Nakamichi BX-2 Cassette Deck - Electrical Adjustments & Calibration (Part 2 of 2)
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- čas přidán 9. 02. 2023
- Wrapping up this Nakamichi BX-2, I will install a new repay, and perform the basic calibraionsnwe can all do in accordance with its service manual - meters, levels, azimuth, and a recording check.
The relay I change at the start is the main head relay and can cause poor channel response, the type is a DPDT G5V-2-12DC.
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Really enjoyed your video's on the BX 2 very interesting ❤
Very informative and clear.
17:15 Record/playback of a tone on the same deck will cancel out any speed problem. If it records slow, the tone is laid down more closely together on the tape as an effectively higher frequency with respect to a reference. This is cancelled out when the tape is played back slowly over the head, dropping the frequency again. Using this effect though, you can create a higher quality recording if you only record and then play the same tapes on one deck. Boost the tape speed, and you will a much better quality sound and pushing the tape hiss frequency much higher. I think the Fostex 4 track compact cassette recorder does this.
Very nice to watch your videos. I also having Nacs BX 10.but not having test cassettes
Thanks! You can pick one up off eBay for £10-£20, they're very useful 🙂
Great video 👍
My BX-2 has just stopped playing. Damn!
It had a speed issue before. I got the correct speed by tuning my guitar and adjusting the speed until it matched. I used the opening chords to Springsteen’s ‘Human Touch’!
This is actually genius
Great video. Yeah, it looks pretty hard to use 15 kHz for azimuth alignment. The wavelength is so small, that variation being displayed is over half a wavelength and drowns out any fine adjustment. Which direction do you go in when the L & R channels are 180 degrees out of phase? I've seen another CZcams channel use coarse alignment with a much lower frequency, then fine with 10-15 kHz. Like you, I simply split the difference and use my 3150 Hz speed calibration tape created by a third party. I guess using the levels would also work. And then of course, you have to adjust the az anyway for any tapes created on a badly adjusted deck!
When I really don't know which way to go, what I do is hook up the deck and listen to a tape. A good prerecorded one. Usually when its way out, it sounds awful. I play with the azmuth screw and adjust it by ear, then back on the oscilloscope and it's usually very close.
I like to adjust azimuth now with 6.3k, speed with 3k and volume levels with 400hz. Seems to work - sometimes all of them will be great and 10k will be lop sided. Sometimes that's just down to the tape or the age of the unit. Gotta find that middle ground!
@@pwrestoration Agred. Sometimes the ear is the best tool!
Great video thanks. I'm new to oscilloscopes, will a cheap digital one be ok for azimuth adjust or do you recommend any other type?
You can get a used one pretty cheap but it must have two channels, 20mhz is really the type to go for
@@pwrestoration cheers for the advice 👍
Great video, one question. I have a test cassette recorded with Nakamichi deck. If I want to adjust the output playback on a Technics deck the 0db Nakamichi corresponds to +3bd Technics is that correct?
Thank you
It can be difficult as a lot of deck vu meters just don't correspond well to each other. I can't comment on the comparison of that particular deck but you'd have to look in your decks service manual.
Chances are if the technics has never been played with it'll be fine so leave it. There's a lot of things to consider, such as the frequency of the tone. If it's 400hz that decks response may be better compared to a 6000hz tone.
The only constant is the instruction in the service manual and testing in accordance with that. Good luck but if it sounds fine, it probably is! 😄
@@pwrestoration Ok thanks for the info 👍
Got a odd problem with a bx-125, when the bottom cover is installed the right channel is dead , but when I remove the cover it plays, but when I connect any rca the meter for the right channel maxes out and plays 60hz tone I believe , so the only way to get the right channel to play is with no bottom cover and no rcas connected, also when the cover is off and no rcas it plays fine but if you touch any bare metal the level drops
Check your chassis for a dead short, it might be live. Use DC volts.
Put your multimeter probes in your output RCAs too.
Other than that your bottom cover is causing a short, or there's a short on the unit somewhere is my guess.
Don't plug it into an amp or speakers. Use the headphone port to diagnose.
@@pwrestoration it’s definitely grounded since the left channel works perfectly fine with the cover on and rcas connected , only the right side is having the problem
A lot of the test tapes and tape torque setting cassettes are not only expensive but very hard to find .Aliexpress has a head height thing but Its £76 .I have a multimeter but no scope so i am going to buy the Nak T-100 Analyser software its on the microsoft store ,i have a toshiba laptop spare .You have adjusted all the most important things i never use dolby so calibrating that is pointless to me .Nichicon and elna caps are the ones i see leaking most often ,the duratool desolder station from cpc has been a great tool can remove things from boards in seconds .
I've seen somewhere one person created his own tape path adjustment cassette. He removed the front part of the flared out area of the shell, and glued in a trimmed down a plastic locker mirror at 45 degrees. I've seen calibration compact cassette tapes created by using a pro 1/8" reel-to-reel deck that removes the shell entirely.
Are you still using your smartphone as a signal generator? I reckon you can get a cleaner signal for calibration using a proper soundcard from a computer (or even better some sort of small dac with digital in analogue cinch out) and gold/copper plated plugs. I'm not a technician or engineer but I'd trust that more than bluetooth and thin cables, no?
greetings from germany, keep doing what you do!
and for the speed calibration simply take the output directly from the decks into the line-in (some better PC soundcards have line-in) to take the speakers out of the equasion.
I thought that too, I have a function generator and tried that - just as clean as creating it on the phone with a 3.5mm to RCA cable. I just stopped using the real generator to save the hassle of hooking it up all the time. Clean as a whistle on the scope!
@@pwrestoration Yup....the phone is a computer and even has a small dac :)
hi i hv the same deck. but when i press the play switch nothing happens. the main board IC was replaced with a original taken out part from another BX2 deck. still the problem continues. what cld be the issue
When you say nothing happens, something must happen. Does it mechanically play but no sound?
Mechanically not playing. seems the command is not going after switch pressing. replaced the Main LOGIC board IC. not working still