Testing all the HiFi stereo cassette decks I recently got, in one video! Follow me on Instagram: / drcassette Check out my RU-vid channel: / drcassette Also check out my other RU-vid channels: / vistavox / plustotal
I loved the period of stereo receivers with beautiful fm dial numbers,vu meters , turntables ,cassette , reel recorders . Best of all the music of the 70s was the very finest.
Since it was designed to be part of a midi system, the black Technics deck may not have a recording monitor, since when recording on such a system, you would always be listening to the source, not the tape.
@@DrCassette My living room system is technics RS series and the matching amp has no tape tape monitor function That Telefunken looks like the way folks would listen to their choons on an old school battleship The Kenwood deck will be excellent when fully revised I have a KX-4520 upstairs which I re-belted was good to work on and sounds amazing. Looks really similar to yours, only single deck
The black Technics is a double deck tape. Technics offered the customer Auto Reverse only for the double deck tape... but never with 3-Head option. I am not sure, if any 3-head tape ever had auto reverse.
Really sweet collection of cassette decks. Interesting video my friend. I got started in tape use back in 1974 when I purchased my first hifi cassette deck, a Pioneer CT-f2121. I ran that sucker into the ground making tapes. Subsequent decks I've owned over the years; Akai CS-f12, Nikko ND-590ll, Onkyo TA630D, Akai GX-f31, Technics RS-m224 and my current decks are a Yamaha KX-260 and most recently acquired a Denon DRM-800A ($125). Cassettes were much better (safer) than trying to play LP's while stoned, drunk or tripping. Ah, the 1970's.
From what I've gleaned from google, the Denon DRM-700 was a competent, useful deck. Some virtues of the 700 are nice two color, wide range (-40/+10) LED peak-hold meters, real-time tape counter, Record-Return and three heads. I have never used the 700 but my DRM-800A is my dream machine cassette deck. If you're looking to buy a DRM-700 and can find one cheap ($100) and in good working order, I'd say buy it. As with all tape decks you should own a good degausser. For cassette decks I use my TDK HD-01. And as for cleaning heads, I use Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol.@@matldn2697
ive never stopped using cassettes.ive spent many years making the format better by modding the bias circuitry and running the tapes fast for amazing sound. i then build my own tape players for my own use that have spectrum anaylizers equalizers and vu displays using circuits and boards i manufacture myself using easy EDA.
Hello Dr Cassette! I'm a bit speechless. More than 20 years ago I bought a nice second-hand Dual cassette deck. It had exactly the same "problem" as the Telefunken! Only DIN connections. I Was using a passive DIN/RCA adapter and the deck was way to sensitive on the inputs. I thought the deck was broken and returned it to the seller. He gave me some money back and I went home with a (also very nice) Akai deck. But now I find out that the deck wasn't broken at all...
I’ve just discovered Your channel and have watched the Kenwood repair where You were losing patience!, I think Your sense of humour is Great and I’m learning a lot, Thanks 😁👍
I'd love to see the Kenwood back fully working, as its a really nice deck, but the silver double deck by technics as well as the JVC would be cool to see working again, as I really like 80s double casette decks!
Ach ja, so etwa vor 10 Jahren war der Recyclinghof voll mit Doppelcassettendecks aus den 80ern und 90ern, die waren so häufig, dass ich nie welche mitgenommen habe. Das hat sich geändert, die Leute haben ihre Cassettendecks entsorgt, und nun findet man nur noch selten mal welche. Mittlerweile wünschte ich, dass ich damals eine Idee umgesetzt hätte: Eben weil Doppelcassettendecks so häufig waren, hatte ich mal gedacht, ich sollte die auch mitnehmen und daraus eine Wand bauen. Eine Wand aus Doppelcassettendecks! :)
Das wäre eine echt gute Idee gewesen! Am besten hätte man noch alle Pegel-Anzeigen ansteuern sollen, sodass man eine große blinkende wand aus Doppelkassettendecks hätte!
Nein, soweit wäre ich nicht gegangen. Ich hätte die Decks schon alle im Originalzustand gelassen, so hätte ich die jetzt nach und nach alle reparieren können...
Ja, über sowas regt man sich im Nachhinein immer auf, ich rege mich vorallem darüber auf, dass ich ein High-End Sony Tapedeck der 90er von der Anlage meines Vaters nicht behalten habe, genauso wie den Tuner. Und die Preise sind ja auch ewig weit gestiegen in den letzten Jahren, generell bei altem HiFi.
