01. Head demagnatizer 02. Keep everything squeaky clean (capstans, rubber wheels, all heads) 03. Find an alignment tape to zero in your record/playback heads. Basically, this tape (I own one from ??? Discwasher ??? Geo-Tape ???) has identical white noise recorded out-of-phase on each track. Next, you set your playback (receiver, preamp, whatever) to mono and play the tape while adjusting your play head azimuth (sic?). The sound of the white noise comes close to null when truly aligned! Cool stuff!
do you need to tweak a tape deck???
...after experimenting with Onkyo 2060 tape deck I've discovered that it records better standing on the vibrapods. Moreover it improved when I've leveled it properly. Is it just I'm going nuts or someone can also state the same?