I have one of this ( Model Rx-F2, maroon color). Radio is down (can't get radio station just lots of white noise) but cassette is good .Belt changed before. Power cord leaked green stuff. Good thing there is a 9V port built in (negative core) so I use a 9V adapter instead. It played well until the speakers started giving me popping and statics noises few nights ago. That problem brought me here obviously. However I do not have professional expertise like yours. Think my unit is coming to its end. But watching you repair is simply therapeutic!!! As if my unit is coming alive in your hand!!! The 80s cassette really sound great with this model and not the 90s player. Thank you for the great video.
I was thinking about a vintage boomboxes that comes to the point of not worth fixing. I mean beside the usual tape belt replacement. Bc I think many parts are going to fail eventually , even tho they were made well.
Definitely an improvement. One thing I liked about boom boxes from this era was the inclusion of shortwave radio. I had one similar to yours and actually listened to SW quite a lot. Unfortunately there’s not much to listen to any more.
The Digilent Waveforms software supports sound card input and works quite well. Some features are, of course, only available with their dedicated hardware, but simple oscilloscope functionality works with only sound card. When buying belts for the Commodore Datasette, be aware the it came in two different versions. They use different belt sizes. The Taiwanese version, which is the one you showed here, has the red recording LED to the right, near the counter, and the counter uses black reels with white numbers on them. The Japanese version has the recording LED near the record key, and uses smaller, white reels with black numbers on them.
I had this very same boombox as a teen (Panasonic branded in Canada). I loved that little boom box and made many many mix tapes on it! The original is long gone, but I found the same model on eBay a couple of years ago but was disappointed how poor it sounded after so many years. Perhaps your video will inspire me to attempt a similar repair?!
Sounds much better the wow and flutter could also be down to motor wear my Yamaha deck had a very worn Panasonic motor and speed was fluctuating up and down quite a bit so it got replaced with a used mabuchi.
I did try swapping the motor afterwards and ended up with similar w&f figures. I think that mechanism just isn't very good, the service manual lists the w&f as
Those purple Panasonic caps feom the 70's and 80's go bad quite frequently. Particularly in television sets. I made my wife a mix tape a few months back She thought it was funny when she got to "I Like big Butts" by Sir Mix-a-lot. Not so much when she got to "Me So Horny" by 2 Live crew. How was I to know that she would be driving her boss home that day?
Really nice video! I have one of these but the cassette flap doesn't eject smooth and slow like it should. It opens very abruptly with no dampening. Do you know what may have caused this?
It's likely the grease inside the eject gear has gone bad or the teeth are broken. You can just see it in the video on the far left at 15:00. It should also be visible if you look inside the deck towards the bottom left or right. I'm not sure what grease they pack them with
Any chance you have any advice on where to source quality belts for this? I've been looking for a supplier in Europe but with no luck. 80mmx1.2mm doesn't seem to be very common?
![Restoration of an old NATIONAL cassette recorder [ Panasonic RQ-209 MS 70's Part. 01]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/S81wNpV0ujc/mqdefault.jpg)
I have one of this ( Model Rx-F2, maroon color). Radio is down (can't get radio station just lots of white noise) but cassette is good .Belt changed before. Power cord leaked green stuff. Good thing there is a 9V port built in (negative core) so I use a 9V adapter instead. It played well until the speakers started giving me popping and statics noises few nights ago. That problem brought me here obviously. However I do not have professional expertise like yours. Think my unit is coming to its end. But watching you repair is simply therapeutic!!! As if my unit is coming alive in your hand!!! The 80s cassette really sound great with this model and not the 90s player. Thank you for the great video.
I was thinking about a vintage boomboxes that comes to the point of not worth fixing. I mean beside the usual tape belt replacement. Bc I think many parts are going to fail eventually , even tho they were made well.
‘Boombox’ seems a little generous 😂. More like tweetbox. Great work as always.
Hahaha, true
ya but for the wifey shes not gonna care as long as she can listen to it
this was the first boombox that i owned. my parents got me one when they were new, but mine was silver colored and panasonic because USA
My mom had one of those (Panasonic/US version). It had surprisingly good audio for its size.
