@@mronewheeler Repairs like that 😂 In this case i thonk it is the thing that sometimes You do not have a success and that is perfectly OK is what is the most important thing. Oh and partial success counts too, that proofs that you do things right and learn 🙂
I'm an electronics specialist myself and I'm soldering for 42 years now. I would do it slightly different, but! You did it quite well your way. You did no mistakes. You did it well. It works. So: who cares! I don't. And you never can have too much capacitors!
As someone who does electronics repair for a living, I think your methodology is spot on. You start with what you know, and it's better to try and fix something than to chuck it in the trash. Also, the funky looking capacitors tend to be non electrolytic ones, and fail a lot less often, so I concur that leaving them alone is generally a good idea. You had the right idea even if it didn't pan out. You know what's the only thing worse than a repair by an amateur? A repair that never was attempted because nobody cared and threw the damn thing away
Dear Techmoan, Don’t stress about it. Whether or not something works by the end of a video doesn’t really matter. What we’re here for is your journey through old tech - that’s the real highlight. Your videos are the best part of my Saturday mornings, and they’re always a joy to watch. I totally get it if you’re eager to fix something so it can be part of your rack, but honestly, who cares if it works or not? Just keep sharing those curiosities with us, broken or not.
The only TH-camr that says, remember that video I made nine years ago? This is the continuation... No link either 🤣 I love all your videos. Never change.
Great attempt with a hearty jump into the deep end of electronics. IF you ever get the crazy urge, the head likely needs demagnetizing. Muffled sound is usually indicative of a magnetized head. Azimuth adjustment only works with a good head.
Record 10 hours of that music, slap some reverb on it, and title it "Liminal Spaces" something-or-other or "Old-Timey Music Playing in Another Room", and you have an instant TH-cam hit!
I only learned about that style/genre this week from Venus Theory ;-) Turns out I've clearly like it for a few years as I've added a fair amount of music in that style to like tracks on Spotify ;-)
Never clicked on a video faster! I was inspired by your original video to find a Cantata 700 myself, and I did! The pinch rollers had turned into tar, but I was able to find a second player with good rollers and swapped out the whole pinch-roller armature. It works a treat! I listen to it almost every day, as background music (go figure) while doing housework or getting dinner ready. I'll put on a Christmas cartridge in December, and put on a more jaunty cartridge when I have people over. The sound isn't great (just like yours) but I find that's part of its charm! Before I moved I had it running through my amp and stereo EQ to some good speakers, which helped make it a bit less muffled. Since I moved I just listen to it on the built-in speaker, which does just fine. It is a wonderful machine that suits its purpose perfectly. Couldn't be happier. Thanks for introducing me to it all those years ago!
I found old tape drives often need the head demagnitized. Was standard procedure when working on them. If the head has a visible groove, then that would be a problem as the gap in the coil becomes too large.
This was my very first thought. Demagnetizing the head is easier than replacing capacitors and it would have been my first step after cleaning the head.
The head adjustment you did is the height, azimuth changes the angle and is highly critical. It is a screw on one side of the actual head mount. Usually has a spring below it. Either that or a defective or worn head.
Yes right from the get-go I said to myself, this is classic azimuth adjustment, which was then ACTUALLY CONFIRMED in the video when you said early on, "Probably the azimuth needs adjusting". Then I waited, and I waited, and I waited. And you never mentioned it again until right at the end when you then went and adjusted the height, NOT the azimuth. So... The original diagnosis I'm fairly sure, was actually right, except you didn't realise what azimuth actually was. Oh the sweet irony! Anyway, try adjusting the (real) azimuth, and I'll pretty much bet that the machine will sound a lot better. Then it will be worth swapping the rubber wheels. Yeah the cap swapping was not necessary, but no harm has been done and it's not a bad video to see someone do it nicely (and this one was done nicely)
It’s almost like all the retail workers who had to suffer through the same cartridge day after day have cursed these machines to never operate properly again
Wether the board has polarity marks or not you're absolutely right to add your own based on the old caps, it's very common for the silk printing to have mistakes that are then fixed when they put in the components so that's what you should actually follow.
As an electrical engineer (with a degree and everything), I think that you are doing a bang up job. You've prepped for the job meticulously, noted every value, chosen the right parts and did great at soldering them. Hats off! I'd be a bit suspicious about those transistors, they can die when their package splits open at a ripe age of 50-ish. About the temperature: When desoldering, you generally want as high of a temperature as it can give, so it heats up quicker. Just keep the heating time as short as possible.
