About 30 years ago I repaired my Toshiba cassette deck, the play button snapped. Its a great feeling to fix things. Let's hope cassettes make a comeback like vinyl.
A well made piece of equipment. I love it when things are say to take apart. These plastic spindles that cack is a common fault to many makes of machines. I have seen them before in everything from DDD walkman to a top end Technics deck
Very nice machine and easy to work on. On my Nak I replaced the main pot from the cheap Alps for Noble and Panasonic for balance - lower noise, everything became cleaner, not a shabby difference. Not too many decks had 400, 10(12)kHz generator for level, bias adj - this machine was probably HKs top of the line. In one of the videos you said that you don't like dual capstan machines, yet you like this one or your comment is regarding R2R decks. Rubber Renue - this thing is very useful, pinch rollers cleaner, etc, that has to do with rubber cleaning including rubber loudspeakers surround.
I owned this great machine in the `80`s. Amazing machine it was. I paid for this machine in the Netherlands 2,500 dutch florins for it (about € 1135 back then). That was a lot of money way back. I guess when you would count it to today it would be about € 4000 maybe? I really miss this. The cassettes that i used that time were mostly Maxell XLS2 and later That`s (Metal). They were the only two ones that i used on this machine and they performed the best results also!
I have a aiwa vintage 3600ad stereo 3 head dual Capstan tape deck,,,and it was a challenge in replacing the belt,,,and then the Motor decides to die with speed troubles,,,and it was fun replacing that,,,not easy without major disassembly. Have finally got it all working well now,,,and yes I remembered adjusting the bias trim on it too during recording,,,it made a difference with the sound loud and clear too.
Hello just wondered whats the best way to clean the copper micro switches (front top right) as my Nakamichi cassette deck 2 has the same which when dirty /oxidised can cause playback issues, just not sure how careful you have to be with them
That thing is meant to be serviced. Love it. removable bottom cover, Attention to detail on the Aesthetics such as thumbscrews for holding the lexan on the cassette door. Nice.
Great video! I Have one coming in today - bought for an insanely low price. The LED meter display is out. I downloaded schematics but haven't been able to find the section for the LEDs. What should I be looking for?
@greg The schematics should have the different areas in sections .... In a certain way etc .... Which schematics you have ???? The service manual ?? Edit.... The displays on some units are actually a small vac tube... Just look for a section with that......
@11:04 You mentioned a good point .... A lot of people click from FFW to Rewind without pressing the STOP button in between .... That is hard on the small plastic parts also.... I always hit the stop button first, I always thought it put stress on the tape itself too, but that's my way of thinking when I owned a Alpine or Kenwood tape deck.....
That should not be an issue as this is logic controlled so it will go through the stop cycle before changing anyway but on mechanical decks you are correct.
I've got a CD-401, similar but looks like a different mechanism. The tape mech is stuck in the up position, power it on and it's spinning like there's a tape inside yet I can't even put a tape in it. Suggestions? Belts look ok.
Thanks for the video, as it help me identified the problem I was having with my deck. I replaced pulley and tire. now when I do a rewind, the deck will automatic go into play mode? is there an adjustment I need to make? thanks!
I wish I could find a reputable repairman like You near Detroit..that know his business..I like your videos on reel to reel restoration..try to do one of my 7 akai decks and totally junked it..ha ha...
Unfortunately the repair business is no longer profitable. That's the primary reason I left in 2003, back when it still was profitable but I saw the writing on the wall a mile away. That and the fact I worked for a miserable man that made everyone around him miserable. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Next to meeting my wife and the birth of my 2 kids was getting out of that hell hole which it had become.
@@12voltvids the repair business can be profitable if your name is e.g. Willy Hermann and you almost exclusively work on Nakamichi high end tape decks whose owners are usually willing to pay up to a thousand dollars for an overhaul. But when it comes to standard HiFi gear and electronics from the golden days, people are usually quick to throw stuff away instead of having it repaired. Unless it's a legendary item like an Accuphase integrated amp or the top of the line Sony ES components. I just serviced a TC-K909ES deck which I got off ebay. And oh boy, that thing sounds amazing with half decent tape inside.
I love they layout the logic controls as a mimic of a mechanical deck, opposite to the cheapo ones trying to simulate logic control or soft touch operation on standard mechanical decks.
Yeah that sounds about right motors himself are getting very difficult to get for all cassette decks the guy that owns this 491 that you just watch the video on it has it for sale and thinks he's going to get huge dollars for it. I got news to anybody thinking of buying it it's but almost 40 years old with 40-year-old motors that are not available reality check time it's not worth anything especially not what some people think these old tape decks are worth.
Yes but I don't have any and rosin flux gets real sticky. It is made from tree sap, and you know how sticky that stuff is when you try to get it off your car. Brutal.
That one is only for un identified callers. Normally I would reject those calls but I have a friend that blocks his cell number so if I blocked un identified callers he could never call me and I enjoy the conversation because it is usually about another mutual friend that is a little nuts and has made some off the wall comment that we have to have a good laugh about. Guy we both went to school with that comes unglued about certain things and makes posts that neither one of us would touch with a 10 foot pole in a public forum.
