that feeling when a repair is so successful, congrats buddy. $700 is a steal for what this is & what u did to it, imo, esp prices of used or non working units I've seen lately, though other brands...
I believe you when you complement this machine, it's been held in high esteem since it came out. Personally, I 'quality check' using headphones taking care of my ears too in the process. I'll watch this again, but next time all the way through. Cheers Jeremy!
What would you recommend as a starter deck for someone who just found all his childhood recordings? I have very good hifi setup. I haven’t owned one for about 20 years. Was looking at Yamaha ….
I don't have any experience with Yamaha yet, but I understand they have some good machines. Unless something's already been serviced, expect to encounter at least some problems from aging rubber parts and bad grease.
don't hassel with mid range stuff, buy to shelf and Service it... all Decks need service by today... regardless or buy a 'uher 361' no plastic, no belts, no idler.....solid all metal construction. but no fancy looks....Looks like a stretched car stereo with same load tray of the usual late 70s types... or the: Eumig FL-1000 sideloader. excellent mechanics, easily serviceable, but completely different in nearly all aspects 😉😊
40:48 there's a little copper washer on the thrust bearing and a black washer on the flywheel , at 1:00:04 when you put the molycote on and assemble the motor unit i see no copper washer anymore ? (black washer is still on the flywheel) this might be contributing to the W&F you are seeing later ? (or did i miss you putting back the copper washer ?)
I can't recall at this point - I'm not sure there was one on there. The deck is currently doing 0.045%, so I've decided to accept that for now rather than chase it much further. I think it would go lower using an FRSP8.97 belt, and I do have one, so I may try that at some point soon. Thanks for stopping by!
Sorry, I misunderstood - I see what you mean now. The copper washer on the bearing side is the old grease, and on the flywheel side I think that's part of the flywheel itself. Not sure. I managed to get the 0.045% by fixing several random issues - the most important being the supply side thrust bearing which had lost all tension. I had to heat shape it to fix, but didn't think to get that on camera.
Hi there, living in germany, i've had the gx-75/95 Decks and i always had the same issue: Main mechanics control wheel which is driven by hat short Belt and the left Motor has cracked. Nö replacement found. EOL. i also own the forerunner line gx-6/r-88/r-99 the 75/95 had been a beefed up derivates of the gx-6 and the reverse was ended when when These gx75/95 lineup arrived. i found hat the r-88 is the Best Deck of that era, because the r-99 Digital control adds more circuit complexity only for having Digital Level controls on a nice moving door in and out... AT least the german versions (r88/99/gx75/95)had the same shieldings as the japanese models. AT least my r-88 outperforms my 75/95. and also outlast them mechanically (due to that cracked plastic gear) on my 'woelke' wow/flutter unit the r-88 measures around 0.1% better than the 75 and 95, which both shares the same cassette mechanics. After a complete Service. i also owned a dragon (over priced piece of sh!t..!!) and 505 and that manual reverse Thing - that the gxc-65 already had and hided it completely in the topload Mechanism. the dragon was good circutry wise but the mechanics, especially that tiny little Auto azmuth gear is next to impossible to Service and repair when teeth where broken/sheared off... and: Too much torque to use 3d printed rebuilds... you either find one in working condition, clean it and hope for the best or pass on these units. i also bougt my dragon when it was New and used it on regular bases until These azimuth gear train jammed and Cuts out some teeth.... EOL..! back in late 2003 i put it in the trash. 101% EOL. for that amount of money the should have put all metal gears inside. anyway, great Video. usually when i do this Kind of work i put everything in a professional/industrial grade ultrasonic cleaner/heater and use ISOprop and destilsted water 1:1 and to prevent plastic shrinking/drying out i use automotive plastic conditioner from the guys who do pro grade classic car renovations. ( by BASF, industrial type 076386:en:de - i don't know it is available outside germany, or Kontakt-Chemie 'Plastik' does the same but far more expensive) plastic shrinks and get hardened over time and the crakes...we need to put these 'softeners' back into that plastic again or it will break/crack sooner or later... keep up that great work and these Videos..! cheers, 😊
There's pretty much no chance I'll ever buy a Dragon at the prices people ask for. I'd rather buy myself a Nikon Z8 with that money instead. I worried about that gear too on the GX-Z9100 - that's why I went to so much trouble to replace the grease on it. The gear is good on that machine and I want to keep it that way.
