SCT-57 high-Speed Dubbing Stereo Cassette Deck (140-0677) Operation Faxback Doc. # 32621 Basic Operation Loading and Playing Cassette Tape Loading a Cassette Tape 1. Use your finger or a pencil to turn the cassette's hub and take up any tape slack. NOTE: Avoid touching the tape. Fingerprints attract dirt. 2. Press the appropriate EJECT (SYMBOL) button (Deck 1 or Deck 2) to open the cassette compartment door. 3. Load the cassette with its open edge down. Since the decks play in either direction, it does not matter which side faces out. 4. Gently close the compartment door. Playing a Cassette Tape 1. Turn on the cassette deck by pressing POWER. 2. Load a tape. 3. Set DOLBY NR to the setting used when the tape was recorded. See "Dolby Noise Reduction (NR)", below. 4. Press CSES to improve the audio on poorly-recorded tapes. See "Using the Computerized Sound Enhancement System", below. 5. Set REV MODE for one-side, two-side, or continuous two-side play. (SYMBOL) - The cassette deck plays or records one side of the tape and stops. (SYMBOL) - The cassette deck plays or records both sides of the tape and stops. NOTE: To play or record both sides, you must press > (not < ). (SYMBOL) - The cassette deck plays the tape up to eight times (16 sides) and stops. NOTE: During recording. This setting is the same as one-side play. See "Using Relay Play", below, for more details about REV MODE. 6. Set the receiver/amplifier's volume to its lowest position. 7. Press > on the appropriate deck to play the side facing you. Press < to play the side facing away from you. 8. Adjust the receiver/amplifier's volume, tone, and balance. 9. Press STOP (SYMBOL) to stop playback. 10. Press EJECT (SYMBOL) to open the cassette door and remove the cassette. 11. To turn off the cassette deck, press POWER. Only the STAND BY indicator lights. Dolby Noise Reduction (NR) Dolby NR systems reduce tape hiss and background noise. When recording, the systems listen for places where you might later hear hiss. The systems record these sections at a higher level. When you play the tape, the systems decrease these sections' volume, restoring the music to its original level and reducing the noise level. Dolby B NR reduces background noise by about 10 dB, Dolby C NR reduces background noise by about 20 dB. Dolby S NR reduces background noise by about 22 dB. Setting DOLBY NR for Playback When you play a cassette tape, set DOLBY NR for the system used when the tape was recorded. For prerecorded tapes, use these guidelines to set DOLBY NR: If Dolby NR or (SYMBOL is not on the cassette label, set DOLBY NR OFF-ON to OFF. If Dolby NR or SYMBOL does appear, but the label does not specify Dolby C NR, set DOLBY NR OFF-ON to ON and set B-C-S to B. If Dolby C NR is on the label, set DOLBY NR OFF-ON to ON and set B-C-S to C. If Dolby S NR is on the label, set DOLBY NR OFF-ON to ON and set B-C-S to C. Setting DOLBY NR for Recording Set DOLBY NR for the system you want to use. You can play cassette tapes recorded with Dolby B, C, or S NR on players that do not have the same system. However, high-frequency sounds might be too loud - especially in Dolby C NR recordings. Recording with the Dolby HX Pro System If the source you are recording has many high-frequency signals, they can reduce the overall recording quality. During recording, the Dolby HX Pro system adjusts for these signals to improve high-frequency response. This feature is always turned on during recording. You can play a cassette tape recorded with the Dolby HX Pro system on any cassette player. Using the Computerized Sound Enhancement System During playback, the Computerized Sound Enhancement System (CSES) compensates for poor high-frequency response on inferior recordings. The system can improve sound reproduction by up to about 12 dB at 10 kHz. To use the system, press CSES and start playback. (CSES) flashes for about 3 seconds while the deck analyzes the tape. Then the indicator lights steadily. Special Features Fast-Forward/Rewind To rapidly advance or rewind the tape, press >> or <<. To stop the tape, press STOP ( [] ). When the tape reaches the end, the cassette deck automatically stops. Pause To temporarily stop Deck 2 during playback or recording, press PAUSE ( [] ). To restart, press ||, >, or <. NOTE: You cannot pause while fast-forwarding or rewinding. Blank Skip To have the cassette deck automatically fast-forward through blank spaces on the tape, set REV MODE to RELAY/SKIP. If the cassette deck encounters 15 seconds of silence, it fast-forwards to the end of the blank