7 steps to repair ANY cassette deck player vintage hifi audio electronics cassette deck repair

This video detailed instructions on how to repair 98% of all problems with vintage cassette decks. While there are many different manufacturers Pioneer Yamaha TEAC Tacam Sony Marantz Nakamichi and models, the tips I'll share can be applied to any vintage cassette deck, Walkman, or shoebox player.

tools and software used, the below are affiliate links to amazon and ebay where i get a few % if you order through these links with no extra cost to you

belt sources :

Europe

USA

UK

my name is Rene, from 1985 to 1999 I used to repair in and out of warranty cassette decks and walkmans for Kenwood, Yamaha , Pioneer, Sanyo and other brands and with the current increasing interest in analog audio, and cassette decks in particular, I started this channel to share tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years.

I will mostly do 'end-to-end' video's about repairing, servicing and adjusting the deck from beginning to end with a lot of talking , showing , tips etc and very little editing.

00:00 intro
00:30 Deck doesnt run
01:31 High variation in speed
04:56 loss of high frequencies
05:50 eating tapes
06:49 deck stops after few seconds
07:51 only plays or records on one channel
09:25 doesnt wind tapes or eats tapes
11:36 recap

#vintagehifi #cassettetape #VintageAudio

[attn]

Worth every second to watch. Appreciate your time

[beotheguitarist]

Thanks for this video. I learned so much!

[thomasburns]

I recently found a Sony TC-W250 in the trash. Both belts in both drives have turned into goo. It looks like a lower end deck, and it was free, so it would be a good candidate as a first cassette deck repair.

[Veedthetg]

I just acquired an old Panasonic portable recorder that is not playing and the head has that same brown dirt as you show at 5:40. Some of it came off with a quick rubbing. I guess I'll have to keep working it. I also believe that your cautioning of sketchy places to buy belts should be taken seriously. You pack a lot of useful information in your videos and it was smart to make this one brief. In general I avoid a lot of videos that I might be interested when they require an extended time commitment. I hope this one attracts new subscribers for your channel.

[peteschreiber]

Great to see another who loves cassette tapes. What do you think about the Pioneer dual decks?

[jeffcline]

Always like your shows. Thank you for taking your time to make these videos.

[foxyrbbit]

thanks for this video! linked it on my site :)

[universalhead]

Yeah the belt situation is a problem. It’s great they are being reproduced but a lot are out of the spec that is required.
If you need to replace belts on a 30 dollar deck That is a good deck the so called specialty belts are 30 and 40 US dollars. That’s not worth it because it still will be tight so the Amazon belt kits are the answer. With the 50 piece belt kit for 10 bucks You may find a few belts that are good enough for wow and flutter and still sounds good.
I found that you will find the right size belt in the amazon belt kit assortment, and it all seems good until you measure wow and flutter.
The problem is the belts are too thick making it to tight.
The belts I measured were 0.04in to thick. It makes the difference of being in spec or way out in space. One belt I couldn’t figure out what was wrong until I noticed a small very hard to see rubber bump imperfection. It caused it to be terrible.
So for comparison- a factory belt measured 0.24in thick.
Amazon belt measure 0.28-0.29in thick .
Quality control for the belts must be a lost art.
Belts have to perfectly smooth and uniform thickness and width.
The top end decks need this to hold amazing specifications.

[jaapgraanstra]

Just curious; mechanical and electronic components can be replaced, but what about the heads ? A long long time ago I had a relative cheap Philips open real deck with so called 'long life' heads which wear out over time, not so 'hard' as more expensive FSX heads. Are replacement heads still available somewhere ? Or do you rely on donor decks ?

[foxyrbbit]

hi i have a couple autoreverse decks that for some reason sometimes when you press play forward after inserting a new tape, it tries and fails, then starts playing reverse (autostop). but then forward will work fine again after this

[HighPoint_Aud_Elec]

Hi Rene, what type of oil do you use when lubing the motor bearings?

[AnthonyPenizotto]

Do you think this applies to a duplication system? I've been digging into a kaba duplicator and am struggling a bit

[paolocasoli]

Grazie per le tue spiegazioni, mi puoi indicare quale è il fornitore di cinghie e ricambi per cassette deck, ti scrivo dall’Italia, grazie ancora

[KekmanForTheRestOfTheWorld]

what would you consider a good source for belts in europe? i really need some :)