Hi Fred:

Do you know what results were discovered from this monitoring? I always figured azimuth drifts quite 
a bit in the typical cassette, just due to mechanical issues. Did that turn out to be true? Were 
certain types of cassettes better at maintaining azimuth throughout the tape pack vs. others?

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Thal" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Cassette Deck Recommendations


> Richard Hess writes:
>
>> I have six Dragons that I use in my tape digitization practice.
>> They are great, but I wish at times I could do manual azimuth adjustment.
>> Someday I will try out a mod I designed and see how well it works to add
>> azimuth readout and a manual adjustment OPTION to a Dragon.
>
> Hello Richard,
>
> You are describing the Model 1690 Azimuth Meter, built by the
> Recording Research Technology department at the CBS Technology Center
> in Stamford. That was in 1984, in response to an industry-wide need to
> quantify azimuth error in the Philips Compact Cassette. (I sat in
> working group meetings where this device was first described.)
>
> The Model 1690 was, in fact, a Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck, with an
> added meter and switching circuit fitted in an outboard case. The
> meter displayed azimuth error over a range of plus or minus 25 minutes
> of arc. There was a switch position labeled Manual that let you do
> repro head azimuth adjustment manually.
>
>> It is a big mod to the logic board
>
> Actually, it was not that big a mod. (Surprisingly.) If you care to
> send me your design, I could compare it to the circuit developed for
> the 1690.
>
> Fred Thal
> ATAE STUDER
> Grass Valley, California
>