Slightly off topic, but I've come across 2 commercial cassettes in my time that were 180 degrees out of phase, presumably a terrible mistake at some point during the duplication process that nobody noticed, I wonder what the Dragon would do under those circumstances?

Stuart Robinson
Archival Audio-Visual Technician,
School of Scottish Studies Archives
University of Edinburgh


-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin Fisher
Sent: 26 July 2019 01:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Cassette pressure pads, Nakamichi Dragon NAAC Azimuth Correction with link

Beautiful!  Thanks Richard.  This tells me exactly what I wanted to know.  :-)

Martin
________________________________________
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Richard L. Hess <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 4:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Cassette pressure pads, Nakamichi Dragon NAAC Azimuth Correction with link

Hi, Martin, NAAC (Nakamichi Automatic Azimuth Correction) as implemented on the Dragon is interesting. It adjusts over a more limited range than the wide ranging field (especially oral history) cassettes that I've had to digitize, so it is not a cure-all. I have Nakamichi MR-1s as well.

Yes, azimuth drifts along the length of the tape and I often monitor it with Stereotool.com 's display, one for each cassette. I'ave modified my Dragons to be remotely manually adjustable, using an "up/down"
spring-loaded toggle switch. NAAC generally does NOT readjust in the middle of a tape in my experience--although I may have caught it doing it once or twice, it doesn't seem to do it when I'd want it.

Here is the explainer on how the Dragon's NAAC works (and other things about this interesting machine).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ca8ksp4q6gga35k/Nak_dragon_folder.pdf?dl=0

Cheers,

Richard

On 2019-07-25 12:42 p.m., Martin Fisher wrote:
> I haven't done exhaustive research into Nakamichi decks but if anyone can either point me to something that describes how the azimuth correction works on these decks (not azimuth theory but how the decks actually do the correction) I would be most grateful.  I'm very wary of equipment that supposes it can do a better job than a discerning ear and even a modicum of common sense along with (and this is most important) caring enough to do it right.
--
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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