Sony Compact Cassette Deck (TC-KA3ES) Calibration and Frequency Response Test. 

0:00 Introduction 0:30 Tapes to be used during testing (Normal, Chrome and Metal) 2:06 How a tape head works (recording) 4:06 What is Equalization? (pre-emphasis and de-emphasis) 120us vs 70us 6:58 What is Bias? 7:55 How does playback work? 8:40 What is MPX Filter used for? 9:41 What does HX Pro do? 10:50 Monitor, Tape vs Source on 3 head decks. 11:18 Recording level master and tape 12:15 Recording equalization (Sony specific feature) 12:48 Bias fine adjustment 13:18 Dolby B, C and S 13:46 Calibration feature test with TDK D-90 Type I 14:49 Analysis of how the calibration feature works 16:51 Frequency Response of TDK D-90 Tape @ 0dB 19:17 Calibration and Frequency Response of Sony UX-S Chrome Type II Tape 20:55 Calibration and Frequency Response of Sony Metal XR Type IV Tape 22:45 Conclusion and comparison of results 24:31 Music Sample - Source 25:42 Music Sample - Recorded on TDK D-90 - Type I 26:48 Music Sample - Recorded on Sony US-S - Type II 28:05 Music Sample - Recorded on Sony Metal XR - Type IV

The most complete guide on the Internet. Thank you very much, sir

Thank you! That was the best description of how a cassette deck works that I’ve ever seen. Very nice way to explain it.

Awesome video! I learned so much! And then you taught me so much so that I can use my deck! The more I learn about the tech I grew up with, the more I start to think THOSE were the times of high tech; not now in the 2020s..

I've got a weird mental relationship with Type IV tape. On the one hand, they can sound virtually indistinguishable from the source...but on the other hand, the lack of "warmth" is almost no fun! :) Part of me, deep down, I think prefers Type I. It seems like I take more joy perfectly calibrating a Type I tape to sound great than a Type IV. In other words, I know a Type IV will sound great, but it's a thrill getting a Type I to sound great. Much more satisfying to my tinkerer's heart :)

Hello Sir, Thank you for sharing with us. Its so good to see that people are still interested in this technology, cassettes. I am enjoying my self at home with recordings on tape and putting back music from High-Res files to cassettes. I use a fully serviced Pioneer ct-777 and Sony TC-K970es with tdk SA-X type II (Dolby off) and its a Joy! I want just to mention that in those days, as today, not that many people could afford the High end machines of the time. So not many really knew how good a cassette can sound. So many of us are rediscovering now that music on cassettes can sound incredible well. I have a fully serviced Pioneer A-602r amp and I use 4 speakers at the same time... Canton Karat 60 and MB Quart 980s. Ah you have to hear it to believe it! Playing those cassettes I recorded with Dire Straits or Mark Knopfler (source High-res files)... what a joy. Thank you again for sharing with us. Stay safe

Excellent video!

Thanks for publishing! Just got one of these decks on Ebay and it was very interesting to see your response test results.

Brilliant video! Thanks!

very valuable video

Seeking perfection...

Very useful video .Thank you . Happy New Year 2024

Back in my tape years (80's and 90's) I used type 1 for radio recordings, and type 2 for cd recordings. Mostly tdk-sa or maxell-XL2. I used very few metal tapes as the sound difference with type 2 for me was negatable. It is amazing the quality that is possible on these low tape speeds. However I moved on into the digital age and all my cassettes anded up in the garbage bin. Little did I know people would spend money on these later. Still fun to see some quality 90's stuff, they don't make them like that anymore.

Thanks for including the music samples. There's quite an improvement from Type I to Type II and less so from Type II to Type IV. So, for bang-for-buck, it makes sense why Type II was used more than Type IV.

Excellent video explaining the cassette recording system and probably one of the best desks to demonstrate the higher end capabilities that the cassettes format was capable of near the end of the format life by the late 90s, I have the Sony KA6ES, and is almost identical to your KA3 with the only difference being the HX Pro button, the KA6ES has HX Pro but is not switchable. I have posted some music recorded from SACD onto a metal cassette and posted it on my channel.

Excellent video! Very nice machine! I disagree on one point concerting compatibility in Dolby Systems. At 13:34 Dolby S was the latest Dolby encoding standard for pre-recorded tapes. Tapes or pre-recorded tapes encoded with Dolby S can be played back without Dolby decoding ( car stereos, portables) and on a Dolby B only deck without unpleasant breathing or mistracking. The sound is surprisingly good and can be compared with a undecoded Dolby B. Many listeners don't like Dolby decoding ( they say as alway's than Dolby muffled the highs) and leave the Dolby switch off at all times. Dolby C is very good ( spectral skewing, anti saturation) but much more incompatible between decks and unlistenable without proper decoding. Resume: Dolby B can be played back without decoding, Dolby C can be played back only with C decoding and Dolby S can be played back without Dolby at all, with Dolby B and of couse for full compatibility and noise reduction with Dolby S.

