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Does anybody do cassette deck "alignments"?

leesonic

leesonic

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I have an Aiwa AD-F330 that I got from a fellow AKer. I'll probably do a write-up on it at a later date, since getting it back working was a challenge. Long story short, I replaced all the e-caps, replaced the two belts and a tire, and got all the conductive glue out from under the two Dolby(tm) chips.

Is there anybody that could "align" it now? I don't have any test tapes or anything like that.
 
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It looks like there's only one plane of adjustment on the heads, I would think accessing the screws might be the challenge.
 
leesonic said:
I have an Aiwa AD-F330 that I got from a fellow AKer. I'll probably do a write-up on it at a later date, since getting it back working was a challenge. Long story short, I replaced all the e-caps, replaced the two belts and a tire, and got all the conductive glue out from under the two Dolby(tm) chips.

Is there anybody that could "align" it now? I don't have any test tapes or anything like that.
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i believe that alphatech in st louis does full alignments to cassettes and r2r.

i doubt that there are many people left in this field.
 
leesonic said:
Is there anybody that could "align" it now? I don't have any test tapes or anything like that.
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What makes you believe that it needs an alignment? Is it recording poorly, or playback not sounding good? Generally, you would not need to align it from factory settings.
 
dankik said:
What makes you believe that it needs an alignment? Is it recording poorly, or playback not sounding good? Generally, you would not need to align it from factory settings.
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Playback level is lower on the right channel, the same channel that had a popping noise before I cleaned the old glue off the Dolby chips. There may still be some old glue on the meter board, and the level/balance boards that needs cleaning off. Probably will never use it for recording, it's more to listen to old tapes and reminisce.
 
I align decks, but that model has become too problematic to touch, especially when someone else was already in it. A "simple" alignment job can turn into a major headache due to other problems. So keep that in mind, changing a few caps may not have fixed the deck, and it may not actually need an "alignment".
 
leesonic said:
I was thinking something more along the lines of using test tapes like the TTA-161, TTA-171E, and TTA-119J, as mentioned in the service manual, and on this thread :

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...09-calibration-question.871405/#post-12769348

View attachment 3540967
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#5 and #6 sound like the "test tape" is actually a blank tape you are recording on to.

#4 sounds like a simple tone test tape, this one at 10kHZ. I've found modern versions of these, professionally made, on eBay and similar for reasonable money. They've worked great for this kind of alignment on my Onkyo, Kenwood and Sansui.

#3 sounds like a specifica pre=-recorded level signal. I'd try looking on, again, ebay, for this kind of test tape.

Just my $0.02
 
So let me elaborate on the problems it had when I got it. It needed new belts for sure. But the main fuse was blown, which seemed strange. What I found was the main capacitor was short circuited, this was a Nichicon cap from 1983. I replaced this and installed a new fuse, and then got power. Going on the CRAZY logic that if one 42 year old cap was bad, then surely the rest would not be far behind, I replaced all the rest of the electrolytic caps. Right about now is where the "don't just recap it" brigade steps in.
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done yet?
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Good. Next came a new belt kit and tire, from separate sellers in Europe. This got the mechanism working again, but there was a problem. The left channel played fine, the right channel had a loud click about once every second. The Dolby board had a lot of old glue underneath the chips, so I carefully desoldered them both, cleaned the glue away, and reinstalled them. This got the deck playing again through both channels, but the right hand channel still seems low on the meter, but doesn't actually sound too bad. As I mentioned above, there is still some old glue on the meter board that I had yet to clean off.

Everybody happy now?

My thanks to @11somekid for very kindly sending me this deck for free.
 
When you said "alignments" I think of all the jigs in the Nak Tech Bag for mechanical adjustments of the transport. I think your thinking of a tape test set equipment, I've got a 3M Mincom 8100A and an older model out in the shop. These will send out a test tone that you can record and use for wow & flutter. They are also capable of doing many other tests but I've only used mine for W&F. My Mincom has an Ampex Sticker on it, so it has a good pedigree. They also work great with testing tapes, usually found in groups, here's the TEAC Versions.

TEAC
1. MTT-256U Freq
2. MTT-150 Dolby Level Calibration Tone
3. MTT-114N Azmuith
4. MTT-111DN Flutter

I'm not an expert on any of this, I was picking up test equipment/tapes when it was considered scrap, I just like to play around with it when I have the time. If a channel is going out I check the tiny wires going into the head, they can take a beating along with the RCA outs.

Good luck, those are neat looking decks.
 