I have a very similar Kenwood deck with the same problem on one deck. I haven't bothered to fix mine; it's a gummed up mechanism preventing the solenoid from operating correctly. On mine I've found that turning it on its side makes the deck work properly, and it'll then be fine for a while. Nice deck, definitely worth saving. I love the industrial styling on the old German-made decks. They're all worth saving, yes even the cheapo Sanyo :)
I didn't expect gummed up solenoids in a 90s cassette deck, but your explanation makes perfect sense. There is no solenoid click to try and engage the head bridge, so it can't be just a simple belt problem. Hopefully these solenoids are not buried too deep in the mechanism, I would like to repair this problem. If they are impossible to reach, it might be worth trying to get a drop of silicon oil or even WD40 into them, just to dissolve and dilute the gummed up grease a bit.
I have a Kenwood KX-W8010 I've owned for a few years now, for a dual cassette deck it has very clean sound and has been good to me and have yet to find a better deck to replace it with in the wild. Thank you for the video.
try the 90´s pioneers with flex and ble ,they work great record and play any cassette to their fullest quality, this avoiding those nakamichi spensive decks that are no better i´ve tested them and far worse than a high-end deck from pioneer and sold some to friends of mine who after a few years the only thing that makes them good it stops working wich is the azimuth automatic alignement ,that flex does a similar thing to the cassette played,this by 1/20 of the price , regards
Ahh I remember the days putting all my vinyl (even CDs) on cassettes for years. That Kenwood looks like a nice deck. I'm still a sucker for Technics stuff though and that RS-X101 don't look bad either. I still have my Technics RS-M250 and Technics RS-TR313. The TR-313 is still hooked up but hasn't seen use in years. Neither were top of the line but they both great decks. The TR-313 had Dolby HX-Pro and did really well with recording highs.
Ten days ago I picked up three faulty cassette decks for 30€ from, like you, a local ad. One was almost identical to that Nordmende, mine is a Thomson CD305 and unlike yours it has a powered mechanism that looks to made by Sanyo, same as one I also have. I also got a Uher CG310 which according to the service manual is the same as those two brown Telefunken units you have. Here I must warn you, the fast wind in it is a rack of gears driven off the capstan. The main one (which is also a clutch !) has a central metal shaft inserted into a white plastic tab. Guess what happened to that tab over time, as the metal heated/ expanded and later cooled /contracted...I repaired it, but I spent way too long and would not do it again. I have photos of that process if you are curious!
I still enjoy my load of cassettes TDK MA-R90 on my Nakamichi Dragon that I bought in 1986. Too bad it was so expensive so more could have enjoyed lending an ear or two to it. Then, AKAI cassette player were excellent, so were Pionner high end units. The cassettes are not dead in my home and I hope the Nakamichi last me many more years.
Great job Dr. C., that was a good bargain! I think I've got about 40 cassette decks! Best one, a TeacV900X, lovely machine but there's a fault recording, possibly due to head wear, possibly a fault in the DBX circuit. Playback's good, but when I engage 'dbx' the sound (monitor) goes all boomy and horrible, so could be a fault in that circuit. That Kenwood double looks lovely 😎
The Teac V900X seems like very good deck solid 3header, popular machine in it's time. Check if the guys from tapeheads forum have some asnwers to the problem. Nice find 👍
@@pliedtka Cheers for that. I did do a long video on the 'repair ' of it on my channel, ... all linked to the accutator that powers the door. I got there in the end, eventually, and for a while, even with the scoured heads, it recorded great, then later the bias/dbx xircuit, whatever it is, went, and bottom dropped out of sound when recording and playing back with the DBX button pushed in. I was going to sell it for parts, spare or repair, but dug it out to have a play with first, and it recorded well!! knocked spots off the competition in the tape deck challange, then the fault came back... so I don't think it can be head, internals, possibly caps, probably something I'm not ever going to fix, although I did find service manual pdf. Arrivederci!
In the late 80's I had a Technics double cassette deck. Played and recorded well, I used to record alot of music from cassette to cassette. I liked the double cassette feature.
Neat feature on that kenwood where both decks can record. If you could source 2 or 3 of them cheaply, it'd be neat for making small production runs for a homebrew cassette label!
