I have two decks, my in-house stereo deck and my car deck, and they are perfectly matched.

The belts in both get replaced often and at the same time, like others would replace a needle on a turntable. So my decks maintain an even speed.

In manufacturing they may pre-record up to 20 tapes at a time and at double speed.

They would speed up the master to 15 IPS and then record at that same faster speed.

When played back on a home deck it would be at the slower 7.5 IPS.

If there was any inconsistency in the duping process it might appear slower or faster in the final product.

This was a flawed technology, and manufacturers cutting corners didn’t help.

And this wasn’t only a problem with the Elvis tapes, but many others manufactured in the 1970’s as well.

Columbia House Record Club tapes were notoriously inconsistent.

Most all the 1960’s Photo Boxes were fine, probably because of stricter quality control.

So, if you are having problems with speed, are your other tapes playing fine?

Rarely do I find the problem with the deck… Most likely it’s a bad tape.

Cheers!