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Author Topic: Teac X2000-R - USA machines calibrated to NAB EQ and European units to IEC  (Read 7008 times)

Offline Fabio

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Dear Forum members

Thanks to a suggestion received from Ironbut, I have written to TEAC asking what the EQ of my machine would be and if there is a difference between X2000-R machines purchased in USA or in Europe.

The response is a real surprise to me! Now I understand the second X2000-R I have recently purchased (and I am still struggling to repair, as the heads assembly is with JRF) has been calibrated to NAB, and in fact my entire collection of old tapes (more than 40) has been recorded with a X2000-R purchased in Europe, calibrated IEC as per TEAC feedback, and I do not own that machine anymore.

The question is now: how this will effect the playback of my old tapes? and there is anything I can do to switch to IEC Equalization?

My heads assembly is ready and still with JRF, and if there is any action to be taken on the heads (I don't think so, however I prefer to ask to you guys) I am still in time for asking John to take kind action.

I hope the only solution won't be to playback the tapes with the ReVoX B77 MKII I have. I am sure tapes recorded with a Teac autoreverse machine will play better when listened with the same machine has recorded them.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to handle this discouraging fact that I may have purchased a machine with a different (wrong for my apes) equalization, and that there is nobody around here in my city that can easily work on it...and successfully!

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Fabio
« Last Edit: April 06, 2010, 10:13:20 PM by Fabio »

Offline ironbut

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Hey Fabio,
There should be nothing to worry about as far as the heads go.
All the adjustments should be made electronically.

I'll download a manual and see if there's an easy way for you to listen to NAB tapes "properly" equalized.
In the meantime, if you should listen to those tapes on this machine, the difference in sound won't be night and day.
Every now and then, I forget to set my Repro amp to the right eq and it takes a little while for me to realize my mistake.

I know that some of the members here will cringe at the thought, but you may even prefer the sound you get using the wrong eq to playback your old tapes. It is eq after all and in the old days every preamp/receiver had a set of "tone controls". How you set those eq levels depended on your personal preferences, playback system, room interactions, and the sources you were listening to. Back in the 1970's, I had a Revox A77 which had switchable NAB/IEC eq and some NAB tapes that I had sounded better to me with IEC eq.
steve koto
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Offline ironbut

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I just glanced over the service manual and didn't see anything to help you.
You may want to pose your questions over on the Tape Heads forum. There are several folks over there that have "X" series Teac decks and I'm sure they'd be more familiar with what's involved in converting your deck to NAB.

http://www.tapeheads.net/
steve koto
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Offline Tim

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The difference between IEC and NAB is not whole lot. At 7.5 ips,  IEC is 70 usec and NAB is 3180/50 usec.   That equals only about 2 to 3 db difference at the high-end and low-end.  Like Steve said, just tweak your preamp tone controls a bit to get the bass/treble balance that sounds good to you.


« Last Edit: April 07, 2010, 03:19:42 PM by Tim »
Tim Leinbaugh
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with RTR specialty.

Offline Ki Choi

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Hi Fabio:

Sam Palermo at

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/reeltoreel/?yguid=356657641

is the TEAC guru.

He had helped me with calibrating my X2000R to be withinn the factory spec last year.

Sam will have some ideas on how you can switch to and from NAB/IEC for your deck if it is possible.

Ki
Ki Choi

Offline Fabio

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Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your great support.

I understand that anyway I will have the chance to enjoy my old tapes, which made me immediately feel better!

I have tried to find a Service Manual belonging to a Teac X-2000R sold in the European market, but without success so far; this would be the only way to confirmed the response received from TEAC confirmed.

On the other hand, an input came from Big Dave, a nice gentleman from UK which also sells Reel to Reel spare parts on Ebay. He says that as my collection of old tapes has been recorded at 9.5 cm/s, NAB EQ shall be the equalization used by the machine, regardless if belonging to the USA or European market. I am told that at that slow speed, the EQ can just be NAB...

I will keep looking for the European version of the manual.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Fabio