Power Up and test play.

These tests are made using scrap tape, and a pre-recorded tape. The deck functions as expected in both directions, the tape path looks clean, and the rollers look okay. A short test recording indicates that the machine is functional for recording and reproducing in both directions and that the noise reduction systems operate. Looking at the owner’s manual I can see that fundamentally the machine is meeting operational requirements.

Check for Wow and Flutter

For a rough check, I use a 1 kHz -10db test tape. At this stage I am listening by ear for obvious worn belts and pinch rollers. Of course, the condition might have been indicated in the test play step above. In this case I think I did hear a little warble, so now on to the next issue, look inside.

Remove the cover and look for worn belts, hardened grease, and worn rollers in the tape drive. Often a simple application of a tiny bit of rubber cleaner/dressing can allow you to avoid replacing rollers and such. Any lubrication should be very slight.

On these machines, a bit of sewing machine oil on the capstan bearing, and on the cassette hubs can be very useful. Apply this oil using a needle. Of special note do not clean capstans with alcohol, as this can run down into the bearing and dry them out. Slightly moisten a swab with methanol and clean the capstan[s] with an almost dry swab. This may have an ever so small beneficial impact on the wow and flutter of the machine.

On this machine, the belt does look worn. The rplacement belt I have does not look like the same width, so I am not sure this is going to be worth trying. At this stage, a more detailed wow and flutter evaluation is needed. I do have a test tape and a Leader Wow and Flutter meter, so this will be the next step. I am going to diverge a bit here and talk about another technique. Before I commit my wow and flutter tape to this project, I want to see if the machine tracks the tape appropriately.

There is a magnetic ‘developer’ that can be used to show the magnetic pattern on recorded materials. I am going to bulk erase a cassette I have reserved for this purpose, and make a 100 hZ square wave recording in both stereo directions. Then I will develop the recorded signal and see where the record/playback head traces the tape. This won’t show azimuth, but it will show the tracks the machine puts down on the tape, and of course where on the tape it reads also since the record play head is the same. Since this is a reversing machine I will record in the reverse direction also. I am not concerned about levels here, so I will just use a signal generator and use the decks own ‘vu meters’ as a guide to the recorded level.