Please 'Boom' Responsibly As most of you have noticed, the noise ordinances have become much tougher lately. Most of this is due to idiots, yes IDIOTS, who drive through residential areas with their windows down while their system is playing at full power. To make things worse, the music they listen to has all sorts of foul language that's not suitable for small children, (who may be playing outside). There are even a few people, who are even beyond idiot status, that play their systems at full power through residential areas after 10:00 PM (when many people go to bed). I don't believe that this type of behavior is good for the industry. If the fines get too stiff, people will stop buying large systems. If this happens, more people will get out of car audio (who wants a mediocre system). People get interested in things because they're exciting. A deck and four 6.5" speakers are not going to interest many of the younger car audio enthusiasts. If car audio enthusiasts keep annoying more and more people, the fines will keep getting tougher. All of this will only reduce interest in the equipment that fuels the industry. If you want to listen to your system at full volume, get out on the highway where there's little chance of bothering anyone. When you get to a red light, turn it down. If the only thing attractive about you is your 'system', you have some work to do. Bottom line... Think about what you're doing. Think about other people. It's not the end of the world if you have to turn the volume down for a little while.


CASSETTE TAPE TRANSPORT
An 'auto reverse' tape transport (as you probably know) can play both 'sides' of the cassette tape without manually removing the cassette. It does this by reversing the direction in which the tape is travelling. The diagram below shows the parts of a typical transport.

tapxprt.gif


For a cassette tape, the tape moves at a rate of 1 7/8 inches/second. The tape is pulled across the tape 'head' when a 'pinch roller' pinches the tape between itself and the 'capstan'. The capstan is entirely responsible for the speed at which the tape travels. The take up reel spools the tape back onto the reel after it passes through the capstan and pinch roller. The takeup reels are driven through a clutch which allows some slippage. It can not be driven at a constant rate of speed because the diameter of the tape on the reel is constantly changing. When the direction of tape travel is reversed, the previously active pinch roller is pulled away from the capstan, allowing the tape to pass freely by the capstan. The pinch roller which was previously not active, is pushed against the capstan. The capstans rotate in opposite directions. The reel table which previously was just spinning free now becomes the 'takeup' reel and the other reel spins freely. The diagrams below show the operation for each direction of travel.

tappatha.gif


tappathb.gif.


The following image changes from side 'a' to side 'b' when you move you mouse over the image. You can see that the direction changes. The reel tables switch between supply and take-up and the pinch rollers move against the capstan or off of the capstan (depending on direction).




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