Monthly Archives: August 2013

New arrivals: Philips N4520 & Teac X-300

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New decks

All of a sudden the tape recorders are pouring in. At almost the same time I got hold of a Teac X-300, a small 18 cm reel deck from one of the last series made by Teac around 1987, and a Philips N4520 from around 1978, which is THE kick-ass deck to have from Philips if you want to do serious business. It is really monstrous.

Philips N4520

The Philips N4520 has some unique features not found on other decks or only on very expensive studio decks, like

  • bias adjustable from the front panel
  • wind speed is adjustable on the front panel
  • electronic tape counter in 1/10 meters
  • Selectable equalization (at 38 cm/s) after NAB or IEC
  • cue buttons for fast winding&play without using the stop button
  • peak hold (yes, on analog VU meters!!) with peak leds as well
  • mini input mixing console with master fader
  • constant tape tension, so no reel size switch needed. Even when winding!

Listening

After listening to my first test recording on the 4520 with new and fresh SM911 tape through my Sennheiser HD-600 I was really blown away by the depth of the sound! It appears the 4520 has a build-in headphone amplifier that is very very good! It adds a lot of OEMPF to the sound. I did not know a good phone-amp was that that important to the overall sound. Also the sound quality on the line level is astonishing. The only difference when comparing the recording to the original is the tape noise, which is by the way very low. But that can be solved by using my newly bought (I haven’t told you yet. Sorry about that) DBX units.

Mods

Anyway, this Philips is the top of the line from all Philips tape decks. Among audio enthusiasts it is a very sought after model. It has some weaknesses, but mine has been under repair and is now ready for use. Also some modifications only found on later produced machines have been done. Sonically, I think it is my best sounding machine. But a comparison between my Tascam 34B and this baby will probably happen in the not so near future.

Teac X-300

Not forgetting the other new deck, the Teac X-300. It is a compact built unit, as it only carries 18 cm reels. It is one of the last series built by Teac, and it shows. It has a plastic look and feel, however, when you operate it it feels very robust. It is capable of handling the new EE tapes (or chrome) with superior audio characteristics which unfortunately have not been very successful when they came out in the mid 80-s. I do not own such a tape, so I can not test it.

This unit came very cheap, only €50. It is in e very new state. I don’t think it has many hours on it. Everything on the deck feels new and fresh, like the brakes and the controls etc. When comparing the sound quality using SM911 with the new N4520 it came sooo close, I was really surprised. This is definitely a keeper, if I can live with the small reel limitation.

Tomorrow I will add some photos to this article

Some simple math…..proving 0,999999999 equals 1

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I am going to prove to you, using standard algebra, that

0,99999999999….. equals 1.

Now I know that if you have even a basic understanding of maths you say: ‘I know for sure that’s not true’, but I will show you otherwise.

So here is the breakdown:

    1. let’s start by substituting 0,99999999999….. with the letter a, so

a = 0,99999999999….. 

That is easy huh?

 2. now say 10 times a would mean

10a = 9,99999999999…..

that is still right, right? I don’t believe that there is any need for discussion here.

3. if we substract a from that, of course you have to do that on both sides of the equal sign, we get:

10a – a = 9,99999999999…..  – a

still a correct formula.

4. 10a – a is of course 9a, so:

9a = 9,99999999999…..  – a

 5. but since a = 0,99999999999 the right side of the formula could be written as 9

9a = 9

6. and that means that a must be 1

a = 1

7. combining step 1 and step 6 I have proven to you that

0,9999999999….. = 1

The surprising Teac A-3340S

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From a friend of mine I recently received a Teac A-3340S in good condition. Here is a picture of it:

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Teac A-3340S in good condition

My friend had just acquired it and asked me to take a look at the levels and to do an overall adjustment of the deck for him. This is I believe the first 4-track quadro deck by Teac, introduced in 1973. The deck is very very heavy and very very well built. This particular deck is also very well kept, there are no signs of usage and it looks like it has just come out of the shop. Remarkable as this deck was in production from 1973 until 1978.

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After I serviced it, it sounded wonderful! It was a pity I had to return it to my friend, but well, it was his deck.