Once upon a time it was common practice for the manufacturers to have inside the device the detailed schematic circuit to help service technicians for the repairing.Nowadays this seems incredible.
We used to have a similar one, within built in speakers. Very nice & reliable for many years. One of the channels started to fail. An engineer friend opened up & identified the fault, but didn't know where a replacement part could be sourced. Sadly went to it's grave. No doubt nowadays could track something down. On plus side thanks 12Voltaire (
You're amazing! I recently saw a RUclips video about Roberts and Akai. Seems Akai shipped them through Roberts for inspection and found the screw heads were popping off. No matter they look like high quality machines. If you ever get a chance to do a video on a Roberts unit with cross field bias I'd love to see it. Bias in itself is a neat concept. The idea of using another head to get the bias is even more amazing. I love the way you can fix anything and explain it too!
When I used to pull data off of old 9-track computer tapes, sometimes I had to run the tape from beginning to end a time or two to clean the tape and "unstick" it. In one case, I wrote a low-level program to read forwards and backwards, then reassemble the data. The BLM had some ancient tapes containing survey data. They had to send people out into the field to capture any data points that I couldn't retrieve. In some cases I gave them raw data with known bad checksums, and they were able to figure out what it was supposed to be manually. The tape driver was designed to throw an error and discard any data with a bad checksum, so I had to write my own. When I worked for an insurance company, they had a protocol were all tapes were cleaned regularly (I can't remember how often). The tape cleaner had a quartz blade that the tape was run over. The vacuum column tape transports were able to pull a fair amount of dirt off too.
I've had same problem with very old tape binding in the guides. Sometimes I've had reason to believe that the tape has expanded slightly and is binding in the guides because the tape is slightly wider than spec due to expansion. I've worked on industrial 9-track data tape equipment that had for the tape surface contact, air bearings and side contact was ceramic plates. The tape head was the only surface that had contact with the oxide side of the tape. Major corporation computer room machines. Tape would move so fast across the head, that heat would cause the tape to stick to the gap area of the head, "sticksion".
Akai were a really decent make, I got quite a few akai vcrs in storage that I repaired over the years and keep one in my main setup as its so damn reliable, build like a tank inside and just goes on and on I nearly bought a akai reel to real a couple years ago like this one but the tape reels are getting hard to find now, I like the sound of tapes so just stuck with my highend Sony cassette deck.
I have lots of tapes, and I really should go though them, because they were my dads tapes, and when I was young I never appreciated the music he listened to as I was into rock and roll, and he liked big band and jazz. Funny how that goes, as I am a huge Jazz fan now, so I bet the 40 or 50 tapes sitting in a box will have some real gems on it. I have tons of my own mixed cassettes all recorded in DBX. I don't know what drugs I was on then for recording my cool mixed tapes in a compression format that very few cassette decks can play back. I have a few DBX decks, the Technics RS275, and my Teac. I also have a DBX capable Panasonic car stereo somewhere, probably ina box in my storage unit. I made the move to DAT when it came out, and then Minidisk, so I have all the old obsolete formats. Oh yes I have an 8 Track recorder/player too. Good luck finding a blank 8 track tape. Perhaps some day I will find a tape and get that unit working just for fun.
T - time delay fuse at 3A to blow immediately requires at least a 10 fold current ie. 30A, where on average it blows in a 10th second. It takes about a second at 10A. At 3A it will not blow, that is its rated current. They vary depending on make and type. Fast blow types are never used in a power supply. You know if a fuse in the supply pops violently some very large current has flowed.
Great video. Now we all know why the flash came from that board. Nice deck also, I like that 'snap' action. Damn tape binder hydrolysis! I now work as a repair tech at a place that does many formats of video tape transfers, they do a lot of tape baking and cleaning to get the tapes to run. I have a lot of Sony EIAJ decks to work on there and at the moment it's all about getting back tension regulators to work... I was having a hell of a time with one of them and didn't know the test tape had gone sticky shed until the whole tape path begin screaming and the capstan just couldn't pull it. It was the end of the day and I tried to quickly undo what I had erroneously adjusted and we kept getting Zero to 20 grams of tension when they want 40 to 50. So next I'm back there I have to start all over again on that one, cost me a whole session. I successfully baked some ampex 197 Umatic myself at home using a cardboard box, fan, light bulb and thermometer. I think it was 140 F for over 3 hours, and the tape physically and picture - wise is now perfect. (I could be way off on the time/temp so this isn't advice unless others agree... and setting your house on fire with a light bulb in a cardboard box is always bad).
