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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin
From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Pad line level to phono level
Message-ID: <2191@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 16-Oct-85 13:53:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2191
Posted: Wed Oct 16 13:53:01 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Oct-85 21:06:08 EDT
References: <281@kepler.UUCP> <4403@alice.UUCP>
Organization: USAMC ALMSA, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 56

> > I'd like to be able to play my CD through my friend's Onkyo receiver/amp.
> > Problem is the receiver has no other inputs besides the phono preamp
> > inputs.  (Grrrrr.)
> 
> A receiver with no tape inputs?  This is difficult to believe.
 
I've held off on entering this particular fray, but the dust seems to
have settled (no traffic about it on net.audio for about 80 postings), so
here goes...

Let's try to analyze just what we have here. One factor that makes me
wonder is that the original poster said that this was an "Onkyo"
receiver. I consider Onkyo to be a solid middle-range maker, and did not
think that they made (or used the Onkyo brand name on) low-end stuff
like "cassievers" (cassette-deck-receiver combination units). Such a
beast could have no input than a phono circuit, and no external tape
facility. If this was a Lloyds or an Emerson, then this sort of thing is
common; I never encountered such a beast in "Onkyo" clothing.

If it is really a receiver, and if it has only a phono input and a set
of tape-in and tape-out jacks, it is NOT a simple matter of plugging the
external CD player into the tape-in jacks. Remember that the purpose was
not to just *play* the CDs through the receiver in question, but *also*
to record some tapes from the CD signal. (Unfortunately that reference
is in another posting than the one I'm here following-up on.)

On simple equipment with a single tape facility, remember that the
circuits are designed so the tape INPUT cannot be fed to the tape OUTPUT.
(You can usually only do this on gear with a "dub" switch and which
is connected to two decks; you can get nasty feedback this way, so this
is why they design the simple gear to not allow such a feedback loop.)
So, if you plug the CD into TAPE-IN on the receiver, you can *hear* the
signal if you switch on the tape-monitor, but you could NOT record it.

The solution, in this case, is to unwire the existing tape deck from the
receiver (remember we are now assuming a separate deck and receiver) and
feed the CD signal into the tape deck and the tape deck's output into
the receiver's TAPE-IN jacks, thus:

    ----------     ----------     ---------------------
    |     out|->-->|in   out|->-->|tape-in            |
    |  CD    |     |  TAPE  |     |         RECEIVER  |
    | PLAYER |     |  DECK  |     |tape-out           |
    ----------     ----------     ---------------------

You leave the receiver's tape-monitor switch always "on" for the CDs.
The tape deck is left in "record-pause" mode to just listen to the
CD, when it feeds the input signal through to the output, and can be
switched to really record anytime you want to dub from the CD to tape. 
Of course, you limit the CD signal quality by feeding it through the
(presumably cheap) tape deck, but then you're limiting it by the cheap
receiver, anyway :-).

Now, doesn't this solve the needs of the original inquirer?

Will