Panasonic car deck surprise...again

I'd just recently lined up the RF/IF stages on my Panasonic QC-969/EU
in dasher, and did a standard head alignment. I decided, since I was
getting anal about things in the radio anyway, I'd check out the phase
at 10 KHz with a scope, just to see how good/bad the gap scatter was
on the head. Surprise! At maximum smoke @ 15 KHz, both channels were
also perfectly in phase! That's a rarity on ANY multi-track head, let
alone a lowly 8 track. Even the Nortronics head I got for
experimental purposes had a little deviation between maximum output
and best HF phase match, which is usually a "split the difference"
deal on even some pro quality heads. I couldn't believe it.

What's this mean? It means those cymbals come right from the center
of the two speakers, as they should assuming the cut was mixed down
that way, anyway. On a lot of '60s stuff, they never did...drums in
the left, guitars in the right, and vocals in the middle...the old 3
track Ampex formula in the early '60s. A cheap deck that does
good...sometimes life is good. Oh yeah, the top end was down about 4
dB at 15 KHz, damn good for 8 track anything, really. The cheaper Rat
Shacks (not the RS-803, which is a pretty fair machine) and the like
are lucky to hit 10 KHz on a good day.

I dragged the TU-40 out to the garage and also did a wow/flutter
run...0.1Z unweighted ain't shabby at all...so much for Noodles' "weak
DC motor theory!" By the way, this deck uses almost the same
identical motor that Noodles is hawking on ebay, minus the FF winding.
If you run across one of these decks cheap or for free, I'd recommend
it as a keeper. Excellent radio section (when lined up; most aren't,
I'd bet) and a really good quality playback head. Drawback: service
access inside to the head elevation mechanism is a bitch, as is the
head itself. Be prepared to disassemble the whole deck...pre-amp and
amp boards, RF front end, IF board, the works...just to get to the
head and the bottom capstan bearing. Routine azimuth and elevation
adjustments are a piece of cake, though...set screws are within easy
reach once the top can cover is off. If you don't know this machine,
it has a sliderule RF scale that folds back to let the cartridge in.
Only has a treble cut, no provision for F/R fader. Amps are only good
for about 4 watts each (SIPP output packages), so it's a good
candidate to feed a speaker level power amp/equalizer. Belt size is
FRW 9.7, belt change is a two minute job.

dB

WOW, you got an 8-track that works. Amazing.

Let me know when you need a new DC motor, as I have all the stock of
spares that exists in the universe. Being I know you, I'll sell you
one for $250

BWAAHHAHHAHAHAHA....