@@sleblanc I think it's relevant when providing commentary meant to cut against prior feedback from other commenters - particularly here where Matt does seem to have been bothered by those comments, speaking from a position of expertise is helpful.
My parents owned a store and had one of these things as a background music system back in the '70s. I remember it sounded a little better than this but the audio was still somewhat muffled. It worked well as a pa system. The microphones around the store were patched into a shure mic mixer and that was connected to the unit. That sounded much better than the audio from the tape. The ceiling speakers that it was connected to were full range cheap speakers that were lacking in bass anyway. This thing ran at least 12 hrs a day 7 days a week and by the time my parents sold the business in the '90s those tapes sounded pretty bad. Thanks for trying but I think you got it working as well as it is ever going to!
dans.... that's what I was expecting...it sounded a bit better when rather new but not that good anyway...as mentioned already...there were far better stores background music devices 40 to 50 years ago...even an auto reverse cassette player through the cheapest amplifier would've been far clearer sound...and auto reverse existed 5 decades ago...reel to reel would be useless of course...stacking vinyl records would run out during the day too...and 8 track unreliable and too short...auto reverse cassettes would be the best solution...changed once or twice a day quickly...
18:00 - just a tip, not an expert here: add fresh solder to old solder joint, it can help when you melt the solder with the desoldering gun. I only use flux when I'm soldering things on, not when I take stuff off. If you are using desoldering braid it's nice to have flux on the braid there's saying with flux I can quite remember but it's something like this: where the heat is the solder flows there and flux helps with this. So flux is more an adhering promoter, hence I use it to solder stuff on and not while removing parts, only when I have too much solder on components and need to wick away with a solder braid. Hope this helps :)
My grandfather used to sell these. I actually have not only a couple of these machines but a box full of tapes and even a framed cantata cassette given as an award for excellent sales. The tape is unmarked and im so curious as to whats on it
Recapping without a good reason rarely results in great success, but please don't see this as critics, I appreciate that you have the courage to just try to fix such stuff anyway and with your limited possibilities. I did it the same way before I learned electronics, also with good success :) But what might help is demagnetizing the head. With all the old audio gear you're tinkering with, you should really get a simple, cheap head demagnetiizer. Technically, it's just a coil powered with AC, you bring it close to the head and slowly remove it after some seconds. I had great success with this on several old tape recorders meanwhile.
Hello Techmoan, I've been following your channel for many years now and have never left a comment. Today's video has prompted me to write a comment. You are simply outstanding... your humor is great and the way you make your videos is unique and very entertaining. Thank you very much for your years of commitment and the many wonderful hours. Keep it up... best wishes from Bavaria 👋
I had a 120V tape head demagneto from Radio Shack for my Realistic Cassette Deck. It did somehow "refreshed" the output signal. More treble if i remember. That was in 1984 after all. Peace Out!
And sometimes the Pick & Place is setup wrong, Awhile back there were some ASUS motherboards with one or two caps on backwards. Wasnt enough to prevent POST but they did sometimes catch fire.
I'm going to give you a tiny bit of advice on your soldering/desoldering technique - using a q-tip to distribute flux just means you're introducing all the fluff from the q-tip to the solution - I'd suggest a wooden, nylon, or metal tool, like a toothpick or a small spudger, or what I call my nylon "pointing stick".
Seeing your troubleshooting process and attempts to fix stuff is very fun, don't change it due to few peeps hating! Easily one of my fav parts of your videos.
I know there is a reason in some cases people in the Foley business seek out old stuff like this, Just to get the sound or basis for a sound. that they need.
I can replace parts on the car without knowing how the whole thing actually works, it's just things we do, and there is always a neighbour that will show up to have his say on how I should do things. And we just keep going. :) You are doing great.
Good job replacing the caps. Pro Tip: Modern caps are much smaller. But their size increase with the voltage rating. So by picking a much higher voltage, you can match the footprint and diameter. It doesn't matter electrically but aesthetically. It just looks more like original if you are interested in this kind of detail. So for a few cents more, you can please more of your viewers. But as usual, you can't please them all. If you would upload a video of yourself enjoying ice cream, there are always people claiming that you enjoy it all wrong and let professional ice cream savourer do that instead.
