Show us your Machine

[miatadan]

old system with Nakamichi cassette deck + JBL speakers

Dan

[lantyboy696]

whats a tape? lol jokeing ofc, but find it odd you guys still have these things given the year were in :P

But most of you guys are mature men so its ok i guess

[skunark]

Where are the 8-tracks at?

[altbrewer]

Newest acquisition - TEAC A-3340S. A little banged up, but it cleaned up pretty well, and all functions work. Sticker on the back suggests it was serviced/tuned up in this century. I would have preferred a 2 channel machine, but the price was right on this one.

I am a R2R newb and am finding it to be a much more complicated world than using cassettes. Any good resources out there for beginners?

TEAC A-3340S.jpg

[Myles B. Astor]

Almost done. Still have to install the Dueland caps in the King/Cello tape preamplifier (instead of Mundorf Au/Ag/Oil).

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Myles B. Astor

Almost done. Still have to install the Dueland caps in the King/Cello tape preamplifier (instead of Mundorf Au/Ag/Oil).

Very cool, I have an RS-1500-US too. Maybe it's time to put it into use.

[Myles B. Astor]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Very cool, I have an RS-1500-US too. Maybe it's time to put it into use.

The problem as I recently wrote about in my Yarlung Records/tape review is that these old machines are equipped with '70s ss electronics (ugh!) and really sound solid-statish. OTOH, the Technics tape path and tape handling is one of the best (if you look inside, they used the same motors as in their most expensive tts fo the day).

So, if one is serious, the best route is directly hardwiring the headblock (you can also eliminate the 2/4 track option if you're only going to listen to 2 track tapes and eliminate another contact in the circuit) to an external tape preamplifier. The sound will improve immeasurably.

If one really wants to go whole hog and extract the last few pct of performance from the deck, then one needs to change the heads, something that is not that hard to do luckily because of the design of the Technics headblock. But one will have to be able to--or have someone capable of--realigning the heads. The effort is really worth it as the FR now extends over 20 K. One really hears much better extremes, far tighter lows, lower noise floor, greater resolution and dynamics. Like everything else in audio, it'll take 50-70 hrs of playing for the heads to wear/break in.

[Masterlu]

It looks a bit like the Heads are on Life Support.

[Myles B. Astor]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

It looks a bit like the Heads are on Life Support.

Yes unfortunately swapped out headblocks and the one that came with the new heads wasn't in as nice a shape as the one I traded in OTOH, can eventually replace the cover with something that Jeff Jacobs at J-corder makes for the Technics decks.

Myles

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Myles B. Astor

Yes unfortunately swapped out headblocks and the one that came with the new heads wasn't in as nice a shape as the one I traded in OTOH, can eventually replace the cover with something that Jeff Jacobs at J-corder makes for the Technics decks.

Myles

J. Jacobs does a spectacular job with these machines.