@@Oklawolfyou still got that r-88.... restore it. it can't handle 3 layer tapes (tdk sa-xs) or different layers (type-III or taio-yuden EM-X which is Chrome-metal) when it comes to record on These, but with standart cassettes it works great. and the mechanics are better than later models.... the Best akai had been the top GXC models which had been using a more or less shrunken open reel Transport using three Motors and no belts. buy These local at thirft stores or flea-markets, Not via eBay or alike... waaay to expensive. and try an Eumig or uher 360/361 excellent but completely different mechanics. no plastic no belts.... and keep up doing These Videos... i love them. sadly i don't have the spare time needed for this kind of restorations, but this one reminds me of my works on the 75/95 machines (neither is working at the moment) cheers😊
@@Oklawolfyou know the hidden Feature of the gx75/95 i bet yours still have it.... load a cassette, press and hold the play Button.... some european Decks also records doing this..... 🤓🤫😉👍
Not sure about the 93 or 9 - I’ve never seen those. The 9100 is a premium deck only released in Japan that shares very little with any other Akai model.
@@dean6816because of head issues on the european Decks, nee to Look for the mk-2. the, used glue between r/w head parts and this came apart often in the 75/95.
Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, I think Akai made some of the most aesthetically beautiful consumer gear ever designed. Then the bean counters flexed their collective quarter bicep and forced everyone (except Panasonic) to copy the behemoth of electronics. Such a loss of talent and engineering. Good work getting it running though, I'm sure you'll work out the flutter issue soon.
Found the issue yesterday during the recap video, I think. It's in the transport and might take some time to resolve, so this machine might be good for three videos before it's done. Agreed on the other points. Akai wasn't on my radar before, but they certainly are now.
@@Oklawolf Those glass heads can be a real problem, they look great under moderate magnification or even higher magnification that's low resolution, but they micro-fracture and cause us to chase our tails thinking it's something else. The transport is really the beating heart of all these machines, that's why I go through them so thoroughly. I'll be watching for your solution.
It's not the heads as far as I can tell. I'm more worried about Akai heads on future machines than this one. Anyway, it's oscillating very slowly between 0.04% and 0.08%. It took 4K recording and my face up to my 43" monitor to see the problem. Couldn't even see it in my original 1080P close-up footage.
@@Oklawolf Oh ya, I didn't mean this machine, just glass heads in general. Your slow oscillation sounds more like wow than flutter, can you pinpoint the frequency?
@starlightgrecording559 The Weather Wolf*** Gerard Stroh. I have Seen Nice Reel to Reel Tape Decks and Cassette Decks in my Travels and I Have A Super Rare Cassette Deck and it is A Vintage Teac 860 Closed Loop Cassette Deck and it is A 50 Pound Beast and the Reel Motors are Direct Drive and The Dual Capstan Drive the Motor Looks Like A Small Direct Drive Reel to Reel Capstan Motor and it Has A Looks Like A Play Head Right on The Motor and Some Otari Reel to Reel MX5050 Capstan Looks Like A Big Version of That Motor and The Drive Capstan Motor Belt is Not Made out of Rubber it is A Teflon Belt and It Has A Belt Tightner that They Have on Car Engines and it is Spring Loaded and You Can Take A Normal Bias Pre-Recorded Tape and Make it Sound Awesome and I Have it Running on the Right Capstan the Right Pinch Roller Only Because The Pinch Roller are Super Small and it Plays Fine But If You Scan The Tape in Reverse Mode it Can Chew up The Tape So I Don't Use It and You Must Hear A Tape on it! It Sounds Like A Reel To Reel Tape Deck and Here is The Other Shocker About This Tape Deck This Tape Deck They Use The Left Reel Motor For Back Tension as My Pro-Reel to Reel Tape Machines Do**** And It is A 3 Head Machine and You Can Fine-Tune The Tape Bias And The Down Fall is You Can Only Use Normal & High Bias Tapes Only*** I Only Payed $200 Dollars For it and There is one Selling on Ebay For $3,000 Dollars and I only Payed 1/15th That Price only and I Might Film A Short Video on That Cassette Deck on my RUclips Channel ( Starlight G Recording )***** Bye From Gerard Stroh!!!!