section and resumes normal play from that point. If the tape reaches the end, it reverses and plays the other side. Tape Counter As you play or record a tape, the tape counter advances for the tape side facing you or decreases for the tape side facing away from you. At the beginning of a tape or selection, press RESET to reset the counter to 0000. You can then use the tape counter to quickly locate a specific section on the tape. The deck can also show the elapsed playing time (in minutes and seconds) since you reset the time. To switch between displays, press TIME/-COUNTER on the deck you are using. (The time does not advance when you fast-forward or rewind the tape.) Automatic Search Music System The automatic search music system (ASMS) lets you quickly locate a desired selection on a cassette tape. It searches for the blank space before a selection and automatically stops just before playback begins. ASMS operates only during play. If the cassette deck is stopped, first press > or <. To skip to the beginning of the current (or an earlier) selection: Press >> or << whichever points in the opposite direction of the < or > indicator. To skip to the beginning of an earlier selection, repeatedly press the button. To skip to the beginning of the next (or a later) selection: Press >> or << whichever points in the same direction as the > or < indicator. NOTE: If you press >> (or <<) more times than the number of selections on the side you want to search, and have not set REV MODE to SYMBOL, the search continues to the other side. ASMS might not operate as expected if: The pause between selections is less than 4 seconds long. The overall recorded volume level of a selection is very low. The noise level between selections is very high. Using Relay Play You can load two cassette tapes to play one after the other. NOTES: The cassettes you load should have the same Dolby NR type. You can start relay play from either Deck 1 or Deck 2. You can replace the tape in the idle deck during relay play. When a tape automatically begins playing during relay play, it always starts from the forward (->) playback side. Be sure to set the tapes properly before starting relay play. If the deck encounters an unrecorded portion of tape more than 15 seconds long, it fast forwards the tape until it finds another recorded portion, and resumes playback from that point (i.e., blank skip is automatically set). 1. Load a cassette tape in each tape compartment, then close the compartment doors. 2. Set DOLBY NR for the noise-reduction system you want to use. See "Dolby Noise Reduction" above. 3. Set REV MODE to RELAY/SKIP. 4. Press > or < on Deck 1 or 2. Playback starts. See "Playback Sequence", below. 5. Adjust the volume, tone, and balance control on your receiver/ amplifier for the desired sound. 6. To stop relay play before it automatically stops, press STOP ( [] ) any time during playback. Playback Sequence The cassette deck repeats the following sequence 8 times (up to 32 sides). Where playback starts in the sequence depends on which play button you press first: I. Side facing out, Deck 1 II. Side facing in, Deck 1 III. Side facing out, Deck 2 IV. Side facing in, Deck 2 When you press > on Deck 1, playback starts at I. When you press < on Deck 1, playback starts at II. When you press > on Deck 2, playback starts at III. When you press < on Deck 2, playback starts at IV. Using Headphones For private listening, or to monitor as you record, you can connect low-impedance headphones with a 1/4-inch phone plug to your cassette deck. To connect headphones, insert the plug into the cassette deck's PHONES jack. Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines, especially when you use headphones. Do not listen at extremely high volume levels. Extended high volume listening can lead to permanent hearing loss. Set the volume to its lowest level before you begin listening. After you put on the headphones, adjust the volume to a comfortable listening level. Do not increase the volume once you establish a comfortable listening level. Over time, your ears adapt to the volume level, so a volume level that does not cause discomfort might still damage your hearing. Demo Mode The cassette deck has a demonstration mode that alternately turns on various indicators and meters so you can see where they show on the deck. To turn on the demonstration mode, press TIME/COUNTER and RESET on Deck 2 at the same time while the cassette deck is stopped. To cancel the mode, press any button except (SYMBOL) and POWER. (BR/EB 4-24-96)