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tuinkabouter

On 11/24/2012 11:27 PM, hr(bob) wrote:
My car (built-in) tape player seems to be getting strange in its
volume. Associated radio is fine, tape volume is down. I thought
that I should demag the tale head. But, the opening is only barely
big enough to insert a tape, and my 120V 60Hz demagger has a 1/2" long
tip at 1/3" diameter, affixed on the end of a tube that is at least 1"
diameter so there is no way to get the demagger tip anywhere near the
tape head. I could maybe tape a large nail to the end of the existing
tip, and reach the vicinity of the head, but I don't think that will
so anything. I don't know what the magnetic structure is under/inside
the head, but assume it is shaped to deliberately have flux going
outside the head. It's not worth it to make a coil small enough to
fit into the opening. I understand there are demagnetizing tapes
available, but I am cheap and don't want to spring for the $$ unless I
am reasonably (66+%) sure it will work.

Thoughts, ideas, polite suggestions.

First check the tape on a known good tape player.
Or use a original prerecorded tape.

Tapes recorded on a machine with bad aligned heads will play good on
that machine, but not on others.

Clean the head. Clean the tape guides.
Demag if you can.
Adjust the head in height for maximum output.
Adjust the head azimuth to maximize high frequency.
And repeat the last two.

A magnetized head will destroy all your tapes (bad signal to noise
ratio). And can not be undone.