Dipping a toe into the world of Hi-Fi

[Dartz]

The tape - it's moving. It's alive. It's alive, IT'S ALIVE.

In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to BE God.

Ahem.

Anyway. I've been off work for a bit and - expecting the weather not to be cooperative towards doing anything outside, picked up a cassette deck to tinker with and 'restore'. It was in mostly running condition when I finally tracked down where the postman had hidden it. Except that, five minutes into playing it started to go berserk, slowing down, speeding up to normal speed, or locking itself in a strange semi-fast forward mode that prevented the front door from opening.

Cracked it open to see what it was like inside, to find that the little belt that drove the tape-counter had been converted into an odious tar-like substance, and it'd been chewed up inside the drive gears.

It's a Yamaha - which means the insides are somewhat pretty, despite very few people ever getting to see them. The white PCB's are unique, and everything is tidily laid out, with the Trafo far away from anything.


The offending belt. Any pressure on it and it dissolves into an infuriating tar-like substance.




Cassette transport - with remnants of the belt still smeared across the drive gears. It actually took two attempts to clean it - using 85% volume absinthe as a solvent since nothing else would do it. More black tar hid under the white yoke in the centre of the mechanism and that was impossible to get out without complete dissaembly


Someone in Yamaha clearly considered servicing. The entire transport pops right out once unscrewed with no additional dismantling. Behind are all the earbuds needed just to clean the centre gears. This was the second time I dismantled it.


And, proof of life.


As it is, I've been plugging into the telly to test it and it sounds fine. Still a little bit of 'wow' but it seems to be dependant on the individual cassette rather than the deck. Some tapes slip on the capstan and leave behind a residue of oxide for reasons I don't fully understand.

And blinkenlights are always fun.

I'm guessing both main belts will need to be replaced in the near future. Not a big job, but annoying.