VERY NICE WORK YOU DONE THERE. Those devices are real beasts. Regarding high wow and flutter - you have to check: 1. if mechanism is aligned correctly when i play mode (those two pots on top of tape transport are responsible for electromechanical alignment of tape transport phases). 2. if both pinch rollers have on spec power when in play mode pressing into the capstans (supply i think about 150g and take-up about 350-400g). 3. playback tape back tension - you need torque tape to test this, but in worst case scenario just put device in play and try to move supply spindle with your hand - if there is some resistance, then its ok. 4. take-up tape spindle drag power - also need torque cassette for that, but also you can use your hand - put in play mode and try slowly to stop take-up spindle - if you dont feel any torque drop-downs in that procedure then its ok (also if you stop it with you hand and still can hear that spindle motor is not staled and running, then this means that idler is poor quality or idler spring tension is not enough or spindles are not clean where idler meets them.) About tape door not closing proper check that 1 point that i mentioned. These potentiometers are also used to calibrate/align tape door closing. Cheers
Thanks! Yes, one of the issues you mentioned had something to do with it. A hifirulezzz video helped me discover it a few days ago. Capacitors for the power supply are here now so I'll be fixing it on Monday.
that feeling when a repair is so successful, congrats buddy. $700 is a steal for what this is & what u did to it, imo, esp prices of used or non working units I've seen lately, though other brands...
Congratulations on a huge #1 project. Looking forward to the fine tuning fixes.
I believe you when you complement this machine, it's been held in high esteem since it came out. Personally, I 'quality check' using headphones taking care of my ears too in the process. I'll watch this again, but next time all the way through. Cheers Jeremy!
I'd rather use larger speakers than tiny ones in headphones tho :)
petroleum is great for removing the old grease that has almost turned to glue.
What would you recommend as a starter deck for someone who just found all his childhood recordings? I have very good hifi setup. I haven’t owned one for about 20 years. Was looking at Yamaha ….
I don't have any experience with Yamaha yet, but I understand they have some good machines. Unless something's already been serviced, expect to encounter at least some problems from aging rubber parts and bad grease.
Yamaha KX-300 I seen others recommend
don't hassel with mid range stuff, buy to shelf and Service it... all Decks need service by today... regardless
or buy a 'uher 361' no plastic, no belts, no idler.....solid all metal construction.
but no fancy looks....Looks like a stretched car stereo with same load tray of the usual late 70s types...
or the:
Eumig FL-1000 sideloader.
excellent mechanics, easily serviceable, but completely different in nearly all aspects 😉😊
40:48 there's a little copper washer on the thrust bearing and a black washer on the flywheel , at 1:00:04 when you put the molycote on and assemble the motor unit i see no copper washer anymore ? (black washer is still on the flywheel) this might be contributing to the W&F you are seeing later ? (or did i miss you putting back the copper washer ?)
I can't recall at this point - I'm not sure there was one on there. The deck is currently doing 0.045%, so I've decided to accept that for now rather than chase it much further. I think it would go lower using an FRSP8.97 belt, and I do have one, so I may try that at some point soon. Thanks for stopping by!
Sorry, I misunderstood - I see what you mean now. The copper washer on the bearing side is the old grease, and on the flywheel side I think that's part of the flywheel itself. Not sure. I managed to get the 0.045% by fixing several random issues - the most important being the supply side thrust bearing which had lost all tension. I had to heat shape it to fix, but didn't think to get that on camera.
Hi there,
living in germany,
i've had the gx-75/95 Decks
and i always had the same issue:
Main mechanics control wheel which is driven by hat short Belt and the left Motor has cracked. Nö replacement found.
EOL.
i also own the forerunner line gx-6/r-88/r-99
the 75/95 had been a beefed up derivates of the gx-6 and the reverse was ended when when These gx75/95 lineup arrived.
i found hat the r-88 is the Best Deck of that era, because the r-99 Digital control adds more circuit complexity only for having Digital Level controls on a nice moving door in and out...
