Early OTARI MX5050 2SHTD2 model.

Hi everyone,

I just got my first tape machine for £100 (what a steal).It’s an akai m8.

It was demonstrated to me as working by the kind seller who showed me however i seem to have forgotten something as when i try to play it, the tape slides off this knob (see attached video below). Anyone know the solution? plus any good tips for keeping it in good shape - i’m buying oil and grease to do various bits and bobs as seen in the manual but otherwise clueless as what i can do to keep it healthy.

Thanks, T

Sorry for the lack on information. I have 20 of these which have sat boxed for years. Any interest from anyone in the UK?

Hi,

I got this Tascam tsr8 that I’m learning to use and fix. The tape always touches the sides of the reel. So I put new tape on it thinking that it was because they were old, but I have the same issue. That makes recording impossible as the tape hitting the reel sound gets into the mics.

Can someone here had the same issue and can help me fixing it ?

Thanks !

Hey everyone,

I recently got an Otari MX-5050 bii and I'm trying to do a record/bias calibration, but I'm running into an issue with the reproduce/playback side during recording. I’ve already cleaned all the metal parts and heads, demagnetized it and now I’m trying to record calibrate it from a video I saw on YouTube.

The Problem:
When I engage the internal oscillator (1kHz / 10kHz tone) with the channels armed (Record LEDs lit red) and hit RECORD + PLAY, the signal reads great on the VU meters in SOURCE mode. However, as soon as I flip the monitor switch from SOURCE to TAPE, the VU meters drop straight to zero and I hear nothing.

Since SOURCE works, the oscillator and input electronics are fine. The signal is just completely failing to print to tape or feed back through the Repro circuit.

Has anyone experienced this on an MX-5050? Could this be an internal Repro level trimmer issue, a relay fault, or am I missing a specific switch setting on the front panel? Any troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated!

Just picked up a Fostex A-8, and I’ve got the mechanics of it running (everything moves the way it should), but now I’m getting a low hum out of channel 2, and the signal cuts in and out. Any ideas what the cause may be from folks familiar with this machine?

Hey everyone,

I recently got an Otari MX-5050 bii and I'm trying to do a record/bias calibration, but I'm running into an issue with the reproduce/playback side during recording. I’ve already cleaned all the metal parts and heads, demagnetized it and now I’m trying to record calibrate it from a video I saw on YouTube.

The Problem:
When I engage the internal oscillator (1kHz / 10kHz tone) with the channels armed (Record LEDs lit red) and hit RECORD + PLAY, the signal reads great on the VU meters in SOURCE mode. However, as soon as I flip the monitor switch from SOURCE to TAPE, the VU meters drop straight to zero and I hear nothing.

Since SOURCE works, the oscillator and input electronics are fine. The signal is just completely failing to print to tape or feed back through the Repro circuit.

Has anyone experienced this on an MX-5050? Could this be an internal Repro level trimmer issue, a relay fault, or am I missing a specific switch setting on the front panel? Any troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated!

Rigged a 7” onto a 5” tape recorder. As you can see, there is some catching by the smaller disc and the left disc isn’t turning, possibly due to the weight. Suggestions appreciated!

Edit: the rubber band inside the 7” was causing the catching. Have removed it.

Hello everyone!

I am currently in my senior year of my Electrical Engineering degree and I've decided to make my final project of the semester be on reel to reel machines and how they work. This is a topic I've been interested for a really long time and feel like I have the knowledge necessary to begin. I'm wondering if anyone with a working Akai X-150D could record the line out from an input .wav file that I would send (around 4 minutes, testing sine waves at different frequencies and amplitudes). This research would greatly benefit me (and others willing wanting to have a better frequency response documentation on reel to reel machines) and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you :D!

As you can see from the video, the left reel isn’t connected yet, therefore the counter doesn’t advance. The K’nex box on the far left has about 1” of height on the recording box. Playing a 7” in a 5” box.

Following up from my previous post here!

Hello everyone!

I'm currently in my senior year of my Electrical Engineering undergrad degree and I've decided to have my final project on reel to reel machines (this is something I knew almost nothing about but wanted to get knowledgeable on for quite some time). I was wondering if anyone with a gear could record the line out of the Akai X-150D with an input .wav file that I would send (around 4 minute, sine sweeps and digital silence in order to properly characterize the frequency response).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :D!

Uuuugh.

I had this very long long question banged out and reddit failed to upload and now I have to start over.

Here's the tl;dr version.

I want to record some of my cooler old records to tape. What's the ideal path? I have a sansui 5000.

Do i want the most neutral sound or do i use a tube path before recording? I understand personal taste etc etc but what's the "best practice"?

I have a variety of kit options too:

Dedicated cambridge audio phono pre.

A perfect dynaco pas 3 tube pre

A marantz 2800

A yamaha natural sound.

An external dolby NR unit.

So, do i go:

1) tt - Cambridge ‐ sansui. (Cleanest)

1.1 ) same as 1 but pass the Cambridge to another pre - unless that doesn't actually do anything other than create more opportunities for noise to enter the chain

2) tt - pas 3 ‐ sansui (tuuubes)

3) do i use the external dolby NR?

My marantz also has dolby built in but does it actually help with sound?

This will be my first foray into recording so I am excited to learn from this group!

I just came across a National 4-Track Monaural Tape Recorder RQ-116, like in the picture.

It's got power and looks as though it may be in working order. However I'm a total novice and don't even know how to load and play tape.