@@redlopa1London fing innit. I struggle to break the habbit. Grew up there but haven't lived there for 20 years but still struggle to break the habit, so always ends up "could of" :)
Definitely Kieran Prendiville energy. I don't think Mat's going to write a hit Wicklow based comedy drama series with a priest-publican storyline, though.
The mark on the rubber roller is called 'set' or 'compression set'. It can sometimes be partially reduced with gentle heat [90-140C] followed by mechanical squashing and squeezing.
Preface: this is splitting hairs! You did a fine job desoldering and you’ve got good equipment for the work. Nonetheless, small tip. If you have a tricky one (or just want to be careful) you can always flow some fresh solder onto the joint and then desolder. Gob some on the iron tip, and the melted metal makes for a better thermal transfer to the existing solder joint. Then you can swap to the desolder gun, and it’ll heat right up quickly and easily, and clear completely. It does use up solder, which isn’t the cheapest these days, but nonetheless for older boards (especially the ones that look “crinkly”) it can help to reduce the heat and the time needed.
Figuring that this cassette was probably used for background audio in some public place, each tape has probably been played for hundreds of hours on end. And anyone whose had a 'modern' cassette get played a lot can tell the difference between it and a new one. Replacing the pinch roller will help a small amount, but I think the real audio problem is in the tapes, themselves. Another great video though!
@@dean6816 That doesn't change the fact it's a special bit of kit. If it's something you need to purchase for one specific use case, it's a specialized tool regardless of how simple or cheap it is.
I kinda like this kind of background music. I grew up in a post-soviet country and we have a lot of films that were either training videos or some sort of educational films that were aired on TV and had similar music throughout. These films were made somewhere in the 50s or 60s, I'm not sure but feels somehow nostalgic even though I was born waaay after than those eras, luckily.
It may be the azimuth adjustment of the head,(not to be confused with the head tracking or height). The azimuth is the angle or tilt of the head gap which should be perpendicular to the length of the tape. If it’s off, you’ll loose high frequencies. There should be a screw near the head to adjust this. But you should know that, it’s the same adjustment you’ll see on a compact cassette player
Some tape heads become magnetized after some time and need to be demagnetized with an alternating decreasing magnetic field. On such heads you can hear a muffled chirping voice. These tapes can also be demagnetized and no longer transmit high frequencies. Before recording, it is best to delete by demagnetizing with an erasing device.
When I'm working on something like that problem, I would hook up a line out from a cd player or radio tuner. to see how it sounds, hook it up to where the tape head goes in, you may need a 47k resistor for impedance matching, if it sounds clear then it will save time in replacing capacitors. it almost sounds like the tape may be bad. Since you already have the board out. I never do bulk component changes. or shotgunning of circuits. One last note, you could demagnetize the head. I have worked on cartridge players and have used that troubleshooting technique. and it is usually the tape wasn't stored correctly and got demagnetized, or the head is worn out, yours however looks good.
This reminds me of my Phillips reel to reel player, there was always muffled audio no matter how hard I tried to clean it, as I had nothing else to lose I went ahead and tried using Brasso to polish/clean the head and it worked PERFECTLY, the audio started sounding crisp and clear!
I just enjoy the calm atmosphere of your videos and that you're genuine about what you know and don't know. :) I'm glad for the little wins too, like fixing that buzzing.
Hi Matt, you might want to try to adjust the Azimuth of the tape head, NOT the height. The Azimuth adjusts the tilt of the tape head in relation to the track on the tape. What you were calling the Azimuth is the height, or track alignment. Also, generally when capacitors in the audio path dry out, the symptom will be less bass, and will make the audio tinny sounding and low level. Someone suggested demagnitizing the head, which could help.
Yeah, except that you're not supposed to bend the component leads to hold them in place. It doesn't affect the soldering but it makes any future de-soldering for replacement absolutely miserable. The reason the old caps came out so cleanly and easily is because the stubs of leads were straight.
@@sootikins "not supposed to" is a bit strong. It's how I was taught in electrical class! We were warned it might make desoldering harder, later, so it's of course all about your preferences. But plenty of people do it ;) I'm sure Mat could've taped or blu-tacked every one down individually so as to keep the leads straight, but for something like this where few people care to try and save them anyway... I expect very, very few will be recapped twice.
