I always liked the Nakamichi decks with the closed-loop dual capstans. One point of caution: closely examine the felt pressure pad that should fall directly over the tape and head.  In some cassettes, the glue may fail, causing the pad to wander off-center or fall out entirely.  In a case like that, put the tape in a new shell, because the misplacement or absence of the pressure pad will cause the tape to mistrack.
 


 
 
Steve Greene
Archivist
Office of Presidential Libraries
National Archives and Records Administration
(301) 837-1772
>>> Lou Judson <[log in to unmask]> 6/27/2012 11:31 AM >>>
Tom, do you think that standard double capstan deks are not adequate for the job? I have Sony and Nakamichi decks that have closed loop dual capstan drives that seem to do a fairly good job, though I haven't had severely warped tapes that are problematic - so far!

<L>
Lou Judson
Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Jun 26, 2012, at 6:55 AM, Tom Fine wrote:

> An interesting machine would be a cassette mechanism up top but instead of a capstan drive, the tape would be pulled out the middle of the shell and put in a little isolated-loop drive, Technics style, with the heads inside the loop. I would think, if you had really good guidance on top of the loop, you could keep the tape very stable in the loop. Better still would be a way to adjust the two pinchrollers so you could vary the tension/wrap on the heads. Cassette tape is so thin, that should be a way to guarantee good head contact.
> 
> Probably not worth rigging up such a beast for lowly cassettes.
> 
> -- Tom Fine