The Official Elcaset thread!
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
Flaxmill19
Active Member
Hi Gary,
Glad to be of assistance, I like you have received plenty of help over the years, so it's nice to be able to give something back.
Tony
Glad to be of assistance, I like you have received plenty of help over the years, so it's nice to be able to give something back.
Tony
NEMOaudio
Super Member
Sorry for being (4 years) late at the Party. Here are some pictures.
Japanese magazine cover from 1976 showing SONY, TEAC (prototype?) and Technics (prototype) elcaset decks.
JVC LD-777
WEGA E4950 (SONY rebadge)
Wishes do come true, having started off with the EL-5 and thoroughly enjoyed its performance and excellent build quality, An EL-7 was sent to me from a guy who wanted it sorted out as it had been fiddled with, the recordings were all over the place, as I was going through the machine I was relaying the information to the owner as regards possible price and things to do, When it arrived the courier company had obviouosly dropped the box on one corner and smashed the glass in the cassette door...........he wasn't happy and then asked if I would buy it from him as is, I knew I was taking on a lot work but how could I refuse an EL-7, so it became mine.
He supplied me a belt kit for it which turned out to be for an EL-5!!! bah! El-7 kit ordered, a long time spent stripping the machine to get the glass out and some sort of oily film that had coated everything.
Then strip and clean up the transport and re-lube it, I fiddled around with felt for the brakes but in the end settled using the old drive belt which is 1mm thick the brakes work perfectly now with no creep when in the pause mode, having sorted out the mechanism I replaced the power supply and decoupling caps with Panasonic caps and put a few Elna silmic 2 caps in the audio paths, replaced a VU bulb and the tape counter knob as this was missing.
serviced all the switches and controls with switch cleaner.
Then out with the Sony big book of words to try and set it up, every pre-set had been turned etc.................It took a long time using my old Elcaset tapes from years ago to set the replay levels the rest was signal generator and meter work.
This took some time to do but I got it there responses up to 25k on ferric and ferrichrome, the sound is perfect rock solid and great, I then checked the settings two more times, I needn't have bothered as the machine came up to spec each time.
Now having achieved all this I have had some thing nagging at me ever since I heard about from a guy in New Zealand (tony) about an alignment tape a guy there makes up for these machines.......................arghhh I bought one and am waiting for it to arrive, yes I know I did it arse to tit but hey ho I will see how good my alignment is, and also I will have one for any future use.
I read on an Elcaset website that the guy who runs it makes up his own elcaset tapes, he uses tape from a 7" 3600ft spool of tape, so I bought a Maxell UD 18-180 reel of tape of ebay to see how well it works, I have a spare EL-5 transport that I can rig up to wind the tape into the tape housing so It should not be too difficult.
So there you are one very happy and excited EL-7 owner.
I could post pictures but I am sure you have all seen insides and out of an EL-7
Good day to you all
Gary
He supplied me a belt kit for it which turned out to be for an EL-5!!! bah! El-7 kit ordered, a long time spent stripping the machine to get the glass out and some sort of oily film that had coated everything.
Then strip and clean up the transport and re-lube it, I fiddled around with felt for the brakes but in the end settled using the old drive belt which is 1mm thick the brakes work perfectly now with no creep when in the pause mode, having sorted out the mechanism I replaced the power supply and decoupling caps with Panasonic caps and put a few Elna silmic 2 caps in the audio paths, replaced a VU bulb and the tape counter knob as this was missing.
serviced all the switches and controls with switch cleaner.
Then out with the Sony big book of words to try and set it up, every pre-set had been turned etc.................It took a long time using my old Elcaset tapes from years ago to set the replay levels the rest was signal generator and meter work.
This took some time to do but I got it there responses up to 25k on ferric and ferrichrome, the sound is perfect rock solid and great, I then checked the settings two more times, I needn't have bothered as the machine came up to spec each time.
Now having achieved all this I have had some thing nagging at me ever since I heard about from a guy in New Zealand (tony) about an alignment tape a guy there makes up for these machines.......................arghhh I bought one and am waiting for it to arrive, yes I know I did it arse to tit but hey ho I will see how good my alignment is, and also I will have one for any future use.
I read on an Elcaset website that the guy who runs it makes up his own elcaset tapes, he uses tape from a 7" 3600ft spool of tape, so I bought a Maxell UD 18-180 reel of tape of ebay to see how well it works, I have a spare EL-5 transport that I can rig up to wind the tape into the tape housing so It should not be too difficult.
So there you are one very happy and excited EL-7 owner.
I could post pictures but I am sure you have all seen insides and out of an EL-7
Good day to you all
Gary
Last edited:
Flaxmill19
Active Member
Hi All,
Great story Gary, I will be very interested in your thoughts on the GennLab tape (http://www.gennlab.com/elcaset.html), I have the SONY L-9-MR Test tape, brought a few years back but as yet not used (or even played) the test tape.
So keen to compare the two test tapes once I get started on re-capping and re-aligning these great machines.
Tony
Great story Gary, I will be very interested in your thoughts on the GennLab tape (http://www.gennlab.com/elcaset.html), I have the SONY L-9-MR Test tape, brought a few years back but as yet not used (or even played) the test tape.
So keen to compare the two test tapes once I get started on re-capping and re-aligning these great machines.
Tony
Awesomeaudio
Super Member
Never been interested in this format, but please tell me if this guy is dreaming ??
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TECHNICS...22?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item3cf751771e
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TECHNICS...22?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item3cf751771e
Flaxmill19
Active Member
Defiantly Dreaming.