It's normal! I can't complain though, my wife uses my vintage system's around the house to play her music. Today she came down to my "cave" when I was adjusting a NAD 6050C after repair, and asked if i could hook it up to my 90's NAD setup upstairs so she can play tapes there.
Many, many, many thanks for the video. I fell in love with my CD491 once again. The Sankyo hardware is used by many high-end tape decks but unfortunately its idle mechanism really sucks and needs repair every 1-2 years due to the idler tyre getting old, used or not. It looses grip over time and REV&FF time gets longer but most sadly: the (usually really low) W&F drives you crazy. That's why Nakamichi modified it and went back to a (noisy) gear mechanism. I was the 1st in my country to observe the problem and after two repair attempt I've got a completely new tape deck which had the same fault after some time but they knew how to repair it now. My advice is to replace to tire of the idler every 2 years and regrease everything in contact with it. Look for 'Nakamichi idler tyre' on eB, it's the same size. Don't push the pulley too far in, just enough to be in the middle of the outer plastic rollers. I've a split idle pulley and would be very thankful to get one if somebody knows where I can get one. Shouldn't it be possible with 3D printing nowadays? The CD491 was a hell of a tape deck, better in nearly every dimension than any Nakamichi including the Dragon (where the azimuth correction is top-end). With Dolby C and HX-Pro and Metall cassettes it went up to 26 kHz +- 0.5 dB. It produces quite a lot of heat. So you'll have to wait half an hour before you start recording until everything is warmed up and at optimal operation temperature. Dialing in BIAS and LEC LEVEL and you'll be able to do a record of very, very high quality. I do have the tech manual of it and used to adjust it myself. Anyone out there with a solution for the cracked idler pulley?
a whole lotta circuitry in there! big power transformer too if im correct this cd series machines is made in the 80s? when i was a teen id look at the hifi mags read the reviews and just dream lol ! of owning anything h/k a super stereo system! by my twenties i was able to buy myself some used gear a whole heck of stereo gear from the golden age of audio 60s 70s early 80s was showing up at local thrift stores a treasure trove of gear !!!amazing what stuff id run into!
No. Most electrolytic caps will never fail. The thing that makes them fail is opering close to max rated voltage, or over voltage. Most will never fail. Some brands are more prone to failure than others. I just did another amp today. 2 leaking caps, and they were actually leaking the electrolytic.
@@exenx2995 so then what you are saying is that 2,000 hour rating so capacitors in a power supply then should be replaced every 83 days get real. If you run your stereo or TV for 6 hours every day which is not unusual you would be replacing the capacitors every year actually a little bit less than a year 333 days somewhere in there. Where these data sheets come up with their "estimates" is run a capacitor at its maximum voltage and maximum rated frequency. So if you have a capacitor that's maximum rated frequency is 60khz temperature 105'c 25v and you were to run it and a switching power supply as a secondary filter with the oscillator running at 60 kilohertz and you kept it charged to its full maximum voltage of 25 volts in a high load application in other words it wasn't just sitting at 25 volt DC but there was maximum ripple do the road being drawn on that power supply so that the capacitor was charging to its full 25 volt peak voltage but then having some discharge cycle before the next charge cycle you could expect that capacitor to last it's rated number of hours before any degradation. Capacitors however are never run in this configuration. Some manufacturers did fall into that trap putting 6 volt rated caps on the 5 volt rail and then wondering why they were shot after 5 years. That was an engineering screw up on a few manufacturers back in the late '90s where they were getting cheap and instead of putting in 10 or 16 volt caps on the 5 volt rail they went with six. Rule of thumb improper design is that you put in double the maximum voltage. So on a 12 volt supply you would put in 25 volt rated caps. Then they are going to last and they're going to last a long long time. When you look at those data sheets they always say absolute maximum ratings and the life expectancy that is quoted is always quoted on them running at the absolute maximum rating or if you went one volt over they're going to pop. Realistically capacitors himself will last 40 years unless they are abused. The exceptions and the ones that we normally do find that have failed our capacitors that were underrated. In televisions it was usually a small capacitor in the vertical circuit that should have been a larger value should have been a higher voltage but the manufacturer kind of goofed or it was rated at 85° when it should have been a 105. That and capacitors that were defective at time of manufacture or or damage during installation. If you want to waste your money and change them all knock yourself out. If someone brings me a piece of equipment and says replace all the capacitors I'm happy to do it and charge them accordingly. I don't see too many customers that want to spend tons of money fixing things. When I see products for repair people want them fixed as cheap as possible they don't want to spend money most don't care whether it breaks down two years from now and needs to be repaired again. I've been in the repair business now for 40 years 20 of those years I made my living doing it before the bottom fell out in the mass Exodus and all the shops closing up. During that 20 years I did this for a living I never once not once had someone come in and asked to replace all the capacitors. In the 20 years since I've had one person that paid me to recap their amplifier. That one guy who supplied all the capacitors himself from a kid that he bought off eBay, so-called audio file grade caps was so unimpressed with the sound from the new caps that two weeks later I ended up putting all the originals back in because he couldn't bear the sound of the new ones. I should point out that the amplifier was not broken it was working fine he just read somewhere on the internet that all the cops should be changed because they all have a shelf life. So he spent a couple hundred dollars on a kit that had about 50 caps in it brought it to me paid me for 3 hours of bench time to disassemble and replace all of the caps and then came back a few weeks later actually it was back and forth a few times because I couldn't hear anything wrong with it but to his ear it didn't sound like it used to and he wasn't happy so I put all the old caps back in as I had given them to him when he picked it up. That customer is a regular customer of mine. He learned his lesson about believing all the BS that he reads on the internet and has never asked me to recap his equipment since but he has had me repair his equipment including a few that was capacitor-related or I changed just one or two that were bad and he was happy.
