GET RICH QUICK! (maybe) - Fix & Flip Cassette Decks 

I do it just for the enjoyment of restoring items from my younger days. I wouldn’t consider it as an income stream, its a hobby. My best result was a Denon M44 which I paid £30 for. Overheating, not working and one Level display not working. Studied circuit diagram, did a few checks and predicted the culprit capacitor causing short. Worked out display issue was a chip failure and bought a new chip for £4. Works perfectly now but I haven’t tried to sell it or any of the others I’ve fixed. Just enjoy the satisfaction of fixing classic hifi.

There is one theory that says you should also set your playback levels with a continuous test tone at 200 nWb/m which is Dolby level, only after that step you should go ahead and set your recording levels. There is no money justification for the time we spend restoring decks and by experience the margin is much tighter. You'll barely manage to intercept a competent market and you'll still have a high return rate. Those push button switches will eventually re-oxidize quickly, they need to be replaced. Once they gone they gone. If somebody asked me I'd say don't restore tape decks for a living: it will make your life a misery and in the end you'll also be poorer as you trade valuable personal time for a meager amount of money.

Damn...........Talk about thorough, liked the ZZ Top test. Cannot believe your re-sale $$$$$$$$$, cassettes are pretty hated here in the States. Scottish or maybe Irish accent.

Good to see what to check on some decks. I fixed a Denon CD/Cassette deck recently and continuing working on a Sony TC-177SD. All fun to work on. I should keep away from cassette walkmans though!

Your choice of decks is smart and a big help. I have worked on 1970's-1980's decks and they need more dinking around.

I keep buying them to sell on but I ended up keeping them it gets a bit addictive

Great video and well explained .....oh and make sure if you sell on E-Bay that the buyer has the money to pay..

DOn't encourage this, there's enough badly refurbished crap out there without suggesting to people they do it as a moneymaking hobby. eBay is already full of refurbished sellers ruining otherwise fixable equipment (mostly cassette decks and turntables) with cheap crap parts or bad workmanship. Some of the refurbished stuff I've had to repair is shockingly poor. My advice would be do it if it's something you enjoy and you know what you're doing, and don't consider yourself a refurb seller until you have some experience and can do a decent job.

Awesome deck! Poor flock of seagulls have been running for over 40 year years they're probably tired!lol

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but if you could do 10 a week, you'd spend 800 minutes doing them, which is 13 hours a week, or about 2 days of working hours. So with that average salary (seeing that we're talking hypothetically), you'd earn an average wage, and have 5 out of every 7 days free! The problem would be finding those 10 decks to service and sell on....

Very optimistic figures! First you won’t find many 611s or 661s for £50 including postage. Average selling price is £70-£80 plus shipping. Deck tech belts are £7.95 Then you have to wait nearly 2 to 3 weeks to sell a deck too. You won’t be able to sell 10 a week! Also, selling a 611 at £190 assumes the deck is in excellent condition. I’ve seen so many with missing buttons and scratches everywhere so that price is a bit steep. It usually takes me more than 2 hours to fully lub and calibrate one of these and the rotary encoder is not for the faint hearted. Also if the repairer has not much clue of the timing of the mech they can be there for hours taking apart and putting it back together. Some sellers have messed up the head alignment and tgats not easy to do unless you have a mirror tape to check the path. I would say an average of £50-60 profit is doable but split that with the to pack, clean, write listings etc and you end up with £20-£30 per hour. You also assume you can use the same box. Most of my Sony decks that come off eBay always come in a small box just about bigger than the deck itself with usually a thin piece of bubble wrap so I need to re package them. Unless you diversify in more than these 3 heads then you won’t be able to generate this kind of income. However going to the auto reverse ones and some cheaper Sonys and they are so flimsy and rubbish that’s not worthy I guess.

Having repaired casstte decks since the early 70's they kept me in a job, but not made me rich despite been self employed. Unless you have the spares and skills to fit them, they can be more trouble than most other Hi-Fi gear. Anything with moving parts will wear out, belts deteriate, and plastic gears split, and the heads become worn. Good luck to anyone trying it to make a living.

Don’t forget to tell the tax man your making loads of money 👍

I'm surprised you use spectroid app , to set speed , instead of a dedicated frequency counter app.

Very nice work servicing the mech. Please stop using a spectrum analyser to set speed it's the wrong tool. Use a frequency counter or buy a copy of Nak T100 which will allow you to measure wow and flutter. Someone else mentioned about a proper level tape to set playback levels and read service manual procedure. You need an AC millivolt/dB meter to set levels. From what I saw on the scope when you recorded the 3k tone - wow and flutter figure likely horrendous. Would need investigating.

I tried I sell one for $30 on Facebook marketplace and eBay and nobody wanted it.

As long as they power up, I buy them!! (For the right price of course...)

Paul. Can I book a deck in with you? It's a KB920s. The transport has become slightly noisy over the past few weeks. Not excessive, but enough to get it serviced and calibrated. Let me know. Cheers.

You must be one of the most specialised person on this deck at this point. Great video!

It's a good idea - considering they are not made anymore - wish you all the best

Excellent job, Paul. I am glad that you demonstrated how to replace the pinch roller because I needed to learn that procedure.