Tony
Tony
Test Alignmnet Tape
Hello I bought one these to check the settings on my Sony EL-7.
And I don't know what to do?
According to this test tape my record and replay head are out of azimuth, now I have many Elcaset tapes bought from around the world and on the whole the azimuth on these matches my machine.
If I set my heads to settings on test tape it incompatible with every tape I already have, and it wont fully erase the left hand channel.
So do I stay with my old settings or go for the recommended settings on this tape
GRRRRR I dunno wot to do :-(
Gary
Hello I bought one these to check the settings on my Sony EL-7.
And I don't know what to do?
According to this test tape my record and replay head are out of azimuth, now I have many Elcaset tapes bought from around the world and on the whole the azimuth on these matches my machine.
If I set my heads to settings on test tape it incompatible with every tape I already have, and it wont fully erase the left hand channel.
So do I stay with my old settings or go for the recommended settings on this tape
GRRRRR I dunno wot to do :-(
Gary
Flaxmill19
Active Member
Hi Gary,
Where are you at with the GennLab tape? I am at the stage where I am about to start some serious tinkering with my EL-7, so keen to hear where you are at.
Tony
Where are you at with the GennLab tape? I am at the stage where I am about to start some serious tinkering with my EL-7, so keen to hear where you are at.
Tony
Hello Tony
I haver left the test tape settings as they are on my machine now.
I will come back to it another time, unfortunately I have started other jobs so do not have the time to do a full blown re-set/check session.
I am thinking the erasure problem, on the tape I was using might be nothing to do with my re-setting the machine.
Some time I ago I fitted a Sony 4 track head from a Sony reel to reel to a EL-5 only to find that the reel to reel 4 tracks are slightly wider than the Elcaset 4 tracks, hence the elcaset not being able to erase them all, and I think this tape was one I recorded on this set up. arghhh why do I fiddle:thumbsdn:
So this is the present state of play
So good luck Tony
Gary
I haver left the test tape settings as they are on my machine now.
I will come back to it another time, unfortunately I have started other jobs so do not have the time to do a full blown re-set/check session.
I am thinking the erasure problem, on the tape I was using might be nothing to do with my re-setting the machine.
Some time I ago I fitted a Sony 4 track head from a Sony reel to reel to a EL-5 only to find that the reel to reel 4 tracks are slightly wider than the Elcaset 4 tracks, hence the elcaset not being able to erase them all, and I think this tape was one I recorded on this set up. arghhh why do I fiddle:thumbsdn:
So this is the present state of play
So good luck Tony
Gary
Fiddling
Hello Tony
Having realised that the tape I was using need a normal 4 track reel to reel to erase it all is well now having done that
I have decided to leave all the settings I made with the Gennlab reference tape as they are I am happy that the Gennlab are correct.
I will be interested to see how you get on with the test tape on your machine, if you find the same as me, ie. the azimuth is out according to the test tape then we are both in the same boat.
If on the other hand you find your azimuth matches then my machine was a one off out of alignment one.
Gary
Hello Tony
Having realised that the tape I was using need a normal 4 track reel to reel to erase it all is well now having done that
I have decided to leave all the settings I made with the Gennlab reference tape as they are I am happy that the Gennlab are correct.
I will be interested to see how you get on with the test tape on your machine, if you find the same as me, ie. the azimuth is out according to the test tape then we are both in the same boat.
If on the other hand you find your azimuth matches then my machine was a one off out of alignment one.
Gary
Chrome Elcaset Tape
Well not quite, I bought a 7" spool of TDK EE SA type tape, my intention is to wind this into an Elcaset case and for the first time try out the chrome setting on the elcaset
I know I will only get about 30 mins a side due to the tape being 35 microns thick, but no worry
It will be a huge pity if it works really well, as far as I know TDK did not make 18 or 25 micron thick version of this tape.
So will be stuck with at best 60 minute tapes.
I am not disappointed with the two tape types at all in some ways I prefer the LH ferric tape for some music and Ferrichrome for other types, you get to such a high level of performance with this system that you can become picky about what tape suits different music best.
Anyway I shall let you know how I get on but it will be a while, because I am into other fiddlings at present
Garyt
Well not quite, I bought a 7" spool of TDK EE SA type tape, my intention is to wind this into an Elcaset case and for the first time try out the chrome setting on the elcaset
I know I will only get about 30 mins a side due to the tape being 35 microns thick, but no worry
It will be a huge pity if it works really well, as far as I know TDK did not make 18 or 25 micron thick version of this tape.
So will be stuck with at best 60 minute tapes.
I am not disappointed with the two tape types at all in some ways I prefer the LH ferric tape for some music and Ferrichrome for other types, you get to such a high level of performance with this system that you can become picky about what tape suits different music best.
Anyway I shall let you know how I get on but it will be a while, because I am into other fiddlings at present
Garyt
Wilburchubs
Well-Known Member
Hi folks,
Just discovered that there are two versions of the Sony Elcaset Demonstration Tape, a single sided pre-recorded one labeled with the catalog number CD7 (YGST-11),and the other, recorded both sides, catalog number YGST-12
Did they have different demo tapes for different models, or did they supersede each other, really curious!
Just discovered that there are two versions of the Sony Elcaset Demonstration Tape, a single sided pre-recorded one labeled with the catalog number CD7 (YGST-11),and the other, recorded both sides, catalog number YGST-12
Did they have different demo tapes for different models, or did they supersede each other, really curious!