A&D GX-Z9100 Cassette Deck Revival - Is This a Dragon Slayer?
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- Опубліковано 4 сер 2024
- For my first of four (so far) Japanese imports of 2024, I've decided to look at a brand most in North America have never heard of and a manufacturer I've never worked on before. A&D was a joint venture between Akai and Mitsubishi's upscale Diatone brand with the former doing most of the work and the latter fronting most of the money.
Between them, they sought to hit Nakamichi where it hurt. Did they succeed? I, for one, want to find out. This is a direct drive, quartz lock, dual capstan, three head monster of a machine featuring a completely separate copper plated housing for the audio board.
Sorry about the length, there was no way around it. This machine was not functional and I had to know how it sounded ASAP. Lots of vintage commercials have been mixed in.
All rubber parts came from Fix Your Audio using GX-95 parts (same transport).
Facebook: / theweatherwolf
Insta: / oklawolf
Camera gear I use:
Nikon D800, Nikon Z50, iPhone XS Max & 13 Pro Max, DJI Action 3, Autel Evo Nano+, Autel Evo Lite+, DJI Mini 3 Pro
Music:
Diskette Park - My Life (diskettepark.bandcamp.com)
猫 シ Corp - Secrets of My Age (catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com)
猫 シ Corp - Martini Girl
猫 シ Corp. & Stereo Component - オリーブコーラ Late Night Drive ➾➾➾
Andy Marc - Evil Games
Enigma - Carly's Loneliness
0:00:00 - Intro
0:03:25 - First Look and power up
0:12:14 - Inside the beast
0:20:46 - Transport inspection
0:23:01 - Pre-service preparations
0:25:46 - Head condition
0:27:53 - Door removal
0:35:36 - Splitting the transport
0:38:09 - Cam gear timing marks
0:39:09 - Motor block and cam gear service
1:03:17 - Reinstalling the motor block
1:06:10 - Reel table removal and idler service
1:14:20 - Tape path alignment pre-service check
1:15:20 - Pinch roller and head block service
1:43:25 - Tape path re-alignment
1:47:18 - Post service functionality check
1:52:03 - Wow and flutter shenanigans
1:57:00 - How to calibrate for recording
2:00:45 - Recording test and audio quality demo
2:08:00 - Final thoughts - Розваги
that feeling when a repair is so successful, congrats buddy. $700 is a steal for what this is & what u did to it, imo, esp prices of used or non working units I've seen lately, though other brands...
Congratulations on a huge #1 project. Looking forward to the fine tuning fixes.
I believe you when you complement this machine, it's been held in high esteem since it came out. Personally, I 'quality check' using headphones taking care of my ears too in the process. I'll watch this again, but next time all the way through. Cheers Jeremy!
I'd rather use larger speakers than tiny ones in headphones tho :)
petroleum is great for removing the old grease that has almost turned to glue.
What would you recommend as a starter deck for someone who just found all his childhood recordings? I have very good hifi setup. I haven’t owned one for about 20 years. Was looking at Yamaha ….
I don't have any experience with Yamaha yet, but I understand they have some good machines. Unless something's already been serviced, expect to encounter at least some problems from aging rubber parts and bad grease.
Yamaha KX-300 I seen others recommend
So A&D is short for Akai & Diatone?
Yes you right :)
Apart from being Quartz locked, are they not the same as the Akai GX 95??
The audio circuit is different using all discrete components in this one. The power supply is beefed up as well.
@@Oklawolf I see plenty of GX 75/95 come up for sale but never this one.. Beautiful deck BTW. Wish I could hear it in the flesh..
👍👍👍🤩
Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, I think Akai made some of the most aesthetically beautiful consumer gear ever designed. Then the bean counters flexed their collective quarter bicep and forced everyone (except Panasonic) to copy the behemoth of electronics. Such a loss of talent and engineering. Good work getting it running though, I'm sure you'll work out the flutter issue soon.
Found the issue yesterday during the recap video, I think. It's in the transport and might take some time to resolve, so this machine might be good for three videos before it's done. Agreed on the other points. Akai wasn't on my radar before, but they certainly are now.
@@Oklawolf Those glass heads can be a real problem, they look great under moderate magnification or even higher magnification that's low resolution, but they micro-fracture and cause us to chase our tails thinking it's something else. The transport is really the beating heart of all these machines, that's why I go through them so thoroughly. I'll be watching for your solution.
It's not the heads as far as I can tell. I'm more worried about Akai heads on future machines than this one. Anyway, it's oscillating very slowly between 0.04% and 0.08%. It took 4K recording and my face up to my 43" monitor to see the problem. Couldn't even see it in my original 1080P close-up footage.
@@Oklawolf Oh ya, I didn't mean this machine, just glass heads in general. Your slow oscillation sounds more like wow than flutter, can you pinpoint the frequency?
Not offhand. It's well below 1Hz... you have to watch the meter for several seconds to see it even happen.
Just my advice, in the months or years to come - don't sell it, cos' you may regret later. ;o)
I'm never selling this one. Even if I get the EV model I'm not letting it go ;)
The Tape Mechanism looks like a direct copy of the Sony Stuff!
VERY NICE WORK YOU DONE THERE. Those devices are real beasts.
Regarding high wow and flutter - you have to check: 1. if mechanism is aligned correctly when i play mode (those two pots on top of tape transport are responsible for electromechanical alignment of tape transport phases). 2. if both pinch rollers have on spec power when in play mode pressing into the capstans (supply i think about 150g and take-up about 350-400g). 3. playback tape back tension - you need torque tape to test this, but in worst case scenario just put device in play and try to move supply spindle with your hand - if there is some resistance, then its ok. 4. take-up tape spindle drag power - also need torque cassette for that, but also you can use your hand - put in play mode and try slowly to stop take-up spindle - if you dont feel any torque drop-downs in that procedure then its ok (also if you stop it with you hand and still can hear that spindle motor is not staled and running, then this means that idler is poor quality or idler spring tension is not enough or spindles are not clean where idler meets them.)
About tape door not closing proper check that 1 point that i mentioned. These potentiometers are also used to calibrate/align tape door closing.
Cheers
Thanks! Yes, one of the issues you mentioned had something to do with it. A hifirulezzz video helped me discover it a few days ago. Capacitors for the power supply are here now so I'll be fixing it on Monday.