Post by CountryCrock on Mar 19, 2024 23:32:20 GMT
1. Pioneer cheapened-out on adding a
dual-capstan transport; where,
the left-hand/"second" pinch
roller lacks an actual drive
(due-to: the unit's selling-point
of a single direct driven motor)
mechanism to "clamp down" on
the tape path's wrap --- leaving
just an (honestly) UNDERSIZED
roller/capstan combo on the
right-hand side to "drag" the
tape across; particularly: the
707 reversing model.
This *will* be a problematic
issue on an example machine
having; either heads worn out of
alignment or the rubber of the
load-driven pinch roller (the
right-sided one) having gone
non pliant with a gloss
glaze over it. Meaning: if a
vintage reel has a loose "pack"
on itself; or if the recording
was made on acetate base tape
(red or greenish-brown oxide, and
extremely breakable) --- the
tape will play all muffled due-
to the wrap around the headblock
having no backtension remaining
at "like new" specifications
(because of the combination of an
aged machine bought in the wild,
most likely, having worn heads
as well as the pinch roller's
traction compromised).
2. As for the heads themselves:
Pioneer used the same OEM which
supplied imitation Teac-type
to DOKORDER for the 700 and 900-
Series machines (the earlier "T"-
prefix decks had heads supplied
by Matsushita/Panasonic).
As that late, great Renaissance
man of audio (Tim de Paravicini)
said to the effect: "A tape deck
is *only* as good as its heads".
Put a new-old-stock 1/4 or 1/2
track-configuration NORTRONICS
playback head on a (fully other-
wise restored) three-motor design
Akai or Sony from the early-'70s
...and: it suddenly becomes a
machine in a 'whole different
league. I mean: 3 3/4ips on my
1965, first-gen solid (Germanium
transistors) state Magnecord
1024 (claiming, at most, only
a top-end of 10k at 3 3/4ips)
--- sounds BETTER than what
an Akai "GX" head (claiming a
3 3/4ips frequency response to
16k) sound(ed) like. Why? Well,
aside from the Magnecord having
a 25-watt preamplifier with a
dedicated power supply (which
the majority of Japan consumer
decks did not): the superior
construction tolerances of the
laminations within the Nortronics
heads (the Magnecord was built
with) produce a discernably
better soundstage clarity and
non-"peaky" (i.e. "flat") freq.
response. (An accessory kit of
spare, unused 1/4-track heads
someone had bought came with that
machine when I'd found it ---
and I rigged a Nortronics PB
head to an Akai GX-365D. The
cruddy old "2SC458" Hitachis had
already been dispensed with,
anyhow, for new "2SC1845"s. So,
most of the adjustments to suit
the new head took care of
themselves anyway; as: I rebuilt
the Akai's PB preamp card with
all 1%-tolerance Vishay parts,
which leave NO "strain" on the
higher output level of the
Nortronics head at all.)
Beware all those 701 and 707 decks for sale, then, on Audiogon/U.S. AudioMart/Canuck AudioMart/Reverb/and Ebay (from: "sellers" advertised in the upper Midwest and in the Great Lakes *especially*). They
are not worth $800+level in performance. A TEAC 2300, 3300, 4300 --- or an AKAI GX-630 (which, along with the Teac 3300, would both be three-motor/10" 1/2-reel "entry level" decks...lol: nothing "budget" about them!) --- can all be had, instead, for $500-and-under thesedays.
Trying to "fatten up" the sound of a digital mix by dubbing it to analog can only reach its fullest potential using the reel format. The record level saturation point beats the shit out of cassette (always did: it's double, and measured at "0 VU"...not on a "-20 VU" curve like cassette is) as well as; how, the bass and depth of analog sound comes from having the widest "media real estate" 1/4"-or-more tape can do without distortion wrecking the rest of the frequency range.
dual-capstan transport; where,
the left-hand/"second" pinch
roller lacks an actual drive
(due-to: the unit's selling-point
of a single direct driven motor)
mechanism to "clamp down" on
the tape path's wrap --- leaving
just an (honestly) UNDERSIZED
roller/capstan combo on the
right-hand side to "drag" the
tape across; particularly: the
707 reversing model.
This *will* be a problematic
issue on an example machine
having; either heads worn out of
alignment or the rubber of the
load-driven pinch roller (the
right-sided one) having gone
non pliant with a gloss
glaze over it. Meaning: if a
vintage reel has a loose "pack"
on itself; or if the recording
was made on acetate base tape
(red or greenish-brown oxide, and
extremely breakable) --- the
tape will play all muffled due-
to the wrap around the headblock
having no backtension remaining
at "like new" specifications
(because of the combination of an
aged machine bought in the wild,
most likely, having worn heads
as well as the pinch roller's
traction compromised).
2. As for the heads themselves:
Pioneer used the same OEM which
supplied imitation Teac-type
to DOKORDER for the 700 and 900-
Series machines (the earlier "T"-
prefix decks had heads supplied
by Matsushita/Panasonic).
As that late, great Renaissance
man of audio (Tim de Paravicini)
said to the effect: "A tape deck
is *only* as good as its heads".
Put a new-old-stock 1/4 or 1/2
track-configuration NORTRONICS
playback head on a (fully other-
wise restored) three-motor design
Akai or Sony from the early-'70s
...and: it suddenly becomes a
machine in a 'whole different
league. I mean: 3 3/4ips on my
1965, first-gen solid (Germanium
transistors) state Magnecord
1024 (claiming, at most, only
a top-end of 10k at 3 3/4ips)
--- sounds BETTER than what
an Akai "GX" head (claiming a
3 3/4ips frequency response to
16k) sound(ed) like. Why? Well,
aside from the Magnecord having
a 25-watt preamplifier with a
dedicated power supply (which
the majority of Japan consumer
decks did not): the superior
construction tolerances of the
laminations within the Nortronics
heads (the Magnecord was built
with) produce a discernably
better soundstage clarity and
non-"peaky" (i.e. "flat") freq.
response. (An accessory kit of
spare, unused 1/4-track heads
someone had bought came with that
machine when I'd found it ---
and I rigged a Nortronics PB
head to an Akai GX-365D. The
cruddy old "2SC458" Hitachis had
already been dispensed with,
anyhow, for new "2SC1845"s. So,
most of the adjustments to suit
the new head took care of
themselves anyway; as: I rebuilt
the Akai's PB preamp card with
all 1%-tolerance Vishay parts,
which leave NO "strain" on the
higher output level of the
Nortronics head at all.)
Beware all those 701 and 707 decks for sale, then, on Audiogon/U.S. AudioMart/Canuck AudioMart/Reverb/and Ebay (from: "sellers" advertised in the upper Midwest and in the Great Lakes *especially*). They
are not worth $800+level in performance. A TEAC 2300, 3300, 4300 --- or an AKAI GX-630 (which, along with the Teac 3300, would both be three-motor/10" 1/2-reel "entry level" decks...lol: nothing "budget" about them!) --- can all be had, instead, for $500-and-under thesedays.
Trying to "fatten up" the sound of a digital mix by dubbing it to analog can only reach its fullest potential using the reel format. The record level saturation point beats the shit out of cassette (always did: it's double, and measured at "0 VU"...not on a "-20 VU" curve like cassette is) as well as; how, the bass and depth of analog sound comes from having the widest "media real estate" 1/4"-or-more tape can do without distortion wrecking the rest of the frequency range.