Akai CS - M02

[wlg]

Try demagnetising the head, sometimes there are screws holding the head in place, which may go loose putting the head out of alignment.

 

[sarith]

the head out of alignment.

+1. Head out of alignment could be a possibility. Play a pre recorded cassette and check if the sound is muddled or boomy. If so, then align the head while playing a cassette. I use a Milestone pre recorded cassette to align heads.

 

[jay]

+1. Head out of alignment could be a possibility. Play a pre recorded cassette and check if the sound is muddled or boomy. If so, then align the head while playing a cassette. I use a Milestone pre recorded cassette to align heads.

Pre recorded cassette plays perfect.

 

[jay]

Well, its a common way for checking decks (even back in the old days). Record something and play back, if the deck is good, it would sound as good, if not better than the original. That's why I always advise to check out the recording before buying a deck.

The dullness can be attributed to many reasons. It could be the type of tape used, the age of the tape, a worn Record/playback head, it could be the pressure pad of your cassette tape, it could be the recording level setting on your deck, it could be the bias calibration of your deck (very important for recording), etc. If you are looking at it from a pure level perspective, then there can be differences as the line out of your cassette deck may be at a differential gain point when compared to your inbuilt tuner. In short there are many dependencies involved.

From my experience, TDK tapes produce some good results with recordings.

If you want to make your recordings sound bright, record with the dolby switch turned on and play back with the dolby switch turned off. Dolby boosts the highs during recording and rolls them off on playback. This is one way to make your recordings sound bright. You can also experiment with different recording levels (be careful not to overload your recordings). If your deck has an adjustable bias control on the panel, you can experiment with different bias settings.

From my experience, I have got a perfect replication (to my ears) of the source, while recording only on 2 machines I have come across. My NAK DR3 and a high end Grundig CF5500-2, 3-head deck.

Here is a pics of my NAK DR3 and the Grundig deck which I have referred to:

Thanks a lot for this detailed post.

 

[reubensm]

+1. Head out of alignment could be a possibility. Play a pre recorded cassette and check if the sound is muddled or boomy. If so, then align the head while playing a cassette. I use a Milestone pre recorded cassette to align heads.

from my experience, if the head alignment is out, and you record and playback the same tape on the same deck, you are not likely to find out unless the alignment is really off target. If your tapes play reasonably well, then the head alignment should not be a worry. If you record in one deck and play back in another, and then the music sounds dull or soft (but plays ok in the deck that recorded it), then the head alignment of one of the decks is surely out.

 

[reubensm]

Pre recorded cassette plays perfect.

this is an indication that your deck's head is aligned properly.