In previous threads, you have seen the progression of this radio HERE and HERE. From receiving it, to repairing the deck.
So, we are finally on to the best part....USING IT!
First, a quick shout out to Katsa, Superduper, DOCS and Hisrudeness as well as countless unsung hero's that not only brought this radio into my collection, but helped with getting her working.
Since the deck repair, use has been light. Mostly due to traveling, but also due to the fact that we haven't really had anyone to share music with. Evenings have been spent relaxing with my wife watching TV and not blasting radios. But I have popped a few tapes in, exercising the deck.
But I have to be honest with you all. In the back of mind, there has been a CRINGE with every press of the play button, every fast forward and rewind. "Will she jam?" "Am I about to see smoke come out of the back?".
There is this underlying heaviness that its value and the fact that it IS in 100% working condition RIGHT NOW, that using it, breaking it, would just make me both heart sick and scrambling to do another extensive repair.
Which brings me to this weekend. The US Military and NATO are celebrating an early Fourth of July at a place called Carney Park. It's in the caldera of an extinct (we hope) volcano in Naples. It's HUGE and will have all the standard BBQ, 4th of July fun and I thought "This would be a great chance to break in the M90 PROPER!".
So, earlier this week, I dug out my big box o' cassettes to see what would be appropriate. I also decided to make some mix tapes.
Now, through my testing of the M90, playing mix tapes I had made in the past, I was a bit disappointed on the input volume level of the recordings I made. On play back, they have very low meter levels. Not just on the M90, but also on other radios. So, I wanted to see if I could improve upon that.
First, I started going through my old tapes. I did this with both the M90 and Clairtone 7979 (as they are on the shelf, one above the other.)
It was rigorous work for the decks. Pop in tape, rewind to end, auto shut off, push play, test audio quality and condition of the tape, fast forward search to next track, play, rewind, next tape. All in all, I probably ran 50 tapes through bother machines, basically doing the same thing. Very grueling.
And I can report 0 (zero) issues! Both decks performed flawlessly, including the search functions. Speaking of the search function. On the M90, the track number selector for which song to stop on was always a slight bit dodgy. 9 out of 10 times it would quickly jump past the #1 position, forcing you to go around again. But since I have been exercising her, this function has dramatically improved to where it works almost all the time as it should. I'm sure it will keep improving over time (
)
Next was to create some mix tapes, which I did on my Marantz home rack system. Special thanks to Hisrudeness, DOCS, T-Ster, and Nickfish for helping find the best possible settings and levels to create great sounding mix tapes for general playback.
I really forgot how much time and effort goes into mix tapes.
Regardless, I was able to make some really nice mixes, with solid levels on the VU meters, so I'm very happy about that.
So that's it. Later today, with a freshly recharged set of Tenergy D-cells, my trusty checkerboard blu_fuz custom strap and a box of mix tapes, we will walk onto the soccer field at the BBQ, with a 1000 people to do what we do best....
DELIVER THE MUSIC
So, we are finally on to the best part....USING IT!
First, a quick shout out to Katsa, Superduper, DOCS and Hisrudeness as well as countless unsung hero's that not only brought this radio into my collection, but helped with getting her working.
Since the deck repair, use has been light. Mostly due to traveling, but also due to the fact that we haven't really had anyone to share music with. Evenings have been spent relaxing with my wife watching TV and not blasting radios. But I have popped a few tapes in, exercising the deck.
But I have to be honest with you all. In the back of mind, there has been a CRINGE with every press of the play button, every fast forward and rewind. "Will she jam?" "Am I about to see smoke come out of the back?".
There is this underlying heaviness that its value and the fact that it IS in 100% working condition RIGHT NOW, that using it, breaking it, would just make me both heart sick and scrambling to do another extensive repair.
Which brings me to this weekend. The US Military and NATO are celebrating an early Fourth of July at a place called Carney Park. It's in the caldera of an extinct (we hope) volcano in Naples. It's HUGE and will have all the standard BBQ, 4th of July fun and I thought "This would be a great chance to break in the M90 PROPER!".
So, earlier this week, I dug out my big box o' cassettes to see what would be appropriate. I also decided to make some mix tapes.
Now, through my testing of the M90, playing mix tapes I had made in the past, I was a bit disappointed on the input volume level of the recordings I made. On play back, they have very low meter levels. Not just on the M90, but also on other radios. So, I wanted to see if I could improve upon that.
First, I started going through my old tapes. I did this with both the M90 and Clairtone 7979 (as they are on the shelf, one above the other.)
It was rigorous work for the decks. Pop in tape, rewind to end, auto shut off, push play, test audio quality and condition of the tape, fast forward search to next track, play, rewind, next tape. All in all, I probably ran 50 tapes through bother machines, basically doing the same thing. Very grueling.
And I can report 0 (zero) issues! Both decks performed flawlessly, including the search functions. Speaking of the search function. On the M90, the track number selector for which song to stop on was always a slight bit dodgy. 9 out of 10 times it would quickly jump past the #1 position, forcing you to go around again. But since I have been exercising her, this function has dramatically improved to where it works almost all the time as it should. I'm sure it will keep improving over time (
)Next was to create some mix tapes, which I did on my Marantz home rack system. Special thanks to Hisrudeness, DOCS, T-Ster, and Nickfish for helping find the best possible settings and levels to create great sounding mix tapes for general playback.
I really forgot how much time and effort goes into mix tapes.
Regardless, I was able to make some really nice mixes, with solid levels on the VU meters, so I'm very happy about that.
So that's it. Later today, with a freshly recharged set of Tenergy D-cells, my trusty checkerboard blu_fuz custom strap and a box of mix tapes, we will walk onto the soccer field at the BBQ, with a 1000 people to do what we do best....
DELIVER THE MUSIC
But I'm past that man! 
",
",
.