12voltvids I need to look for that feature in the future! Right now, I only have a tape that that does not I have the tape Monitoring feature like that. I only have the Sony TC-We475 unit.
@@captianbubble only high end decks were 3 head and these days sellers are on drugs thinking these are worth something. In reality these are all old tape decks now. All made back in the 80s. I wouldn't pay more than 50 bucks for one myself but then that is me. I won't pay much for any old electronics, not the stratosphere prices that ebay sellers think they are worth. Problem is some people are dumb enough to pay that price and that drives the sale of other broken decks up there. Most are worn out and parts are very hard to come by. A prime example. That mcintosh dvd player I changed the belt on. The guy that brought that to me bought it broken for 200. Ground me down on the repair to I think 70 for the repair and then came around bragging that he found a sucker to buy it for 1500.00. Someone is always dumb enough to pay these prices. I had an slp 50 technics cd that I got for free that a guy was getting his pants to buy. He offered me 500 and turned around and sold it for 700 the next day.
My deck is a later production unit and the pully you remove is not easily removeable on mine. I would not want to force it and take a chance on breaking it as they are no longer available anywhere..
Change that idler tire, it is cheap and it will save you a head ache in the future, Rubber renew on an idler tire is just a temporary repair. And you are right about the crack on that nylon pulley and the proper and easy way to remove the idler tire to save you a head ache if you lose that c-clip!
Ok 3rd comment LOL.... I would like to see more on the older portable radios also.... My new bench is not even close to being finished yet...... Test equipment is needed , I have some so far...... Anyhoo my first projects will be a Sanyo RP 8700 and my old HR 2510 .... Yep Dat darn ole yellow glue is in there, not turning brown yet , but it is still pliable............I have to go pick up a couple boxes of things my old Ham buddy is giving me , that's a good start for test eqip.... I still need a signal jenny and a scope, I wish I would have never given my old tube scope away.........I'll make my own signal tracer and a RX meter for tuning the receivers in on certain units.... A good SINADDER is in the the future as well...... Baby steps. Baby steps.... Within a year I should have a shop back up and running again........ Plus Tard Mon Ami from Cajun Country .......
At first when you cleaned the first tuner I thought you had a 1khz tone running thru the input , LOL........ Then I heard the music a lil later and heard the flute or similar instrument playing ............Oops.......
JVC KD-D4 tape deck Problem . Making wining noise on playback . Motor , oiled , clean . Flywheel oiled ' Belts restored . Belt wheels , Cleaned . After a cuple of days it starts again , no REW or FFD operation . Press REC with spear tape ? all clear . Play music tape now , all fine . Put another tape in now , ITS BACK ! Any ideas guys ?
If the noise goes away after using a different tape, then the issue is the tape. If the noise persists regardless of tape used, then the problem is with that particular deck mechanism - worn gears or stretched/slipping belts can cause issues including poor or no REW/F-FWD operation, lack of reel torque and/or vibration during playback (wow and flutter/unstable tape travel/sloppy take-up) and noise. I suggest replacing the belts if you haven't done so already and avoid using cheap and nasty "Made in China" supermarket tapes when recording - such as those which come in packs of 3 for under 2 dollars e.g. Silver Shadow, Sweda and Stereo Club. Those kinds of tapes are very poor quality, have a tendency to jam or bind, and are extremely noisy due to their shell design and flimsy slip sheets. TDK, Sony, BASF or Maxell tapes are pretty good quality with low noise (from experience). ++ Try a different tape first. It's the quickest and easiest option. Investigate the deck afterwards if there is no improvement. ++
@@RoughJustice2k18 The belts are done as I said . Its the REC function that sets it right . Motor speed is fine . Its not the tapes that do it , its the deck .
@@shaun9107 I wonder if your record playback switch needs a good cleaning ... sometimes if one or more of the connections inside are poor it can cause all kinds of weird sounds anything from squeals to static type sounds
@@darinb.3273 I forgot to say , I have done the switch REC bar on the board the best I can with a drop of WD40 . The grinding is mechanical somewhere. inimitably.