Very good comparisons at the end!!! I'm not sure that I can hear a difference between Type II vs Type IV But, I do hear a little difference in the highs between Type I vs. Type II I'm barely an audiophile, I'm not sure that I would notice though if they weren't played back to back - but it is there!

Very interesting, thanks. It would have been informative to see frequency response curves without calibration for comparison.

dope

Hello, You mentioned in this video (which I enjoyed very much) that in the future yoy would perform another frequency reponse run at -20dB . Are you still planning on doing so? Would really be appreciated since I own a TC-k3ESdeck as well. Thanks!

I just get sony TC-KA3ES. When i start play some cassette, the sound playback is very muddy. The i replace the head with same head on my other sony ES series, but the sound still muddy. When i start recording the playback sound is very different with the source. But when i play the result on the other tape, the sound from the recording is good. So i assume some trouble on the playback system. Any sugestion what must i do first? Thanks dude

Very nice video! I'd like to ask: I have a boom box that has a frequency response between 80-10000Hz (only type l tape). Is that a satisfactory range for a nice audio recording? Do we really need a machine that exceeds the 10000Hz? And if so, what is a referable range for a deck/ boom box? Thanks a lot!

Greetings, was the deck pre-calibrated before the video? Meaning internally, according to the service manual, or was just left "as is" from the factory settings? Thanks!

I would be curious to know the results of the record then playback method if possible (not monitoring). I see a lot of signal bleed on my cassette decks with the heads being so close together, not like open reels where there is considerable distance between the two. When I record, then analyze the playback separately, I see much more high-frequency attenuation than when monitoring.

Do we need input sources in to calibration? Thank you

24:31 whats the music ?

Did you ever, or at least can you, do audio tape SNR and distortion measurements with Analog Discovery?

Thanks for sharing ! ps, what are we listening to? the Music sample,,,,

In my experience it is only worth using expensive tapes on cheap decks where Type 1s sound muffled. (as long as they have Cr02 / Metal capacity of course)

For me the real question is whether this calibration feature makes any difference ie how the response would look like without or set completely off. I have a TC-K777 and I can’t hers any difference after calibration versus left at default zero, or even purposely set off. We’ll done video, otherwise, thanks!

I have a question about the calibration and the bias frequency. My deck (Yamaha K-340) doesn't have a fine control. It only auto detects the tape type. What I wanna check is, if the bias is gotten out of tune due to age. Is there a way to check that with a multimeter or maybe a bias calibration tape?

Would love to own one, I have an TC-K677ES and its manual calibration, this is so much easier with the auto, just wish the deck was not so expensive used and all the ones i keep seeing on ebay are 100v from Japan, did they make a 120v version?

I have a Technics RS-B50 deck which automatically adjusts everything and has no controls except for record level and left right balance. How do I calibrate it?

Do I need an AC millivolt meter or what do you use ?

Can it be connected to the laptop?

ये डेंग बिकाऊ हैं क्या मेरे चाहिते कितने इंडियन रुपए में है

The Sony UX-S is NOT a chrome tape it is a ferro- cobalt tape designed to work at 70 microseconds.

Most confusing video ever.

w this software I test another Pioneer CT-F900 and I think it has a bad erase head. I heard tones when recording from the last test lol wow Testing tape Decks can be a lot of figuring out Electrical and Mechanical Thanks again.

If I have a 2-head deck or I don't have a sources / Tape I can record it but their will be no graph of the tape is their a easy way to play it back and have a fhz responds of thee tape? w your software or Analog Discovery 2 Thanks Again

Thanks for the software Using it for the Pioneer CT-F900 ,, And Later w Audio Receiver and Amps, Your software is why I bought Analog Discovery 2. I set the input level to 0DB and It did not like it and around 8k was the roll off I thought I had Bad Heads or Bad old tapes. Testing Tapes and other Tape Deck w no luck. I turned it down to -20db and it got better I than turned it down to -16db input and output and I got my High fhz back and a15k roll off , I tested again and it seems to work better closer to -20db. w a 17k Roller over (Type 2) So is this normal? Using it to Test Tape heads. Next CT-F1250 I hope the head is good.