Audio cassette alignment tape

[klem kedidelhopper]

On Jan 21, 4:42 am, "William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgee...@comcast.net>
wrote:

Wouldn't lining up against a fixed head 'MP3 cassette adaptor' be
pretty spot on, a good quality one without a wobbly slanting head?

In a word... NO. An even better word is one you hear on "Antiques Road
Show" -- provenance.

When you do a playback head and equalization alignment you are setting
a standard for comparing your record head, (in a three head machine)
and it's associated electronics. If there is any guess work involved
in the playback alignment procedure then there can be no confidence in
anything else that you do. Lenny

 

[Sofa Slug]

On 1/17/2012 3:18 PM, klem kedidelhopper wrote:

Does anyone know where I can get an audio cassette alignment tape of
good quality at a reasonable price? I have heard that the ones sold
by places like MCM and Electronix and on Ebay are crap. Teac used to
make them but I don't have any further information as to if they
still do or the cost. Thanks, Lenny

The best cassette alignment test tapes were made by STL, but they are
long gone. Abex & Teac made decent ones (Abex made them for Teac), but I
think production has been discontinued (you could try Ebay for any of
the above - you might get lucky). AFAIK, the only company still
currently producing true "pro" quality cassette alignment tapes is JRF,
but they are very expensive.

Reasonably priced good quality new ones are still available from
Sony by special order, but you might have to buy more than one tape
depending on your needs (some frequency response test tapes can be use
to set level and azimuth as well, but I haven't tried this with Sony tapes):

<http://www.partstore.com/Part/Sony/Sony/891806043/New.aspx> [freq.
response]

<http://www.partstore.com/Part/Sony/Sony/781901611/New.aspx> [azimuth
adjust]

<http://www.partstore.com/Part/Sony/Sony/781901111/New.aspx> [level adjust]

You should verify these part numbers with Sony before ordering. Sony
might have other test tapes (speed adjust, Dolby cal, etc.) ...contact
them for part numbers and availability.