I got this on my KD-A2 with old tapes. Pad get so worn out that polishes as a mirror and tape start to grab to it. You need to isolate if if cassete itself of the mechanism. Also the small rollers on each corner of the cassette are very prone to do that. But if the noise can be heard mechanically and also modulated into the playback, its probably on the tape path, pad, rollers etc
The owner has a smashing tape deck, having the ability to re calibrate the record bias i only saw on higher quality units. And the unit is packed wth quality electronics, not a cheap unit. That rubber renew chemical has been so dam handy, much like the deoxit you use for contacts. Some people just torture the grass, shame they do it while you are recording :-(
That tape mechanism looked remarkably similar to the one in a Nakamichi DR-1 I serviced recently. It didn't have a idler wheel, but a gear wheel instead. Although the repair kit included new rubber for a idler wheel... Same Sankyo motor in same place, and those program wheels up in the corner. Just a slightly different revision of the transport I guess. Boy, you're cranking out this videos like there's no tomorrow. But that's great. If you can make them, then we can take them.
@@12voltvids I remember the gear on a CD player you were working on that gear had split ... I learned a long time ago plastic over metal is not the best idea ... learned by plumbing PVC over metal... they do not expand and contract the same and in my experience threaded PVC over a metal fitting never ends well unless you like water leaks LOL
I have a Carver CD player that has a 30 second countdown when you turn it on before it will play. It's due to the pair of 6DJ8s in it's preamp section.
@@quintins8015 If you watch the loading motor it will rotate. The delay is just for the mechanism to reset, and then it reads the switch settings to see if it is set to timer record or play.
This one would worth the hassle to find someone with a lathe, and turn a new pulley for it from brass or bronze, that will never fail. Also, do a few tens or even 100 pieces, as it is cheaper that way, and sell the rest as repair parts :) .
With all due respect Sir.... "nice" doesn't cut it! The CD491 is a true Sonic Marvel and a Masterpiece in a world of mediocrity and compromise. Real B&O HX Pro, it's capable of 26mhz with a metal tape properly bias tuned. One of the top five greatest cassette decks ever made. P.S. Not trying to stroke your ego but you should know that you kick ass and rock out. Imo you have a gift from god like my father. Happily sub'd. P.s.s. I'd Happily lecture lawnmower man for you but your to far......lol.
From what i can see , all the decks with combo rec / play heads , look ALL the same like they ve been made by the same factory , my onkyo ta 2550 combo rec play heads look the same
About 30 years ago I repaired my Toshiba cassette deck, the play button snapped. Its a great feeling to fix things. Let's hope cassettes make a comeback like vinyl.
It's great to see my old deck up and working again...I'm sure the new owner will enjoy it for years! Good job!
Awesome video. Helped me fix my CD491. Thanks so much!
This high end tape deck its the best cassette deck from .Harman Kardon ever made.Direct Drive .Thank you Dave for showing a video repair.
Its a beauty, and would be a welcome addition to my collection... If I could afford it.
So many nuggets of information . Love these videos :)
I watch all your videos. You truely are great. I wish you lived close to me.
That's a really nice tape deck. Thanks for sharing.
A well made piece of equipment. I love it when things are say to take apart.
These plastic spindles that cack is a common fault to many makes of machines. I have seen them before in everything from DDD walkman to a top end Technics deck
Very nice machine and easy to work on. On my Nak I replaced the main pot from the cheap Alps for Noble and Panasonic for balance - lower noise, everything became cleaner, not a shabby difference. Not too many decks had 400, 10(12)kHz generator for level, bias adj - this machine was probably HKs top of the line. In one of the videos you said that you don't like dual capstan machines, yet you like this one or your comment is regarding R2R decks.
Rubber Renue - this thing is very useful, pinch rollers cleaner, etc, that has to do with rubber cleaning including rubber loudspeakers surround.
I owned this great machine in the `80`s. Amazing machine it was. I paid for this machine in the Netherlands 2,500 dutch florins for it (about € 1135 back then). That was a lot of money way back. I guess when you would count it to today it would be about € 4000 maybe? I really miss this. The cassettes that i used that time were mostly Maxell XLS2 and later That`s (Metal). They were the only two ones that i used on this machine and they performed the best results also!
A beauty of a deck. Harmans were very underrated over here in Europe.
I have a aiwa vintage 3600ad stereo 3 head dual Capstan tape deck,,,and it was a challenge in replacing the belt,,,and then the Motor decides to die with speed troubles,,,and it was fun replacing that,,,not easy without major disassembly. Have finally got it all working well now,,,and yes I remembered adjusting the bias trim on it too during recording,,,it made a difference with the sound loud and clear too.
Hello just wondered whats the best way to clean the copper micro switches (front top right) as my Nakamichi cassette deck 2 has the same which when dirty /oxidised can cause playback issues, just not sure how careful you have to be with them
Thanks for the video. Some great tips. I have a couple cassette decks with issues so maybe I'll take a shot of opening them up.
