The 40 Pound Cassette Deck (with reel-to-reel compatibility) | Vintage Hifi Revival 

Way back in the '60s, when I was a computer operator (IBM 360) we cleaned the heads - often - of the tape decks, no gloves. We got strange, white fingers - very little health and safety back then, and the fluid had a peculiar smell too. Mind you, it did remove the ink from our fingers which we got from the 1403 impact printer ribbons.

I think you will find that the motor is fixed speed. The switch is only for equalisation. Open reel tapes use a different equalisation for 7 1/2 verse 3 3/4 These Akai's had a physical adaptor that screwed over the capstan of the open reel part to adjust the speed . The speed of a compact cassette is 1.875 inches per second. That's how this system can work. The motor is fixed speed. The speed is adjusted by adding or removing the adaptor on the capstan and then the equalisation is set by the switch. The poor quality of the cassette sounds more like the heads need a good clean or are worn. You may also find the unit could need recapping and possibly other components have drifted, contributing to the poor quality. When new these units actually had quite good sound quality and quite high quality recording ability.

Great job on that Akai. I grew up with these. Robust, and made to last unlike the crap we get today. Real metal, serviceable. These are meant to be kept and enjoyed. Saburo Akai would be proud of you. Akai had a wonderful reputation in cassettes and reel to reel. The GX heads were meant to last forever. Even had one that had 8 track and Cassette and Reel to Reel. But the heavyweights the GX747 and so on are the crem a la crem of Akai reel to reels most know. Though the Pro 1000 reel to reel is to die for.

in the seventies AKAI came up with a feature they called 'glass-ferrite' heads. These are tapeheads that are covered with a thin layer of hardened glass where the tape is sliding on. They claimed that the magnetic field is focused to the distance defined by the glass coating. These tapeheads are really not wearing out. (due to this they disappeared silently from the market - you can't sell a product that is not dyin at all) These machines often only suffer from oiling issues and dust on resistor surfaces. Japanese reel to reel tapemachines were also called 'oiltankers' because their manufacturers often used industrial grade mineral lubricant that produced a typical mineral oil smell and hardened out over the years. These AKAI's are reliable like tanks.

Wow, that was nice to watch. I bought mine in Japan around 1976 when i was still working as a merchant marine. I have both the GX1900 and the GX1900D. I had them cleaned a few yrs ago and still run like i just bought them. I also have the Akai GX630DB reel to reel recorder (without casette recorder) which i use the most, less mechanics inside.

I've never seen a reel to reel with a cassette player, but I used to have a reel to reel with an 8-track player built in.

The stuff on your reel to reel tape heads and tape path are a result of Sticky-shed syndrome from someone running a deteriorated tape thru the machine. What many don't know is if the unit is not cleaned after running a bad tape thru it, the bad tape can destroy every tape that is used after as it transfers the deteriorated oxides to the next tape used and so on...

This was entirely enjoyable for me. I’ve had several reel to reel units back in the 70’s-90’s. Brings back a lot of memories.

Excellent job! I have actually seen this model before here on RU-vid, but I haven’t found too much info about this machine myself, so yes, it really is a rare one indeed… glad you were able to get it working again!!!

Nice job. I've lost count of the number of 'dead' akai machines I see advertised by sellers who clearly don't even try lifting the shutoff lever. I think it's obviously a generations thing. I grew up with these kind of recorders so it's difficult for me to grasp how someone can't understand how to use it. But what's common knowledge to me is alien to most people 30 years my junior, and no doubt vice versa.

Good job, you approached the problem better than many other professional mechanics. All my audio equipment (AKAI/Pioneer) is from the early 80's, great, some quality, almost no problems after all these years. As for the residual foam behind the Vu meter, the meters are held in place to absorb shocks from transport. This also makes the meters last longer.

Beyond Mechanical..............Was a good watch, close-up details is what sets this apart from others..

I used to have an akai X-1800-SD, it was a reel to reel recorded with a built in 8 track recorder on the side. What was interesting was the fact that the 8 track player’s capstan was the same as the reel to reel’s, so when the speed of the reel to reel was changed it also changed the speed of the 8 track as well.

I had a similar model but instead of the cassette it had an 8 track player/recorder on the right side and 2 speakers. Great video !

I had an akai reel to reel with glass heads back in the 70's. More than a piece of electronics it was also a beautiful piece of machinery. A girlfriend took it.

Instead of paper as cushion i like to use the fuzzy side of some velcro. Also for those corners, maybe some small road case corner protectors? Not original but would definitely give it a more industrial look.

