracks move together. It is common for the tape
guide
to be mounted to the head, so as the head is moved, the guide moves,
and the
tape will follow the head. If the head is severly out of alignment,
the
tape
might scew or bend, or even fold over, but any guidance problem
should
affect all tracks of both sides. A two track head with one bad track
will
show up as bad on both sides of the tape, but a four track head could
have
only one bad track. One possibility, is that your head might have
worn
down
and has formed a lip toward the center of the head. On one side of
the
tape,
the tape sits down inside the lip and still makes good contact, but
when the
tape is flipped over, there is just enough of a change to cause the
tape to
ride on top of the lip and not make good contact with the head. You
can
visually inspect the surface of the head for wear.

Many thanks for your assistance. I am getting the feeling that the
erase head is out of line with the combined play / record heads so
that
the erase head is partially erasing the wrong part of the tape as well
as the side being recorded on. What I do about it though is less
clear
as there does not seem to be much adjustment opportunity. Will have a
play after carefully noting the original positions.


--
Ben Stratford
Your left tracks are on the edges of the tape and your right tracks are
on
the inside of the tape. If the erase head was shifted towards the
center of
the tape, yes, it could possibly erase the right channel of the other
side.
You could try this - record your good side first, flip the tape over
and
record the other side. Flip the tape over again, play it back, if the
right
channel is damaged, the erase head is moved towards the center. Flip
the
tape over again and record it once more with no input signal. Play it
back,
and if the left channel wasn't cleanly erased, this would confirm that
the
erase head is towards the center of the tape---confusing huh?

BS ADDED:
Not now I know more about it. This is great, I can start to experiment
with some adjustments. It is the right channel of the first side that
gets partially wiped, so the erase head is misaligned some how. I had
previously demagnetised everything so had ruled that out. All the
transport components are clean and there is no wear on the heads that I
can see or feel, don't have any tones or the know how to apply any so
will have to use trial and error until I can fine tune it later,
perhaps a trip to the tec's would be best.


--
Ben Stratford
.

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