Do you have a video or can you make one showing were to put foil over the vcr head so the plasma doesn't interfear?
That thing is meant to be serviced. Love it. removable bottom cover, Attention to detail on the Aesthetics such as thumbscrews for holding the lexan on the cassette door. Nice.
Yep it is ......... I like the way the board is layed out all nice and neat ............
Now try a Kenwood 800 or 650 .... and still probably not the worst out there.
Nice tip on the rosin. I've run across that before and glued it, but I will definitely try that next time instead.
Rosin can be dissolved with alcohol if it has to come apart down the road.
You could also use a tiny push nut or tightly fitting nylon washer to hold it on the shaft.
Great video! I Have one coming in today - bought for an insanely low price. The LED meter display is out. I downloaded schematics but haven't been able to find the section for the LEDs. What should I be looking for?
@greg The schematics should have the different areas in sections .... In a certain way etc .... Which schematics you have ???? The service manual ??
Edit.... The displays on some units are actually a small vac tube... Just look for a section with that......
@11:04 You mentioned a good point .... A lot of people click from FFW to Rewind without pressing the STOP button in between .... That is hard on the small plastic parts also.... I always hit the stop button first, I always thought it put stress on the tape itself too, but that's my way of thinking when I owned a Alpine or Kenwood tape deck.....
That should not be an issue as this is logic controlled so it will go through the stop cycle before changing anyway but on mechanical decks you are correct.
I've got a CD-401, similar but looks like a different mechanism. The tape mech is stuck in the up position, power it on and it's spinning like there's a tape inside yet I can't even put a tape in it. Suggestions? Belts look ok.
Thank you for this detailed repair vid! Curious though, what type of rosin are you using?
Hi,got the same deck but it doesn't record on one channel,,do you have any ideas?thanks
Thanks for the video, as it help me identified the problem I was having with my deck. I replaced pulley and tire. now when I do a rewind, the deck will automatic go into play mode? is there an adjustment I need to make? thanks!
Disregard! human error!😂
Do you hv orion stero dual recorder cassette amplifier ?
I am looking for an HK D491 deck to buy. Do you have any for sale?
I wish I could find a reputable repairman like You near Detroit..that know his business..I like your videos on reel to reel restoration..try to do one of my 7 akai decks and totally junked it..ha ha...
Unfortunately the repair business is no longer profitable. That's the primary reason I left in 2003, back when it still was profitable but I saw the writing on the wall a mile away. That and the fact I worked for a miserable man that made everyone around him miserable. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Next to meeting my wife and the birth of my 2 kids was getting out of that hell hole which it had become.
@@12voltvids the repair business can be profitable if your name is e.g. Willy Hermann and you almost exclusively work on Nakamichi high end tape decks whose owners are usually willing to pay up to a thousand dollars for an overhaul.
But when it comes to standard HiFi gear and electronics from the golden days, people are usually quick to throw stuff away instead of having it repaired. Unless it's a legendary item like an Accuphase integrated amp or the top of the line Sony ES components.
I just serviced a TC-K909ES deck which I got off ebay. And oh boy, that thing sounds amazing with half decent tape inside.
I love they layout the logic controls as a mimic of a mechanical deck, opposite to the cheapo ones trying to simulate logic control or soft touch operation on standard mechanical decks.
Quick question how much do you usually charge to repair cassette decks?
A repair shop told me the timing motor is bad on my CR7 Nakamichi tape deck. Also said a replacement motor is no longer available. Any ideas?
Yeah that sounds about right motors himself are getting very difficult to get for all cassette decks the guy that owns this 491 that you just watch the video on it has it for sale and thinks he's going to get huge dollars for it. I got news to anybody thinking of buying it it's but almost 40 years old with 40-year-old motors that are not available reality check time it's not worth anything especially not what some people think these old tape decks are worth.
Ahhh, the classic H/K scratchy switches and potentiometers. Silver coated and a pain in the ass to clean.
I've been told by a seasoned tech (now deceased) that rubber renew/re-grip is the same thing as brake fluid.....true or false?
False. Rubber toner is xylene and oil of wintergreen.
I have excellent deck denon like this type... But it cant play...boss can you help me?
Just a thought ... couldn't you also use a drop of thread locker on the shaft to hold that plastic bit?
Yes but I don't have any and rosin flux gets real sticky. It is made from tree sap, and you know how sticky that stuff is when you try to get it off your car. Brutal.
Match Game is by far my favourite game show. My ring tone is Sanford and Son, it was the A-team a while ago.
That one is only for un identified callers. Normally I would reject those calls but I have a friend that blocks his cell number so if I blocked un identified callers he could never call me and I enjoy the conversation because it is usually about another mutual friend that is a little nuts and has made some off the wall comment that we have to have a good laugh about. Guy we both went to school with that comes unglued about certain things and makes posts that neither one of us would touch with a 10 foot pole in a public forum.
Hey Mon Ami @Whodatdere Where you at in Louisiana ???? I'm down here in the Eunice area.......
