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Author Topic: Scotch (3M) 206  (Read 14237 times)

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Scotch (3M) 206
« on: October 20, 2007, 03:31:18 PM »
Friends,
I recently purchased 8 (10in Metal Reels) from a radio station. The reels included Stotch 206 tape as well. Primarily, the tapes include radio programs. Some of the programming is classical music and other stuff. My questions are these. Was this particular tape good in its day and what is its equvilant today? Finally, did this tape have a major problem with shedding? The metal reels are in great shape and I plan to keep them.

By the way. "Mothers" Mag & Aluminum Polish does an excellent job of cleaning and polishing metal reels. Someone else mentioned it here and I thought to try it. It certainly works well for me. Thanks all.

Bob W.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.

Offline sssmokin99

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2007, 11:30:33 AM »
Hi Bob,
Scotch (3M) "206" (and its counterpart, the thinner 207) were called "high output/low noise" by their maker.  They were +3db formulations, backcoated.  I have used quite a bit of it, both way back when and recently.  Have never had a problem with sticky shed, but the tape I have used has always been stored correctly.  It is probably my favorite tape for use on my older Teac machines (A-3300S-2T, A-3300-SX, etc).  I believe it is as good as Maxell UD, although some others feel it isn't.  The only equivalent that I know of might be the now out of production Quantegy 406/407.
Thanks for the mag polish tip- will have to try it soon!

Kent

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2007, 08:40:49 AM »
Dear Kent,

Thanks for the reply and great information regarding Scotch tape formulation. I have no idea how it was stored, but have come by 8 rolls on 10inch metal reels. If nothing else, I can certainly use the metal reels. These tapes came from a PBS (FM) radio station.  Their fair was classical music and talk. I have recently taken the time to read some of the station notes and see that they used "Dolby" on every tape. As I don't have access to Dolby, these tapes appear to be useless to me and may have to be discarded. On the other hand, maybe I can find a Dolby unit cheap that I can use to decode them. Thanks again Kent for your great response.

Bob W.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.

Offline ironbut

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2007, 06:22:40 PM »
Hey Bob, I'm glad the " Mothers" worked well for you. I just wish other so called polishing/cleaners worked as well as that stuff does. I've used it on just about every alloy around the house( except for the al wheels on my car?)  and it works wonders.  As far as the Dolby goes, you can pick them up for almost nothing on Ebay. I've gone through a number of them and the best sounding have been an Integrex ( which is kind of hard to find ) IC based unit and a Teac AN180 are very plentiful. If you do a search under "noise reduction" you can usually find a few. If your deck will play 1/4 track tapes, buy a Barclay-Crocker tape (any should do) because they have a dolby calibration tone at the end of side 1 that you can use to set up your dolby unit. There are so many Teac 180's out there that you can be pretty picky. As questions like; Do the meters work? Has the unit been used successfully this decade? If you turn the unit on and when the meter calibration button on the back is pushed, do the meters point to " Cal"?
Aside from those questions, just go by the appearance.
BTW just listen to the tapes and see if there's anything you want to save. I listen to dolby encoded tapes all the time without a decoder. The main difference is that the treble will be forward and sound a little bright. But, time may be on your side since the high treble is the first thing that degrades on most tapes.
steve koto
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Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2007, 11:47:50 AM »
Dear Steve,

My friend this is great info and I will make use of it as well. I am now in the process of looking for a dolby unit but may try to listening to a tape without the unit and see if it's something I can do without. If so, I've saved some $$$$$ and I don't need to make additional space for another piece of equipment.

My friend, that Mothers stuff works wonders and it actually gives my metal reels a "like new look". I was really amazed at the sheen and almost brand new look of my reels. Again, thank you Steve for giving me these directions to travel in. I will ask the questions you post here and that should get me a good working unit if I find I actually need one.

Bob W.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.

Offline sssmokin99

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2007, 12:07:00 PM »
It is absolutely true that with Dolby, you can listen without decoding (through Dolby).  The sound may be a bit "bright", as Dolby messes with the highs when it encodes.  If you are like me, you have lost some of your high frequency hearing anyway, so it may sound fine...
The same cannot be said for dbx, if you should come into tapes encoded that way.  You must decode with dbx (type 1 or type 2 and they are not interchangable) for it to sound remotely correct.

Kent

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Re: Scotch (3M) 206
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2007, 04:01:28 PM »
Thanks again my Kent. I really appreciate all this good stuff. I am holding back on the dolby unit until I see what happens when I play the tapes without it. That will tell all.

Bob W.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.