Hi there!
Finally some free time. I went through the whole procedure with CR-7 and ZX-9. It turns out that the home way I made a mistake about two teeth by setting of the height of the PB head and three at the azimuth. As a consequence, the recording was also wrong. Your tapes allow me to -not only- set the heads properly, but also to reference the correct level of playback (that is, aligning both channels). I definitively state that your tapes are necessary to restore the factory settings of the tape recorder. Despite the use of good DMM meters, oscilloscope and well-recorded cassettes, among others Nakamichi Demo Tape and many years of experience with Tape Decks, I was not able to set the tape player heads exactly. Tapes are like the missing piece of the puzzle, without them you will not get the whole picture. Thank you, for this precise tool.
Hi Luis,
At present, after all adjustments have been done, I would like too share my experience with you and all other nak lovers :
After purchasing nak 628zx in great technical and optical condition, I soon found out that all recorded tapes were sound terrible on all other decks (nakamichi, non nakamichi and even car decks).
I was despairly search for the solution on the net, and at the end found Luis.I ordered immediately test tapes from Luis and calibrated my nak following his test-cal instructions. And now at this very moment may nak in calibrated and I`am happy again.
Especially I must emphasize Luis`s full cooperation at all time.
Thank`s Luis for your support.
Best regards
Tadej Marinko
Hi Luis,
I bought a set of your cal tapes a while back and they are awesome! Since then, I’ve also managed to acquire a few genuine Teac test tapes […] after setting the PB azimuth with your alignment tape and my Tektronix oscilloscope , I compared the setting to a genuine Teac 14kHz azimuth tape and also a 6kHz head alignment tape and they all matched exactly. Good job on those tapes! You really are providing a valuable service to us do-it-yourself Nakkers who can’t get original Nak tapes. Keep up the good work and I am eagerly watching the progress on the alignment jigs you, Tom and a few other NakTalk members are working on.
Warmest regards,
Dan Barham
So after a few weeks of taking care of other urgent matters, I finally got around to the adjustment on my RX-202. Normally I work on older model Naks, this was the first of the RX series I’d worked on, and I have to say it was a bit of a pain.
In any event, using Luis’ excellent calibration tapes, I found that VR101 and VR201 needed .2 turns counter-clockwise, and the R/P head needed .125 turns clockwise to hit the proper levels on my old-ass RCA VTVM and sound perfect again. The RX-202 lacks a lot of the easily-accessible adjustment avenues that other Naks have, and I don’t know that it even has a head height adjustment option, so Luis’ tapes were a lifesaver.
-Tim
Some months later …
I just adjusted yet another deck with Luis’ tapes (my other 582) and it sounds fantastic. Whether or not it’s precisely what the Nak originals would do or not is irrelevant when these decks now sound better than they have since I’ve owned them. Excellent work Luis!
-Tim
Good morning Nak-ers,
This is concerning Luis’ alignment tapes. I bought a set from Luis. On 6 tape decks, 2 MR1’s, cassette deck 1, cassette deck 1.5, cassette deck 2, and a cheapie Sony, I could not hear anything on the 15Khz tape on all decks. Luis sent me another tape just in case there was a problem with the first one. Well It was my mistake. Once I got the azimuth adjusted on the “cassette deck 1”, the tone was there! That’s the only deck of these 6 that has an external azimuth adjustment and the only deck I could hear the tone (after using the external adjustment).
My point here is that Luis was a great help in helping me with this and was very generous in sending me another, half way across the planet!
Thank you very much Luis! The other tape is in the mail today on it’s way back to you!
Happy Holidays all!
Bob
hi all..
just wanted to put out a public thank you to luis for his calibration tapes. I got a quick and excellent service from him with a bit of technical support too!
My Nak collection has been slowly growing, I now have an orange cap. sickly 680, a 480, a dead 582 and a 682ZX i’ve won tonight on eBay with a broken eject lever!
I used the calibration tapes on my 480 which was going to sit in for my 680 while I tried to replace all the orange caps…
I managed to go through about 60% of the service manual’s electrical adjustments so far… I’m going to do the last ones when I get my new cam motor belt… Even though I’m quite new to this and don’t have much electronics experience I’m really pleased and surprised by the results I’ve obtained so far..
My 480 sounds like a different machine, not as good as my 680 but really enjoyable.. I’ve been listening to tapes all day on it.. I’ve actually started to quite like the funny way the transport keys lock down..
I know without all the transport gauges and some of the more specialized test gear I’ll never be 100% sure of getting all the calibration correct but I’d definitely recommend these tapes for anyone with a few DIY skills and an interest in getting their Nak’s to sound as good as they can..
Thanks again to Luis and this list! Adrian
The tapes are also for sale in eBay. This is some of the recent ebay Activity – 100% positive feedback!
from “darkinnate”: Alignment tapes of amazing quality! Thanks for helping us revive cassette decks!
from “rcjoe58”: Just as listed, prompt delivery to the U.S. Good seller. Thanks
from “wlodek12”: very fast delivery, high quality product
from “hifiaustris”: Fast delivery, thank You for good service !
from “pcfreak1024”: Very nice tapes – sounds a lot better thanks!
from “tripqzon”: Made the job so much easier. Thank you very much. AAA+++
from “sirius_rocketry”: Tapes arrived quickly, great for fine-tuning your deck! Thanks!
and many more in my eBay Sale!
The tapes are also for sale in eBay. This is some of the recent ebay Activity – 100% positive feedback!
from “mps545”: Excellent tapes, as good as the originals. Quick to respond and helpful! A+++
from “mastertechtrading”: Alignment tapes work out great, did get the job done.
from “pepe6810”: Item as described, very useful tool for decks adjustment. Thanks !
from “finn23091931”: Advanced and high quality product. Perfect!
from “timh01”: Lovely quality tapes fantastic to have them – great service, highly recommended.
from “darkinnate”: Alignment tapes of amazing quality! Thanks for helping us revive cassette decks!
… and many more in my eBay Sale!