Re: [ARSCLIST] Audio cassette woes

[Anonymous SET ARSCLIST DIGEST <KIrelan@xxxxxxxx>]

Having successfully reformatted nearly a thousand cassettes, I agree with everyone that the first suspect would be the tape itself.  However, having had a couple tapes like you are describing I began to think it might be the machine.  I got a jig from a tape duplication friend that allowed me to measure the tension generated by the deck's take-up motor.  It was not nearly to spec.  I tried this in numerous "professional" and consumer decks and found none of them to spec.  The consumer one's weren't even close.  Of course, the "spec" is about 30 years old.  It seems manufacturers have cut corners on the quality of the motors over the years.  What that means is if there is any friction at all in the cassette mechanism, the motor can't pull it.  Your problem could be a combination of factors.

Sincerely,

Kevin Irelan