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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: TEAC A3340S reel to reel , new to forum, what should I know about TEAC A3340S

« on: March 19, 2011, 01:21:52 PM »

steveidosound and ironbutt, again my thanks....

Good points in both your posts...in some of the notes written by Mr. Taylor there is mention Pioneer...thus guessing that he also had a pioneer tape deck at one time and that he recorded on it using the 3 3/4 speed.  I will ask his son.

I won't make much effort to hear the 1 7/8 speed on the 10.5 inch reels...in time if I run into someone who can play these tapes I will listen to few...just to learn about the content (classical music).

Because the vast majority of tapes that were given to me are the 7.5 reels I will focus on that set, using either my Sony player to listen to whatever 1 7/8 were made....and the Akai (or the Sony)  for the 3.5 speed tapes, or the Sony which will play both speeds.

I was hoping to make better use of the TEAC A3340s in listening to the 10.5 tapes...but since most 10.5 tapes were done at 3.5 speed (which is not available on the TEAC) I will have to deal with those tapes later.

However, ironbutt's suggestion on the use of software could solve that problem...but again, I will put the 10.5 tapes on the "back burner"...I have plenty to do with the  tapes on the 7.5 reels.

No more questions today...I will focus on group the 7.5 reels, 3.5 speed vs 7 3/4 speed...one little problem is that Mr. Taylor put different speeds recordings on the same tape, re his notes...and I also experienced when listening...as new music came on  it was recorded at a different speed than the previous piece.

Thanks again, taylortapes

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: TEAC A3340S reel to reel , new to forum, what should I know about TEAC A3340S

« on: March 19, 2011, 08:40:17 AM »

steveidosound and ironbutt, great feedback, many thanks!!

I am learning a lot from you two.  Another friend, also a neighbor, is very knowledgeable in tape/tape decks came over to give me a hand with the TEAC A3340S; yes, I can hear some of the music playing backwards when I switching cables in the back of the tape deck...there are a lot of combinations, front, rear, and then buttons in the front. Slowly I will understand it al.

Ok, next question/issue....turns out that several of the tapes my neighbor gave me (really belonged to his late father) were recorded in 3.5 (or 3 3/4, anyway the "3" speed).  The TEAC A3340S I bought from my neighbor (originally owned by his father) a few days ago does not have the 3 speed; it has speeds of 7.5 (so called "slow" on the front of my machine) and 15 ips (fast speed)....It is curious that ~ half the tapes (about 10) I have tested so far were recorded at 3 (from handwritten notes in the tape box); thus because the TEAC A3340s does not have the 3 speed I can't play these tapes on that machine, but how did he record at 3 with the TEAC A3340s if its slowest speed on the TEAC is 7.5 ips? Possibly he was using another tape recorder, one with a 3 speed...is there any solution to this problem; can the TEAC A3340S  be reconfigured to also run at 3?  The reason is because I have many 10.5 tape recorded in the 3 speed.   

Now not all is lost because I  have an Akai reel to reel tape deck, 4 track (bought recently from the guy who was servicing our old SONY machine) that has speeds 3 and 7.5 ips....thus I can play his 7.5 inch reel tapes at 3 speed recorded tapes on the Akai.

But the more serious problem is the fact that I have lots of 10.5 tapes recorded at 3 ips...the 10.5 tapes obviously will not fit on the Akai machine.  The only solution, not a good one, is to cut the 10.5 tapes into segments to fit on 7.5 inch reels.   I really don't want to do this, but I did one yesterday as a trial.  On the web I found that technics tape recorder use to make aa a recorder that covered all three speeds....but the one I found for sale...price too high for me, about 1200$

Yet here is another issue: there are a few tapes that have written notes in the box saying that the speed is 1 or 1.5 ...in the "1" range...is that possible?...are there tape recorders that recorded/played at this speed.  Oh, I just solved that problem...I remembered that our old SONY TC252 (2 track) has three speeds: 1 7/8, 3 ?, and 7 ? and I just opened the case to discover it has these speeds...the SONY works great as I recently had it serviced.  I was told by my friend who came over yesterday that no music should be recorded using the 1 7/8 speed, correct?  Should only use this speed for recording talks/talking.

As you can see my "tape project" is a bit overwhelming...I am a novice, but I am going slow and steady however.