Actually one of the best decks ever made. Top 10 probably
I don't know that I would put it in the top 10, but top 25 for sure.
@@12voltvids Yeah i was thinking that too as soon as i said that. Spec wise it beats just about all the Super decks though.
That is a very nice deck. Would love to own it, though my wife thinks I have too many already.
Glad I am not the only one in that position. I was beginning to worry.
It's normal! I can't complain though, my wife uses my vintage system's around the house to play her music. Today she came down to my "cave" when I was adjusting a NAD 6050C after repair, and asked if i could hook it up to my 90's NAD setup upstairs so she can play tapes there.
@@12voltvids You can never have too many tape decks or boomboxes. The more the merrier.
Haha! Different tape decks for different uses! That’s what I say to that!
Many, many, many thanks for the video. I fell in love with my CD491 once again.
The Sankyo hardware is used by many high-end tape decks but unfortunately its idle mechanism really sucks and needs repair every 1-2 years due to the idler tyre getting old, used or not. It looses grip over time and REV&FF time gets longer but most sadly: the (usually really low) W&F drives you crazy. That's why Nakamichi modified it and went back to a (noisy) gear mechanism. I was the 1st in my country to observe the problem and after two repair attempt I've got a completely new tape deck which had the same fault after some time but they knew how to repair it now.
My advice is to replace to tire of the idler every 2 years and regrease everything in contact with it. Look for 'Nakamichi idler tyre' on eB, it's the same size. Don't push the pulley too far in, just enough to be in the middle of the outer plastic rollers.
I've a split idle pulley and would be very thankful to get one if somebody knows where I can get one. Shouldn't it be possible with 3D printing nowadays?
The CD491 was a hell of a tape deck, better in nearly every dimension than any Nakamichi including the Dragon (where the azimuth correction is top-end). With Dolby C and HX-Pro and Metall cassettes it went up to 26 kHz +- 0.5 dB. It produces quite a lot of heat. So you'll have to wait half an hour before you start recording until everything is warmed up and at optimal operation temperature. Dialing in BIAS and LEC LEVEL and you'll be able to do a record of very, very high quality. I do have the tech manual of it and used to adjust it myself.
Anyone out there with a solution for the cracked idler pulley?
26KHz, now that I would like to HEAR!
a whole lotta circuitry in there! big power transformer too if im correct this cd series machines is made in the 80s? when i was a teen id look at the hifi mags read the reviews and just dream lol ! of owning anything h/k a super stereo system! by my twenties i was able to buy myself some used gear a whole heck of stereo gear from the golden age of audio 60s 70s early 80s was showing up at local thrift stores a treasure trove of gear !!!amazing what stuff id run into!
Do you recomend recapping all the boards as the electrolyics are almost 40 years old?
No. Most electrolytic caps will never fail. The thing that makes them fail is opering close to max rated voltage, or over voltage. Most will never fail. Some brands are more prone to failure than others.
I just did another amp today. 2 leaking caps, and they were actually leaking the electrolytic.
@@exenx2995 so then what you are saying is that 2,000 hour rating so capacitors in a power supply then should be replaced every 83 days get real. If you run your stereo or TV for 6 hours every day which is not unusual you would be replacing the capacitors every year actually a little bit less than a year 333 days somewhere in there. Where these data sheets come up with their "estimates" is run a capacitor at its maximum voltage and maximum rated frequency. So if you have a capacitor that's maximum rated frequency is 60khz temperature 105'c 25v and you were to run it and a switching power supply as a secondary filter with the oscillator running at 60 kilohertz and you kept it charged to its full maximum voltage of 25 volts in a high load application in other words it wasn't just sitting at 25 volt DC but there was maximum ripple do the road being drawn on that power supply so that the capacitor was charging to its full 25 volt peak voltage but then having some discharge cycle before the next charge cycle you could expect that capacitor to last it's rated number of hours before any degradation. Capacitors however are never run in this configuration. Some manufacturers did fall into that trap putting 6 volt rated caps on the 5 volt rail and then wondering why they were shot after 5 years. That was an engineering screw up on a few manufacturers back in the late '90s where they were getting cheap and instead of putting in 10 or 16 volt caps on the 5 volt rail they went with six. Rule of thumb improper design is that you put in double the maximum voltage. So on a 12 volt supply you would put in 25 volt rated caps. Then they are going to last and they're going to last a long long time. When you look at those data sheets they always say absolute maximum ratings and the life expectancy that is quoted is always quoted on them running at the absolute maximum rating or if you went one volt over they're going to pop. Realistically capacitors himself will last 40 years unless they are abused. The exceptions and the ones that we normally do find that have failed our capacitors that were underrated. In televisions it was usually a small capacitor in the vertical circuit that should have been a larger value should have been a higher voltage but the manufacturer kind of goofed or it was rated at 85° when it should have been a 105. That and capacitors that were defective at time of manufacture or or damage during installation. If you want to waste your money and change them all knock yourself out. If someone brings me a piece of equipment and says replace all the capacitors I'm happy to do it and charge them accordingly. I don't see too many customers that want to spend tons of money fixing things. When I see products for repair people want them fixed as cheap as possible they don't want to spend money most don't care whether it breaks down two years from now and needs to be repaired again. I've been in the repair business now for 40 years 20 of those years I made my living doing it before the bottom fell out in the mass Exodus and all the shops closing up. During that 20 years I did this for a living I never once not once had someone come in and asked to replace all the capacitors. In the 20 years since I've had one person that paid me to recap their amplifier. That one guy who supplied all the capacitors himself from a kid that he bought off eBay, so-called audio file grade caps was so unimpressed with the sound from the new caps that two weeks later I ended up putting all the originals back in because he couldn't bear the sound of the new ones. I should point out that the amplifier was not broken it was working fine he just read somewhere on the internet that all the cops should be changed because they all have a shelf life. So he spent a couple hundred dollars on a kit that had about 50 caps in it brought it to me paid me for 3 hours of bench time to disassemble and replace all of the caps and then came back a few weeks later actually it was back and forth a few times because I couldn't hear anything wrong with it but to his ear it didn't sound like it used to and he wasn't happy so I put all the old caps back in as I had given them to him when he picked it up. That customer is a regular customer of mine. He learned his lesson about believing all the BS that he reads on the internet and has never asked me to recap his equipment since but he has had me repair his equipment including a few that was capacitor-related or I changed just one or two that were bad and he was happy.