A fine looking and sounding unit. Amazing what can be achieved with a little time , patience, and a great deal of knowledge.
Synth tech here, those purple series are notorious for leaking in 70s and 80s japanese synths. They're pretty much replace on sight.
vast improvement to my ear! And I love the jazz!
A lot more crisper and basey sounding
Definitely an improvement. One thing I liked about boom boxes from this era was the inclusion of shortwave radio. I had one similar to yours and actually listened to SW quite a lot. Unfortunately there’s not much to listen to any more.
The Digilent Waveforms software supports sound card input and works quite well. Some features are, of course, only available with their dedicated hardware, but simple oscilloscope functionality works with only sound card.
When buying belts for the Commodore Datasette, be aware the it came in two different versions. They use different belt sizes. The Taiwanese version, which is the one you showed here, has the red recording LED to the right, near the counter, and the counter uses black reels with white numbers on them. The Japanese version has the recording LED near the record key, and uses smaller, white reels with black numbers on them.
Does it having Panasonic or National badge also tell where it was made and what belts it used?
Before sounds better to my ears. You should try putting to the Ambient mode. It will be much clearer from my memory.
I had this very same boombox as a teen (Panasonic branded in Canada). I loved that little boom box and made many many mix tapes on it! The original is long gone, but I found the same model on eBay a couple of years ago but was disappointed how poor it sounded after so many years. Perhaps your video will inspire me to attempt a similar repair?!
Could be worth a go. It certainly sounds better after replacing the caps.
Sounds much better the wow and flutter could also be down to motor wear my Yamaha deck had a very worn Panasonic motor and speed was fluctuating up and down quite a bit so it got replaced with a used mabuchi.
I did try swapping the motor afterwards and ended up with similar w&f figures. I think that mechanism just isn't very good, the service manual lists the w&f as
it's also very recommended to transplant those calibration tapes into better shells. Hans Peter Roth doesn't use very good shells
Nice video and channel, I subbed! Maybe a drop of oil on the axle of the motor will help? Greetings from the Netherlands 👏🏼😀
Those purple Panasonic caps feom the 70's and 80's go bad quite frequently. Particularly in television sets. I made my wife a mix tape a few months back She thought it was funny when she got to "I Like big Butts" by Sir Mix-a-lot. Not so much when she got to "Me So Horny" by 2 Live crew. How was I to know that she would be driving her boss home that day?
😅
Does this unit have a line in or out? I find the ones that had it, were the better and higher models.
I go easy on the vintage machines and don’t want the buttons to fly off. I’ve seem that happen when these were knew from pushing the buttons hard.
Really nice video! I have one of these but the cassette flap doesn't eject smooth and slow like it should. It opens very abruptly with no dampening. Do you know what may have caused this?
It's likely the grease inside the eject gear has gone bad or the teeth are broken. You can just see it in the video on the far left at 15:00. It should also be visible if you look inside the deck towards the bottom left or right. I'm not sure what grease they pack them with
Excellent, thank you! I see what you mean. I'll open it up and have a looksie.@@TheRetroChannel
Any chance you have any advice on where to source quality belts for this? I've been looking for a supplier in Europe but with no luck. 80mmx1.2mm doesn't seem to be very common?
thakker, webspareparts, or fixyouraudio
One of them should have the right size
Brilliant, thank you! @@TheRetroChannel
By any chance you know the dimensions of the Panasonic rx-fm 15l belts?
No. But it may use the same mechanism as this one, in which case 80x1.2mm.
That may have a secret auto search function if you push FF while it's playing...it will stop at the end of the song.
I wish, but it is nowhere near that sophisticated. That's what my "good" deck is for
@@TheRetroChannel did you try it?
I had the panasonic version in the US and mine would seek on FF.
@@aurthorthing7403 Tried it just now, perhaps that was only a feature on the US version
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🎁4️⃣👰🎂
Everyone wants to know the tracklist for the mixtape :) Cheers!
Heh, think anything from Dire Straits to Everclear, Natalie Imbruglia to Hole.
belts? screw in synch
yep timing screw linear drive, for whatever like car cams
yep of course worm gear drive
dont be a machine, live
hard wired lol
automatic two-metal bending heat meter fuses, diy