TEAC X-2000R

[fradi]

Hi,

I have purchased a minty X-2000R locally, in wood case, no scratch anywhere. Heads look awesome with very little sign of wear. The seller has replaced the capstan belt, lubed all parts. The machine operates properly and sonically it is fantastic. I have 2 questions:

1/ while playing, the supply reel seems to have quite some resistance/tension. I can only compare it to my Pioneer RT-909. It's possible that my Pio has weak tension, although I've never had any dropouts, etc. Otherwise the tape handling seems to be great. I feel the same tension on the other side as well, when playing in reverse mode. I do not have a tentelometer, so the only way I could check tensions (no reliable local service here), if someone could send me a picture of the pots that control them. If I'm correct, the pots are located on the left side above each other for play and ff/rew. If anyone could help me out with this, it would be great and thank you in advance. I know it's not the best way to check this, but at least a good starting point.

2/ Head wear: how much longer life of these CA heads can I expect, compared them to my Pio's permalloy heads? A rough number, like 2 times more, 3 times more would be close enough.

Thank you for all the great info that can be found on this site!

Thanks for any help in advance!

Best,
Feri

[Skywavebe]

Hi Feri,

The fact that the unit works and seems to have high back tension would indicate that someone like yourself has been at the pots and has dialed up excessive force to take care of a skew problem or maybe looping of the tape. The servo sections of these decks are more touchy than most think and adjusting to get the unit to work is NOT the answer. The incorrect back tension- that greater than 50 g/cm as measured on a Tentelometer will result in over heating, additional head wear and wow and flutter figures that are excessive. The amount of 50 g/cm back tension is not that much that it should seem more than a Pioneer or other deck. Often times I see decks coming in- two arrived tonight, that are not adjusted correctly and will then cause further problems down the line.
CA heads last about the same as the previous model black epoxy colored heads. There has never been any evidence shown to me that they last 2X or 3 X that of the typical black colored heads. This was made evident as within a year of them coming out the heads in a machine had to be changed due to bad response. CA heads perform better like Leon has said but I do not believe that they last any longer and in fact having a X2000R deck with that head mounting is further reason that they should need to be changed even sooner as unlike the X1000 decks, the 2000 mounting allows no movement of the heads forward or back to compensate for wear patterns. These are the facts as I see them and who would know better than I- people just do not like to talk about it

[fradi]

Thank you, Sam! Do you know of any reputable shop in NC? This machine might operate fine, but a check up, or possible adjustments would not hurt. Sonically I can't hear anything wrong with it, but as I've said, the tension seems to be definitely higher than my Pio909's. I'd like to keep this deck for a long time, since it looks like as if it was just taken out of the box yesterday for the first time.
Best,
Feri