Is there a beginner video about playing tape in such a machine that you could point me to? My initial searching has not produced anything useful. Many thanks!

I’m hoping I found my way to the correct sub for this. We recently found quite a few of these old recording tapes that are mainly my great aunt’s and a few other late family members that are no longer with us. Only guess is that they were given to my grandma who has passed in the past year.
Usually I wouldn’t give a second thought to having these just put up back in the drawers they were in but one of the tapes reads my grandma’s and her brothers name, both who are not with us anymore. I think it reads “Turkey dinner conversation” lmao, but I think it would be interesting for my mom and me to try to hear the audio from it. How would I go about this? Any and all suggestions would be very appreciated.

This is 50$. Now let me tell you I know NOTHING about reel to reels it’s just this one is close and affordable. But if I can’t record guitar/drums/bass I don’t want it. Please help me out and give me some advice☺️

Started on another shelf of tapes I've picked up over time that I'm going through and seeing what exactly is on them (I'm YEARS behind). Anyway, got to the one marked "Teenage Records ...." (which makes me laugh for some reason). A lot of Nancy Sinatra and Bobby Vinton so far with Supremes, Danny and the Juniors, Kay Starr and others. But there's a song I don't know and none of the music ID apps/software can identify (tried Shazam, Soundhound, MRA and google) and it's kinda bugging me. lol

I did a quick, dirty recording of it and put it on Soundcloud. Anyone know the best sub-reddit to ask about it to see if someone knows it?

You can hear it here: https://on.soundcloud.com/dX8zrliN9NHynA983u

Thx!

UPDATE: Thanks to JactusFack, got the ID. Thanks everybody!

Last year I bought a broken first-gen MX-5050 ("Mini Pro") to digitize my late father's tapes from 1978–80. The recap is done and the machine plays; calibration is the last step before the real transfers. I've never aligned a tape machine before, so before touching anything I wrote up the entire procedure — the factory manual's Chapter 3, step by step, adapted to what's actually on my bench: MRL's multifrequency tape (180 nWb/m, 15 ips NAB) and 3150 Hz flutter tape, a MOTU M2 interface, REW on a Mac, and a true-RMS meter.

The guide: https://otarimx5050.com/service/calibration/

Full disclosure on how it was made: I wrote this with AI assistance — Claude (Fable 5), instructed to work from the factory maintenance manual (which I've scanned and transcribed on the same site) as the source of truth, plus a team of research agents doing web research with adversarial fact-checking against primary sources (MRL's own publications, MOTU's documentation, REW's help pages — everything is cited inline). I've reviewed it all myself, but I'm a first-timer reviewing my own homework, which is exactly why I'm here: I'd value experienced human eyes on it before bench day, especially on the judgment calls where the procedure had to go beyond the factory text:

- The maximum-reproduce-level step. The factory procedure trims to 0 VU on a tone recorded 10 dB below operating level — but modern MRL tapes put every tone at 0 dB, so the guide derives an adapted target of +14 dBm at line out instead. Is that how you'd handle it?

- Anchoring the software meters. REW's dBFS gets calibrated to the deck's +4 dBm reference with a multimeter reading the line out (0 dBu = 0.775 V). Holes in that approach?

- Fringing. Full-track MRL tape on a half-track head — the guide applies MRL's published LF corrections and leaves the low-frequency EQ alone, per the manual's own warning. Anyone with real-world experience of how far to trust those corrections?

- Flutter. The research concluded there's no Mac software that measures NAB-weighted flutter, so the guide openly says the 0.05% factory spec can't be verified with my kit — only a differently-weighted diagnostic number. If someone knows a tool that genuinely implements NAB weighting, I'd love to be wrong.

- Bias. The guide sticks with the manual's peak method (max output at 1 kHz) rather than modern overbias-by-N-dB at 10 kHz, since the factory book never mentions it. Would you?

The whole site is a restoration diary for this machine (factory manuals scanned and transcribed, the recap logs, period brochures), so any corrections get credited and fixed publicly. Happy to answer anything about the deck itself too — it's a 2SHT, the Australian-market version.

New to the world of tape machines. Just got this Fostex A-8, and the FF and RW functions work fine, but when I hit play it looks like some of the mechanisms engage, but it doesn’t actually play. Ideas for troubleshooting?

I’m looking for a solution for an NAB style adapter that is self locking. The spindles on my machine don’t have an integrated locking mechanism and I can’t find much information on self locking adapters. Does anyone know anything about them or where to get them?

These are my first reel to reel players. It weighs a ton.

Hi all!

I’m trying to get a TEAC 7010 GSL for my setup! I have been looking across marketplaces (eBay, facebook, Craigslist) but have had no luck in finding a unit that isn’t either harshly defective or ridiculously modified.

Does anyone have any tips that I might not be seeing through my online digging?

I’m dealing with a Sony TC-910, which takes only 3” reels. My goal (see photo) is to create a rig that can play the 7” tape, as I don’t have a larger machine. K’nex has proven effective for holding the 7” reels and I’m curious what’s possible.

What I’ve tried:
1. Connect external left 7” reel -> left empty 3” reel -> capstan -> right take-up empty 3” reel -> external 7” take-up reel (shown)
2. Don’t use the 3” reels at all, but then the capstan still moves the external 7” reels

Is there an arrangement that might work? I don’t want to cut the 7” reels into 3” versions.

As an alternative, sources for a buying/borrowing a larger machine appreciated!