I like the TC-400 & TC-490 for there simplistic but yet attractive looks....it would be challenging to say what gets tossed as someone who is very much into vintage electronics, I'd try to repair all, sell what ya dont want, Im sure someone will appreciate you saving them...however if you had to junk out, then maybe the one with the bad head...either way, Im sure all will make great videos! ~Jack, VEG
Your first cassette deck you showed off I used to have a marantz deck that looked like that one I got it for free in the 1990s all I needed was a belt had built in input and output rcas cables I still have my second cassette deck that I got brand new in 1993 and Onkyo ta-rw313 still works with the matching receiver and I still have my father's Onkyo cassette deck that he got 1985 ta-2017 he had matching amplifier to go with it along with a JVC turntable
@@DrCassette i had the same deck my self and it always acted weird if i did not press stop from fst forward or rewind before pressing play unless you say my deck was defective from day one :) anyway cant wait to see the repair video's
Number 1,the Nordmende deck was the star off the show for me. Looked beautiful,immaculate condition and analogue meters too. I would have paid 20 Euro for that deck just on its own without even blinking. Sounded very good as well. Also.I prefer single decks and am not a fan of auto reverse. Simplicity rules.
Same here, I prefer single decks without auto reverse. The head calibration always drifts on the flip-head auto reverse systems. There are playback-only autoreverse mechanisms that use a 4 track head that therefore never moves. Unfortunately such mechanisms were mostly only for Walkmans and other portable systems.
OK, I like them all because I am fan of the darn things. However, Kenwood made my keeper list too. I have 5 myself and two need new belts but if you need to toss out 8 of the 9 I'll gladly catch another.
starting from listening, another new world. Good luck with your channel, I hope you can do some product reviews as you have very good skills on videos.
Most technics early to mid 90s dual tape decks have the same problem, where the play deck doesn’t play, the record deck only works in reverse, and ff and rew works
I have since found out this is because of a soft plastic gear that normally transfers motion to the take-up reel. The teeth break off this gear. Fast forward and rewind are fast enough to skip over any damaged sections of the gear, but in forward playback it gets stuck at any missing tooth. This gear is inactive in reverse playback, that's why that still works.
I really liked the look of that silver technics (and silver decks in general :)) But Ithink you should check all of them when you have time. I think they are rather decent decks afterall. Kenwood probably the best one. Yamaha is the one that does not look very interesting but after you fix it will be nice deck(my friend has one). Telefunken decks looked interesting. Nordmende's power switch light was something!! JVC has a nice 80s retro a e s t h e t i c s after you clean it (Technics too;) . Can't wait to see repair videos. Keep up the good work!
I will certainly check all cassette decks and try to repair them. The Yamaha cassette deck has already been repaired, indeed it's a nice one. I still can't decide whether the JVC deck looks 80s retro, or just looks ugly :D
Hello I like you love cassette decks, Even though I nor a big fan of Duel Cassette deck I am a fan of Kenwood products. So keep the Kenwood deck and sell the rest.
The Kenwood has auto bias and some weird button combinations that make it FFWD past a song if you hit play again once a track starts, AMSS. Maybe that's what you did inadvertently. Try play, then punch rewind 3x and it may rewind 3 tracks and play. Had to read the instructions a few times to figure out that. quite a few button combos for memory stop, play, AMSS track skip, etc.
If you look at my past videos, I do repair cassette decks from time to time. It does get boring after a while though, so I like to have some variation in the topics of my videos.
As i watch your videoes with interest DC, I cannot help but notice the amount of decks that have a headphone socket with no volume control! Even my Nakamichi DR10 has no volume control!
On most equipment the headphone jack was really only there for the looks. Some headphone outputs I tried over the years I don't think ever got tested in the development process. The worked in theory, and that was good enough. Some headphone outputs are screaming loud, and yes, there is no volume control, other outputs are tinny or quiet, my most recent discovery was a headphone output on I believe a Sony CD player that has absurdly boomy bass. Really the only useable headphone outputs are found on amplifiers...
@@DrCassette On some decks of mine - the variable output is also linked to the volume of the headphone too, which is handy. This makes them useable. Many of my (nine?) decks including my latest ebay purchase, can be found at http;//cassettedeckman.blogspot.com
Habe öfter gelesen, dass in den Aufnahmeleitungen 470 kohm kommen.solche Kabel werden dann teuer verkauft. Damit können ältere Geräte mit DIN an neuere Verstärker betrieben werden
@@DrCassette www.adapterwelt.net/epages/61223614.mobile/de_AT/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61223614/Products/avkab4cidinmw&Locale=de_AT Hab bei Adapterwelt son Kabel gefunden wo die drin sind. Weiß aber nicht ober der Link hier funktioniert
Der Link funktioniert, wenn der Uploader den Kommentar manuell genehmigt. Sehr interessant, dann werde ich vielleicht mal versuchen, einen meiner vorhandenen Adapter entsprechend zu modifizieren.
