In a nutshell, there’s not much elbow-room...ok, here’s my situation;
I have a good deal of cassettes, CrO2 & Normal bias, recorded by me at various stages of my life, the most recent from about 5 years ago from digital files. That was also the last time I had a reliable TD.
So, just a few days ago I purchased a TD described as “working like a champ” for short money. Today it arrived and while it suffered no physical damage from the ride, I think using only bubble wrap as packing was, well, lacking.
I immediately connected the TD to the surround receiver, grabbed a cassette of the Foo Fighters “Wasting Light” tour from Australia and at first, everything was stellar...then 2 minutes in, warbles, distortion and speed fluctuations? So, I FF/REW a few times thinking that will help “set” the tape, but no, didn’t help. I tried another tape, same...another tape, same...what the bejoobers!?!?
Right now I am recording the headphone output of my kitchen Echo Show playing SiriusXM ‘Classic Vinyl’ and a quick tape/source comparison (it’s a 3-head deck) via the TD’s phone jack was quite favorable- no nothing, just right sounding music!
Whatya think...are my TAPES fubared or is the TD the culprit? I know tapes can degrade over time but I’ve never experienced it in my audio life- my ancient RTR tapes of Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, etc. play fine with no issues! This sounds like head alignment or electrical gremlins when the TD gets warmed up.
I have a good deal of cassettes, CrO2 & Normal bias, recorded by me at various stages of my life, the most recent from about 5 years ago from digital files. That was also the last time I had a reliable TD.
So, just a few days ago I purchased a TD described as “working like a champ” for short money. Today it arrived and while it suffered no physical damage from the ride, I think using only bubble wrap as packing was, well, lacking.
I immediately connected the TD to the surround receiver, grabbed a cassette of the Foo Fighters “Wasting Light” tour from Australia and at first, everything was stellar...then 2 minutes in, warbles, distortion and speed fluctuations? So, I FF/REW a few times thinking that will help “set” the tape, but no, didn’t help. I tried another tape, same...another tape, same...what the bejoobers!?!?
Right now I am recording the headphone output of my kitchen Echo Show playing SiriusXM ‘Classic Vinyl’ and a quick tape/source comparison (it’s a 3-head deck) via the TD’s phone jack was quite favorable- no nothing, just right sounding music!
Whatya think...are my TAPES fubared or is the TD the culprit? I know tapes can degrade over time but I’ve never experienced it in my audio life- my ancient RTR tapes of Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, etc. play fine with no issues! This sounds like head alignment or electrical gremlins when the TD gets warmed up.
