Real-Life Communication
A customer drives his car into the shop at the back
of your stereo store. He is hearing garbled sounds when he plays cassette
tapes. At first, he thought it was because his tape was old, but when he tried
a new cassette, the sound did not improve.
It has been a while since
you've repaired a cassette player. These days, it's all about CD players and
digital music players. But cassette players are still out there, and they
need servicing too, especially since they're getting older!
You suspect
that the cassette may have a dirty tape head, which is the mechanism that
contacts and reads the tape in a cassette player.
The customer is
intrigued by electronics. He asks if he can stay and watch as you troubleshoot
his car cassette player. You don't mind.
As you work, he watches over
your shoulder and asks lots of questions about the repairs.
You consult
a manual so that you can explain the problem to your customer. This is what
it says:
How to care for tape heads:
The
defective tape head might be dirty, out of line, worn or magnetized. Check
for a worn or magnetized tape head when high-frequency reproduction is poor.
Clean
the suspected tape head with alcohol and a clean cloth. You can buy magnetic
head cleaner at most stores that sell magnetic tape or players. Make sure
the brown tape oxide isn't over the tape head openings. Don't use a screwdriver
blade to remove hard-packed oxide from the tape head. Use the end of a pencil
eraser or a plastic rod. A dirty tape head might cause weak, distorted or
no sound in one stereo channel.
Garbled music might be caused by improper
tape head alignment. Locate the azimuth screw (the screw that adjusts the
angle of the tape head) alongside the tape head. The azimuth alignment can
be made with a cassette that contains piano or string music. Turn the azimuth
screw until the high-frequency reproduction is the loudest and the clearest.
Never make tape head adjustments with the tape near the end.
(Excerpt
from Troubleshooting and Repairing Audio Equipment by Homer L. Davidson. McGraw-Hill,
1996.)
Here are the questions your customer asks you:
- What type of instrument should you use to clean oxide from the tape head?
- What kind of sound will a dirty tape head produce?
- What kind of sound may indicate improper tape head alignment?
- How do you know when to stop turning the azimuth screw when you are adjusting
the tape head alignment?
How would you answer your customer? Prepare a response to each of
your customer's questions.