REWIRE YOURSELF

REWIRE YOURSELF

DEPARTMENTS

CASSETTE PERFORMANCES

by

Richard Robinson

I've noticed that most people who use cassette machines treat the opening into which they pop the cassette as the portal to another dimension. They slap the cassette into the machine, slam down the cover, push play, and don’t give a second thought to the electro-mechanics that run the tape past the heads to produce the sound—or in the case of video recorders, the sound and picture.

Unfortunately this “Don’t tell me, because I don’t want to know’’ attitude about the irtternal mechanics of the cassette deck has rather dire results. The more often the cassette deck is used, the more the actual process of using Jthe cassette fouls the internal mechanics, until the day arrives when the quality of the sound, or sound and picture, suffers.

In the case of the audio cassette deck, the more it is used, the dirtier the heads get until the sound produced by the machine begins to lose its brightness and has a pronounced rumbling at higher volumes. With the video cassette machine, frequent use will eventually result in a loss of audio fidelity and a deterioration of the picture. This happens, not as a result of misuse; but simply as a result of any use at all.

Every time the magnetic tape in the cassette is run past the electro-magnetic heads that produce the play or record functions of the deck, a certain amount of the soft coating on the tape collects on the heads. After six months to a year'of constant use, this oxide dust has begun to coat the small metal surfaces of the cassette heads, acting as a blanket between the tape and head which are ideally supposed to be in intimate contact during play and record.

This debris is often joined by dust from the air (the reason manufacturers often supply dust covers to be put on machines when not in use) and sometimes grease and larger pieces of oxide (the reason you’re warned never to touch the cassette tape with your oily fingers and not to use cheap tape). The result is enough dirt on the cassette machine heads to keep the machine from sounding or looking as good as the day you bought it.

If y5u care about the quality of the signal produced by your cassette machines, it is worth the five minutes involved in rolling up your sleeves and learning how to clean the cassette heads and tape path.

With an audio cassette deck, head cleaning is a ridiculously simple process. Get a bottle of head cleaning fluid and a box of Q-tips—total cost $1.98. Inside the cassette compartment of the casette deck you will see two or three small metal cubes arranged in a row on the side of the compartment where the open edge of the cassettee itself goes when inserted. Wet the Q-tip in the cleaning fluid and wipe off the shiny metal faces of these metal cubes (the erase, reTord, and play heads). If you haven’t ever cleaned the heads before you’ll notice the Q-tips come out witbblotches of brown or black dirt on them. You can also clean the rubber wheel to the left of the head assembly, but don’t get fingerprint oil on the wheel. Recording studio engineers clean the tape heads of their machines every time they use the machine. This isn’t necessary in home use, but it is. a good idea to clean the heads every time you plan to use the machine to record, and whenever you’ve used it constantly for a period of time to play back.

If doing this by hand is too much to ask, you can buy a cassette head cleaner which you drop into the cassette housing and play like a normal cassette. These cost more than a. bottle of cleaning and Q-tips., and while they work well, are not quite as thorough as doing it by hand.

Video cassette recorders also need occasional cleaning and this is best done using the special video head cleaning cassettes now sold by a number of manufacturers. Ifs possible to clean the video heads by hand just like audio heads, but they are less accessible through the cassetteinsertion-slot and much more delicate, so stick with the cleaning cassette. Unless you dean video heads by hand, it is best not to use the cleaning cassettes too often as they don’t do the heads any real good since they are abrasive to the head molecule.

Eventually, constant use of the cassette machine will also result in a magnetic build-up on the heads which will make it necessary to demagnetize the heads. With audio cassette piachines, this is easy to do with a Head Demagnetizer (about $15) or one of the demagnetizer cassettes now sold. With video cassette machines it is not a wise idea to do this yourself, but let your local center do it for you,

As I’ve tried to point out,, cassette debris build-up and magnetic build-up on the heads happen through normal use, there is no way of avoiding them. So yotf can expect that if you’ve had your tape recorder for more than a few weeks it probably needs cleaning and therefore isn’t sounding or looking as good as when you bought it for want of that cleaning.

To prevent aggravating the problem, don’t ever touch the actual, tape of the cassette with your fingefs, cover your cassette machine with a dust cover or sheet of paper when you’re not using it, and don’t use cheap bargain cassettes if you can afford not to. But most important of all, take a peak inside the cassette transport area of your cassette machine. It isn’t the twilight zone, nothing will jump out and bite your nose, and you’ll be suprised at how simple it is to keep the system clean and up to par. , ^