FYI the 10.5 reels that were given to me are with the following tape brands mainly; Irish and LR Audiotape and some other brands such as Scotch....on the notes with each 10.5 tape the dates are ~ 1960...this would make these tapes >50 y old.  I don?t know how they were stored before I got them...currently I have them in our garage (no AC), but will moving into the house where there is AC.

I should also mention that I have not even started with the cassette tape collection, numbering in the several hundred tapes...I have several big boxes in the garage filled with cassette tapes that he (the deceased father) recorded.

And it does not end there; he recorded a lot of TV on vhs?and I have those tapes too.  There is no priority on these recordings since the technology is more or less recent, and I have several vcrs in the house....along with computers, software for converting vhs to DVD...but of coudrse I need to be careful on this as most TV is copyright protected....thus I will probably not make any VHS>DVD conversions from TV...anyway I have a backlog of my own personal videoing VHS>DVD I must get too.

I think I see an evolution to the late father's music/tape interest...first, reel to reel...then cassette tapes...then cd...my neighbor kept the cd...presumably the person (who died) did electronic music, either created by him or copied from the radio or other sources.  Some of the reel-to-reel contain electronic music...must have been early stuff since computers did not appear as a consumer/hobby item before about 1975...

Overall so far most of the material I obtained from the late father I have listened is classical music.

Thanks for your continued feedback, talyortapes....I think you have probably figured out that the late father's last name was Taylor, but you can keep referring to me as Taylor or taylortapes.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: What hardware are you using? need pdf owners man TEAC A3340S, output ques

« on: March 18, 2011, 08:13:25 AM »

Hello, new member; I bought my neighbor's father's TEAC A3340S yesterday for $150, it appears in great condition.

If anyone has pdf file of user's manual, please send me the link, or send as attached file to me: [email protected]

On the TEAC A3340S; on the back under the word "Output"  (line out) there is:

R         L         Front
3         1


R          L         Rear
4          2


Currently I have rca jacks (red/white) running from the Front to the stereo tuner.

The question: Should I be running another set of rca jacks (red/white) from the Rear to the stereo tuner.  I have a feeling that I am only hearing only a portion of the recorded music on the tape.

As you can see I am a novice at this...but most interested and learn fast.

Many thanks, taylortapes

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: TEAC A3340S reel to reel , new to forum, what should I know about TEAC A3340S

« on: March 16, 2011, 08:47:25 PM »

Thanks, you provided a very good discussion (what I was looking for) on this unit. The owner (my neighbor) will bring it over tomorrow morning before he goes to work.  It is very likely that the tapes I have (the ones that were given to me) were recorded using this machine....

Note, I have been playing some of the 7 inch tapes on my akai tape deck...not the Sony I mentioned earlier. I bought the akai for 79$ a few weeks ago when I took in my Sony for repair...the akai has 4 heads...the music (mostly classical) sounds pretty good although not great. 

Years ago (beginning about 1967) while living in Nova Scotia we received tapes from my brother-in-law and at that time we bought the Sony so we could play the tape;...I believe the Sony  only has two heads...anyway after getting it back last week we played some of the old tapes (now >40 y old) which sounded pretty good after sitting in the closet for 40 y.

Back to TEAC A3340S: I will get it tomorrow morning--I am interested in the music on the 10.5 tapes...I've got a lot of these 10.5 tapes...probably >100...the neighbor's provided handwritten notes on the content of each tape--many of the tape date back to 60s.

Will give you report tomorrow. taylortapes.

Note: My next step is to digitize the music I really like...I may need some advice on this...I have the software/hardware to convert vhs to dvd...and in the instructions there is a section to convert tape to cd....

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / TEAC A3340S reel to reel , new to forum, what should I know about TEAC A3340S

« on: March 16, 2011, 03:52:52 PM »

Hello, I just joined this tape forum...why?  My neighbor gave me his father's large collection of 7 inch and 10.5 inch tapes, the father passed away a few weeks ao; i have a sony 7 inch reel to reel and have been going through the 7 inch tapes.

I am about to buy the neighbors father's TEAC A3340S reel to reel tape deck; what should I know about this machine?   I assume that it will play the 10.5 in tapes...indeed it was probably used to record the music on the tapes.

I have a sony stereo amplifier and know what to do re connect to the tape deck and the speakers....what should I pay for the TEAC A3340S?

Does the TEAC A3340S, probably sold in the 60s-70s, need maintenance....there is a highly regarded guy in our town who does tape recorder repairs...he recently repaired our sony 7 inch tape recorder, bought in ~1967....it works great..

Thanks....taylortapes