Strange bias settings

 

Anonymous2
Unregistered guest
Please pardon my ignorance. I own a Pioneer CTF 500 cassette deck. The available bias settings are as follows: STD, FeCr (ferrite chromium?) and CrO2. What is the "FeCr" setting? I can't find any reference to this on the internet.

If STD refers to "type 1" ferric oxide tapes and CrO2 refers to chromium dioxide tapes (type 2), what on earth is "FeCr"?

Howstuffworks.com says that chromium dioxide tapes ARE ferric oxide mixed with chromium dioxide, meaning that "FeCr" is for chromium dioxide tapes (assuming that "FeCr" is short for ferrite chromium)but then what is the CrO2 button for?

And yet another site says that chromium dioxide tapes were once made from only chromium dioxide (not mixed with ferric oxide at all) and that they are now made of a mixture of ferric oxide and cobalt oxide, meaning that there was never any such thing as a "FeCr" tape. So anyway...I'd appreciate it if someone could explain to me what this FeCr button is for. Thanks in advance!

 

Pentode
Unregistered guest
Fe is the symbol (on the periodic table) for iron
Cr is the symbol for chromium.
Ferric tapes use iron-based compounds

Modern tape-decks adjust automatically for bias (or some don't adjust at all).
Tapes come in different types:
Type 0 = the origional ferric tape. Never used now.
Type 1 = Standard Ferric-oxide (sometimes called Normal Position)
Type 2 = Chromium Dioxide tape "Chrome" (sometimes called High Position)
Type 4 = A specialist tape that uses pure metal particles instead of metal compounds.
Each different type of tape requires different bias setting due to the fact that each tape responds differently to a magnetic field and each have different hysteresis characteristics.
For optimum audio quality, match the bias to the tape.
Cr02 is for Chromium tapes
Fe0 is for Ferric-oxide (standard type)
FeCr is Iron-Chromate, a special metal-particle tape (a type 4)

People were always finding different mixtures to use in tapes... Some mix ferric compounds in with the crmoium dioxide and some don't... but it's still a Cr02 tape.. Sometimes other elements are added to the tape like cobalt or its oxide.

PS: STD refers to Standard Tape...Ferric-oxide
 

Electricraft
Unregistered guest
FeCr is "FerriChrome", which was the Type III tape formulation.

Type III FeCr tapes were manufactured by Sony, BASF, and a few other manufacturers before Type IV Metal tapes were widely available.
 

Pop Musik
Unregistered guest
I recently sold some pre-loved Ferrichrome cassettes on eBay. They were dual layer, Ferric for the low end and Cr02 (chromium dioxide was not great at the bottom end in the early days) for the top layer to deal with the high frequencies. They could also be recorded at the type I bias.Soundwise they could be a bit "boom-tizz" lacking adequate midrange.Agfa,BASF,Scotch,& Sony made them.
 

New member
Username: Shobno

Karachi, Sind Pakistan

Post Number: 1
Registered: Aug-06
i have A & D(akai) CASSETTE DECK.I HAVE A PROBLEM THAT WHENEVER I RECORD SONGS ON CASSETTE,ON ONE SIDE BOTH INDICATIRS OF LEFT & RIGHT WOKS & SHOW ON DISPLAY BUT ON OTHERSIDE OF CASSETTE ON SHOWS MORE & ONE LESS,HOWEVER IN RECORDINGS PHASE ON BOTH SIDES BOTH GOES EQUAL.WHEN I WAS HAVING SONY CASSETTE DECK,THIS PROB WAS ALSO THERE.I HAVE DENON AVR 2200 RECIEVER.
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