my name is Rene, from 1985 to 1999 I used to repair in and out of warranty cassette decks and walkmans for Kenwood, Yamaha , Pioneer, Sanyo and other brands and with the current increasing interest in analog audio, and cassette decks in particular, I started this channel to share tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years.
I will mostly do 'end-to-end' video's about repairing, servicing and adjusting the deck from beginning to end with a lot of talking , showing , tips etc and very little editing.
If you have any questions or particular video's you would like to see just reach out and maybe I can assist ?
@@FunzieOne choices these days are really limited , and due to lack of good transport development and manufacturing quality is just no longer available new
@@retro2409 I think you made the right choice going with the denon early 90s to mid 2000’s is not comparable in terms of quality , the denon is clearly a better machine
Pozdrav 🖐️ Hteo bih da zamenim kajševe na Panasonic SA- AK 27 ali baš i ne znam kako i gde nabaviti gumice za isti? I ako možete da uključite prevod na srpski ili hrvatski jezik.
webspareparts.com/products/belt-kit-for-cassette-player-panasonic-sa-ak27 ali ove sve-u-jednom male sustave nije lako popraviti ako imate malo iskustva but these all-in-one small systems are nt easy to repair if you have little experience
from what i can see they are ALPS copies , the ALPS transports where widely used in the mid 90ies and these look like they were copied from that , or maybe simplified versions of those earlier transports
Hi Rene, Definitely a different format of Video, I thought I was watching a Video from a different Creator so had to double check, It is better hearing you Narrate the Video well to me anyway and no offense meant, Still watchable just very different, Oh btw, I had an issue with my Yamaha KX-400 the other day, I was playing a couple of Tapes and the last one I played was Rick Astley, I turned the tape over manually instead of using the Auto-Reverse feature and when it finished playing Side B the Heads would continuously Engage and then Disengage and kept doing it until I turned the power Off, (Thought I’d been Rick-Rolled) 😂 I managed to remove the Cassette after Powering it Off at the right time, Any suggestions on what would cause that? Anthony - Birmingham/UK 🇬🇧
i cant seem to find a pdf from the service manual ? i would have to look into the transport and see whats going on before giving any heads ups the silent treatment was just a fun little test , i am reverting back to my shatty old self shortly ;-)
You are absolutely correct ! I wondered how many people would notice 😉 It’s not an auto reverse deck so the flywheels should not be running opposite, I corrected it after I posted the video
I have a question about head alignment. I watched you adjust the azimuth and understood it fine. But, I wonder about the erase head. Does it's alignment need adjusted and how would you know when its right as it gived of no audio for a reference? I hope it's not a stupid question, but if you don't ask you'll never find out.
the erase head does not need any adjustment , only the record / play head . the erase head is even screwed in place without any possibility to adjust. the reason is that since it erases both channels at the same time and there is enough room between 'side a' and 'side b' of the tape so even if its slightly misaligned it wont affect the other side of the tape but will still erase the side that needs to be erased i hope this helps ?
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy Yes, but it's the path of life and growing up. Your a patient dad who want's to impart his knowledge to the younger generation. I like this format of your video's, you just got a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing.
@@brianwood5220 thank you so much ! i was just contemplating another kind of retirement ;-) , all jokes aside , i like working with my kids , i just spend 6 years 24/7 with them watching them grow (up) and i am glad they're not completely fed up with me , so whenever she wants to help , ask questions and be 'teenager annoying' i welcome her to come and assist
Bought a Yamaha K-340 at a flee market. Mostly buy Sony witch often need new belts. The deck plays without repairs and looks mint. The 340 looks a lot at the deck behind in your'e video. I think it's a higher number than my K-340 but the same family.
the yamaha belts are pretty good, i have seen 45-50 year old belts that are still good and probably better what you can buy today !! btw, we all love fish and marillion here ;-) the deck behind is a k-540 , same series as the k-340 !
They are now quite rare I assume ? , I have only seen 20 or so of these when I worked for Yamaha and with the passing of time I can only imagine how many are still around The sound quality is typical mid 70ies and the FeCr button (type III tapes) was the best there was at the time , but it will play and record type II’s just fine and records up to 16kHz
No offence, but I can only watch it in almost double speed with music running on a tape deck. Too long for the things to be done. To much talking. But that`s just my personal point of view. The idea behind is still great and will be if anybody gets help from it. KEEP GOING 👍
no offense taken ;-) but i am repairing it real time and trying to explain what i am doing so that the next person that comes across this deck and needs to repair it can follow along , but if double speed works for you so much the better
@@drdolby1585 I wish there was a way to keep it down to 5 minutes , or even 30 minutes ? Repair takes time and I personally dislike it when I need some info and the person showing me skips over that exact part that I need , but we all have our own preferences 😁
I love the format. I'm happy to have found your channel & I am subscribed. Many repair videos skip over or dob't emphasise much on the repairs@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy
Very informative video. Thanks. I just picked up this deck for $30. It was playing fine initially on both sides, but then deck 1 started to stop playing a tape randomly (I think you answered that problem with the black and silver pattern on the back of those gears) and deck 2 started squealing very badly while playing a tape (but not while fast forwading or rewinding). The tape would play but obviously something is wrong with the loud squealing. Must be a motor issue? Not sure if it's the main motor or the reel motor. Either way, would it likely just need oiling (sewing machine oil?) or could the motor be bad? If it needs oiling, where do I apply the oil? Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated. It's a helluva deck! And I would love to get it fully functioning again. Thanks.