As far back as the middle 60's I have always had a reel-to-reel recorder of various types. Compared to the Chinesium JUNK being sold up until recently, these old reel-to-reels were built like a tank! They were very solid and built to last. Even today I still have two identical TEAC reel-to-reel recorders in my system. The only thing I have had to do to either of them was to replace the drive belts. While I prefer TEAC's, AKAI's were really good. The Roberts recorders often seen are just rebadged versions of AKAI's. There are still a lot of pre-recorded tapes on the market today. The biggest thing to look for are the ones that have been redubbed from originals due to tape age or damage. If the equipment operator was really good at it, copies are not all that bad but often I've found redubbed tapes that had so much noise that they could be irritating. The only reason I would redub a tape would be damage on the original such as substrate deterioration or edge rippling caused by badly aligned equipment or having been exposed to heat. In cases like that you really have no choice if you want to preserve the sound. The drawback to tape now is the same thing that has hit the CD/DVD market, lack of blank recording medium. With the outrageous explosion of streaming audio/video the manufacturing market is fast disappearing.

I have an Akai X-355D which is older than yours, I was told it was their first solid state deck. It's a 3 motor deck with solenoid controls, a built in power amp with 2 speakers (the speakers are just speakers but the amp puts out really clean sound). It weighs 80 pounds and came with an optional wired remote control. It also had a new Akai innovation - crossfield heads! This boosted the upper frequency response to beyond 20,000 hz. I had a later Teac deck but the Akai had better sound. Once smaller gap heads were developed Akai abandoned crossfield heads but licensed it to Tandberg who continued to at least the early 80s with it. This deck also has track to track dubbing and a bunch of other special effects I never use. It does it by lowering or raising the recording head and playback heads relative to each other. There was also an available 15 inch reel kit but I don't have it.

That's a cool machine and you did great at repairing it.

You've gotta live in the Tampa Bay area: I saw one for sale recently and dithered as I have a room of broken equipment. Naturally, I regret dithering!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels! I would love to see more reel to reel and 8-Track repair videos.

🤨 As for your assumption of the motor fan drawing the air in ~ it should be blowing it out as that is where the heat collects = the motor being in the top of the unit

I had the 8-track version of that player. It also had the built-in speakers. The speakers were covered by these hinged metal doors/flaps that you swing out when using the speakers. Those variable resistors can usually be cleaned up by just rotating the control full sweep several times to clear off the crud off the wiper contact, or worse case a shot of Deoxit.

Akai made one with an 8-track in the side (best-sounding 8-track player I've ever heard, and that's saying something since I work on this gear for a living), and I think there was a version with all three formats - RTR, 8-track, and cassette.

AKAI & TEAC were the favorites of military guys in the 1970's. I was tempted by the AKAI but bought a TEAC 2300SX in 1977 (in US Navy) at the NATO AFSOUTH audio center in Naples, Italy. It was much smoother overall than the AKAI, and gave me well over 40 years of reliable service 'til I downloaded all the old tapes to iPod. Us old farts have to upgrade eventually ! :)

This is a mostly great repair video. A few points though... 1 - JIS stands for Japanese Industrial Standards. So, if it's Japanese and made any time in the late 50's onwards, it has JIS screws, even if there is no dot. And, even if someone has already been in there with a pozi or a crosshead driver and chewed them up a bit, a JIS driver will still mostly fit and work. Buy a set for 10 bucks and use them. 2 - Sewing machine oil is a good shout. Far too much of it though, and when you use too much oil, it will eventually make it's way onto things that do not need oil! Use a cocktail stick as a dropper to apply a tenth of the oil sprayed on some parts here. Also, the grey stuff on the mechanism plates? Clean that off with IPA and use a very small thin film of Molybdenum grease because the original stuff will have dried out and will cause sticking. As for the beige (once white) goo on the spindles, a light lithium gear grease is good. Just don't use too much. 3 - You stripped and rebuilt the whole cassette mechanism but didn't replace the pinch roller? Ytho? 4 - Obvious trolling (34:44) with Sony reels on an Akai!😁

New belts,cleaning and some TLC will get it going like new.

Wish I stillhad my 3in one Akai ,reel ,8 track ,cassette, brought it back from Vietnam 1970

That horrible noise might be due to bad capacitors! Akai never made a product that presented it self like this at that time! It is really amazing what they did back in the day, speaking of over engineering 👏. Recap this machine and you will be in for a treat! Than and only than you will experience how Akai ment it to be! Good luck!

My first tape recorder was a Grundig with half big reels. Only later when working in a studio we only used Revox. B77 and most of them A700. I still have a A700.

