I found a picture of my Akai

[Outlaws]

I found this picture on the net. It is too big to post here.....at least for me, I don't get how some people post such large pictures but anyways.........

Akai 202D-SS Quadraphonic - old school surround sound baby!


If anyone knows anything specific about this thing I would like to know. I am looking to get a service manual, schematics, partlist, owners manual, etc. but I am waiting for stereomanuals.com to get back to me with what they have.

The machine itself says three motor...whater that means...no belts? I cleaned the heads with the isotopasgdfgsd 91% alcohol. The pinch roller hasn't really been touched yet becasue I don't know exactly what I can use on it. Water dampend q-tip?

Are the manuals for this stuff expensive? Seems like a big buisness.


Oh man.....I just tested the link and if you look hard you can see that whoever put the tape on didn't do it right....AND its missing one of the things..........tension rollers I think they are called....

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Nice old beast!

I didn't notice any individual record button on the unit and any mention of Syml-sync, which would be key features if you are to use this as a multi-track recorder!

There was a small barrage of this genre of machines in the early 1970's to accommodate the quadraphonic market which was aimed at recording all 4 tracks at once only or, 2 at a time at best.

Syml-Sync was the key feature that sprung the TEAC 3340S into the home studio hall of fame as one of the first machines adapted from a home user's quad machine into the musician's 4 track over-dubbing machine.

I hope you are able to secure a manual for this recorder so that you will learn more about its capabilities.

Cheers!

 

[Outlaws]

I didn't notice any individual record button on the unit and any mention of Syml-sync, which would be key features if you are to use this as a multi-track recorder!

Right. Its not going to be. I have recorded to it with just stereo mic-ing and if I get a chance to borrow my neighbors mixer then I am going to rig it with my Roland to try and record some surround sound stuff - live - but still.......

I dug it out of my dads closet along with his quadraphonic Pioneer receiver. He got it in Thailand when he was in the Army.

I think I found the reason the capstain is making noise after a few minutes........check this........

The machine has been set on 50htz. Now I don't of this a too big of a deal since I don't think my dad used this that much...just based on the size of the record collection VS reel collection ... so I assume that our outlets sending 60htz to it just overpowers it overtime.


It seems to have two switches on it though for the htz selection. One is on the back which is straight forward -- 50 or 60htz. But there is a screw-like switch inbetween the reels under the counter that says "in 50htz / out 60htz" so I don't know why they would have two seperate spots to possibly contridict one another, but I gotta get a screwdriver to turn the second one before I power it up again. [the one in the posted picture does not have the second select because it is probably a US model]

 

[Outlaws]

Nice old beast!

I can't even explain how much fun it is to turn those two knobs for the functions. Its sooooo much cooler feeling that pressing buttons

 

[The Ghost of FM]

So, you are saying that the noise problem is now solved?

If so, cool!

There is a certain charm to those older machines that had the totally mechanical tape transport levers.

I have an old Sony reel to reel from the 60's that is a mono four track machine, which is a bit of a weird format but, I guess it was designed for tape economy in it's time. Using an 1800 ft. roll of tape, you could record at 3.75 IPS and get, I think, 320 minutes of recording on a single roll of tape.

That machine actually still works as long as its kept in a flat position, (not standing up) as one of the reel tables is loose and would fall off if it was vertical.

Cheers!

 

[A Reel Person]

Outlaws, you made the BIG SCORE!

Dude, that's a quad deck in good condition, with matching quad reciever! Man, I'd be in QUAD-heaven!!! Ha! Your dad was an audiophile, man! You made the big score!

Well, this deck will record live-to-4-track [quad], alright, but I doubt very much if it will do sync-operation 4-track production, which is a slightly different ballgame than quad.

I believe there may be a sound-on-sound overdub function on this type of unit, but you'd be the best judge of that.

Anyway, for one-shot recording of performances, live-to-4, this Akai quad R/R should do a great job, & looks dyn-o-mite, too!

Don't ever let that go, man. Quad is a bonifide collector's item! Don't wipe your dad's old tapes, either!

 

[Outlaws]

Well.........its not a matching receiver......its a Akai reel and a Pioneer quad receiver. Its still nice though. They both have the whole wood w/silver thing going on. And the reciever has a BIG circle green LED type thing with SONAR looking meters that shoot from the center outwards like an X. NOW THAT IS COOL! (If I can find a picture on the net I'll show you guys, but I don't have a digicamera)

No sound on sound though

I don't know that the capstain issue is solved or not, I haven't used it since my discovery.


It beeing a 3 motor machine.....does that mean not belts? If so then I think I should have a hell of a life time left on this thing

 

[The Ghost of FM]

It being a 3 motor machine.....does that mean not belts?

Not necessarily direct drive, no. It could still be a belt drive system as getting a motor to turn that slowly, 3.75 or 7.5 IPS is a bit of a technical challenge for that era of machine. Most likely, it is indeed a belt drive where the motor is spinning at a steadier, higher revolution and "geared down" through a belt and flywheel to stabilize the speed of the playback.

The machines which had direct drive systems also tended to have the full servo, logic, push button tape transport systems to them and not the mechanical throw switches or levers that yours has.

If I am wrong about this, I will be very surprised.

Cheers!

 

[A Reel Person]

That would probably mean 1-motor-L-hub, 1-motor-R-hub, & 1-motor-capstan,...

but that doesn't mean there's no belts.

Sorry to repeat GFM.

A quad deck and quad reciever would be considered "matching", in most circles these days. Ha.