Repairing a Pioneer CT-F850 Tape Deck from 1979 (incl. Belt Replacement) 

i would like to add one more step.. clean the pulleys and remove all the old rubber residue before replacing it with new belts

I'm so glad you're doing this kind of content again. I really enjoy it.

Careful: When you want to fine-tune the tape speed, you need to have a cassette with a 3kHz signal recorded on a "known good deck", and a Freq. counter (or software) hooked up to the output of the "deck in test". When you dont have any of these, leave the factory adjustment where it is! After re assembling and cleaning (and replacing belts) the speed setting is in 99% of cases fine again :) Hope that helps

That's a beautiful old tape deck!

Great Job! This repair video sure brought back lots of memories from back in the day of many model repairs of such units. Where the belts are first to go as in your tape drive section. That model is not the easiest to work on but once done, hope it will last for a long time, or until the belts stretch and dry-out over time. If I remember correctly, the reason most models shut off is there is a 'Hall-Effect-Sensor' which detects the take-up reel and if not detecting motion, then shuts the unit off, as your unit was doing, so to not spill the tape out making a large tangle tape mess. Again, wonderful job and it sure did bring back lots of memories.

Hello Guys! One correction: After watching my own video, I noticed that the optical encoder is probably not connected to the "capstan motor", but to a little pully sitting right next to that motor, which in turn is connected to the "take up reel motor" and the "counter". The replacement belt is sitting right where it belongs. I simply didn't remember this when recording the commentary and re-watching the footage , which doesn't show where the belt leads.

I had a nice hand me down pioneer set when i was a kid, It's depressing to think that i just threw it away when i got a new stereo.

Hello......I was stationed by Butzbach in the state of Hessen from 1980 to 1982. May fond memories of your country. Many of my fellow Army soldiers bought lots of home audio equipment. So a lot of this equipment was easily found here in the states for years. Sadly none of todays people care to deal with such issues and all of the repair shops in the states are unreliable or out of business. Pioneer equipment was good. The PX's sold many Sansui cassette tape decks. They were the fastest and most reliable for the time. Thank you for posting this video and showing the amount of work involved at replacing the belts.

Thank You for this, I love repair videos that show the repair, many others only talk then show you after the repair.

I really enjoy repair videos like this. Thanks man!

Amazing video my friend. You have inspired me. Very clear language, no hesitations, no bla-bla just the facts.Thank you.

I have this deck, and a kit of new belts on my desk! Thank you for you clear and concise instructions. You are a good teacher... Well off I go to do mine now...😀

Ooh! Can I tell you a repair story? I got a portable cassette player who's battery port was completely shot with caked battery crap. I couldn't clean it, so I ripped it open and cut the supply wires to the battery port, replacing the wires and contacts with aluminum foil and a usb cable's wires. While I was at it, I cut out the battery port and widened it to accept an 18650 I took from a laptop battery. I may have gone a bit out of hand, but I also ripped up a power bank to use the charge input and output circuitry inside, and I connected it to the battery after making a hole in the player. Long story short, I have a custom made walkman that is usb rechargeable and can also charge my phone.

Love your repair videos, I always wanted to be an electronic repair man and used to fix broken stuff from my childhood, alas I couldn't but watch your videos and regret not doing it.

Somehow you made this interesting to watch even though I have no intention of ever owning a tape deck again, good job!

Very interesting and informative. It is videos like this that give confidence to those of us who restore our own equipment back to operational condition. Thanks! I am now subscribed.

Well done ! I really appreciate your Knowledge and style and also I try to emulate it in my repairing video. Very useful to all that cannot have the possibility to teardown such kind of objects. Continue like that and you will be very famous.

These are great! I have an F850 and F950. Thanks for the video!

I had a CTF-950 and probably the best you can have. These had a much higher surge voltage to engage the head up, and then reduce voltage after a second to the solenoid for a nice positive engagement. I repaired many of these, if you have dirty slide switches you can drill a micro hole on the brown cover and spray contact clean in holes and like new.

Great job! I seem to get all my belt kits from Germany, always have the correct sets.

Damn all those belts! My early 1990s Kenwood KX-7030 only has 2 belts inside. Shows how much progress was made in a decade.

+1 for Bach's St. Matthew's Passion for the test tape at the end. Good taste in music my friend. You give me courage to tactile my Pioneer ct-f9191 which is long overdue for new belts.

loving this repair series, keep it up!

