Tape decks: 3 head or 2 head???

What is the advantage of a cassette deck that has 3 heads, as opposed to 2??

 

There are two:

1: You can monitor what's actually been recorded on the tape itself, not just what's going into the deck. This way if your recording has flaws (dropouts, distortion, etc.) you will know as it happens, rather than having to wait until you can play back the finished recording.

2: I've been told that having dedicated playback and recording heads allows them to be better optimized for their specific tasks, which is especially important on a "challenging" format like the cassette, with its slow tape speed and narrow track width. Not sure on the validity of that one though; it's been many years since I owned a 3-head deck.

 

If you're interested in buying a cassette deck, IMO don't even think about buying one that's not a 3-Head. It is much easier to calibrate and tweak the machine to each new tape and get a good sounding tape by doing this "on the fly" compared to starting, stopping, playing this back, starting again, etc. Besides 3-Head, make sure the deck has manual adjustments for level, bias adjustment, and also a control for matching the level going onto the tape compared to the signal you're recording (absolutely necessary when using any Dolby NR, or it won't "track" properly and will sound bad).

BTW - Don't record a tape without properly calibrating - you'll likely end up with sound that's kinda like a typical prerecorded cassette, unless you just get lucky.

 

What Martin said.

Although if you're looking for cheap, it's pretty amazing what Sony can do with their autobiasing models for a very low cost, even with only two heads. The trick there is they record a series of tones, step through the adjustments then replay the tape, keeping track of which settings worked best. Very clever. (I could have lived quite happily with one of their dual-well cheapies, except for the flutter, ever the bane of cassettes.)

 

On the OTHER hand, 3-head decks fall out of alignment more often. Take it from one who has owned three of them! The main reason is because if, for example, the record head falls out of alignment, the playback will be wrong, and it is harder to determine which is out of whack, and to fix it without throwing the whole thing out of alignment. Test tapes could help, but just try to find one.

Everyone is right about the Sony decks, or any decks, having some means to perform bias and/or Dolby calibration! Tapes can vary between batches within the same brands. The sides of a single tape can even have different settings. If you feel that even with proper calibration, the sound isn't "there", you can tweak it manually. You can do this with a 3-head deck.

But, 3-head decks are no more capable of making superior recordings than a 2-head deck. Sure, the head-gap on a record-only head can be optimized for it's task, but the ability to record a slightly higher frequency band may not be worth the trouble or cost.

With a 2-head deck, you could open the thing and adjust the bias and sensitivity by ear, and use the same tape, or brands close to the one you adjusted the bias with. Just pay close attention to what you adjust and by how much. Also, remember where your starting point is in case you have to go back to the factory settings.

 

On my 3 head TEAC Dolby S machine the record and playback heads are mounted together and cannot go out of alignment relative to each other.

 

My two-head Harman/Kardon reportedly goes out to 21kHz, and sounds just fine to my ears. Always wanted a three-head, but at this late point in the cassette's life cycle, I could care less. It's just a little more work to align bias and Dolby with a two head (record, playback, adjust, rinse, repeat--you used the meters for calibration of the levels), but since I used to buy tapes in bulk, I could use the same settings for everything I taped on that same brand.

As Joseph says above, some 3-head decks actually mount the record and playback heads together. Also, if I remember what I've read, an optimum record head has a wider gap, where an optimum playback head would have a smaller gap to capture the high frequencies...hence, their supposedly better sound.

 

what about 2 motor vs. 3 motor?

3 motor decks that are dual driven capstan can play and record with the least amount of dropouts. I have recorded on 600 + cassettees with good sucsess.I also have a 2 motor 3 deck and it records real well but dropouts and inperfections in the tape shows up more often.I would go for three motor three head

 

Or at least the alignment between them can't change. I have seen decks like this where there was a fixed (incurable) misalignment, though.

 

Any thoughts on why adjustable playback head azimuth (like the Nakamichi CR-7 used) didn't become more popular? That sort of thing seemed like a great idea. I'm assuming that it was probably too costly to implement on more affordable machines. Plus there was more that the user could screw up. Did I just answer my own question?

 

Well, they are mounted in the same housing on most decks, but they are separate. They can still fall out of alignment relative to each other.

 

Re: what about 2 motor vs. 3 motor?

Heh! Those 3-head decks I have also have three motors. More moving parts, more things that go wrong.

 

Yup.

 

Actually all cassette decks have azimuth adjustments, but normally they're hidden away from prying hands. In my opinion if you want to do serious cassette listening (or dubbing) you must adjust have access to the azimuth adjustment. (Hint: If you decide to go in with a screwdriver, make sure it is not magnetized!)

 

Non-magnetic screwdriver and a good set of test tapes unless your deck has an on-board calibration system.

cheerio

 

Adjusting azimuth is usually just a matter of slipping the door off of the cassette well. In my HK decks, it's usually a spring-loaded screw that is accessible when the deck is in play mode.

Mobile Fidelity used to sell an alignment tape (GeoTape), used before recording your own cassettes, so your own tapes were in alignment with each other. Had two channels of pink noise from the same generator, but one was reversed phase. You simply switched to mono, aligned the head for maximum null signal (IOW, least amount of signal), and you were ready to record. While this obviously isn't for playing back other cassettes, it does give you a common reference point to adjust to before recording your own tapes. Too bad so few of these were made.

 

If you make a test tape of your own, by recording mono hiss from FM at -20 dB, you can use it to get back to where you started. Switch to mono and tweak for the least phasey sound. If you don't have a mono switch (who'd be without one??) then at least you can tweak for brightest sound with solidest center image.)

 

Thanks for all your replies. Basically I am trying to decide between the purchase of of the Nakamichi LX-3 and the LX-5. Assuming I purchase either version and have my tech allign the heads, how ofter would I want to recheck or recalibrate the unit?