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Brand new test tapes for calibrating the speed of your cassette decks.
Speed test tape specs:
- 440 HZ A tone (for quick check with instrument tuner) (or MIDI note 69)
- 3150 hz tone for setting speed with frequency counter and checking wow and flutter
- Recorded in stereo, not full track
Speed tolerance: 0.16%
Notes
The speed variance to move a half tone from A 440Hz to A# at 466.16 Hz is 5.9%. That's a lot .Most cassette decks should be operating well within half or a third of that range. But if you're doing tape copies you need a much tighter tolerance to avoid cutting off the music or having a huge empty space at the end of the sides, especially on longer tapes of C-50, C-60, and longer
We have compared the speed of our test tapes against old test tapes from Sony, TEAC, and Nakamichi. Our test tapes play back the 3150 Hz tone with comparable variance as we found with those old test tapes. The variance of our tapes is +- 5 Hz or 0.16%. When adjusting speed your target is 3145 to 3155 Hz. But most of you won't have a frequency counter so we've included a 440HZ A tone to calibrate with any guitar or instrument tuner. You should be able to get within 0.5% using the 440 Hz tone. Update: There are frequnecy counter smartphone apps, very handy!
If you want to dub your own tapes consider this:
1% speed variance on a 30 minute side is 18 seconds per side
2% speed variance on a 30 minute side is 36 seconds per side
3% speed variance on a 30 minute side is 54 seconds per side
Level calbration tape specs:
- 315 HZ, 0 dB tone (IEC PRAGUE 1981 Spec, approx 250 nWb/m)
- Simulated to produce results like the Teac and Sony test tapes.
- Recorded on reel-to-reel duplicator
- Level tolerance: +- 1.2 dB
Notes
This test tape is recorded in stereo quarter-track mode, not full track. It is not 100% accurate because of potential head height misalignments. The results when used with 4-track machines will vary a bit due to a different head configuration on those machines. On 6 and 8-track heads some channels will not show anything. This is an amateur tape for quick checks, not a pro laboratory-grade tool.
This item includes free worldwide shipping by the post with a tracking number. Delivery time is usually 2-3 weeks but could be longer. Tracking is not available on shipments within Canada.