Unless you have test tapes the job is harder. However if you assume that the tape path has not been messed with the meters and output levels can be roughly checked. If the head azimuth screw still has unbroken locking compound on it that’s a good start.
Using a prerecorded tape can help determine if playback levels are equal. A live tape with applause is usually of equal magnitude in both channels, and there’s always mono tapes.
Play one back into your scope and go from there.
 
leesonic said:
I have an Aiwa AD-F330 that I got from a fellow AKer. I'll probably do a write-up on it at a later date, since getting it back working was a challenge. Long story short, I replaced all the e-caps, replaced the two belts and a tire, and got all the conductive glue out from under the two Dolby(tm) chips.

Is there anybody that could "align" it now? I don't have any test tapes or anything like that.
Click to expand...
I have for years, worked my way thru college in a stereo repair shop, but shipping wouldn't be worth it.
 
Good work on getting it going! If you've already restored the transport and recapped, the alignment itself might be something you can do yourself, if you have the service manual (https://elektrotanya.com/aiwa_ad_f330.pdf/download.html#dl), right tools and test tapes. There's a ton of videos showing the details on places like https://www.youtube.com/@hifirulezzz/videos, all in one test tapes (like the HPR mentioned - ~$80), and software tools http://www.anaxwaves.com/NAKT100/ ($35)

Will probably cost the same as (or more likely, less than) a professional tech, if you can even find one, but if you plan on buying/fixing more decks, it's a nice toolset to have. (warning, it's addictive... I planned on just having one about 6-8 months ago and have already restored 3 and still looking at decks, lol)

I'm assuming you've already cleaned/deoxidized the pots and switches, but that's always worth a shot, if you haven't already done that.

Good luck with the deck!
 
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dlucy said:
#4 sounds like a simple tone test tape, this one at 10kHZ. I've found modern versions of these, professionally made, on eBay and similar for reasonable money. They've worked great ...

#3 sounds like a specifica pre=-recorded level signal. I'd try looking on, again, ebay, for this kind of test tape.
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Level and azimuth test tapes are not 'simple' and have to be full track to be of any use. Most e-bay 'test tapes' are recorded on a home deck and thus are not full track.

Presently the only manufacturers of new full track test cassettes are Gennlab, A.N.T., Hanspeter Roth (HPR) and EOS Technologies Test Tape.

Everything else is pretty useless and may/will lead to a misaligned deck.

Service manuals will be written around specific test tapes, often proprietary, that are no longer available. The trick is to translate the SM specifications to the tapes that are available and that you have in your hands. For playback level a universal (and superior!) solution exists that is based on a true Dolby level tape (i.e. 200nWb/m 'ANSI' or 218nWb/m 'DIN' or 'IEC') and the Dolby chip's datasheet:

https://www.luckyx02.de/kalibrier-cassetten-von-hanspeter-roth/welchen-dolby-chip-hat-mein-deck/

For playback azimuth you can use a handful of known-good commercial prerecordeds. Listen in mono, over headphones, possibly with the treble control at max. Aim for maximal treble content. Then switch to stereo, and adjust again for a stable, centered image. Do this for a few tapes, note the final positions of the azimuth screw for these, and finally leave the screw at the average position of the lot. Warning: azimuth should not be changed if the head already has a groove worn into it: the tape would end up riding the groove wall, impairing head contact.



https://www.gennlab.com/

http://www.ant-audio.co.uk/index.php?cat=post&qry=alignment_tapes

https://www.ebay.com/usr/hanspeterroth

https://www.test-tape.com/
 
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WernerO said:
Level and azimuth test tapes are not 'simple' and have to be full track to be of any use. Most e-bay 'test tapes' are recorded on a home deck and thus are not full track.

Everything else is pretty useless and may/will lead to a misaligned deck.
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Excellent points.

The frequency / tone tape for setting overall speed and the level tape that I researched and located the best, for my purposes, on eBay helped me set the appropriate speed and levels, using the factory service manual, for my deck.

For the investment and the results, these eBay purchases delivered exactly what I wanted and within the amount I was willing to invest for this level of performance.
 
dlucy said:
For the investment and the results
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If the level tape was not full track you cannot even know the results, as the deck's playback gain and the geometric alignment of its head gaps viz. the gaps of the recording deck are conflated and inseparable. Two wrongs may appear to make a right, but it is only appearance.

Speed is easier, less critical. A quartz direct drive deck in good shape can make a half-decent speed tape.


Level and azimuth tapes have to be made with a head with a single gap extending beyond the tape's edges. This is typically done out-of-shell, on a reel-to-reel machine, as do Gennlab and HPR (ANT uses a heavily modified Revox B215). Track alignment tapes are even more complex to make, requiring multiple passes with the head(s) moved in-between them.

6_OTARI_MX5050BIII_F_P4_System_1.jpg
 
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