I've baked several hundred Ampex U-Matic tapes in a small toaster oven I calibrated for 120 degrees. I usually bake them for about 8 hours to make sure, as they do not all conform to the same amount of "stickiness". Then I digitize them. Apparently Ampex used the same binder for 456/7 and their U-Matic tape, based on the fact that they smell about the same to me, and they bot get equally "sticky".
I have never tried baking tapes myself. Something I will need to research, as I have an old 1/2'" reel to reel Sony video tape that has something on it I would like to see. Have no idea what it is, and it won't even budge on the machine.
I'll have to try that. I have a few screener copies of the TV show 21 jump street on 3/4 that just will not play, rewind or anything.. These screeners are unique as they were production work tapes with natural audio. No music has been scored yet, and they are rough cuts before post got done and cleaned up the audio added sound effects ect On audio channel 2 is the time code signal. This may be a scoring cut for the music dept. Would be cool to be able to play it.
Yeah so I guess 140 F might be a little high but the tape surface (ampex 197 Umatic high band tricked into Umatic SP) was absolutely pristine. It does have a certain 'bouquet' for sure! I'll ask at work what they do, they use a lab grade oven but my box with no thermostat (manual on/off) worked. I put the thermometer probe inside the cassette. At first I wanted to try this in a regular gas oven but quickly realized this isn't compatible with food before I tried it, saw the window steam up with nothing inside yet. I actually still edit on 3/4" because these things are just too much fun for me to stop; so I'll see if I can actually get through an offline edit on a junker deck with over-cooked ampex 197!
Do you/anyone know if sticky tapes a really bad for the video heads long term? I have always assumed they are but if the tape is breaking down they will clog the heads well before much excessive wear would occur, it seems. A popular consensus would be very nice. I have a heap of 3/4 decks at home that someone tested using tapes that were disintegrated, and the decks were all marked as having bad heads. Because they all also have other problems I started pulling parts from VO 5000 series for BVU 800 series. Now that I've actually noticed gobs and gobs of junk on the heads it's time to see how many good VO decks I can make out of it.
Awesome video ! I found a Sony TC-765 in the garbage last week with about 26 10 " aluminum Reels with music on them ,,,mint ! the deck plays great but wont record or erase after checking the heads I'm thinking its the record oscillator . take care
I have one, mine had old dried oil, so it needed a good cleanout and relube. It was quite sticky. It's a good RtR, but um thinkin of selling it. I have a better Pioneer R707 and Teac 3440 quad that I like far more. The Sony has not been used in many years, so probably needs clean and lube afain. Reeler must be C&L'd regularly, and adjusted too. Three motor decks usually need brakes and transport adjustments. My 10" Sony is either a TC 755 or 765, not sure now. They weigh in at like a half ton. Don
I have two of 260D's (new old stock) but both suffer from severe channel fading...sometimes right channel is gone sometimes left and sometimes both goes silent after changing direction...beeing 50 yers old im amazed they still turn...but sadly works only as pretty furniture=)
Time for some new caps and a can of deoxit. My reel to reel decks are more for display these days. Tape is too much trouble to use. Easier to load a cd or open an app and stream from server to amp.
Before I continue watching this when I hear a bang and a pop from my audio stuff I always think it is a capacitor and normally it is because I use 18 year old yamaha receiver as my preamp and many times a capacitor has blown up I know my stuff needs work but I just keep going with them still working everytime i fix it so i keep it going.
Initially that is what I thought I would find, but nope, they all checked out just fine, and a frayes wire was the culprit.Actually there was a few, but I just showed the most obvious one.
