Hi jan,
From all the professionals I have talked with, using 1/2 track decks, and all that I have read regarding tape care, its best to store 1/2 track tapes tail out, this way, the tape has a perfect pack when stored, and also the tape is not packed too tight, from rewinding it, and then storing it, which can cause printthrough/echo on tapes. This often happens most on non backcoated tapes, but can also happen to backcoated tapes as well. Its mainly from being stored in a rewound state, with alot of extra tension on the tape, compared to play mode/tails out. I know that you have to rewind, prior to playing, but its considered the best way to store tapes. I dont use rewind or fastforward very often either. But I asked a question, similar to my Post here, about the various decks, AKAI, Pioneer, Tandberg, Technics, TEAC etc....to a technician named Joey Stumpf, he is in the Arizona area I think, and he supposedly strips down every deck, and cleans everything, prior to restoration/recalibrating to factory specs. He told me that my AKAI, and Tandbergs are among my best decks, due to the AC Motors. The TEAC A series also used the big AC motors for the reels etc...he said that these motors are much more powerful, and can take alot more abuse/useage of Rewind and fastforward, whereas a DC motor, like the TEAc X series, can wear down faster. this is why the speed of fastforward and Rewind are so much faster and poweful on the AC Motor decks, like the TEAc A series, Revox, tandberg, AKAI, etc....I would think your motors are fine. Its just the difference between AC and DC motors, from what I have been told by many.
As a FYI, there is another post here, about the Tension Arms of the AKAI GX-747, and replacing the small belts that can stretch and cause the arms to malfunction. many people are buying the belt kits on ebay and complaining about them not being proper spec. There is a 100% proven belt that works with these tension arms, its available from Turntableneedles.com, a square cut belt. the original was a round profile belt. However, the procedure for replacing them is a bit difficult for the average guy, and there was a great Tutorial here from WolfBob, but Im now unable to find it. It was step by step, and in the archive threads, but I dont know how to find it. This would apply to the transport function of the GX-747 decks, that have tension arms that continue to go up and down, instead of automatically locking down in the tape Load position.
Ray
ahh .. if you deck also seems slower in winding, mine are probable fine.
besides that, i'm not winding tapes much on the X2000, just flips the tape and play the other side
On my ½tracks decks i do rewind the tape - i've been thinking about if it could be and idea to store them tail out ? that way, when they're store they are really pretty wound on the reel, backside is, one have to rewind the entire tape before playing it.
...hmm... well .. have to wind it anyway
