What a coincidence! I just posted a video on my RU-vid channel repairing my Teac V-770 cassette deck with a very similar symptom. I thought it was belts, but turned out to be a cam switch that needed cleaning. This Teac uses a cam switch to control the play, rewind, FF, etc, and that switch was gunked up. Your videos inspired me to try fixing it myself, and I succeeded! Thanks!
That's a smashing tape deck, they put a lot of clever ideas into it :-D I've always found electronic control decks to be very interesting, and the way they acheaved the functions were really neat. Even my old motor assisted Pioneer CT-200 tape deck was novel at the time.
I must be one of very few people in the UK that would bother to attempt this. I've done many similar jobs but not on this particular machine. Great job sir....
Seen those bare wire type connectors in a lot of Philips equipment. Often the other end is hard-soldered to the mainboard, so you can't simply unplug them at the other end and even if you could it would get kinda messy real quick! Taking photos and numbering them with permanent marker like you did here is good advice. Very fiddly, and there's always the potential to get them the wrong way round! :0
Cool looking deck, that. Seems like an ok to work on transport, too. the closed loop dual capstan one Sony used was a nightmare and the first one I ever changed belts on. Argh!!
So a mid-range Japanese deck, most likely ended up a "Richer Sounds Special" after 18 months at 70% off and now worth no more than $20 on eBay on a good day, greatly outperforms that modern $500 Tascam reviewed yesterday on another channel. Here's the reason no-one should bother with modern decks. Lovely piece of engineering given its humble position in the market at the time.
Have to do belts on a GX R55 which has an almost identical transport mech. There is also a small belt behind the tape compartment cover which operates the gear mechanism.
Thanks much for this video - most informative. I've a wonderful AKAI GX-R66 with a volume output slider on the front panel that consistently cuts out. In addition, when pressing the Play function, I've got to give the heads a gentle finger push (upward) for the heads to engage (front door is off the unit). The rewind usually (not always) doesn't function. Infrequently, the recorded music is played in reverse which I suspect is the recording on the other side of the cassette. Any suggestions at all would be most appreciated including where I can acquire the 3 belts. USA resident.
George Thomas The capstan shafts were lubricated but like the first shot where I tested it the file was unreadable. This camera is giving me headaches. I am loosing files. It says record and after I stop and start the next file it goes away. File number is skipped. I don't know if it is the SD card or a fault in the csmers.
Have. a similar problem with an HX-M7R, ffwd and rev works but play/revplay won't, and the tape mechanism looks pretty much the same, so I feel I am going to have to go the same route but with less experience :)
Excellent job sir! This video is veri helpful. But im still cant get how to use the scope to adjust the azimut, playback speed , tape sensitivy level and bias level. Hope you can help me 🤝
I could never figure out them wire connectors, it's like rocket science to me but you make it look so easy. Even after I lift the tab up, I feel like I have to take a tiny flat head screw driver to get the wires lose. Mine are really "pinched" in there and if I pull hard I feel I would damage the cable and connector. What are these connectors called?
Victor Coss I have no idea what the name is. A type of zif connector because there is no force required to seat the wires but a fair bit of resistance to remove.
Good evening dear friend very good this video of your hxr 44 deck straps replacement... you do a great job, great service from you... I went to change the straps of my hxr 44, everything worked out, however it was time to close it the top of the liquid crystal where the digital counter has disappeared... and the deck's traction motors don't work ..do you have any tips for me?? in advance thank you for your attention beautiful video of yours.
Very helpful. My HX-R44 was not playing in one direction and no auto reverse. This was a great guide to replace the belts. Now everything works. An now I remember why I hate cassettes.
I have one of those cool Denon slide out try cassette players I got at a thrift store for 10 bucks. Plays well, for a while(sometimes as long as 30 minutes), and then starts screeching. I push stop. Then play again and it goes away for a while. I am going to replace the belts, but do you think it could be the bearings too? I don't think it's the bearings because the fly wheels spin like ice, but maybe they get warm and expand when playing the tape for a while? And what tool do I need to pull the bearings? Thanks.
It looked like you may have been able to snake those belts in without taking the transport apart? Maybe with a few dental picks/hooks? I would like to see you use the scope to align the azimuth : showing us the circle or whatever pattern the O-scope shows when the 2 channels are perfectly parallel? I wonder why more of these didnt use a cogged belt and a tensioner. They would last forever. Most Sony belts turn to jelly after about 10 years. I never had a Technics or a Teac that had a melted belt.
Sure a cogged belt, that would be good for wow and flutter..... NOT! I do use silly scope to do azimuth adjustment but this one didn't need it because nobody has been in screwdrivering it. Incidentally you don't want an "O" you want a "/" as an "O" is 90' out of phase. That would sound great.... NOT!
Like your work. I'm not a fan of auto-reverse decks that have the swinging head. The only auto-reverse deck that mastered auto-reverse was the Nakamichi RX range decks, and the Akai reverse-o-matic machines. Flip the tape over and leave the head fixed - no potential for azimuth to go bad.
I have an HX1 that was bent up in shipping I paid 9 dollars and shipper place newspaper and shipped box was damaged but I got no response to email and so low value the effort was not worth 9 dollars. I still have for parts.
Those connectorless ribbon cables are a pain in the arse, ain't they? Is it too much trouble to at least make a connector so that servicemen don't have trouble with it?
Sure you can play a song on CD and the same one on cassette recorded on a known good machine and tune by ear. If you have a tone tape and you have perfect pitch you can tune by ear.
where do you source belts from? I bought a bag of assorted cheap ones on eBay and about 6 of them were useful and the rest are sizes I have not come across. Another website called "Encompass" claimed to have some Kenwood deck belts I needed in stock and after they got my money claim they are on backorder, then a week later they send 1 and not the other.
I swear... some of these manufacturers build these things so it is almost impossible to change the belts ... like they expected them to last forever or get thrown away when they quit working...
I remember this deck , good sound , not many about , I got rid of it becouse it did not match the rest of the system . We were stupid back the n taking everything for granted .
