Dolby encoder?

[martona]

Hi,

I love how my Nakamichi sounds... but when a tape recorded on the Nak is played in other decks (such as the one in my car) you still get the usual tape hiss.

Does anyone here have experience with Dolby encoders in home systems? The idea would be to hook one of these up in between the preamp and the Nakamichi deck, so I can turn on Dolby B or C on the player when listening to the end product.

Is this a good idea? Is the Dolby 422 the way to go? How do I go about converting the preamp's line-level output to XLR (the 422 has only XLR inputs and outputs)? (Yes I'm a newb.)

Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

-Martona

 

[Jon_Logan]

Hi Martona,

Welcome to AK.

The Nakamichi has a encoder built in. If Dolby sounds bad, it is most likely due to a calibration error. Either the Nakamichi's record level (for a given tape formulation), or the playback level of the car deck is off. What does a tape recorded and played with Dolby B, or C on the Nakamichi sound like?

P.S. I know there was some mis-match with Nakamichi PB equalization vs. other machines. Nakamichi had a bulletin to change the PB eq to dumb it down so 'regular machines wouldn't sound bad with a Nak made tape. ...the nakamichi's PB response was so good, it didn't require so much PB eq. I think there was an IEC standard that Nak didn't adhere to.

 

[goldear]

I'm completely baffled by this post. Was there ever a Nakamichi model which didn't feature Dolby B? I know that the Nak 1000 had it, and I believe that it was the very first Nak ever made.

Now if you wanted Dolby C on an very old Nak, you might need an outboard unit, but short of that, why bother?

 

[martona]

So you're saying the Nak-505 has a built-in Dolby encoder? All the manual says about the Dolby buttons (B&C) is that they will work for playback when the source tape has been recorded with Dolby encoding. It's quite conspicuously silent about recording with Dolby. Am I missing something?

 

[vincei]

Is the NR on in your car deck?

 

[goldear]

So you're saying the Nak-505 has a built-in Dolby encoder? ... Am I missing something?

Yes, and yes. Any tape recorder with a dolby button will also encode Dolby.

If you don't believe me, just try it. You have a three head machine, try recorinding with the levels way down, while listening to the playback head. Try the dolby button in all three positions, and see how much hiss goes away.