I don't know if it makes sense to buy so many low-end non-working decks, or if it's better to buy one that's high-quality and working. After all, the house is not rubber.
I do quite enjoy repairing cassette decks. I bought all these decks for the fun of the repairs, and not so much to actually use them after the repairs are complete. I have some high end cassette decks, including an Akai GX-75, for regular use.
Enjoyed the video Dr. Cassette, some nice finds. I like the Nordmende CD1000 the best, I’m sucker for early 70s style VU meters and transport levers. I recently found myself a secondhand Yamaha K-60 Dual cassette deck for an affordable price. The deck is immaculate, and each tape well sounds fantastic for the first 5 minutes, but after that, they begin to screech an ear piercing high pitch and I have to shut the deck down. I opened the deck and replaced the belts, then lightly oiled the capstans and motors, and let it soak a bit. This did not do the trick. I’m at a lose here, any suggestions or advice???
@@MaxRetroRecup I've seen that. Usually a cleaning an a drop of oil takes care of that. I'd take that any day over gooey belts just because of the mess alone!
You should definetly try to fix the Telefunken tc450, it got some really decent features and was in the midrange with its former price. A little sibling model, same brand tc400 is worth to be saved too. The basic built quality should be comparable. The third one should be the double cassette player and recorder from Kenwood, the KX6020. It got a huge amount of really tricky features and was once midrange priced as well. Additionally I would try to fix the Nordmende CD1000. It is an entry level model only, but it is beautifully and clear designed as I think. Last but not least the Sanyo RD2503 would be worth to be saved, because of its unique reliable motor and tooth gear, which was build in several 10000 decks back then, so once fixed it should last a lot of further years to come. To sum up, you picked an interesting collection of tape deck models.👍🤗
Since I made this video, I have repaired the Telefunken decks, the Kenwood double deck and the Nordmende deck. The Sanyo didn't make it though, it became a parts donor for the Nordmende, a Dolby IC in the Nordmende had failed and the Sanyo happened to have some compatible ones.
Damn I want to learn how to repair these, found a cool dual cassette player, and both sides won't spin or play ! Lol I'ma open it up since it was only a few bux
The first thing to check after opening the cassette deck are the rubber drive belts in the mechanisms. Bad belts are a very common problem, and usually it's a relatively simple repair.
What a refreshing interesting video. Thank you. I will check out your other videos maybe I can find one that can help me with my Technics rs ch 950/550 belt changes and other issues. Thank you
The Kenwood appears to be of late production and probably it was their better one, as it has Record on both decks. As for no highs, either the azimuth is way off, or the playback EQ is rolling the highs or hmm, crappy heads. Technics failed to play ☹️, JVC dual well it's what it is - most likely worn out motors. Finally, Telefunken - I expected both of them to work, but only one fired up. I would repair Telefunkens first, they're in my opinion the best from the bunch with good transports and heads, but no Dolby as they are Hi-com decks - to bad. The mini tower Technics at least looks cool, being most likely early 80's design. Maybe the Yamaha single deck will eventually fire up after new belts and repair. They will keep you quite busy for good while - best of luck 👍 From the dual decks I have from 90's: Technics sounds best on playback, Sony with Dolby S, circa 1995, after belts replacement - the playback side is, well, they should put better head from the start and allow for some EQ compensation, but is noisy in the first place. Maybe I transplant the head from the dead JVC. Record side is quite decent but not as good as the Technics at recording or playback, which to me is a surprise since it has Dolby S. W&F and speed stability are so-so on both of the machines. JVC from 90's is kaput and only good for parts. I'm looking for decent Direct Drive deck as they have best speed stability.
So far I haven't come across many cassette decks with azimuth problems, but it's very well possible that's the problem with the silver Technics deck. The Telefunken are nice, solid decks, but only having a DIN connector makes them cumbersome to use as I don't have any DIN equipment at my bench... The Yamaha cassette deck has already been repaired, video next sunday :)
The silver technics might actually just need the azimuth to be adjusted, as i have a JVC double deck with the same mechanism, and the azimuth on both of its decks was WAY off.
well hello there i got some kassettes (cassettes) already recorded on my pyle cassette deck but it does not have Dolby noise reduction option I had without it just incase which the Dolby noise is not intended for recording but playback.
I agree, I have two kenwoods, one is a kxw4080, similar but not as featured as this one, both have done a mountain of work and both are fantastic sounding decks especially for the price. From my personal experience, I think kenwood is definitely best of the mid range or 'ordinary' brands.
