You like the term audiophools? Incase you don't know, an audiophile knows what they want and knows what they are willing to pay for it. An audiophool is someone that thinks they know what they want and trolls the internet for opinions from other audiophools who have paid way too much for their old gear. They then also pay far more than the equipment is worth. A real audiophile collects prestige equipment that they get for a song. I consider myself falling into that category. I have an exceptionally good, natural sounding system and probably the most expensive piece in it is my vacuum tube amp that I bought brand new about 10 years ago for 600.00. That 600.00 amplifier blows the doors off my vintage McIntosh and sansui receivers that i could easily pawn off on some audiophool if i was in need of some quick cash.
Smashing repair dave :-D i was thinking much the same with the broken off pin, keeping the drill in the dead center can be a bit fidderly. It sounds great to me, even with worn heads and my dodgy ears :-D I didn't notice the top of the capacitor, (busy watching you repair the door). It's just glue crap, and that's fine. They leak from the bottom bung or boil up creating a high pressure inside so the top vents breach.
I was really hoping you were in the states because I have a nice 3-head Dolby S ES deck where the belt has completely melted! I wish I could find a replacement and I could attempt a replacement myself.
Biggest problem with this old gear is often parts availability. You can usually get belts, but much more than that and you'll need a donor deck. Not sure where else one would find decks anymore other then ebay or something like ebay. The most common fault seems to be bad belts, and that's a problem, as you don't know if the thing will work until you replace the belts. Had this happen recently with a Tascam 122 I got off of...ebay. Great condition cosmetically, heads looked good etc. but had bad belts. I replaced those and found it had a record problem. That's begin worked on now but it was not a fun surprise!
Fortunately these old Sony frames are very easy to get. Almost all Sony decks of that period have the same frames. I once replaced the frame of my 555ESII with the frame of a TC-FX2, an entry-level deck. The problem with these decks is that the 'Soft' Eject function breaks very easily, so that the door opens not softly anymore.
Good job, too. Too bad it really should be in the landfill though. Those heads and the door are both really rough. How did the high end work out and flutter?
*Hi 12Volts, *Just wondered (and apologies if I have asked this question before?), but do you use JIS screwdrivers at all? I have found (here in the UK) that Philips, and Pozidrive of all sizes don't mate-up too well with the Japanese screws when using them. I have an old (mid 1980s) set of small screw drivers that fit well - I guess these are JIS, although I wouldn't have realised it at the time?* Regards.
I have a Sony TC-K555 es II cassette deck, and the door pin also broke off, I too drilled a hole and glued a pin in. Seems this is clearly a weak point by these decks.
I just picked up one today. Same problem on the left side - the spring kept popping out because the pin had cracked. I managed to get the mechanism out to fix it - trying superglue since I found the pin in the bottom of the deck, although I doubt that will work. Unfortunately while removing the mechanism a small ball bearing dropped out and I think that white wire clip leading to the head came loose. I have the schematic and it looks like the white wire clip holds the ball bearing in place but I can’t be sure. Oh well, I figured I was getting a puzzle! The grease is all dried up inside and the belts are in ok condition but loose. I’m considering removing them and boiling them. Also need to order some white lithium grease. As with this deck the heads are very worn. I always wanted one of these though, since I was in Jr. High. Found one local fairly cheap in good cosmetic condition and decided to take my chances. I’m not going to use it much anyhow. Heavy as a tank tho and loaded with circuit boards. This must have been just before Sony started deploying ICs everywhere.
I have a aiwa portable stereo system. Everything works fine? Except the dual cassette player broke . It's the kind that plays the cassette and reverses to play the other side. One of them I think you can record cassettes on. How much would it cost to have the cassette players repaired? Thank you.
Sadly the heads are crap and it can't calibrate to metal tapes. I have also seen this "only ferric and chrome" calibration on a reVox deck. I think it was the H11.
I keep a box of old springs just for cases like this where a spring is eighter missing or damaged. So i have a chance of finding one that is simmilar in size and can be repurposed to fit. But why would anybody buy this of Ebay and pay that much for it? I bought a Denon DRM-710 in really good shape, no wear on heads and with Dolby HX-Pro, Metal tape etc. Looks just like this Sony, and i paid $15 for it at a local recycle shop.
that door is effed up. there should be an arm with a o-ring that works in conjunction with a tube at the top left of the transport to act as a damper. and that spring. good grief. it's a shame about those worn heads. those discrete laseramorphous heads are known for sounding really great - when not worn. but are really soft - so usually worn.
Yes i know about the air damper. It is missing. The owner didn't say where this came from but i imagine someone found it is the garbage. Cleaned it up and and sold it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately "vintage audio" is a buzzword these days that many get caught up in. They think their old stuff is worth more than it is and unfortunately many get caught up in bidding wars and buy this worn out junk. Now sometimes a prescribed piece comes along, such as the very high end JVC tdv1010 I have and I picked mine up for an absolute bargain. I have seen the deck i have sell for over 2000 recently 1450 euros to be exact, but i got mine for a much better price. How does free sound. Much of the high end gear i own I got for free from people looking to down size and just gave it to me. One of these days i will put a bunch of it up for sale but at least what i sell will be in good condition and properly serviced.
good night I have a Sony tape deck model TC-K950ES and I need to buy the VFD display 1-519-497-11 or 1-519-497-12. If you have the complete 1-633-298 Sony PCB, I will also buy it. Thank you very much for your attention and support. Sincerely César Borges
@@12voltvids Yeah, hopefully, someone didn't just yank on the assembly and break bits off inside, including tabs that hold the springs in the right configuration ! Great job ! BTW, hope your electric outlets are holding up
Great job on the repairs ! Don't know where you would get replacement heads if they are too worn out. I'm in Southern California and years ago we could go to an electronic wholesale shop and buy parts, but not now, sure miss the parts shops !
Probably the seller broke it. Those pinch rollers look brand new, these bronze core ones are available on ebay and Aliexpress, for quite a high price. So he wanted to repair it before he sold it, but ended up ruining it. The pich rollers in these late '80s early '90s Sony decks are pretty trash. I have two from the early '90s with the dreaded TCM-190 mech, one TC-K315 and a 3 head TC-K511. In the 315, the pinch roller was rock hard, in the 511 it was gooey,. What a silly design! Uses a brushless capstan motor... with a belt! I mean, what's the point then?! OK, it's more reliable because no commutator and brushes to wear out, but once they were using a brushless motor, they should have made it direct drive to achieve low W&F.
30:25 OK, on closer inspection, the rollers might be not that new. But I think they were replaced at some point, because wearing out the heads need a lot of use, and those rollers don't look like overused ones. They look like these replacement ones: www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-13x6x2mm-Radio-Roller-Bronze-Hub-Pinch-Roller-Belt-Pulley-for-Akai-Sony/203187268811
Sir, would you please copy your content over at Odysee.com as well, so it would never be deleted or banned by the whims of youtube? Asap? Thanks for the great vids!
