[rfeenstra]

I now have both of these machines in excellent working order.  I had to order and use an alignment tape from Magnetic Reference Laboratory (expensive!) to get the heads properly aligned and the frequency response set for the 2 equalization standards.  I also have transferred all  of my master tapes to digital so the purpose of getting the 1/2 track in the first place has been fulfilled.  Kind of fun to record music on quality tape and use it to entertain myself.  My aging ears cannot hear the difference between the original and the recorded copy.  These are fairly high quality recorders so that's not surprising.  It's sort of like listening to our old, rebuilt AM radios.  Much easier to listen to other and better sources but not near the fun or satisfaction.  Once my fascination with these machines is over, I'll probably put at least one up for sale.

I have a consumer grade Akai machine that I think I'll start on next, while I'm in the swing of tape machines. Might be disappointing, though, after working on the semi-pro machines.