Excellent production Sir, I can see why you get this amount of "likes". You got my subscription. Was a teenager during the Stereo Wars of the late 1970's and late 1970's equipment is my addiction.

Magnífico trabajo mi querido amigo....muchas gracias por su aportación al canal....y animarle, a seguir en la misma trayectoria....

I have the same deck, similar issue - replaced the belts myself but it did not fix the issue. I like the way you filmed this, with your video as a guide, I will try again. As you said, this is too nice a piece of equipment not to have working. Thanks!

That's a quality deck, nice that it's going again :-D

Very nice ! Also, your english improved a lot over the past years ! Keep up the good work !

greetings your video's are very in depth indeed just like going to night school to learn a subject.

Nice work ! I have the CT-F950 and the CT-F1250 and I'd never part with either. Pioneer made some beautiful pieces in the 70's.

so awesome cool ! I love the old Tapedecks with the peaks ^^

Been watching your videos for a while and appreciate them all . I did a belt replacement on a similar Pioneer recently . Them old belts actually turn to tar after a while . I always have wondered how you learned to speak English so well ? Thanks again , Looking forward to more !

Well done. Good to see you back in business. That is a very nice tape deck. I have been looking for an amplifier in the Blue Line series that may need a restoration. Unfortunately this collectors range is getting very expensive nowadays.

Repaired a few of those myself back in the day

Great job! I still have my CT-F900 which I bought new in 1979. Believe it or not this was a common problem on new units right out of the factory. I went through three brand new units before I got one that didn't have this problem, only to have the take-up spindle start slipping a few years later. I know two other people who had the same problem with their CT-F900s and ended up throwing them away which was a real shame. I also have a Sony three head cassette deck with auto biasing that does the same thing, and did so almost since new. I paid good money to have it "repaired" two times, but the take-up spindle still slips rendering the deck useless. I'm fairly certain that the problem on both decks is/was not the belts but rather the friction pads in the take-up spindle hub. So I'm holding on to two really nice cassette decks that do not function. Maybe one day...

All of this just to listen to music. Amazing. I still play my Yamaha cassette deck regularly. Love that mechanical music.

so far, best goddamn video on how to change these belts. thanks

I own one of these machines and need a belt set. Thank you for the tip.

Excellenet vid, thank you for introducing the basics.

Hey, I have the entry level blue line deck, the ct300. It works most of the time fine, but now and then it rips the tape slightly, in the beginning. I did some cleaning with alcohol and the belts are already replaced. Any shots? Am I experiencing the beginning of a bigger failure, did I did something wrong with replacing the belts or is it just sth normal for a deck to slightly a tape now and then?

The blue display on these was called 'flouroscan'

Audio tape can be ironed flat again. Use an iron on low heat and on top of a sheet of note book paper. The idea is to apply low heat and insulate using paper so the tape isn't melted from applying it directly. I've done this to video tape, too.

Have you ever replaced the idler tire on any of these units? I'm trying to find the procedure to do that

This is what is so cool about this old mechanical analogue stuff. Yes it is dynamic and complicated. But it is serviceable and you can figure it out yourself just by observing and tinkering. Modern devices are destroyed by even trying to open the enclosures. If you do get in, good luck.

Bravo ! Du bon travail pour un bel appareil !!! Bravo! Good job for a beautiful device !!!

Very well explained & very professional, Thank-you.

Nice repair work

Well done! Thank you, Like.

Very smart, the aux cassette.

Very interesting work. Thank you.

I like the revised logo. It looks nice.

Bravo! Beautiful deck man. Thanks.

Hello, recently I bought a Pioneer DC-Z83 hifi system from 1990 and the tapes heads are in need of alignment but I can't get the doors of the cassette deck off. Do you have any tips on how to get to the adjusting screws?

After good cleaning that will be a great tape deck!

I swear, you Germans have a special word for everything. Lol 🤣

Stroke of genius using the tape adapter! Haven't seen anyone else do that!

1970 Ish is always the belts, never put tapes in them, us a trashed tape to test it, the Car CD player tape is a nice tool. You bought matching belts, lol, you can find the sizes, provided by Pioneer Technics. You found a German shop that did that job for you. Good luck, me running a Studio gear HiFi shop in Amsterdam, No compactessettes, lol! Back then it was Digital Beta only.

