I have a feeling, as a 122mk3 owner, that the achilles' heel of these decks is the back tension scheme- I've often wondered why they didn't go dual capstan like everyone else at this end of the market.
I think they chose the single capstan for reliably reasons, Teac had plenty of experience with dual capstan drives on their consumer models but engineered these for the brutal radio studio environment which they targeted. I think their real Achilles heel is far too narrow PCB traces and pads.They were clearly in a transitional period to SMD's but jumped the gun and used surface mount sizing with through hole components, not a good combination. I completely agree that the back tension scheme is inadequate, and far inferior to its older mk2 progenitor.
Not currently with my own equipment, but there are others with dedicated machines who produce them. Excellent alignment tapes can be purchased from A.N.T. Audio, Gennlabs, HPR Audio, and possibly others of whom I'm unaware. Thank you for watching.
Muy bien ASB Custom, a la espera del próximo video. Muy buena forma de calibrar el acimut, nunca había visto esta manera. Te recomendé con una persona que tiene una TASCAM 122MK3 con problemas de velocidad, no se si te escribió, le dije que posiblemente tu lo podrías ayudar.
We live and learn - it was only quite recently (a few months back) that someone told me that some sandwich Rec/PB heads allow their REC head to be independently azimuth aligned. For some reason, I thought they were all 'set'.
Many are factory aligned then bonded together. In time, these can actually suffer from misalignment due to the continual curing of the bonding agent, which is basically a thermoplastic, and follows the same characteristic shrinkage as all of our adored plastic gears, press fit onto steel shafts. It's nice to have the ability to manually align, as is done on reel decks. It also allows them to be dialed-in more precisely than what the factory manufacturing tolerance likely allowed. These particular heads also have two very small grub screws on the inboard side, allowing for manual tilt adjustment as well. I've only had to do it once, and that had to have been a factory defect, as it was so far off.
I have a feeling, as a 122mk3 owner, that the achilles' heel of these decks is the back tension scheme- I've often wondered why they didn't go dual capstan like everyone else at this end of the market.
I think they chose the single capstan for reliably reasons, Teac had plenty of experience with dual capstan drives on their consumer models but engineered these for the brutal radio studio environment which they targeted. I think their real Achilles heel is far too narrow PCB traces and pads.They were clearly in a transitional period to SMD's but jumped the gun and used surface mount sizing with through hole components, not a good combination.
I completely agree that the back tension scheme is inadequate, and far inferior to its older mk2 progenitor.
thank god they didn't. Single capstan MUCH more reliable.
Based on your experience and your laboratory, is it possible to faithfully recreate these test cassettes? Thank you for your very informative videos
Not currently with my own equipment, but there are others with dedicated machines who produce them. Excellent alignment tapes can be purchased from A.N.T. Audio, Gennlabs, HPR Audio, and possibly others of whom I'm unaware.
Thank you for watching.
That adjustment is seamless using the oscilloscope. Not sure anyone else has that fancy analyzer device. :)
Are you saying that if this instrument were sitting on your bench, you wouldn't use it?
I'm so glad I have this theatre so close to me :)
Thank you, Grzegorz, for watching all the way to the end!
Muy bien ASB Custom, a la espera del próximo video. Muy buena forma de calibrar el acimut, nunca había visto esta manera. Te recomendé con una persona que tiene una TASCAM 122MK3 con problemas de velocidad, no se si te escribió, le dije que posiblemente tu lo podrías ayudar.
Thanks again Nelson!
He may have, I don't know, I get quite a few inquiries about these machines.
We live and learn - it was only quite recently (a few months back) that someone told me that some sandwich Rec/PB heads allow their REC head to be independently azimuth aligned. For some reason, I thought they were all 'set'.
Many are factory aligned then bonded together. In time, these can actually suffer from misalignment due to the continual curing of the bonding agent, which is basically a thermoplastic, and follows the same characteristic shrinkage as all of our adored plastic gears, press fit onto steel shafts. It's nice to have the ability to manually align, as is done on reel decks. It also allows them to be dialed-in more precisely than what the factory manufacturing tolerance likely allowed.
These particular heads also have two very small grub screws on the inboard side, allowing for manual tilt adjustment as well. I've only had to do it once, and that had to have been a factory defect, as it was so far off.