Recent content by for_p1

Speed sense roller (left) does have two grooves by design. When replace pinch roller with new, do not forget to adjust force according to manual. Otari uses XLR with pin 3 hot, you may need to account for that with RCA conversion. I made my own XLR to RCA cables, this is an easy task.

Yes, I got MRL tape for 15ips, with 355nWb IEC. Calibrated to that. Now I need to make myself spend another $200 for 7.5ips tape, with 250nWb NAB to be able properly play commercial tapes. This machine has separate adjustments for various speeds and formats.

Considering the size, R2R machine is better to be put on TOP of the cabinet, just like TT. You may have a dedicated cabinet to store tapes inside and have R2R machine on top. That way you can place all these to the side and not to block TV view.

Otari are among the cheapest ones. Only two rubber covered rollers, both are available as new production. No belts in most models.

when looking at machines this old you need to pay more attention to: 1) Design for reliability: find machine with minimum rubber components (and no belts please!). Do not even look at machine which has less than 3 motors. 2) Condition of is heads. If heads are in bad shape, it will cost you a...

Mouser and DigiKey are your friends. If you do not know these sources, I do not recommend to do any work at component level.

I am too lazy to get off the sofa to press "play" or "rewind" buttons on Otari. Thus came a weekend project to add a remote control to that machine. I used old WDTV remote I had on hands, and Arduino controller. It was surprisingly easy - no additional components other than IR receiver and only...

They never marketed their machines to consumers. But Otari was one of main players in broadcast business. See here: https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/ManufacturersOtari.html

You will need a calibration tape for initial adjustment. I know they are still made for R2R, but not sure anyone makes new for cassettes. You besh chance is to find old calibration cassette somewhere. And use it for playback calibration, which is done first. Recording calibration is done second...

Here it is. Need to work on cable routing though.

After few members of local audiophile club got R2R tape machines, I decided to get one too - to get a sense of how good analog recording can be. I never had R2R recorder in the past and still remember how cassette tape recorders sucked in sound quality. I got Otari MX5050BIII-2, the latest...

Wherever I used to live and do live now record stores sell MOSTLY used records. Like 1:10 between new and used. They do not clean records before putting them in the bin for sale., but customers are free to inspect the record before buying. I did found some severely scratched and obviously passed...

When you replace stylus in MM cartridge, you essentially get a new cartridge. Stylus cost is usually around 80% of the complete cartridge cost. Other than stylus there is nothing else that wears in it.

Resistance, capacitance, crosstalk, magnetic and electrical shielding, piezoelectric effects.

Multimeter is too insensitive for that job. Benchtop 6 digit voltmeters which you need for this task are expensive devices.