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Phase Linear 7000 series two

stoutblock

stoutblock

"If it sounds good, it is good." Duke Ellington
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Picked up this deck today from a local AR'er.

What a beast at 38 lbs!

Except for the capstan belt being disintegrated (gone) it seems to function fully. Of course, I cannot check the play, record and Microscan functions until my new belt comes from Spain. Extremely clean inside. Transport, heads and rollers look very nice. No dried up lube etc.

Looks to have been in dry storage for a very long time. Common for these heads to go bad so wish me luck.
 

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Never seen one. It’s a lot of hardware—and a handsome machine. Congrats. Good luck! Let us know how it sounds. PL gets a lot of hate (Flame Linear), but I never had any problems with my two PL 400II amps, which, used professionally, I regularly pushed to the limit.
 
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Bushikan said:
Never seen one. It’s a lot of hardware—and a handsome machine. Congrats. Good luck! Let us know how it sounds. PL gets a lot of hate (Flame Linear), but I never had any problems with my two PL 400II amps, which, used professionally, I regularly pushed to the limit.
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The problems were long gone by the time the Series-2 amps came out.
 
Bushikan said:
Never seen one. It’s a lot of hardware—and a handsome machine. Congrats. Good luck! Let us know how it sounds. PL gets a lot of hate (Flame Linear), but I never had any problems with my two PL 400II amps, which, used professionally, I regularly pushed to the limit.
Click to expand...
Yes it is a beast! Reminds me of the Nak1000ZXL decks I owned. It is said to be one of the few decks that can compare to the ZXL. From when Pioneer bought the company. Pioneer made exactly the same deck only black. Only the PL was available in the US. I am also not a fan of early PL components.
 
I wish you the best of luck with this. You already know about the Pioneer Uni-X-Tal ferrite heads in these, and the Pioneer CT-F1000 and 1250, so hopefully yours is OK. The last one I did, which actually was the Pioneer CT-A1, had a good head on it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I never had much luck with the Microscan improving things on any of the decks I've done. If doesn't hurt, but it does very little to improve the recordings. Nothing like a 1000ZXL recording- flat as a pancake!
 
nakmandan said:
I wish you the best of luck with this. You already know about the Pioneer Uni-X-Tal ferrite heads in these, and the Pioneer CT-F1000 and 1250, so hopefully yours is OK. The last one I did, which actually was the Pioneer CT-A1, had a good head on it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I never had much luck with the Microscan improving things on any of the decks I've done. If doesn't hurt, but it does very little to improve the recordings. Nothing like a 1000ZXL recording- flat as a pancake!
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I might get out my USB scope and check out the head. Unless the cracking is obvious, I may need to find a photo for reference for this issue. I agree with the ZXL recording quality. I have about a dozen tapes I recorded from the ZXL I once owned and they sound great on my Dragon and RX-505. The Dragon also does a fine job on recording but the ZXL a bit better IMHO. There is no logic to me picking up this deck other than to have something to play with this Winter.

Based on the SM it looks like removal of the total transport is pretty straightforward? Not sure on the wire connections to the circuits. God I hope they are not wire wrapped (I hate those). If there are no disconnects I assume it possible to just keep the transport attached? Looks like I may need to unattached the PS? Never been into one of these transports, I assume I remove the back plate to get access to the belt? Any tricks I should know?
 
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@nakmandan

Since I have no experience with the gap erosion problems with these heads. These photos tell you anything? I also have a thread over on TH if that is better use of your time.

PL7000S2 head 11.jpgPL7000S2 head 13.jpg
 
Well the good news is the experts over on TH are telling me these are not the original troublesome Ferrite heads. Must have been serviced BITD when drop in replacements were available? With that said, it may be difficult to calibrate not knowing the specs of the head.
 
It looks like there is a giant crack running right through the middle of the gap of the record head L channel. I don't know how much that will affect the recording.
 
nakmandan said:
It looks like there is a giant crack running right through the middle of the gap of the record head L channel. I don't know how much that will affect the recording.
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Yeah it looks concerning in the photo but when I move around the scope it appears more like a discoloration on the surface. Hard to capture correctly. Wish I could get some better solvent to cut through this as 91% alcohol does not cut it.
 
Replaced the belt today and it appears I have some excellent Karma. The deck works perfect! Even the Microscan system works perfect. Quite the job to tear into the bowels of the beast but I’ve seen worse.

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RVT1K said:
I haven't had a tape deck in a long time but that thing is cool!!

What does the mircoscan do?
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Microscan automatically sets level, bias and EQ for any tape. You can store calibration in 9 memory locations. All processor controlled in 1979 when such tech was rare.
 
stoutblock said:
Microscan automatically sets level, bias and EQ for any tape. You can store calibration in 9 memory locations. All processor controlled in 1979 when such tech was rare.
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I had a deck that did something similar but without the memory. Put in a tape and the deck tested the tape and made adjustments. It might have been an Akai and it was the mid/late 80's.
 
Bushikan said:
How does the PL compare to a Nakamichi?
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It’s pretty hard to beat a healthy Dragon for playback. NAAC gets the best out of any tape. The PL is certainly an impressive deck. Maybe a little laid back compared to the Dragon. It has a smooth analog sound. The Dragon almost sounds a little digital in its accurate nature in comparison.
 
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