BlazeES
06-03-2009, 08:46 PM
FeCr 90
Vintage: 1980 - 1984
Here's the run down using a 1991 TC-K870ES.
The beauty of the (calibration equipped) Sony's is that even though they automatically set the tape type (via the presence of notch-outs), you can still adjust the BIAS and RECORD EQ within the following ranges:
BIAS +/- 20%
(bias current)
RECORD EQ CAL: LOW, NORMAL & HIGH
(high freq attenuation, flat & boost, respectively)
there's also a REC LEVEL (independent of the main level adjust) specifically for fine tuning the saturation sensitivity relative to the test tones.
I'll be doing the 'listening' tests after I complete Stuwee's project in the next few days, but here's the Calibration function results thus far:
Tape was automatically detected as Type I (normal). No surprise there.
With the cal BIAS feature set at center detent, the high and low cal levels were dead nuts center to the graticular when I had the REC CAL set to HIGH. Not surprised at that either. This tells me that the EQ needs to be compensated for the NORMAL detection, so setting it HIGH goes to skew/offset the EQ circuit to accomodate the chrome layer. I did have to dial up the REC LEVEL a skosh, to about the 2 o'clock position, but this is within the normal usage parameters of many other tapes I use. When I left the BIAS centered and switched to NORMAL or LOW, the upper cal level (8 kHZ) dropped off in level, but the low frequency tone stayed put.
Since the BIAS compensation is centered and steady in conjuntion with the REC EQ set to HIGH, requiring no cranking to either extreme of the BIAS adjusment range, I fully expect the source vs tape sound check to be pretty damn good - unless something else is going goofy away from the two calibration tones of the 8 kHz & 400 Hz frequency bands.
Vintage: 1980 - 1984
Here's the run down using a 1991 TC-K870ES.
The beauty of the (calibration equipped) Sony's is that even though they automatically set the tape type (via the presence of notch-outs), you can still adjust the BIAS and RECORD EQ within the following ranges:
BIAS +/- 20%
(bias current)
RECORD EQ CAL: LOW, NORMAL & HIGH
(high freq attenuation, flat & boost, respectively)
there's also a REC LEVEL (independent of the main level adjust) specifically for fine tuning the saturation sensitivity relative to the test tones.
I'll be doing the 'listening' tests after I complete Stuwee's project in the next few days, but here's the Calibration function results thus far:
Tape was automatically detected as Type I (normal). No surprise there.
With the cal BIAS feature set at center detent, the high and low cal levels were dead nuts center to the graticular when I had the REC CAL set to HIGH. Not surprised at that either. This tells me that the EQ needs to be compensated for the NORMAL detection, so setting it HIGH goes to skew/offset the EQ circuit to accomodate the chrome layer. I did have to dial up the REC LEVEL a skosh, to about the 2 o'clock position, but this is within the normal usage parameters of many other tapes I use. When I left the BIAS centered and switched to NORMAL or LOW, the upper cal level (8 kHZ) dropped off in level, but the low frequency tone stayed put.
Since the BIAS compensation is centered and steady in conjuntion with the REC EQ set to HIGH, requiring no cranking to either extreme of the BIAS adjusment range, I fully expect the source vs tape sound check to be pretty damn good - unless something else is going goofy away from the two calibration tones of the 8 kHz & 400 Hz frequency bands.