In a magnetic recording/playback system having a magnetic head drive device for moving a movable head disposed within and mounted to a rotating upper drum in parallel with the axis of the drum, and a fixed drum supporting the upper drum so that the upper drum can rotate, an AC magnetic field generator is disposed along the peripheral surfaces of the drums at a location at which the magnetic tape is not wrapped on the drums. The AC magnetic field generator applies an AC magnetic field to the movable head that varies in the direction of the axis of the drums. Information on the position of the movable head is detected in accordance with the detection signal of the AC magnetic field derived by the movable head and the position of the movable head is controlled by feeding the detected positional infromation back to the magnetic head driving device.