These machines are so much fun. A few weeks ago my boss gave me an Akai 4000DS, which I've already been using for recording drums, and a Pioneer RT1011L that I haven't even plugged in yet. It has a bent spindle and I'm harnessing some chi before I dive in. Glad neither have the cassette or 8track as I'd feel the need to use those features lol Lovely video!

wow! what a deal! i had a radio shak reel-to-reel back then and i paid $50 used. i did sound on sound recordings. i also taped music shows off my stereo.

I admire your patience

Dude I'm in love... so the hunt is on, eh? Solid score broski!

Very beautiful find love it

It is probably foam rubber that has been behind the level gauges. probably so that they don't hit the plate and thereby create noise. Keep in mind that it was probably a premium product

To service this unit you have to order two separate belt kits. The reel to reel kit is the same as the standard model and the belt kit to the cassette is the same as the separate cassette deck they sell. I do not remember the model numbers anymore that you need to order as I haven't seen one in for service in many years. They also made a model with an 8-frack recorder in the right side of the deck. The model you have is from the seventies and may have had the belts replaced by now.

I love your videos. I have an Akai GX365 that I've long been very pleased with., I'd love to get a deck that caters for 15 ips and 10 1/2" reels but they're pretty expensive now.

Use acetone to melt the threadlocker. Also buy yourself a JIS screwdriver, you will thank me later.

Duuude! What a fantastic find! Great job with the cleaning and lubrication. Those hissy tapes at low speed would be great for some effects loops lol. Great reel to reel machine for 20 bucks man 😍

Nice job on that Akai deck! FYI-Akai also had a deck that combined reel, cassette AND eight track in one unit-the X2000SD.

Love this...I own many reel-to-reel tape players, I also have this make.

Just picked up a refurbished Akai 1800-SS, that plays and records Quad reel to reels and Quad 8 tracks! A lot of the same features and knobs as this one!

They made one with 8track player also. Never seen one with a cassette deck 👍🏻

As I'm sure other people have said it will be bad capacitors and possibly the record play switch needs a good clean. Great video x

Have one of these at work. Remember moving it around multiple times. HEAVIER than it looks 😂😂

Those were the good old days, open reel from Akai. I used to have one too in the 70’s, nostalgic. Just leave it the way you find it for display, don’t bother getting it going again.

This is part of a series of Akai that included 8-track recording as well. The units could do input signal recordings on the majority of the upper line units. Very popular with servicemen since all three tape formats were available. A majority of the problem with that particular unit may be in the capacitors in the amps.

learned a lot, thankz hifi jam...🙂

Good job 👍

Tape tensioner needs setting .You also need a proper screwdriver.Good job done.

Gotta love a GOOD degausser tho. Need em to clear the metallic head on most cassette, 8 track, and reel to reel players to reduce static crackle and muted tones or volume....

Congratulations ! I watch all the videos you post with great interest. If you allow me a piece of advice,the heads of the reel tape recorder and cassette tape recorder,must be demagnetized with a demagnetizer. After this operation,the clarity of playback and recording is excellent.

Машина зверь! Автор правильный чувак.👍 Впервые вижу такое тщателное восстановление древних механизмов.. Обычно восстановление таких сложных ЛПМ заканчивается лёгкой халтурой..

those aren’t phillips screws, the reason they are worn out is cos someone used phillips screwdrivers on them, they are JIS screws lole

The whole concept on this casetteplayer, tapeplayer is awsome. With speakers it must have bean perfekt.

I had one like that only it had an 8-track player as well. All three!

Keep in mind this machine was built at a time where cassette technology was just starting and sounded awful with music. Chrome, and metal tapes with Dolby did not come about till the late 70's early 80's when it was possible to rival CD's with right equipment. That slow moving cassette tape is not going to match the sound quality of the faster reel to reel in this time frame.

Akai is absolutely excellent.

Good job you made there. Seems that the heads need demagnetizing though to lower or fully cut the hiss

It was funny to see this because I just refurbished a similar unit only difference was the one I did had 8 track on the side and built in speakers along with cassette I believe your right has to be rare akia wasn’t to popular when they went to glass heads on the reel to reel certain tapes would squill when played but the higher end ones I have are excellent no complaints anyway just thought I’d chime in on that enjoyed the video

I have akai x2000sd cassette cartridge&reel. 4 track reel casset and 8 track with speakers pretty cool ill have to do the same rehab

You want to move reel to reel tape decks on a regular basis in a radio station...good fun.

I had seen the reel-to-reel with a 8-track, but never with a cassette player by Akai.

I would've assumed the cassette mechanism had its own motor. I'm surprised they went the more complicated route with more belts and pulleys! Interesting!!!

wow, 20 bucks, great steal

Owner is very touchy-feely as if oh it feels so nice.