23:29 Notice the old school JVC logo on that board (upper left corner of the screen)? Edit: Aw, gee, you did! Did Nivico merely make the component parts, such as printed boards, for Akai at one point or did they make complete decks which Akai rebranded for some of their models?
I have friends who have used reel-to-reel tape from time to time, though I have never thought about buying one of these - in hindsight, maybe I should give it a chance..............
did you melt and burn the insulation like that on the ground wires in the past? perhaps working on it in the past you flexed those wires too many times causing them to fray?
I see that now. A while ago a friend turned on an old Rostov reel machine. After a minute or so one of the power caps turned itself into an aluminium flower spewing its guts all over the place
12voltvids hi there you are very good at fixing stereos and Equipment of that nature I am reaching out I've got a problem with my Sony TC 730 reel to reel I've been in a bad way with it I just got it back from being repaired and it's still having one problem when you have it and forward play the sound Cuts in and out on both channels at the same time doesn't do it at all and reverse Just in forward if there's any way you could help me on some guidance on this I would greatly appreciate it thanks
I believe I have that same exact tape recorder bty TEAC up in my attic A friend of mine talked me into getting it He got one too and we spent alot of time seeing how may times we could record back and fourth from one recorder to the other before we noticed a decline in the recording quality
I have many reel to reel recorders. This gx265, a 1710w and 4000mk3, a teac, 4 track, 2 Sony and a grundig mono portable. Even a little transcribe unit that takes 3" reels and an ancient ferrograph. You haven't seen that one yet on the channel as it needs a new pinch roller before I can service it but it is beautiful. Nice wood cabinet. I don't use any these days. The 265 sits in my office on top of my stereo cabinet with cassette deck, minidisk, tuner and technics turntable next to my osciloclock, and the teac with the big 10.5" reels sits in my living room next to my thorens the table, 200 disk cd changer, HD radio tuner Sony DAT, teac 850 3 head cassette and tube amp with the big technics sb7000 speakers. I use the tuner and cd player and dat, and once in a blue moon put on a record. The reel to reel works but I just mainly have it there as a decoration because it looks so dam cool sitting there. In Jan I change to a 4 day work week so I will have 3 days off during the week every week so I might get more of a chance to actually listen to my stereo without having someone in the house that doesn't agree with my musical tastes either turning it off or yelling at me to turn it down. I didn't think my music tastes were that bad. Hard Rock, (classic and modern) metal, blues and jazz. You know, grea music. None of this hip hop and crap, or the new wave crap from the 80s that the other half likes to listen to. (Sorry Madonna, George Michael and Michael Jackson, but your not on my play list)
is the siamese cat the one that was sick? I love cats and they usually sense this but a siamese cat is the only one that attacked me for no reason when I was over a friends house. They are a vicious breed
Hi, I have an AKAI GX 260D. I found that it is fast at both speeds. Can you help me and tell me what the reason is? The speed is constant and it is not a problem related to the pressure roller and its pressure on the capstan shaft. I don't think it's a belt problem. The motors run the tape well. The same tape is played at normal speed on another AKAI tape recorder. The bands are old! How can I solve this problem? Is it related to the ND 20126 module? Thanks. Kind regards, Cristian Antemir Romania
Your staring at that tape recorder for way too long, all day? An old Chinese fortune cookie once stated..To think about doing a thing, too long.. often becomes its undoing
Thats a nice old machine, the second you showed the tops of the diodes i thought a wire strand was the short, but i thought it was a loose strand that had fell in through the top case. So i was half right lol. Loose screws are also a menace, just sitting on a circuit just waiting to short out something, ive managed to catch some of them before damage was caused. The sad part of unknown tapes is there are recordings of people you know have passed away, ive had ones that were unknown family gatherings at grandma's house, the tape was marked with the date and "grandma's 81st birthday" recorded in 1972. But they had a happy time singing/laughing so perhaps not so sad :-).