Honestly, knowing you're not good at something and being exceptionally careful can lead to a much better result than being an expert. That was a very nice recapping job --- better than my last; I'm far too slapdash.
@Techmoan The only mistake you made, you caught on your own. As someone who's been doing electronics work and soldering for 40 decades+ I can confidently say that everything else you did was absolutely spot-on. You did good and did it carefully. I would say your skill level is good and indeed well good enough to do the work intended.
Awesome video Mat! It’s always frustrating when you spend time fixing something and it either still doesn’t work or it’s worse than before. You gave it your best shot and I appreciate your effort. I assume it might be the cartridges. The whole idea of this format was to be a background music player so, these cartridges and tapes would have spent hours and hours on end playing and over time they would’ve certainly become degraded. It could also be that they used a low quality tape for them.
I was taking part in an unplanned reconfiguring of a store that was experiencing issues related to it just being an old building, and we needed to move things upstairs into what had become neglected storage space over the years (it used to be the office space when the store was one of those old timey little Sears department stores you'd see in the downtown street shops). Anyway, I was usually the technical person brought in to help manage installations and such, but since this was an emergency situation, it was all-hands-on-deck, and I contributed to helping clear out the storage space to expedite the process, and to give me time to help plan an efficient layout for the equipment we'd soon be moving up there. During the cleanup phase, I found an old Muzak system, player, tapes and all, not plugged into power, but still connected to the long-abandoned store speaker system! Nobody else gave it a second glance, but I got that nostalgic nerd feeling that you represent so well here, and I snatched that system up so I could take it home and try to revive it. Long story short: I landed at the same place you did here. It was cool to see a little bit of the historical tech that we took for granted back when it was in use, but firing it up today? Yeah, total disappointment in the sound quality and of course the actual content itself. Funny how it feels things have improved steadily but slowly over the years, but it's not obvious how far we've actually come until one runs across something representative of the state of the art from even 15 years ago, and reality bops you over the head with the ghostly voice of retail past: "Attention S-Mart shoppers! Save big on fishing reels, today only in sporting goods!"
I'm glad you revisited this format. Having gone to the shopping center with my Great Grandma so many times in the late 70s early 80s hearing these crazy muzak tunes bring back so many memories. Wish you could have gotten it up and running better, but hey, still a fun video!
Watching your development as a troubleshooter and a repairer is not only heartwarming, but a big reason why I keep coming back to see your new content. ❤
@techmoan, I just love your honesty and transparency! You’re actually human, and man enough to admit you’re not perfect. It’s so refreshing in the social media space, and for me, it’s absolutely relatable! Please never stop!
Wallace would have been proud to play the first music part you played on that tape, for the penguin - master criminal Feathers... Great video as usual!
The screw you were adjusting was the head height. It sounded like the azimuth was way out. Or not enough pressure on the head, or head warn out. Tapes subjected to a magnetic field.
Ok, he's doing it wrong, he's terrible, but who cares, at least he tried to learn it rather than just sitting there and "I can't do this" over and over. Plus he will not gonna get all those fancy expensive equipment just for a once in a couple months job. I started buying and picking up my soldering iron to fix my stuff and overcome my "I can't do this" part mostly thanks to this channel. If he can do it, I should be able to do it, and ya, I can. Now my soldering probably look terrible but at least I try and it did fix what's broken. So thank you Techmoan.
I don't care that you're a novice at repairing things, I'm a novice too, and sometimes it's helpful seeing you do something wrong, so the other novices don't do it, so thank you. I thought the video was great and you made me laugh, and there's nothing wrong with that. Remember Matt, even experts were novices once. Thanks for the video, I always learn something from them. 👍🏻😊
"I have run out of skill" And then the postscript noticing that you switched two screws - that's skill, and that's more than a lot of tinkerers would notice. Good on you for knowing when you've sunk too much time into a project and when to call it quits.
I worked in a McDonald's in about 1986. They had a 3M background music tape player like the first one Matt displayed with the speaker built in. It was connected to the lobby overhead speakers. It sounded muffled and with wow and flutter just like Matt's player. When working the closing shift we shut that horrible player off and used my cassettes and boombox in the kitchen. Nothing will make this player sound good. I think the music was presented to curb loitering my teenagers. As for the capacitors, Matt did it right. Just change the electrolytics. I did this in a 1970s Seeburg Jukebox amp and control computer and it works great now.
