When you do a playback head and equalization alignment you are setting a standard for comparing your record head, (in a three head machine) and it's associated electronics. If there is any guess work involved in the playback alignment procedure then there can be no confidence in anything else that you do. Lenny
The best cassette alignment test tapes were made by STL, but they are long gone. Abex & Teac made decent ones (Abex made them for Teac), but I think production has been discontinued (you could try Ebay for any of the above - you might get lucky). AFAIK, the only company still currently producing true "pro" quality cassette alignment tapes is JRF, but they are very expensive.
Reasonably priced good quality new ones are still available from Sony by special order, but you might have to buy more than one tape depending on your needs (some frequency response test tapes can be use to set level and azimuth as well, but I haven't tried this with Sony tapes):
[freq. response] [azimuth adjust] [level adjust]You should verify these part numbers with Sony before ordering. Sony might have other test tapes (speed adjust, Dolby cal, etc.) ...contact them for part numbers and availability.
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