These had better wow and flutter than most direct drive recorders
2:30 Did... Did they actually lay out the entire board on a .1" grid? My OCD approves! :-)
@jac do you mean that lil circuit board behind the Big tuning wheel pot ????
nice video
Ok what? I wish I had that feature, where I can hear the tape exactly as it’s recording from the tape side of Monitoring! That would be super handy!
Every 3 head deck has that feature, which is nice, you can hear over driving and distortion as it records.
12voltvids I need to look for that feature in the future! Right now, I only have a tape that that does not I have the tape Monitoring feature like that. I only have the Sony TC-We475 unit.
@@captianbubble only high end decks were 3 head and these days sellers are on drugs thinking these are worth something. In reality these are all old tape decks now. All made back in the 80s. I wouldn't pay more than 50 bucks for one myself but then that is me. I won't pay much for any old electronics, not the stratosphere prices that ebay sellers think they are worth. Problem is some people are dumb enough to pay that price and that drives the sale of other broken decks up there. Most are worn out and parts are very hard to come by. A prime example. That mcintosh dvd player I changed the belt on. The guy that brought that to me bought it broken for 200. Ground me down on the repair to I think 70 for the repair and then came around bragging that he found a sucker to buy it for 1500.00. Someone is always dumb enough to pay these prices. I had an slp 50 technics cd that I got for free that a guy was getting his pants to buy. He offered me 500 and turned around and sold it for 700 the next day.
Oh man ,great job!!!
My deck is a later production unit and the pully you remove is not easily removeable on mine. I would not want to force it and take a chance on breaking it as they are no longer available anywhere..
Time to put it in the bin. Give it a decent burrial.
Change that idler tire, it is cheap and it will save you a head ache in the future, Rubber renew on an idler tire is just a temporary repair. And you are right about the crack on that nylon pulley and the proper and easy way to remove the idler tire to save you a head ache if you lose that c-clip!
The tire didn't need the rubber renew it was the pulley causing the problem.
@@12voltvids Thanks, I always watch your videos to learn, I wished I had you close to repair all my vintage equipment!
Ok 3rd comment LOL.... I would like to see more on the older portable radios also.... My new bench is not even close to being finished yet...... Test equipment is needed , I have some so far...... Anyhoo my first projects will be a Sanyo RP 8700 and my old HR 2510 .... Yep Dat darn ole yellow glue is in there, not turning brown yet , but it is still pliable............I have to go pick up a couple boxes of things my old Ham buddy is giving me , that's a good start for test eqip.... I still need a signal jenny and a scope, I wish I would have never given my old tube scope away.........I'll make my own signal tracer and a RX meter for tuning the receivers in on certain units.... A good SINADDER is in the the future as well...... Baby steps. Baby steps.... Within a year I should have a shop back up and running again........ Plus Tard Mon Ami from Cajun Country .......
15:30 sounds like a generic Robert Plant jam. :)
Musicbakery.com
At first when you cleaned the first tuner I thought you had a 1khz tone running thru the input , LOL........ Then I heard the music a lil later and heard the flute or similar instrument playing ............Oops.......
JVC KD-D4 tape deck
Problem .
Making wining noise on playback .
Motor , oiled , clean .
Flywheel oiled '
Belts restored .
Belt wheels , Cleaned .
After a cuple of days it starts again , no REW or FFD operation .
Press REC with spear tape ? all clear .
Play music tape now , all fine .
Put another tape in now , ITS BACK !
Any ideas guys ?
If the noise goes away after using a different tape, then the issue is the tape.
