Md + Cassette Adapter: Why So Much Hiss?

[Jeff DLB]

To play my MD in the car, I bought a cassette adapter that plugs into the headphone jack. I am surprised that there is so much hiss. I had always thought that hiss was a feature of the magnetic tape. Is it intrinsic to the magnetic encoding technique itself? How can I reduce it? Lowering the treble with the MD's equalizer has no effect on hiss. Turning on Dolby NR on the cassette player reduces hiss and all the other high frequencies, not surprisingly. Is there an easy way to get decent sound (no worse than a regular cassette or FM radio) from MD in the car?

Thanks,

Jeff DLB

[Ryzir]

The tape adapter head is probably not getting a good connection with the stereos head. I suggest getting something like this:

Aiwa CDC-X304 w/AUX Input

[PhilS]

Try turning up the volume on the MD this sometimes helps.

[jadeclaw]

Lowering the treble with the MD's equalizer has no effect on hiss.

Of course not. The hiss comes from the tape head and the preamp in the car stereo.

Instead increase the treble with the MD's equalizer, then turn down the treble on the car stereo until the sound is okay again.

Or, get one of those FM-transmitters, and set it on a free frequency.

[SimonMackay]

Hi all!

The cassette adaptor that I prefer to use is the original Recoton / Discwasher / Jensen CD-20 and its RadioShack clone that was issued in 1987. These ones were designed according to the original Schotz design and I have had best performance with them.

You can tell if they are the original Schotz design by a few factors:

1. There is a long wide ridge along the back of the cassete and there are wider holes at each end of this ridge and wide holes on the side of the cassette near that back edge. This is where the cable that leads to the source device trails out of the adaptor. In any way, the cable can be snaked out either side of the ridge, which caters for all car cassette players, whether they load with the tape facing left or right or with the tape facing frontwards.

2. Both reels have the cassette hubs, which fool the auto-stop / auto-reverse mechanisms

These designs have been optimised for all players no matter how old or cheap they are -- I have used them in the most old or cheap cassette players ever such as cheap "music centers" (those stereo systems with a radio, turntable and cassette recorder in one unit), old car stereos and some of those "Fast-Forward / Eject" specials. Some of the recent cassette adaptors aren't designed for performance. They are often designed as something to get you by.

I often find that it is best to turn up the volume on the Discman or MD Walkman to achieve a significantly loud signal and hook the adaptor to the unit's headphone output.

With regards,

Simon Mackay

[titaniumradeon]

guys can you recommend any cassette adapters for those cassette players with auto-reverse? thanks.

[greenmachine]

It doesn't matter if the cassette player has 'auto-reverse' or not, any adapter should work as long as you're playing the corresponding side. If the player has line/aux-in, use this instead - it should give way superior results.

[ROMBUSTERS]

i suggest turning both the car and especially the MDs EQs off and seeing if that cleans up the sound at all. Then slowly adjust them and see which one gives you the best sound

Also for best results i place my MD on 20+ volume and then adjust it from the car volume controls