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I've lately been searching out for models where playback azimuth can be changed the easiest. I am excluding auto/manual knob control decks like Naks. All cassette decks have playhead azimuth screws, but as I understand there have been models where adjustment screws are easier to get at than...

I was having a conversation with a guy who told me he’d been repairing electronics for a long time, and he told me to avoid silver at all costs. The man said only buy tin and lead solder for vintage electronics, because silver will have problems “interacting” with the old solder and cause cold...

Selenium rectifiers hold the test of time. On a lot of the older equipment I restore they have solid state selenium rectifiers in the circuit. Some of the rectifiers I deal with are 40-50 years of age. That means they lasted 50 years without blowing up, which is relatively good shelf life. At...

I’m wondering what would be the exact name for these 6 pin plugs found commonly on desoldering stations. It has 1 small pin, and 5 larger pins. I am looking to adapt this connector to a wall outlet, because my desoldering stations have AC outlets instead of these connectors. My desoldering gun...

I’m in the middle of getting my new desoldering station powered up. I have not been able to locate a manual online yet. Built in 1978. I have it pretty much figured out, but not sure what the programs listed stand for. E, M, E/EM, M/ME, E/M, M/E. Pump still works, and still gets hot...

I have an MCI JH110 tape machine I am restoring, that has over 30 tantulum caps around the board. I’ve been told a few different opinions about how I should approach replacing all of the old caps. I had one tape enthusiast tell me that I should not replace tantulum caps with aluminum...

Busy restoring one of my MCI tape machines, cleaning the board I accidentally snapped off a flat pack ceramic capacitor network of one of the main circuit boards. This is what I have left of the ceramic cap. Is there anyway I can resuse or save this capacitor without having to make my own? As...

The golden rule is to never compress an already compressed audio file. However what if you convert a compressed file to a lossless format first? AAC < AIFF < MP3 (random scenario) Just out of curiosity, would that negate the terrible effects of converting a lossy to another lossy?

Can anyone help me answer sort of a newbie question I have around this subject. Back in 2014 I purchased my first reel to reel deck, that supposedly plays both 2 track and 4 track tape. A Teac 7030GSL. I began asking around to those in the tape community, and became aware that there is a...

Hello AK and Happy New Year! I have asked around a few tape enthusiasts, and just want to ask on here if anyone has heard or experienced this sound from their Teac or any other reel to reel decks before? There is a puttering noise coming from my left spindle motor, appears to be something...

I have always been told, you would not want to run an amp into your interface only the vinyl preamp for digital archiving. However, how does that pertain to quadraphonic vinyl such as SQ or QS? Reason I say that, most of the good decoders made were amplifiers themselves such as those Sansuis...

I cannot find much information on what technology this old sound card uses, what generation of PCI it would have been. Not sure how I would be able to tell from looking at it. PCI: 133 MB/s PCIe x1: 250 MB/s PCIe x2: 500MB/s (in each direction) PCIe x4: 1,000MB/s (in each direction) PCIe x8...

Does the Korg MR2000 recorder support native DSD during playback? I read that some downsample to PCM during playback, defeating the purpose.

I'm working with 160kbps OPUS music files. From what I heard at lower bit rates, OPUS just shines. I'm converting the OPUS files to mp3, and I may be going crazy. I've converted them to 160kbps mp3, and 256kbps mp3. I can hear the difference between the two MP3's on my headphones, but how is...

Very old type of connection, I forget what they are called and how to use them properly.

I cannot tell if this is an amp or preamp, or if it would work as both. There appears to be some pre gain stage built in, and would love to bypass the amplifier. There also appears to be four inputs in the back, and an RCA cable output? I'm guessing. Looks like it has to be powered with an...

Want to run my condenser mics into a tube preamp that only takes RCA inputs, but that would not supply phantom power. So I found what is called an external phantom power supply, which I would then output into the RCA jack of the tube preamp. Does that defeat the purpose? On a real mic tube...

Would I be able to replace the 4.7uf caps on the board with this I've found, to be small enough that would fit. Look to be two different categories of caps, but same capacitance and voltage. This is on a radio.

Am I right in saying that these caps I see inside this car radio, are the kind that are not prone to failure? This is out of a '75 Cordoba, and sounds like a Russian woodpecker. May need a recap, but was also suggested it could be a dirty ground. These caps look to be in good condition, I...

Tascam at one point made the DSD-98 capable of recording in DSD, to digital tape. Curious, if there would be any way to pull the DSD files off of the tape? How a system like that worked?

What kind of glue would you guys reccomend for circuit boards? I want to hold down a wire from dangling.

Can anyone reccomend what would be considered vintage by now, DSD recording gear. I ask because I am not running a professional studio, so have no need for the latest and greatest. Unfortunately when it comes to DSD there are no midrange products as most consumers have no need for it, I don't...

A recording engineer reccomended I capture my reel to reel collection in DSD format, that DSD better captures the depth of analog over a standard PCM USB ADC. What are your thoughts on this? Would DSD be a good choice for supurb digital conversion? Anyone have luck with it?

They have a lot of "weights" or "clamps" on the market, you have audiophiles putting them on top of vinyl to reduce vibration. Do they give favorable results?

I will be replacing all of the caps in my Sprague tester, and I came across one as follows. 600VDC 160P .02MI If I am reading that correctly, could it stand for 160pF?