Thats what I fired it up for. A client brought me some tapes to transfer to CD. I really don't use my old equipment much. I still use DAT occasionally but here everything is digital on hard drives. I keep the old stuff running for archive work, but even that is drying up now. I used to be constantly busy archiving tapes and films, and it has slowed in recent years. Either everyone has already archived their old tapes, and they are drying off and the kids don't know what a tape or film is, don't care and into the bin it goes.
One thing i have noticed is a mini revival of records, and i thought no one made any records any longer, but there is still a little interest. Apparently compact casettes are dead, but they didnt do bad for a cheap way to play music.
Vinyl is back in a big way here. 16 year old's are spending their hard earned cash buying 30.00 vinyl records again. I have a small vinyl collection, 100 or so records, as CD came out just about the time I started buying records in numbers, so I have probably 700 or 800 CDs, now all packed away in boxes. I have a half diecent turn table that I seldom use. Vinyl is probably the best thing to happen to the recording industry in years, as it is tough to bootled vinyl records, and now that they are hip again, at least right now, the industry is bounding back. They have a different sound that some people feel sounds superrior to digital. I will agree that they do sound better than MP3 files, but to my ears, a well produced CD, on a good CD player, not a cheap DVD player sounds superrior. The problem is many CDs in the 80's were made from the analog masters, and had already be EQ for vinyl replication, or cassette duplication. Those CDs don't sound that good. A proper mix, dedicated for CD replication sounds totally different.
For something that is turned on once a year if that. This old gear is not used. It is more for show. It isn't even connected. All my music library is digital now.
I loathe printed circuit boards! They might be ok for low level use but when you attach tube sockets to them or other high voltage components, the heat will eventually end up killing them!
I got a Master's degree and expected to get a high-paying science job out of college. Instead, I got about 4 years of low-paying chemistry jobs before I tried teaching public high school. I was not an education major (I majored on biology), so I could only teach in inner-city schools. I did take electronic courses in college and also won the diploma in Video?Audio Service from National Radio Institute. I can't get hired because I have a felony record (2 third degree felonies from fights with my nasty neighbor). So, I am in business for myself repairing anything electronic. I own a sole proprietorship Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service. Advertising my business is very expensive. Could you give me some words of advice, encouragement and suggestions.
Older equipment is easier to work on?...... you must have never tried to work on a Sony TC-366 R2R...you almost have to unsolder all the wires to the boards to even get to the component side
Most of the older gear is relatively easy to work on. There are exceptions. Technics RSM275X is another fine example of an impossible to work on.tape deck. Also many of the old pioneer receivers, and yamaha receivers are a pain in the ass to work on, but at least they can be serviced. New stuff with all the BGA mounted chips are impossible to work on without a ton of specialized equipment.
Hi respected sir i liked and follows most of your videos of repair.I am an audiophile and also audio gear repairfor myself as electronic background.Thanks a lot for your informative uploads. If you can share me, i like to know best effective way to clean dust/grease rest onmy collection of cassette tapes. Or; related cleanig ideas at home. Thanks
Once upon a time it was common practice for the manufacturers to have inside the device the detailed schematic circuit to help service technicians for the repairing.Nowadays this seems incredible.
We used to have a similar one, within built in speakers. Very nice & reliable for many years. One of the channels started to fail. An engineer friend opened up & identified the fault, but didn't know where a replacement part could be sourced. Sadly went to it's grave. No doubt nowadays could track something down.
On plus side thanks 12Voltaire (
You're amazing! I recently saw a RUclips video about Roberts and Akai. Seems Akai shipped them through Roberts for inspection and found the screw heads were popping off. No matter they look like high quality machines. If you ever get a chance to do a video on a Roberts unit with cross field bias I'd love to see it. Bias in itself is a neat concept. The idea of using another head to get the bias is even more amazing. I love the way you can fix anything and explain it too!
Great video..I love all the vintage stuff,it was made to last..
I like the vintage stuff. Built to last and easy to service.