Whats nice about this old stuff is you really can't mess it up, you learn what doesnt work. I have a lot of equipment made out of plastic which slowly falls apart the more your try to fix it.
I love those desoldering tools , I replaced a 15 pin audio ic in my car stereo and after I'd desoldered it, it just fell out, best ic replacement I've ever done It would be interesting for Mend it Mark to get it working perfectly
It's funny, I've got more than 10 soldering irons and several hot-air rework tools, but I've never used one of those desoldering tools. Gonna have to get one now I've seen how easy they are.
I finally got me one last week, but I've been using the kind with a squeeze bulb for years. I'm still in the habit of trying to squeeze it before use, but at least the rest of the skills transfer over.
@@henryokeeffe5835 Vacuum desoldering tools are great (and for newer PCBs with plated through-holes, they’re practically mandatory for removing multi-pin components). Just know going into it that I call them “divas” due to the high maintenance they need compared to a soldering iron. Since they suck up not just solder, but also flux, they require cleaning, filter changes, and frequent unclogging of the tip. People often wait to run the cleaning tool into the tip until it clogs, whereas it’s much easier to do if done preventatively. And also, because you don’t solder with it, people always forget to tin the desoldering tip before use.
@@8bitwiz_ Actually the technique is quite different. With a vacuum desoldering tool, especially with plated through-holes, you are supposed to do it like this: 1. Apply the well-tinned desoldering tip to the joint. 2. Gently wiggle the component leg - when full melt is achieved, you feel the leg become mobile. Don’t stop wiggling. (If full melt cannot be achieved in about 3 seconds, stop and regroup. An old joint may benefit from first having fresh solder reflowed onto it. On ground pins on multilayer boards especially, auxiliary heating may be necessary (for example, preheating with hot air, or a soldering iron from the other side). 3. Begin vacuum. 4. Keep wiggling with vacuum for 1-2 seconds. The cool air being sucked through causes the solder on the leg and inside the plated hole to cool and resolidify. This prevents the leg from resoldering itself to the plated hole. 5. Pull the desoldering tip away from the joint. 6. Only now end the vacuum. The method above is highly reliable, and is what professionals are trained to do. Don’t just heat and apply vacuum for a second.
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I really do want a proper vac pump powered one like I used to have at work years ago. I have to make do wirh my little spring plunger syringe looking thing 😂
Great to see another video from you, couple of thoughts which others may have mentioned - the screw adjustment only seemed to be adjusting the height in relation to the tape rather than the angle which is what azimuth usually does, couldn't see any adjustment for that , the other thing to try would be to wire the head using screened cable into one of your other working tape players , which would mean it's still playing on the cantata but using the play electronics of something better, so you'd be able to rule out the electronics. Anyway as always great to see another video from yourself. Jeremy
I agree with the other comments regarding demagnetising the tape head. The problem with the tape player you use has no recording facility. A tape recorder in record mode can demagnetise the tape head. But on a play back only machine, the head can get magnetised over time resulting a loss of high audio frequencies. Demagnetising can restore the high frequencies.
It was fun going through your repair attempt with you. I appreciate that you share videos of things that don't work out. It makes the times that you are able to fix things feel more exciting. :) That is awesome you got rid of the buzz! It always feels better if a repair attempt doesn't work that at least I didn't make things worse!
Thank you for another interesting and entertaining video as usual! Always a fan Techmoan! I come back to watch for some of the older media formats, but mostly just to watch a video with you. Thank you!
Back when I worked on Fidelipac carts at CEI in Melbourne, we would increase the treble by putting a low value cap across the head, typically from 60 to 100 or so pF. Don’t use more than 200pF, you’ll get too much treble and tape hiss. In stereo machines it causes weird phasing in the treble too.
