Technics RS-M228X

thefragger

thefragger

Certified Crazy.
I think this is my first ever thread in the tape forum--exciting!

So myself and M4rz met with BobHicks at his place for a little meet-and-greet to get to know some of the other AKers that in the Toronto area, and all I've got to say is that they're a pair of the nicest guys I know! :thmbsp:

Anyways, I got to talking and mentioned how I was always curious about getting into tape as a medium to play with and well, wouldn't you know it, Bob's got a ministack under a table and he pulls one out.

'You can have this.'

:jawdrop:

So I'm totally floored by his generosity and accept the gift (really nice guy!!). When I got it home I checked it out. It was slow to get running and it has some fluctuations in the playback speed, there's also a dent above the door which means that a loaded tape gets caught and you've got to tug the door open to get it out, and the selector switch takes some fiddling for it to actually let sound out (deoxit!), but other than all that I'd say it works. It's just a bunch of little things that need addressing. :scratch2:

What do you guys think? New belt kit, clean the controls, bang out the dents and I'm good? I've never worked on a tape deck before and this looks like a great one to get going again. :yes:


Philip.
 
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I remember these as being decent sounding. I would certainly entertain the idea of fixing it. I would avoid using dbx for noise reduction, however.
 
Thanks for the nice words. I think PacificStereo is refering to the fact that the tape encoded in DBX will only play on a player that has DBX. It's not like the dolby where you get a decent sound by playing it without. A DBX tape played on a non DBX machine sounds terrible.
 
That is one reason. No tape machine made in the last 20 years has dbx NR, so any dbx tape you make on the 228X would have to be played on a dbx-capable machine.

But dbx also has a lot of sonic problems when it comes to its application to cassette tape. Its operation artifacts are very audible (to me) even on professionally calibrated open reel machines, which are far more linear and capable than cassette decks. I just find it to be unlistenable on cassette tape. I can hear right through tape hiss and not even notice it. What I can't listen through is hiss that modulates with program material, wonky transients and the high frequency trouble that dbx introduces (because of saturation).

Now, some people LOVE dbx, and I say, more power to 'em! We all hear differently, and we all have different types of sonic flaws that we find objectionable.

If you find that you like the sound, by all means, use it. But be aware that your playback universe becomes very small!
 
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