When I used to pull data off of old 9-track computer tapes, sometimes I had to run the tape from beginning to end a time or two to clean the tape and "unstick" it. In one case, I wrote a low-level program to read forwards and backwards, then reassemble the data. The BLM had some ancient tapes containing survey data. They had to send people out into the field to capture any data points that I couldn't retrieve. In some cases I gave them raw data with known bad checksums, and they were able to figure out what it was supposed to be manually. The tape driver was designed to throw an error and discard any data with a bad checksum, so I had to write my own. When I worked for an insurance company, they had a protocol were all tapes were cleaned regularly (I can't remember how often). The tape cleaner had a quartz blade that the tape was run over. The vacuum column tape transports were able to pull a fair amount of dirt off too.
I've had same problem with very old tape binding in the guides. Sometimes I've had reason to believe that the tape has expanded slightly and is binding in the guides because the tape is slightly wider than spec due to expansion. I've worked on industrial 9-track data tape equipment that had for the tape surface contact, air bearings and side contact was ceramic plates. The tape head was the only surface that had contact with the oxide side of the tape. Major corporation computer room machines. Tape would move so fast across the head, that heat would cause the tape to stick to the gap area of the head, "sticksion".
I love a good comeback story, as well as Open Reel decks. Great repair!
Akai were a really decent make, I got quite a few akai vcrs in storage that I repaired over the years and keep one in my main setup as its so damn reliable, build like a tank inside and just goes on and on I nearly bought a akai reel to real a couple years ago like this one but the tape reels are getting hard to find now, I like the sound of tapes so just stuck with my highend Sony cassette deck.
I have lots of tapes, and I really should go though them, because they were my dads tapes, and when I was young I never appreciated the music he listened to as I was into rock and roll, and he liked big band and jazz. Funny how that goes, as I am a huge Jazz fan now, so I bet the 40 or 50 tapes sitting in a box will have some real gems on it. I have tons of my own mixed cassettes all recorded in DBX. I don't know what drugs I was on then for recording my cool mixed tapes in a compression format that very few cassette decks can play back.
I have a few DBX decks, the Technics RS275, and my Teac. I also have a DBX capable Panasonic car stereo somewhere, probably ina box in my storage unit.
I made the move to DAT when it came out, and then Minidisk, so I have all the old obsolete formats. Oh yes I have an 8 Track recorder/player too. Good luck finding a blank 8 track tape. Perhaps some day I will find a tape and get that unit working just for fun.
As always,Excellent.diagnostics. I was suspecting a cap.
T - time delay fuse at 3A to blow immediately requires at least a 10 fold current ie. 30A, where on average it blows in a 10th second. It takes about a second at 10A. At 3A it will not blow, that is its rated current. They vary depending on make and type. Fast blow types are never used in a power supply. You know if a fuse in the supply pops violently some very large current has flowed.
Great video. Now we all know why the flash came from that board. Nice deck also, I like that 'snap' action. Damn tape binder hydrolysis! I now work as a repair tech at a place that does many formats of video tape transfers, they do a lot of tape baking and cleaning to get the tapes to run. I have a lot of Sony EIAJ decks to work on there and at the moment it's all about getting back tension regulators to work... I was having a hell of a time with one of them and didn't know the test tape had gone sticky shed until the whole tape path begin screaming and the capstan just couldn't pull it. It was the end of the day and I tried to quickly undo what I had erroneously adjusted and we kept getting Zero to 20 grams of tension when they want 40 to 50. So next I'm back there I have to start all over again on that one, cost me a whole session. I successfully baked some ampex 197 Umatic myself at home using a cardboard box, fan, light bulb and thermometer. I think it was 140 F for over 3 hours, and the tape physically and picture - wise is now perfect. (I could be way off on the time/temp so this isn't advice unless others agree... and setting your house on fire with a light bulb in a cardboard box is always bad).
I've baked several hundred Ampex U-Matic tapes in a small toaster oven I calibrated for 120 degrees. I usually bake them for about 8 hours to make sure, as they do not all conform to the same amount of "stickiness". Then I digitize them. Apparently Ampex used the same binder for 456/7 and their U-Matic tape, based on the fact that they smell about the same to me, and they bot get equally "sticky".
