Akai PRO-1000 Service Manual

Akai Pro 1000

Akai Pro-1000

Test Report (High Fidelity, May 1979 - diagrams from Popular Electronics, 1979)

Akai Pro-1000 three-speed (15, 7½ , and 3¾ ips) half-track stereo open­reel tape deck with quarter-track stereo playback head and reel capacity
to 10½ inches. in carrying cases. Dimensions: transport unit, 18 by 16¼
inches (front panel), 8½; inches deep plus head nest, etc.: electronics
unit, 18 by 9 inches (front panel), 9½ inches deep plus controls; front
case lids, 2¾ inches deep. Price: $1,995; RC-18 remote control: $57.75.
Warranty: "limited," one year parts and labour. Manufacturer. Akai
Electric Co., Ltd., Japan: U.S. distributor: Akai America, Ltd., 2139 E.
Del Amo Blvd., Compton. Calif. 90220.

The distinction between "pro" and "semi-pro" is a little hazy in the 1000;
in designing it, Akai seems not to have been thinking about professional
studio use (though it may well be in demand for home studios of one
sort or another) nor about amateur field recording (though it will be right
at home in broadcast location work or on the road with a musical group).
Yet it is something more than we normally associate with the semipro
format.

With the two lids in place, the separate transport and electronics units are the picture of rugged utilitarianism;
with the lids removed, the satiny brushed aluminium of the faceplates almost suggests that walnut cases are
in order, but the "professional" controls (for the four-in. two-out mixer, for example) dominate those that make
concessions to the home user (such as the switch to choose quarter-track playback). And a look at the back of
the electronics package confirms the work-before-play priorities: The mike inputs are Cannon-style balanced
three-pin jacks, though all the line connections are home-style (not phone) pin jacks. All four mixer inputs offer
the choice of line, mike, or attenuated-mike (-20 dB) modes; only inputs 2 and 3 are fitted with pan pots, while
1 and 4 feed the left and right channels, respectively.

An interesting feature of the electronics' back panel is a pair of output jacks from the mixer section so that it
can be used independently with another deck. There also is a full set of recording and playback jacks for
interconnection with a noise-reduction system (Dolby, DBX. or whatever) plus a by- pass switch. We used the
deck without noise reduction; we also passed up a fun-function accessory remote control that plugs into a
multipin jack on the transport. Also out of the ordinary are the tape adjustments: a pair of small knobs that
adjust bias in each channel (using the appropriate mode and calibration scales on the meters) and another
that tweaks recording equalization above about 3 kHz (with a maximum total adjustment range of about 3 dB
at 7.5 kHz and 6 dB at 12 kHz).

These controls could be "tuned" with a pink-noise generator and so on; the manual makes no mention of such
procedures, relying Instead on a simple table of settings for popular tape types. As usual with imported
products, tapes from American producers (except 3M) are ignored. For this and other reasons, we wish that
the manual had been produced here. Though its scope is more comprehensive and its English much more
comprehensible than in most Japanese manuals, the deck's complexities cry out for a yet higher order of
communication. Some users doubtless will see Akai's almost total avoidance of American terms of measure
as a case in point. Indeed, in most instances reels are identified without even the metric units, simply as Size
17 (17 centimetres, or 7 inches) or Size 26 (the 10½ -inch NAB size). Their sensibilities may continue to take

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Akai Pro 1000

offence at the markings, but even the most doggedly anti-metric among us should assimilate the "new"
designations soon enough.

The playback metering works exceptionally well. It responds to the output-level controls, which are
independent in the two channels. Since both have centre detents at the "normal" position, they can be used as
a reference for actual recorded levels. But when these controls are turned up or down, the meters will
continue to monitor output level. If a running check on recorded level is needed in playback, the controls can
be left at the detents and the listening or dubbing level adjusted elsewhere in the system. They do not control
the output of the source feed through, incidentally: just the output from the playback heads. Also a nice detail
is the outer-ring friction "stops" by which maximum rotation can be preset on the mixer knobs. The friction
clutching allows you to twist the knob past this maximum if you want to, but with normal handling the stop is
quite positive,

Among the nice touches on the transport are the CUE. button, which allows monitoring from a hand-rocked
tape for editing, and the PAUSE, which delivers marginally 'faster start-up than the regular PLAY button. Both
are competitive in quickness with the start-up on many cassette decks (thanks, in part, to the dual-capstan
drive, no doubt), though the far greater mass of open-reel systems probably always will give the cassette
format a significant edge for so-called electronic editing. Physical splicing is, of course, far easier with open
reels. The Pro. 1000 aids the process with a flip-up head cover for maximum visibility of and access to the
heads.

There are four stereo heads: from the left. quarter-track play-back. half-track erase, half-track recording, and
half-track playback. (Unlike most decks-pro or home-of a decade ago. it has no provision for independent
operation of the two channels in any mode: mono recordings must perforce be put on both tracks of the stereo
pair, using up as much tape as stereo recordings of the same speed ) Operation is, mechanically and
electrically, very quiet. The open reel format's much greater headroom above the reference 0 VU gives about
10 to 15 dB more dynamic range (depending on the tape) than cassette decks of comparable S/'N ratio
figures, and even with the tape running the sounds emitted by the transport normally are swamped by ambient
room noise within a few feet of the deck.

Response, measured with Scotch 206 tape for the record/play curves, is more than adequately flat in all
speeds and about par in band pass. Speed accuracy is well controlled at 3¾ and 7½ ips, though it is about
1% (our arbitrary dividing line between excellent and good) at the top speed. The latter, however, exhibits the
best wow measurements; the two slower speeds are, again, merely good.

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