Obviously the final test will be the recording and playback of material but at this stage 7″ reel tapes are in scarce supply so have ordered through eBay from the Netherlands 🙂 so will do a quick recording of the actual analogue signal on a digital recorder, the Zoom H6. Hey how smart is that? Or should this be, hey this is an analogue site you dumb schmuck!  I don’t really care personally – I also have the original PCM file which is 122MB.

Akai M8, Castle Knight speakers Vs H6  – Fleetwood Mac

Excuse the makeshift connections, didn’t cause too much noise though.

Akai M8 – recording compared to Zoom H6 from Technics 1200

Fleetwood Mac – Go your own Way (mp3) – Akai M8

Fleetwood Mac – Go your own Way – Akai M8 through loudspeakers, recorded stereo Mics with H6

A few things to remember here:

• The turntable to Akai to H6 recorder was via microphone, not through a line source on the H6. This test was more to check the quality of the M8 recording which was very good.  If I had recorded to a equalised input on the H6 there would be no contest – for a small digital recorder the quality is superb.  
• I used alligator or croc clips to connect the TT to the preamplifier – I didn’t want to cut wires, so there will be some noise present.
• The amplifier definitely lacks grunt into these speakers but then again these speakers need a minimum of 25W to make them sing.  Class AB EL34 35W would be ideal.
• I tested the playback with monitor headphones and there was little bass. I deliberately had the tone control set at half way. The EL84 amplifier has very beautiful highs. BUT, more about this in an article covering equalisation.
• The speakers are definitely not designed for just a low power rating but they are fairly new – need to be run in for a while yet.
• The recording from the H6 I believe to be an exact replica of the Akai’s playback, testament to the awesome abilities of the H6.

Overall I was impressed.

(as an aside – I mentioned earlier that I had found someone on eBay in the Netherlands that could supply me with 7″ reels.  I doubt he was aware of this because his service was very good but alas, these tapes all suffered from stick-shed “syndrome”.  Read about this characteristic here.)

Read more about the Akai M8 or Roberts 770X here:

1. Restoration of an Akai M8 – recapping – part 1
2. Restoration of an Akai M8 – recapping and testing – part 2
3. Akai M8 – simple stereo tube pre and power amplifier
4. The revival of the Akai M8 Crossfield Head open reel recorder