If the noise persists regardless of tape used, then the problem is with that particular deck mechanism - worn gears or stretched/slipping belts can cause issues including poor or no REW/F-FWD operation, lack of reel torque and/or vibration during playback (wow and flutter/unstable tape travel/sloppy take-up) and noise. I suggest replacing the belts if you haven't done so already and avoid using cheap and nasty "Made in China" supermarket tapes when recording - such as those which come in packs of 3 for under 2 dollars e.g. Silver Shadow, Sweda and Stereo Club. Those kinds of tapes are very poor quality, have a tendency to jam or bind, and are extremely noisy due to their shell design and flimsy slip sheets. TDK, Sony, BASF or Maxell tapes are pretty good quality with low noise (from experience).
++ Try a different tape first. It's the quickest and easiest option. Investigate the deck afterwards if there is no improvement. ++
@@RoughJustice2k18 The belts are done as I said .
Its the REC function that sets it right .
Motor speed is fine .
Its not the tapes that do it , its the deck .
@@shaun9107 I wonder if your record playback switch needs a good cleaning ... sometimes if one or more of the connections inside are poor it can cause all kinds of weird sounds anything from squeals to static type sounds
@@darinb.3273 I forgot to say , I have done the switch REC bar on the board the best I can with a drop of WD40 .
The grinding is mechanical somewhere.
inimitably.
I got this on my KD-A2 with old tapes. Pad get so worn out that polishes as a mirror and tape start to grab to it. You need to isolate if if cassete itself of the mechanism. Also the small rollers on each corner of the cassette are very prone to do that. But if the noise can be heard mechanically and also modulated into the playback, its probably on the tape path, pad, rollers etc
The owner has a smashing tape deck, having the ability to re calibrate the record bias i only saw on higher quality units.
And the unit is packed wth quality electronics, not a cheap unit.
That rubber renew chemical has been so dam handy, much like the deoxit you use for contacts.
Some people just torture the grass, shame they do it while you are recording :-(
zx8401ztv thanks I honestly enjoy it allot compared to my old cassette/CD player, there is a big difference
Top of the line for HK in it's time.
nope the rubber wont grip the wheel properly & you'll get the wobbly drive sound during play back
That tape mechanism looked remarkably similar to the one in a Nakamichi DR-1 I serviced recently.
It didn't have a idler wheel, but a gear wheel instead. Although the repair kit included new rubber for a idler wheel...
Same Sankyo motor in same place, and those program wheels up in the corner.
Just a slightly different revision of the transport I guess.
Boy, you're cranking out this videos like there's no tomorrow.
But that's great. If you can make them, then we can take them.
Look at the size of that transformer !!
A heat shrink tube over that piece of plastic will close the crack and tighten up the mating on the shaft.
Could interfere with idler operation if too big. Super sticky rosin will stop it from moving. At least it didn't break in 2 as they sometimes do.
@@12voltvids I remember the gear on a CD player you were working on that gear had split ... I learned a long time ago plastic over metal is not the best idea ... learned by plumbing PVC over metal... they do not expand and contract the same and in my experience threaded PVC over a metal fitting never ends well unless you like water leaks LOL
@@darinb.3273 yes to the ABS plumbing over metal. Have dealt with that.
Take up hum on high end hi8 deck. Have dealt with that too.
First time I've seen a cassette deck that says "WAIT"
Wait there's more
@@12voltvids too funny 😁🤪
I have a Carver CD player that has a 30 second countdown when you turn it on before it will play.
It's due to the pair of 6DJ8s in it's preamp section.
Actually this is my deck, I believe the wait is to allow the deck too do a diagnostic before booting up
@@quintins8015 If you watch the loading motor it will rotate. The delay is just for the mechanism to reset, and then it reads the switch settings to see if it is set to timer record or play.
Potencjometry wymienia się a nie smaruje . Partacz !
This one would worth the hassle to find someone with a lathe, and turn a new pulley for it from brass or bronze, that will never fail. Also, do a few tens or even 100 pieces, as it is cheaper that way, and sell the rest as repair parts :) .
41/5000
Why do I have this post on my profile?
They do it in the uk at 9.00 am on a Sunday soooooo annoying
With all due respect Sir.... "nice" doesn't cut it! The CD491 is a true Sonic Marvel and a Masterpiece in a world of mediocrity and compromise. Real B&O HX Pro, it's capable of 26mhz with a metal tape properly bias tuned.
One of the top five greatest cassette decks ever made.
P.S. Not trying to stroke your ego but you should know that you kick ass and rock out. Imo you have a gift from god like my father. Happily sub'd.
P.s.s. I'd Happily lecture lawnmower man for you but your to far......lol.
From what i can see , all the decks with combo rec / play heads , look ALL the same like they ve been made by the same factory , my onkyo ta 2550 combo rec play heads look the same
haha match game PM phone ring tone
4 Dolby ic !!!!!
Yes 2 for record and 2 for playback.
In the Old days We use to use Banana 🍌 Oil 🛢 for noisy potentiometers.