AT least the german versions (r88/99/gx75/95)had the same shieldings as the japanese models.
AT least my r-88 outperforms my 75/95. and also outlast them mechanically (due to that cracked plastic gear)
on my 'woelke' wow/flutter unit the r-88 measures around 0.1% better than the 75 and 95, which both shares the same cassette mechanics. After a complete Service.
i also owned a dragon (over priced piece of sh!t..!!) and 505 and that manual reverse Thing - that the gxc-65 already had and hided it completely in the topload Mechanism.
the dragon was good circutry wise but the mechanics, especially that tiny little Auto azmuth gear is next to impossible to Service and repair when teeth where broken/sheared off... and: Too much torque to use 3d printed rebuilds...
you either find one in working condition, clean it and hope for the best or pass on these units.
i also bougt my dragon when it was New and used it on regular bases until These azimuth gear train jammed and Cuts out some teeth.... EOL..! back in late 2003 i put it in the trash. 101% EOL. for that amount of money the should have put all metal gears inside.
anyway, great Video. usually when i do this Kind of work i put everything in a professional/industrial grade ultrasonic cleaner/heater and use ISOprop and destilsted water 1:1 and to prevent plastic shrinking/drying out i use automotive plastic conditioner from the guys who do pro grade classic car renovations. ( by BASF, industrial type 076386:en:de - i don't know it is available outside germany, or Kontakt-Chemie 'Plastik' does the same but far more expensive)
plastic shrinks and get hardened over time and the crakes...we need to put these 'softeners' back into that plastic again or it will break/crack sooner or later...
keep up that great work and these Videos..!
cheers, 😊
There's pretty much no chance I'll ever buy a Dragon at the prices people ask for. I'd rather buy myself a Nikon Z8 with that money instead. I worried about that gear too on the GX-Z9100 - that's why I went to so much trouble to replace the grease on it. The gear is good on that machine and I want to keep it that way.
@@Oklawolfyou still got that r-88.... restore it. it can't handle 3 layer tapes (tdk sa-xs) or different layers (type-III or taio-yuden EM-X which is Chrome-metal) when it comes to record on These, but with standart cassettes it works great. and the mechanics are better than later models.... the Best akai had been the top GXC models which had been using a more or less shrunken open reel Transport using three Motors and no belts.
buy These local at thirft stores or flea-markets, Not via eBay or alike... waaay to expensive. and try an Eumig or uher 360/361 excellent but completely different mechanics. no plastic no belts.... and keep up doing These Videos... i love them.
sadly i don't have the spare time needed for this kind of restorations, but this one reminds me of my works on the 75/95 machines (neither is working at the moment)
cheers😊
@@Oklawolfyou know the hidden Feature of the gx75/95 i bet yours still have it.... load a cassette, press and hold the play Button.... some european Decks also records doing this..... 🤓🤫😉👍
What is the difference between the GX-Z9100, the GX-9, & the GX-93?
Which is the best of the three?
Not sure about the 93 or 9 - I’ve never seen those. The 9100 is a premium deck only released in Japan that shares very little with any other Akai model.
So A&D is short for Akai & Diatone?
Yes you right :)
Apart from being Quartz locked, are they not the same as the Akai GX 95??
The audio circuit is different using all discrete components in this one. The power supply is beefed up as well.
@@Oklawolf I see plenty of GX 75/95 come up for sale but never this one.. Beautiful deck BTW. Wish I could hear it in the flesh..
@@dean6816because of head issues on the european Decks, nee to Look for the mk-2. the, used glue between r/w head parts and this came apart often in the 75/95.
Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, I think Akai made some of the most aesthetically beautiful consumer gear ever designed. Then the bean counters flexed their collective quarter bicep and forced everyone (except Panasonic) to copy the behemoth of electronics. Such a loss of talent and engineering. Good work getting it running though, I'm sure you'll work out the flutter issue soon.
Found the issue yesterday during the recap video, I think. It's in the transport and might take some time to resolve, so this machine might be good for three videos before it's done. Agreed on the other points. Akai wasn't on my radar before, but they certainly are now.