I'm thinking the cassette deck can record and play back at 3.75 ips and not 7.5. It sounds exactly an octave lower on the Sony cassette deck. A cassette is 1.875 ips normally but some decks gave you the option of a higher speed for better quality but sacrificing time and would only be good on decks with that extra speed. That being said, I'm thinking the cassette deck may have needed demagnetized, the bias was incorrect, or both. If it was made in the 1970s, the older stereo decks didn't have that great of a frequency response like they were able to achieve in the '80s and '90s with the HX Pro feature on some decks. Mechanically, it looked like it was very well made, it just needed cleaned up and you did an incredible job on the whole thing. Very cool!!!

i just found one in a electronics recycle dumpster a gx1800sd it records 8 track tapes to in great condition same easy fix issues ...

Excelente !!

Nice!

wait til you see the one that had the 8 track built into the side- yep they built it. The reel to reel was the centerpiece though.

Like it. I had a GX 3 head Cassette deck once that was modelled like a reel to reel but was just cassette. Almost as tall and heavy. Speed control, motorised panel to open close for more buttons. Only dolby B. and I think it only did normal and chrome tapes. I modded it myself to be able to change the bias on the fly whilst playing whilst recording (3 heads...) . I believe your example here would only do "normal" FE tapes?

AWESOME

How did you get it that cheap😮. I got an M-10 for $140 😤 in India. I managed to get it barely running. Still tons of work left. Anyways, you've done a fantastic job with that restoration. It needs a lot of patience. Keep up the good work 👍👍

Wonderful' machine it's incredible thing...very fine👍 courageous work👍 the belt with rubber can be used , and turn too slack after...it's not easy ...

realy good job realy nice machine

The Techmoan grade quirky unit, indeed.

What a beast! I wondering if you could give some advice on a reel to reel issue I'm having? My machine doesn't stop the tape after fast forward or rewind is stopped so the tape kinda just spews everywhere. I'm not really sure whats at fault.

cheap cassettes had a lousy tape running at 1 7/8 ips as opposed to reel to reel which would record at 7 1/2 ips. they were only good for voice back then. the signal to noise ratio was bad.

Almost all the screws seem to be posidrive rather than phillips. Phillips screwdrivers make a mess of pz screws. I think they are much more common outside the US. Interesting video it's such a shame this sort of mechanical engineering is dying out.

Great video, but you did have the record levels for the transfer way too low, the peaks should be set to just flick into Red zone, for optimum recordings

I thinks something has gone bad over time, maybe the head. No way this was so bad back then.

I believe those are JIS head screws, not Phillips. A Phillips driver will kinda fit but the JIS drivers fit perfectly, no slipping.

That is really interesting that the cassette deck speed is tied to the reel-to-reel speed. Your only option for any dubbing would be 3 3/4 IPS on the reel-to-reel, in either direction. I wonder if the reason your test cassette was especially hissy was because the cassette deck isn't calibrated to play or record tapes at high speed. It would be interesting to know if you get better results with a 3 3/4 IPS source (and therefore recording at the proper 1 7/8 IPS cassette speed).

hi the 1800ss is a better decks when tape speed is over 3 3/4 you can't tell i got hold of some 1/8 tape reel to reel slave decks someone died and left alot of tape dubbing gear so i know alot now how cassette's are done

The last time those heads were cleaned was at the factory.

Akai I stereo open reel recorder just build like this build like a tank 1721L it had its own speaker in the case. I saw something like the one on here with a built 8 track player

I have a couple of these. I've never tried to turn them on, but they probably work. Nice rework! Did you find a service manual?

i had a akia x2000 sd it was a reel to reel cassette and 8 track

Sounds like it needs a good cleaning but I'd take a risk if I saw one at that price. A set of belts could also help on both the cassette and r2r side.

This video puts Techmoan to shame 😂😂😂

Отлично парень! Это круто! 👍👍👍

Polishing the tape heads with toothpaste may help getting rid of some of that corrosion. Just clean off the toothpaste with alcohol afterwards.

Молодец! Хороший магнитофон!

the 180 sd was reel to reel and 8 track-with 8 track recording.

Guess someone didn't look on ebay.all kinds of belt kits.

Be careful with all that oil, one little drop on a rubber part and it wont grip ever again. have ruined many capstan wheels by excessively oiling them. That's one of the reasons why using grease is better in cases like this because thin oil can fling out in operation. and the other would be that oil isn't made for a lot of load, for example the piano key mechanism would need grease, having only oil on the surfaces will scuff them up after some time

28:00 looks like sticky shed too, old worn out tape binder

Simgle motor runs both formats . check the transistors as these are usually corrupt in these old Akai units .