I have never tried baking tapes myself. Something I will need to research, as I have an old 1/2'" reel to reel Sony video tape that has something on it I would like to see. Have no idea what it is, and it won't even budge on the machine.
I'll have to try that. I have a few screener copies of the TV show 21 jump street on 3/4 that just will not play, rewind or anything..
These screeners are unique as they were production work tapes with natural audio. No music has been scored yet, and they are rough cuts before post got done and cleaned up the audio added sound effects ect On audio channel 2 is the time code signal. This may be a scoring cut for the music dept. Would be cool to be able to play it.
Yeah so I guess 140 F might be a little high but the tape surface (ampex 197 Umatic high band tricked into Umatic SP) was absolutely pristine. It does have a certain 'bouquet' for sure! I'll ask at work what they do, they use a lab grade oven but my box with no thermostat (manual on/off) worked. I put the thermometer probe inside the cassette. At first I wanted to try this in a regular gas oven but quickly realized this isn't compatible with food before I tried it, saw the window steam up with nothing inside yet. I actually still edit on 3/4" because these things are just too much fun for me to stop; so I'll see if I can actually get through an offline edit on a junker deck with over-cooked ampex 197!
Do you/anyone know if sticky tapes a really bad for the video heads long term? I have always assumed they are but if the tape is breaking down they will clog the heads well before much excessive wear would occur, it seems. A popular consensus would be very nice. I have a heap of 3/4 decks at home that someone tested using tapes that were disintegrated, and the decks were all marked as having bad heads. Because they all also have other problems I started pulling parts from VO 5000 series for BVU 800 series. Now that I've actually noticed gobs and gobs of junk on the heads it's time to see how many good VO decks I can make out of it.
Awesome video ! I found a Sony TC-765 in the garbage last week with about 26 10 " aluminum Reels with music on them ,,,mint ! the deck plays great but wont record or erase after checking the heads I'm thinking its the record oscillator .
take care
Yes sounds like a record oscillator problem.
I have one, mine had old dried oil, so it needed a good cleanout and relube. It was quite sticky. It's a good RtR, but um thinkin of selling it. I have a better Pioneer R707 and Teac 3440 quad that I like far more. The Sony has not been used in many years, so probably needs clean and lube afain. Reeler must be C&L'd regularly, and adjusted too. Three motor decks usually need brakes and transport adjustments. My 10" Sony is either a TC 755 or 765, not sure now. They weigh in at like a half ton. Don
I have two of 260D's (new old stock) but both suffer from severe channel fading...sometimes right channel is gone sometimes left and sometimes both goes silent after changing direction...beeing 50 yers old im amazed they still turn...but sadly works only as pretty furniture=)
Time for some new caps and a can of deoxit.
My reel to reel decks are more for display these days. Tape is too much trouble to use. Easier to load a cd or open an app and stream from server to amp.
wow this old reel to reel are the best
Before I continue watching this when I hear a bang and a pop from my audio stuff I always think it is a capacitor and normally it is because I use 18 year old yamaha receiver as my preamp and many times a capacitor has blown up I know my stuff needs work but I just keep going with them still working everytime i fix it so i keep it going.
Initially that is what I thought I would find, but nope, they all checked out just fine, and a frayes wire was the culprit.Actually there was a few, but I just showed the most obvious one.
No tape recorders without cats.
23:29
Notice the old school JVC logo on that board (upper left corner of the screen)?
Edit: Aw, gee, you did!
Did Nivico merely make the component parts, such as printed boards, for Akai at one point or did they make complete decks which Akai rebranded for some of their models?
I have friends who have used reel-to-reel tape from time to time, though I have never thought about buying one of these - in hindsight, maybe I should give it a chance..............
Wow. I noticed the JVC logo before you spoiled it in the video!
great tips here on fault finding thanks
did you melt and burn the insulation like that on the ground wires in the past? perhaps working on it in the past you flexed those wires too many times causing them to fray?
Very good reel to reel '
Literally 5 minutes ago my unit (same as video) started smoking like crazy...
Despite this.. It kept playing and didn't blow any fusses.
Any idea's?
