Sansui SC 5300

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#41
Best.
Lunchbox.
Ever.

You can check with Scott Grammer:
scott w grammer at hotmail dot com

(no spaces)

He did my TC-D5M up including a recap and was fast and reasonable price. Bob suggested him- he's in TN.

I sent him an inquiry, thanks Jim
 

20tajk7

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You never have too much tapedecks ^^
#42
Nando: have you recorded with those new tapes yet? I've not heard ANYTHING compelling enough to make me want to use them.

I bet the base tape is fine for an open reel deck at high speed, but cassette is much more demanding, as you well know.
The RTM FOX C60 are good tapes, the C90 version is pretty bad (lower shell quality).
But the price of these has badly increased, you can get better vintage type I tapes for the same price.
 

J!m

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#43
TDK D are still relatively cheap, and tough to beat for a (non-special) type-I.

The fancier type-I tapes are silly money now.
 

e30m3mon

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#45
I have a sealed Maxell XLII 90-minute tape from decades ago when I used the old Nak 682ZX. Bought it by mistake as I had been a fan of the XLII-S and must have grabbed this in error.

You're welcome to it ... PM me an address and I'll get it out to you. If nothing else, you can use it for comparison to other tape types you eventually test.
 

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#48

J!m

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#51
Chromium dioxide is type II but most tapes are actually cobalt alloy.

You can absolutely use that setting. It’s just that since (apparently) there is no bias adjust, you May be leaving headroom and/or distortion on the table and not maximizing the potential of the tape.

If Scott sets it up for you, let him know which tapes you prefer (Maxell?) and ideally provide a sample of each type, and he’ll dial it in on those tapes specifically. Then as long as you stick with them, you get the most out of the deck.

I blow the minds of people at work when they listen to my tapes- they think it’s a CD. I wring all I can out of them and they sound really quite good when you do.

The days of the drug store off brand junkers is long gone. You set up, prepare and make a recording. Maxell and TDK both hold up well for repeated platings, so you only have to do it well once.

(I have tapes I made in the 80’s that still play and sound just fine- my newer recordings are much better, but so is my gear and, more importantly, my knowledge of the format.)
 

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#52
Chromium dioxide is type II but most tapes are actually cobalt alloy.

You can absolutely use that setting. It’s just that since (apparently) there is no bias adjust, you May be leaving headroom and/or distortion on the table and not maximizing the potential of the tape.

If Scott sets it up for you, let him know which tapes you prefer (Maxell?) and ideally provide a sample of each type, and he’ll dial it in on those tapes specifically. Then as long as you stick with them, you get the most out of the deck.

I blow the minds of people at work when they listen to my tapes- they think it’s a CD. I wring all I can out of them and they sound really quite good when you do.

The days of the drug store off brand junkers is long gone. You set up, prepare and make a recording. Maxell and TDK both hold up well for repeated platings, so you only have to do it well once.

(I have tapes I made in the 80’s that still play and sound just fine- my newer recordings are much better, but so is my gear and, more importantly, my knowledge of the format.)

I wonder if modding the deck with the Bias Adjust out where it can be adjusted with a tweaker would work??
 

J!m

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#53
You could run that by Scott too.

I guess you could use a different value trim pot in series with a regular pot, mounted where you can get to it.

But you need test tones and a way to monitor them. Is that a three-head deck? (I’m not familiar with it)

if not a three head you have to record and them play back to monitor. A bit fiddly and would get old quickly I suspect…
 

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#54
You could run that by Scott too.

I guess you could use a different value trim pot in series with a regular pot, mounted where you can get to it.

But you need test tones and a way to monitor them. Is that a three-head deck? (I’m not familiar with it)

if not a three head you have to record and them play back to monitor. A bit fiddly and would get old quickly I suspect…

Nah, just 2 heads I think.
 

Elite-ist

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#57
I got an NOS Sansui SC-3110 cassette deck a few years ago for my vintage Sansui system I was putting together. I am busy with recording on my main system, but it might be something I can experiment with later to see which older cassettes will do the deck justice.

d5432fc0-e1d6-4124-8dd8-36f9bdee1be7_zpsenhyglxk (1).jpg
8a69eb52-5c8e-42e4-abfb-a6fbbcfc6b78_zpsgsxj4e9n.jpg
f472138c-fe2b-423e-a050-f43740629f02_zpstt6ork7c (1).jpg

Nando.
 

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#58
I got an NOS Sansui SC-3110 cassette deck a few years ago for my vintage Sansui system I was putting together. I am busy with recording on my main system, but it might be something I can experiment with later to see which older cassettes will do the deck justice.

View attachment 60419
View attachment 60421
View attachment 60420

Nando.

Damn good idea Nando. Iffn ya get some time, I would appreciate any help since I know squat about cassettes (I spent the 70's in a haze). Thanks
 

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#59
I brought home a Teac deck in 1981 and 20 boxes of Maxell UD XL II's and they sounded great. The deck was no more sophisticated than the Sui
 
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