Sup Doc? Nice to see you man! I like the Kenwood deck because of it's ability to record on both decks. 2nd in Command is the Technics with the soft touch controls, as the likelihood of the mechanism going bad is lowered because of the soft touch controls, and Technics from back in the day were built like a tank. Kinda sucks that the heads were worn out though... For me, the Sanyo is the least favorite. Not a favorite brand of mine due to past terrible experiences, and while you may think that the power button is cool, I find it absolutely hideous, but to each his own... As always, great video, and it's been quite a while! Hope all is well with you though in the midst of this Covid-19 madness and all.
normende in the 70´s had a line of tv´s and other hi-fi devices with a modern and style design,and the deck it´s from the series i had a complete stereo sistem even had a bigh white tv with a crystal power button that when turned of you could take it maybe for the children didn´t spent the afternoon watching tv instead of doing homework and the only thing you could see was some four groups of leds like in the decks of cassettes with the indicator for colour brightness contrast and volume also had a remote control with timer but it worked with radio frequencies that one day i had a portable radio near and when changing chanel the radio made a noise the contacts or keys were like two litle aluminium stripes that when you put the finger there it made contact between the two litle stripes ,also had wireless headphones that after you put it in you´re hears a litle bar was beneath that stayed resting up in your chest ,this was wireless to and with volume knob with a big eye like now are the remotes that made the conection with the tv, it even had a base to put the tv all crystal and with one foot with a large round base to make it a design piece this in the 70´s wireless headphones and remote control with timer also wireless but with radio frequencies, at least i think, it made noises when pointing to a portable radio speaker in fm ,very far ahead from when appeared the first tv´s with remote or wireless headphones and the stereo equipment was also kind of good looking like it says on the deck philarmonic_hifi_system, it was all bought from a yong german guy that lived in a big german neighboorhood inside the city where i live in south of Portugal because they had a nato airforce field 4km´s from the city, regards
I have a Sony dual cassette deck from 1990. The belts are fine for both sides and the playback side is fine but the record side won't play fast forward record etc just makes a loud buzzing sound. Any help would be appreciated Motor maybe?
I picked up a 1970's sony TC137SD that does the same thing as your first deck. When you turn it on, the right VU meter overloads. How do you fix it ? DeoxIT D5 contact cleaner ?
The record/play switch on the main board needs to be cleaned. I don't use DeoxIT products, so all I can say is use a good contact cleaner designed for use in electronics. I usually use Kontakt Chemie Tuner 600.
@@DrCassette Fantastic !! I have a Yamaha KX-500, which I've owned from new since 1988. The sound quality of the recordings are not 100% but playback of pre-recorded cassettes seem fine, so just attention needed there.
Деки разноплановые. Покопаться в них придется- где-то поменьше, где-то по полной программе. Для полного ощущения не хватило конечно AKAI. Но обзор был интересен. Спасибо.
Great videos Doctor. Do you have a video showing belt change on Sanyo RD30 please? Just got one and they need changing and auto stop doesnt work. Help!!! Thank you
8 minutes in and already noticing that the old german decks still work while the japanese don't 😂 That Telefunken HiCom unit is a beauty 😊 and the Kenwood KX-W8020 was the top of the line dual deck in their 1991 lineup. It even has an automatic bias calibration for different cassette types if memory serves. But the good recording deck is only the B deck. The A deck doesn't have HX Pro or AutoBias.
Don't get too excited about the "German" cassette decks. The Nordmende deck was made in Asia, most likely Japan, after Nordmende had already been taken over by Thomson, and the Telefunken decks were assembled in Germany, from parts mostly made in Japan. Each module has a sticker on it to tell the German factory workers where it's supposed to go. The Kenwood KX-W8020 will record on both sides, but indeed only the B deck has HX Pro and Auto Bias, while only the A deck has an index scan function for playback. So you would normally only use the A deck for recording when you wanted to relay record a very long program to two cassettes.
Sven Schwingel Lol, you don’t seem biased at all. Nope, I said TILL minute 9...The defective Telefunken. And btw, what’s the point of your comment anyway? There are only two „German“ decks out of eight. 🤷♂️
I think the german din standard is too sensitive for line level and may need an attenuator. A stereo volume control pot is handy for stuff like that :-D
Correct, DIN inputs are a lot more sensitive than line level inputs. Also, the input impedance is different. Indeed I should make up some sort of adapter box to avoid annoying problems with the passive RCA to DIN adapters in the future...
since from the music i noticed you speak german so i formulate the question in that :D .... denkst du man kann so ein ding benutzen um guten pc sound zu bekommen? LG
