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Tape hiss and more ...

Some E36 318 people complained about excessive tape hiss. Well try the 
following and you'll see some improvement.

Buy a tape cleaning tape ($2.00 wet type). Moisten the hell out of it using a 
alchohol based , 99% by Volume water free  cleaner.
Also buy a demagnitizing tape ($8.00). Make sure its the electronic type and 
comes with a battery.
                                                                     *1
Use a long Q-tip and presoak (wipe excess dirt) off head and rollers.

Run the cleaning tape for a couple of minutes.

Turn volume to LOWEST setting (DONT FORGET THIS !). Run the demagnitizing tape 
for 2 seconds (no more than that).

Make a brand new recording on a fresh tape. Listen and see if you're 
satisfied. *2


Factoids :
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*1   : Its easier to clean the tape drivers and heads when they are extended 
in the play mode. To do this, use a hair comb or a screwdriver (comb's easier)
and insert it in the tape opening. There is a lever at the end of the opening
that will detect a tape inserted and it will push the head and rollers out. 
This helps alot. Really hi-tech tape decks may not allow you to do this 
though. Also MAKE SURE you hit the EJECT button before you insert a tape in 
there. Inserting a tape when the gear is extended can cause damage.

*2  : Use a brand new tape to evaluate. Tapes age and they will sound worse as 
time goes by. Heat ,sun and background radiation will kill a tape. Also old 
tapes tend to break down and deposit mineral oxides on your heads.

Repeat the cleaning procedure every 15 hours of tape use.

Check the wiring . Loose connections, thin oxidized speaker wires will reduce
base performance. Use new heavy guage wires and solder everything (avoid cold 
soldering though).

Remember that home tape deck head allignement could be off spec. This means 
that when you make a tape now and your tape head has a .2mm negative offset,
the tapes recording tracks will be recorded with a .2 offset. 
When you playback the same tape on your car stereo (assume 0 head offset) the 
tracks on the tape will be at least .2mm away from the heads. This will make 
the tape sound faint (hiss) in your car and perfect on your home deck.

Try all these and if you see no difference, its time for a new deck.

Regards
Vlasis

UFO flight attendant.