Nakamichi deck flipping a cassette! You gotta see this!!

[cjacek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0MgJKx5Ay0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf4eR3ZkvoY

'cmon, this is cool, right?

[The Ghost of FM]

Those RX series decks were very cool indeed!

And to think, what made them come up with that design in the first place, was that they couldn't build an auto-reverse (rotating head) that would keep its azimuth alignment.

Cheers!

[dementedchord]

that's one of two answers NAK had for tape skewing in auto-reverse decks... the other they used in one called the dragon and it automates the head stack with a servo that self adjusts...

[The Ghost of FM]

And the simplest answer would have been to just build a 4 track head, like all our Portastudio's had/have and then all the alignment issues would have been solved and probably cheaper too then building that fancy RX tape spinning mechanism.

Oh well.

Cheers!

[Tim Gillett]

I dont think Nakamichi would have gone to all that trouble if they could have solved the azimuth drift problem simply with a 4 track head.

Before that Nak had pioneered physically separate (and separately adjustable) record and play heads for precise azimuth alignment between record and playback, as well as better magnetic shielding from each other. And it was they who created a dual capstan deck with capstan shafts spinning at different speeds to reduce resonances, as well as removing the need for a felt pressure pad with all its problems, including azimuth instability.
It was also Nak that later developed automatic (servo controlled) and manual azimuth correction for a front panel control.
If anyone was serious about addressing the real azimuth issues with slow speed cassettes it was Nakamichi. I'm sure they knew what they were doing in making the RX series, even if that model wasnt a raging commercial success. I think the RX deserves to be honoured for more than just its novelty.


Cheers Tim

[jjones1700]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of FM

And the simplest answer would have been to just build a 4 track head, like all our Portastudio's had/have and then all the alignment issues would have been solved and probably cheaper too then building that fancy RX tape spinning mechanism.

Oh well.

Cheers!

You would think that Teac would have thought of that huh?

[dementedchord]

the problem is tape skew... as the capstan pulls the tape one direction it comes of at a very slight angle (which can be adjusted for in alignment) but when the tape reverses the skew would go the other way... so a 4 track head wouldn't be able to compensate if fixed to compensate for the first direction.... make sense???

[jjones1700]

Originally Posted by dementedchord

the problem is tape skew... as the capstan pulls the tape one direction it comes of at a very slight angle (which can be adjusted for in alignment) but when the tape reverses the skew would go the other way... so a 4 track head wouldn't be able to compensate if fixed to compensate for the first direction.... make sense???

I see your point. Cassettes don't have the benefit of the guide system of R2R decks. It was a nice theory though.

[jjones1700]

Woohoo!! A buddy of mine is giving me a Nakamichi MR-2 deck for mix downs. It doesn't do the whole "flip" thing, but still cool nonetheless.