5121cdd@houxm.UUCP (C.DORY) (03/14/84)
The standard reel hubs that come with the Technics RS-1500US are a joke.
I replaced them as soon as I could with the Studer/Revox NAB hubs.
They're hard to find and expensive (~$30./set) but well worth the
trouble.
Frankly I would be very leery of the run-of-the mill-stereo shop's
ability to set up a high quality tape deck. Very few dealers really understand
the tradeoffs that must be made between distortion, S/N, and magnitude
response when aligning a tape deck.
I recommend that anyone seriously interested in quality recording
invest a little money in a reference tape (Magnetic Reference
Laboratories or Standard Tape Labs NOT Nortronics). If you record on
Ampex 456, Scotch 226, or Agfa PEM 468, get the standard 15 ips
alignment tape set at 250 nW/m (nano-Weber per meter) reference fluxivity.
You have a choice of industry standard playback equalization curves:
IEC or NAB. IEC is the European standard and when using good tape, will
give a couple dB better S/N than NAB, the North American standard. If you
want the ability to send your tapes to anyone, it is best to stick with
the NAB eq curve. However, if your only interested in record/playback
on your machine, go with the IEC eq. In fact, your particular machine MIGHT
perform better with a totally nonstandard playback eq curve.
The other equipment you will need to set up a deck includes:
+ a GOOD AC VTVM
+ a reasonably stable/clean signal generator
and, + a scope is handy
Also, a few very good articles have appeared in the mags and journals
lately on aligning tape decks. One particularly good article was written
by Craig Stark in The Audio Amateur. I will try to compile a list
on the articles that I've found to be useful and post it on the net.
Craig Dory
AT&T Bell Labs
Holmdel, NJ