@@Oklawolf Those glass heads can be a real problem, they look great under moderate magnification or even higher magnification that's low resolution, but they micro-fracture and cause us to chase our tails thinking it's something else. The transport is really the beating heart of all these machines, that's why I go through them so thoroughly. I'll be watching for your solution.
It's not the heads as far as I can tell. I'm more worried about Akai heads on future machines than this one. Anyway, it's oscillating very slowly between 0.04% and 0.08%. It took 4K recording and my face up to my 43" monitor to see the problem. Couldn't even see it in my original 1080P close-up footage.
@@Oklawolf Oh ya, I didn't mean this machine, just glass heads in general. Your slow oscillation sounds more like wow than flutter, can you pinpoint the frequency?
Not offhand. It's well below 1Hz... you have to watch the meter for several seconds to see it even happen.
👍👍👍🤩
Just my advice, in the months or years to come - don't sell it, cos' you may regret later. ;o)
I'm never selling this one. Even if I get the EV model I'm not letting it go ;)
The Tape Mechanism looks like a direct copy of the Sony Stuff!
@starlightgrecording559
The Weather Wolf***
Gerard Stroh. I have Seen Nice Reel to Reel Tape Decks and Cassette Decks in my Travels and I Have A Super Rare Cassette Deck and it is A Vintage Teac 860 Closed Loop Cassette Deck and it is A 50 Pound Beast and the Reel Motors are Direct Drive and The Dual Capstan Drive the Motor Looks Like A Small Direct Drive Reel to Reel Capstan Motor and it Has A Looks Like A Play Head Right on The Motor and Some Otari Reel to Reel MX5050 Capstan Looks Like A Big Version of That Motor and The Drive Capstan Motor Belt is Not Made out of Rubber it is A Teflon Belt and It Has A Belt Tightner that They Have on Car Engines and it is Spring Loaded and You Can Take A Normal Bias Pre-Recorded Tape and Make it Sound Awesome and I Have it Running on the Right Capstan the Right Pinch Roller Only Because The Pinch Roller are Super Small and it Plays Fine But If You Scan The Tape in Reverse Mode it Can Chew up The Tape So I Don't Use It and You Must Hear A Tape on it! It Sounds Like A Reel To Reel Tape Deck and Here is The Other Shocker About This Tape Deck This Tape Deck They Use The Left Reel Motor For Back Tension as My Pro-Reel to Reel Tape Machines Do****
And It is A 3 Head Machine and You Can Fine-Tune The Tape Bias And The Down Fall is You Can Only Use Normal & High Bias Tapes Only***
I Only Payed $200 Dollars For it and There is one Selling on Ebay For $3,000 Dollars and I only Payed 1/15th That Price only and I Might Film A Short Video on That Cassette Deck on my RUclips Channel ( Starlight G Recording )*****
Bye From Gerard Stroh!!!!
VERY NICE WORK YOU DONE THERE. Those devices are real beasts.
Regarding high wow and flutter - you have to check: 1. if mechanism is aligned correctly when i play mode (those two pots on top of tape transport are responsible for electromechanical alignment of tape transport phases). 2. if both pinch rollers have on spec power when in play mode pressing into the capstans (supply i think about 150g and take-up about 350-400g). 3. playback tape back tension - you need torque tape to test this, but in worst case scenario just put device in play and try to move supply spindle with your hand - if there is some resistance, then its ok. 4. take-up tape spindle drag power - also need torque cassette for that, but also you can use your hand - put in play mode and try slowly to stop take-up spindle - if you dont feel any torque drop-downs in that procedure then its ok (also if you stop it with you hand and still can hear that spindle motor is not staled and running, then this means that idler is poor quality or idler spring tension is not enough or spindles are not clean where idler meets them.)
About tape door not closing proper check that 1 point that i mentioned. These potentiometers are also used to calibrate/align tape door closing.
Cheers
Thanks! Yes, one of the issues you mentioned had something to do with it. A hifirulezzz video helped me discover it a few days ago. Capacitors for the power supply are here now so I'll be fixing it on Monday.