Radiola/Philips N4450 Reel to Reel Questions

[Radiola]

Hello, My father recently bought me this setup for an early XMAS present along with two vintage french speakers and an old akai condenser mic for $250 AUS.
I have figured out a few things and can get a good sound out of one track.
But I am having trouble recording a 2nd track.. When I play along and record the 2nd track while listening to the original track through headphones, the 2nd track is behind about a half a second. This is quite displeasing, and I cant figure out how to fix it.
Here is a link with information and photos of the model.
http://wind.prohosting.com/sfynx/home/electro/recorder/philips_n4450.html
any help would be much appriciated,
thank you
Josh

 

[Radiola]

Can't anyone help me out?

Its be like a week, and noone can help me.. Doesnt this problem occur on any other 2 track machine??
Like I record one track on the '1-4' track on Normal.. Then I switch it to MultiPlay(MP) mode and record on track '3-4'.. I do this all on headphones.. When I play it back on stereo mode, or any mode, the '3-4' track is slightly slower, or pushed back behind '1-4' track. So it sounds sloppy.
If noone can help me here, is there any other forums with different people who could?? There is a slider labled "MP", I'm not sure where to put it, and if it makes a difference. PLLEASE HELP!!

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I'm not familiar with your machine specifically, but in general, that kind of symptom can be caused from monitoring off the playback head which is likely separate from the recording head. The playback head is located further away (so you're hearing the actual recorded tape), but that means if you use that as your cue monitor, you're actually tracking a fraction of a second behind the original.

Machines designed for multitracking have a sel-sync/simul-sync feature which allows monitoring off the record head instead, avoid the delay.

Maybe your unit has this feature also, but you haven't enabled it!?

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I don't believe the deck in question has sel-sync at all.

It appears to be a consumer home use machine with microphone inputs added primarily as a bonus feature along with the auto reverse, which is a pretty rare feature for a R2R deck.

You'll need to get your hands on a TASCAM 32, 42, 52 or BR20 if you want a stereo 2 track deck with sel-sync functionality off the middle head.

Sorry.

Cheers!

 

[Radiola]

well whats the point of having a MultiPlay function without being able to use it...there is an A/B switch.. when im recording the 2nd track should it be on a or b?? and there is a MP slider??