Before I watch, let's try my luck: power supply caps went boom.
Thats what I thought. Nope caps were fine.
I see that now. A while ago a friend turned on an old Rostov reel machine. After a minute or so one of the power caps turned itself into an aluminium flower spewing its guts all over the place
Thats what happened before they started putting safety vents on the caps. They would go off like a little bomb.
12voltvids hi there you are very good at fixing stereos and Equipment of that nature I am reaching out I've got a problem with my Sony TC 730 reel to reel I've been in a bad way with it I just got it back from being repaired and it's still having one problem when you have it and forward play the sound Cuts in and out on both channels at the same time doesn't do it at all and reverse Just in forward if there's any way you could help me on some guidance on this I would greatly appreciate it thanks
you didnt discharge those caps before you put your meter on them? or did you do that off camera?
I believe I have that same exact tape recorder bty TEAC up in my attic A friend of mine talked me into getting it He got one too and we spent alot of time seeing how may times we could record back and fourth from one recorder to the other before we noticed a decline in the recording quality
I have many reel to reel recorders. This gx265, a 1710w and 4000mk3, a teac, 4 track, 2 Sony and a grundig mono portable. Even a little transcribe unit that takes 3" reels and an ancient ferrograph. You haven't seen that one yet on the channel as it needs a new pinch roller before I can service it but it is beautiful. Nice wood cabinet. I don't use any these days. The 265 sits in my office on top of my stereo cabinet with cassette deck, minidisk, tuner and technics turntable next to my osciloclock, and the teac with the big 10.5" reels sits in my living room next to my thorens the table, 200 disk cd changer, HD radio tuner Sony DAT, teac 850 3 head cassette and tube amp with the big technics sb7000 speakers. I use the tuner and cd player and dat, and once in a blue moon put on a record. The reel to reel works but I just mainly have it there as a decoration because it looks so dam cool sitting there. In Jan I change to a 4 day work week so I will have 3 days off during the week every week so I might get more of a chance to actually listen to my stereo without having someone in the house that doesn't agree with my musical tastes either turning it off or yelling at me to turn it down.
I didn't think my music tastes were that bad.
Hard Rock, (classic and modern) metal, blues and jazz. You know, grea music. None of this hip hop and crap, or the new wave crap from the 80s that the other half likes to listen to. (Sorry Madonna, George Michael and Michael Jackson, but your not on my play list)
is the siamese cat the one that was sick?
I love cats and they usually sense this but a siamese cat is the only one that attacked me for no reason when I was over a friends house. They are a vicious breed
Hi,
I have an AKAI GX 260D. I found that it is fast at both speeds. Can you help me and tell me what the reason is? The speed is constant and it is not a problem related to the pressure roller and its pressure on the capstan shaft. I don't think it's a belt problem. The motors run the tape well. The same tape is played at normal speed on another AKAI tape recorder. The bands are old! How can I solve this problem? Is it related to the ND 20126 module? Thanks.
Kind regards,
Cristian Antemir
Romania
You have a beautiful cat.
I have 2 others but they are camera shy.
I love your videos, i binge watch lol, what site do you use to get your schematics from?
I have aAkay 1800 DSs Tape no sound were do have Repaird ?
Or you could use the dim-bulb tester wired in place of the fuse, and crank up the ol' variac. :)
Yes I had my bulb resistor waiting.
Do you like Tandberg reel to reel machines?
They made some pretty good units back in the day
The Cat looks really worried! Only kidding..........
You should have seen her when I fired up the compressor to blow the dust out of the back. She just about took the door down on the way out
lol
Your staring at that tape recorder for way too long, all day? An old Chinese fortune cookie once stated..To think about doing a thing, too long.. often becomes its undoing
Good job.
Thats a nice old machine, the second you showed the tops of the diodes i thought a wire strand was the short, but i thought it was a loose strand that had fell in through the top case.
So i was half right lol.
Loose screws are also a menace, just sitting on a circuit just waiting to short out something, ive managed to catch some of them before damage was caused.