Ps the bronze motor bearing is the bronze piece where the motor shaft comes out of the main motor (with the black flat belt) the reel motor has a similar bronze bearing , the smallest amount of oil should help if that is the problem
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hyYeah, I tried several tapes. I'm testing it now. With this test, at first neither side would play a tape (store bought tapes). It would just stop after a few seconds. Then I got a home recorded tape and both decks played it. I then played a store bought pre-recorded tape again and both sides played it. Weird. The squealing on deck 2 is more off and on today. Not constant. I will remove the transports soon and have a go at oiling the motors and maybe changing the belts, and having a look at the black and silver pattern on the gears to see if it needs cleaning. Is the black and silver pattern on both gears on each deck? Your video will be a huge help in tackling this thing, so thank you very much!
Hi Rene , Is the Webspareparts place you get your tape deck belts from pretty good with the actual right size for a specific tape deck and transport? I found out that the Amazon belts you buy in bulk are not even close to the capable spec of any random deck. They always must be to tight and the motor struggles to maintain speed. Although they don’t sound terrible, just 2x wow and flutter out of spec.
WebSpareParts are a bit hit and miss , some belts are great and others cause (very) high W&F , I am now ordering from www.electro-andijk.NL , they seem to be better quality , also www.thakker.eu seems to be well regarded with regards to their belt quality
Another fine Video Rene although I have to apologise as I was a bit busy myself when I hit Play on your Video as I was attempting to fix a DVD-Ram Drive from an old Apple Mac G4, The Drive uses a Caddy based system & the Caddy got stuck & while attempting to remove the Caddy the mechanism fell to pieces on me, Think I’ve got it back together & managed to remove the stuck Caddy in the process, Question for you, Do you only look at Cassette Decks & Walkmans or do you ever look at other Electrical Equipment? Reason I ask is because I’ve got a Kenwood GE-7030 Graphic Equalizer which has been butchered, Partly by me & partly by someone else, I think it would make for an interesting Video but it’s definitely out of my league at this moment in time? Anthony - Birmingham/UK 🇬🇧
Hey Anthony, I prefer the mechanics over electronics as just probing a board with scope and multimeter makes (in my opinion) very boring video’s ? I can show and tell a transport and explain its workings to non technical people but an parts level crash course in electronics? I’d rather not
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy Okay thanks , yeah they replace with the warm white type LED around here usually. I was told they also last much longer. A few 880 decks with various differences, really nice deck.
Nice work. I wouldn’t use alcohol on an old idler tire. Either Rubber Renew or CaiKleen RBR. This deck has impressive specs for a 2 header. It should sound decent.
Rubber renew is not sold here , tri-chloride (what we used to use ‘back then’) is banned so I am using 99.9% iso alcohol which evaporates without leaving a trace ? I am in the ‘use alcohol’ camp for now But a new idler is on order
Since you asked - I do have a very troublesome Sony TC-WA7ES that will randomly rewind or forward in mid-play while the tape loops and builds a thick roll on the capstan eventually jamming the door. I usually had to unplug to stop the madness as even the power switch would not turn off the machine when this happened. Plugging it back would sometimes release the unit from play position but now, even that hasn't worked. Have you seen anything like this or know what it might be from? I may rethink my disposal plan and tinker around some more if there is hope. I hate the idea of these intricate machines going into the garbage or getting stripped for parts if still salvageable. My experience with Sony decks hasn't been great, though the sound quality and features on these decks were great while they lasted.
those sony's have an issue with the motor gear , search google for "Sony TC-WA7ES motor gear" and "fixyouraudio" sells a replacement that is supposed to be good
I was bought a Technics by my Papa in New Zealand when I was 13yrs old - 1978. The first with a flouro meter and soft touch eject available then, I think. Next was a Nakamichi in 1992 (thereabouts) - with analogue meters. Just this year (at 59 yrs of age) bought a Sony 3 head - because I could never afford 3 heads before - I love it! I've built my own kit amps over the years, but have never attempted pulling apart a cassette deck transport. - until now. You inspire me to do so!!