I had one of these of some kind. they was really high tech back then.

Really dig the intro.

Love the video and the music!

Where did you find the service manual? I have this exact model and wasn't going to try and fix it until I saw this...

Very good video, thank you very much!

This bit of kit would look lovely in Techmoan's rack :)

Amazing job!!!

Thanks for the Video I replaced all the belts and it went very good . im still having a problem with end of tape shut off. i think its a bad sensing assembly, right off of the tape counter.

Any technical reason why the play, pause, etc. buttons are not inline? My OCD kept me on the edge of my seat during the whole video, but could not see it.

where can i get a diagram for a MCS 3554 cassette player.. i need to know how to replace the belts for it and i cant find find anything on google or youtube

A drop or two of light machine oil in the capstan bearings helps keep them spinning freely.

8:10 pretty shure that optical thing is the auto stop. when it stops spinning the the mechanism stops. Nice repair! liked following allong.

Love it, wonderful

I hope the Lab Reports came back again too

I really miss this deck, in mine died main electric motor and I couldn't find original replacement. Pioneer repair point inserted different electric motor sony brand and after that appeared noises only when playback. I didn't find out what was the case and why noise was audible only when the head touched tape, the tape didn't even have to spin. Grüße für Deutsche Nachbarn :D

Hi i have brought a nice tape deck its a full German sound TD100 it has German writing on the cover I'm not sure why but the right channel is very temperamental it plays fully in stereo but when recording the right vu meter is hardly working ending up in a terrible recording any ideas why this is happening also do you know any information on the sound TD100 ?

Hi. Does anyone have any idea where I can get pinch roller with the wheels inside for my Pioneer ct-f1250?

Nice video guide! I have one little question - is it safe to touch the rubber belt directly by greasy finger (will be there degradation process of the rubber)?

Nice 3 head deck!

I like JST connectors, they make bundles of wires neat.

Hello Sir, I have a question about the capstan motor, there is no power going to the motor, would you know which switch is responsible for the supply of power?

I'm pleased to be sat next to second hand Technics SL - B21 turntable, ST - Z25L tuner, SU - Z25 Amp and M216 Cassette deck. :)

Your English is superb!

hi there sorry to bother you but i was just wondering if you can assist me with some old info . regarding the 1980s tdk add . if you can remember the brand or knew about the silver pherhaps tdk headpones that are worn in the commercial. the song in the add as " tdk does amazing things to my system " i once knew the seriel cold to the headphones only now found in japan but if your history goes this far into the headpnoes been worn in this clip.. would be very helpful thankyou

I would really love to see a video about the buck-boost converter that you made for your excercise bike generator.

When you took the cover off i said wow that's quality electronic components.

Super Good Job well done!

What are the chances of getting more vault repair videos? Between the awesome vault and great information I would love to see more of these videos.

good work!

Nice Job. Nice machine,

Anyone know what song is playing at 3:15 ?

Great video. I have three decks that need belt replacements. I think that this might be above my pay grade lol. Strange lots of different makes on here but none that I can find for Technics rs ch550/950 twin cassette decks from midi systems. Great post Thanks

Hi, I have 3 Sony bookshelf stereos cmt-sbt100 that sound great but they have no output to be able to record to cassette. There is an input but no output. Could you install an output to these please?

hi i need your help ive just taking a part a makita 4324 and iam trying to put it back together just one problem the leave spring where does it go many thank u have a great channel

I found an old VCR with the same problem! Couldn't make out what the fault was initially. Will try replacing the belts!

That is beautiful

Gret Video Love Old Amps!!

Can you help me My Sony Es Serie , have a Problem, The Disc and The Door don‘t Open is.

Hi. Firstly thanks for the videos, I have a CT 320 , i'm looking for the motor / transformer for the tape deck. When i sent it in for repairs the guy stole the transformer, gave me back my machine and said he could not repair it, after many years later i discover the motor was missing. I'm also looking for the schematics or link. Do you repair amplifiers as well ? Thanks. Brian.

Congratulations

Conductor, label and year of the recording? Is it also available on CD/LP?

I hope neither your new workshop nor your vault drowned in the floods of the recent days!

I have a ctf 650 and ctf 750 does yours have a ac primary line fuse on the 120 volt primary