The sad part of unknown tapes is there are recordings of people you know have passed away, ive had ones that were unknown family gatherings at grandma's house, the tape was marked with the date and "grandma's 81st birthday" recorded in 1972.
But they had a happy time singing/laughing so perhaps not so sad :-).
Thats what I fired it up for. A client brought me some tapes to transfer to CD.
I really don't use my old equipment much. I still use DAT occasionally but here everything is digital on hard drives. I keep the old stuff running for archive work, but even that is drying up now. I used to be constantly busy archiving tapes and films, and it has slowed in recent years. Either everyone has already archived their old tapes, and they are drying off and the kids don't know what a tape or film is, don't care and into the bin it goes.
One thing i have noticed is a mini revival of records, and i thought no one made any records any longer, but there is still a little interest.
Apparently compact casettes are dead, but they didnt do bad for a cheap way to play music.
Vinyl is back in a big way here. 16 year old's are spending their hard earned cash buying 30.00 vinyl records again.
I have a small vinyl collection, 100 or so records, as CD came out just about the time I started buying records in numbers, so I have probably 700 or 800 CDs, now all packed away in boxes. I have a half diecent turn table that I seldom use. Vinyl is probably the best thing to happen to the recording industry in years, as it is tough to bootled vinyl records, and now that they are hip again, at least right now, the industry is bounding back. They have a different sound that some people feel sounds superrior to digital. I will agree that they do sound better than MP3 files, but to my ears, a well produced CD, on a good CD player, not a cheap DVD player sounds superrior. The problem is many CDs in the 80's were made from the analog masters, and had already be EQ for vinyl replication, or cassette duplication. Those CDs don't sound that good. A proper mix, dedicated for CD replication sounds totally different.
Hard to believe that all this trouble shooting caused by one strand of copper wire.
You should invest in some low current circuit breakers for that tape recorder before all those blown fuses put you in the poor house lol
For something that is turned on once a year if that. This old gear is not used. It is more for show. It isn't even connected.
All my music library is digital now.
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how many belts in all how do you acess the other belts
There is just one in this one.
ohhh the cat is same akai decoration (wood material) i need one akai (cat)lol
I loathe printed circuit boards! They might be ok for low level use but when you attach tube sockets to them or other high voltage components, the heat will eventually end up killing them!
@ss I thought you attached the tube sockets to the chassi and wired it into the PCB. That might be a little inefficient for production though.
I got a Master's degree and expected to get a high-paying science job out of college. Instead, I got about 4 years of low-paying chemistry jobs before I tried teaching public high school. I was not an education major (I majored on biology), so I could only teach in inner-city schools. I did take electronic courses in college and also won the diploma in Video?Audio Service from National Radio Institute. I can't get hired because I have a felony record (2 third degree felonies from fights with my nasty neighbor). So, I am in business for myself repairing anything electronic. I own a sole proprietorship Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service. Advertising my business is very expensive. Could you give me some words of advice, encouragement and suggestions.
Older equipment is easier to work on?...... you must have never tried to work on a Sony TC-366 R2R...you almost have to unsolder all the wires to the boards to even get to the component side
Most of the older gear is relatively easy to work on. There are exceptions. Technics RSM275X is another fine example of an impossible to work on.tape deck. Also many of the old pioneer receivers, and yamaha receivers are a pain in the ass to work on, but at least they can be serviced. New stuff with all the BGA mounted chips are impossible to work on without a ton of specialized equipment.
This is a tepe deck
coool cat
Hi respected sir i liked and follows most of your videos of repair.I am an audiophile and also audio gear repairfor myself as electronic background.Thanks a lot for your informative uploads. If you can share me, i like to know best effective way to clean dust/grease rest onmy collection of cassette tapes. Or; related cleanig ideas at home. Thanks
In nearly 60 years of bench work, I've never Heard a fuse pop! What a stupid statement! I've seen them flash,but never pop!!
It's a figure of speech. Popped, blew, fried, burned the fuse same thing. And yes some will go pop, some large ones will go bang!
The cat pissed on it
That's what that stink was, not the magic smoke.
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