congrats on the 59th !! were the same age ;-) those technics and nakamichi's are pretty cool , i have a nakamichi on the workbench soon , as soon as i have the belt kit we'll start working on that one (and record it) when you pull a transport apart make sure you take loads of pics so see where everything goes. and dont take too long putting it back together as you will forget where everything went ! i am sure you do great
Nice , Good job , I just did the KX-W321 , bare bones double from 1996. It is a full metal case though with brushed aluminum front panel , and all Nichicon and Elna caps. Doesn’t have Dolby HX pro and is only single motor and servo transports. It hardly has any components inside compared to your 952. It was hardly used and Sounds and records amazing still. Your one of the only videos I’ve seen where you actually use the Nak 100 features. I will be getting that now for rebuilds.
The 321 is a good little deck , if you maintain it it will run for a long time I used to have the hardware version of the T-100 when I repaired decks eons ago , so I was very glad to find this software version , it works really well and I would recommend it !
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy Sweet , that’s pretty cool you worked with the real deal. I had to repair the little plastic gear ring the auto reverse head is attached to because it had shrunk and split , which made the fan shaped gear slip some cogs and then it would jam the mechanism. Not sure if the repair worked yet I haven’t reversed the head yet lol.
@@universalhead those gear below the head are prone to break when the head mechanism has a problem and the cannot be (easily) replaced as they are part of the rotate mechanism , maybe a donor head assy can be found ?
Do you think the belt could be changed by just sliding it off the flywheels/motor and sliding a new one into place? It's usually pretty difficult and involves a fair amount of dexterity and the right kind of hooks, tweezers, twine, etc. to pull off. I've done this on a different transport earlier without having to take everything apart but recognize that it may not be possible on this one. Great video, btw. Thanks!
If you really wanted to I suppose you could , but then the end of the flywheel is greased and that grease will end up all over the belt. It’s only a few screws to remove the motor plate and you can bend a hook from a paperclip , for me that is a lot easier than trying to fiddle the belt back in place without removing the plate with motor
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy makes total sense! That grease is something that I would certainly keep off the belts and. reason enough to do open things up and do it the right way.
this should work ? How to message someone on RU-vid? Toggle over to their About tab. Proceed to the account you intend to message and toggle over to their About tab. Tap on View Email Address. ... Send your message. ...
Would you ? Because you are recording and playing on the same deck , so let’s say your deck runs 20% faster than any other deck. Now record a 3kHz tape and play it back (or use the “tape” on a 3 head) and it plays back a 3kHz tone Now take that recorded tape to another deck , will it play 3kHz ? Or 3kHz minus 20% ? (As the recording deck is 20% fast)
Hi Rene, Fine Video & that’s a nice piece of kit Sir, I’m also fond of Yamaha Equipment, Think I own 6 x Yamaha Amps/Receivers now although 1 possibly 2 of them needs some TLC, Don’t ask! 😂 I know Twin Auto-Reverse Cassette Decks are generally frowned upon but I like them! Anthony - Birmingham/UK 🇬🇧
Personally I believe the mid and higher end Yamaha’s are still underrated, specially these days where you can pick them up for nearly no money and they perform really well
Good Video, just bought the same model off of Ebay and wanted to prepare that i may have to fix it myself. You sir, did an excellent Job on showing the details here. Thanks for that
I 've got a Kenwood KX-7030 3head dual capstan from ebay. I change the belts and clean everything. It works but the wow and flutter is too high, about 0.2. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!
i just posted a video where i ran into the same issue and it turned out to be the replacement belt was cr*p , you may want to replace the belt again maybe from a more reputable source ? , also look at the back tension belt that is runs smooth and also the capstan oil washers that they run free from the transport but also not touching the cassette ? also clean the bronze bearing and the capstan and a small drop of oil into the bearing
Hi Rene & Robin or is it Ray & Robyn? Another fine Video squire, That Deck looks quite similar to my KX-400, Not sure about the internals as I’ve never took the top off mine but it still works fine, Well to my ear anyway, I’m definitely looking into getting some Test equipment, I’ve downloaded Spectroid for my Android Phone and looking at either getting or making a Test Tape plus I’m also interested in getting hold of the NAK T-100 W&F Analyzer & an Oscilloscope possibly at some point in the future… Anthony - Birmingham/UK 🇬🇧
we listen to everything but officially its Rene & Robin ;-) . the kx-400 is an auto reverse deck if i remember correctly ? so that has a different transport from the k-540 which is not an auto reverse
@@cassettedeckandwalkmanre-mw1hy Ah ok & thanks for correcting me Rene, Another difference I’ve noticed is that the 400 uses a mechanical (wheel) counter whereas the 540 uses a digital (led) counter if I’m not mistaken?