Consolidated Electronic Industries, were located in Thornbury in the 80s. Closed down around 83, 84. Most radio and TV stations bought machines from CEI. The 993 and 996 models were very popular. 993 = Mono, 996 = Stereo
Love ya Mat, you have made my weekend for years. Seeing your videos show up in my feed is like a warm cuppa on a cold winter's morning as my mum would say. Appreciate everything you do sir, sitting here with my VU meter Techmoan shirt on in North Carolina in the US. You are appreciated worldwide and are awesome 😊
I really like how these old circuit boards are usually brown whereas newer ones are usually green. The brown color really adds to that retro aesthetic, even if most people never actually see them
Couple of random facts: Modern circuit boards are made of a type of fiberglass, which is to say, glass fibers embedded in plastic. Older circuit boards were made from "phenolic paper", which is to say, cotton fibers embedded in plastic. They're surprisingly similar materials. Also, modern circuit boards are actually kind of a buff color, not too dissimilar from the light tan seen here, but somewhat translucent. The green is from a coating on the circuit boards that, among other things, helps prevent solder from accidentally touching more than one trace. That wasn't really needed with the wide trace spacing in old circuit boards, so no coating was used. The coating is frequently referred to as "solder mask", and while green is traditional, these days you can get it in basically any color.
A few observations from an old electrical engineer who's done more troubleshooting and repair than I care to remember... - The signal on magnetic media does deteriorate over time, even sitting in ideal conditions. The high end deteriorates faster than the low end. It's quite possible that those 50+ year old tapes simply sound like that. - Demagnetize the tape head, as others have said. This can help clear up muffled audio. - As for the "recapping", that's seldom necessary on vintage audio gear. The capacitors made up until the mid-'80s were of exceptional quality. In the '80s, cheaply made caps started hitting the market. It's quite possible that the caps you removed are still better than the new ones you installed. - And when installing components, try to get them flush against the board. While not doing so is unlikely to cause any problems in this case, at higher frequencies, the additional lead length can cause issues. Besides, it looks better to have them flush mounted, and in the case of larger (heavier) components, it reduces the fatigue on the leads from any vibration. No criticism; what you did worked. We all have to learn somehow.
I just came here from watching BuyitFixit failing to fix a Lenovo tablet. The contrast between '70s electronics and modern electronics is quite amazing, mind boggling indeed. Been watching you for a decade or so now mate, always interesting . Keep them coming!
Maybe you could inject known good signal directly into the head (using these cheap aux to tape adapters) and use an oscilloscope or oldschool signal tracer to find out where exactly higher frequencies are being lost.
I've been watching a fellow who does replace capacitors on a regular basis. He uses a unit called an ESR meter. It measures a cap's resistance and has a chart so that you can compare the reading to what it should be. This devise is quite helpful. Other indicators are a bulging top or a leaking capacitor.
Part of the charm of your videos is the fact you’re not an expert. It makes your videos far more relatable.
Hear, hear!
It gives me hope that, maybe someday, I could also do repairs like these
Well said.
@@mronewheeler It made me laugh when he said “it’s worse than when I started”. Many repairs I’ve attempted on things have made it worse 😂
@@mronewheeler Repairs like that 😂
In this case i thonk it is the thing that sometimes You do not have a success and that is perfectly OK is what is the most important thing.
Oh and partial success counts too, that proofs that you do things right and learn 🙂
I'm an electronics specialist myself and I'm soldering for 42 years now. I would do it slightly different, but! You did it quite well your way. You did no mistakes. You did it well. It works. So: who cares! I don't. And you never can have too much capacitors!
I've heard you can never have too much flux either
the old military adage “if it’s crazy but it works, it isn’t crazy” fits his style: it’s not what practicing professionals do, but it worked
@@tanelehala6422 You definitely can. Excess flux is just more stuff to clean off…
@@tookitogo Is it easier to clean off the extra flux or to reflow the joints?
As someone who does electronics repair for a living, I think your methodology is spot on. You start with what you know, and it's better to try and fix something than to chuck it in the trash. Also, the funky looking capacitors tend to be non electrolytic ones, and fail a lot less often, so I concur that leaving them alone is generally a good idea. You had the right idea even if it didn't pan out. You know what's the only thing worse than a repair by an amateur? A repair that never was attempted because nobody cared and threw the damn thing away
I'd imagine today if you are quite good at repairing electronic equipment you will be a rich man considering how much electronic stuff is thrown out
Dear Techmoan,
Don’t stress about it. Whether or not something works by the end of a video doesn’t really matter. What we’re here for is your journey through old tech - that’s the real highlight. Your videos are the best part of my Saturday mornings, and they’re always a joy to watch. I totally get it if you’re eager to fix something so it can be part of your rack, but honestly, who cares if it works or not? Just keep sharing those curiosities with us, broken or not.
Much of this stuff is over 50 years old and was never intended to last that long. Even getting 20 years out of something today is considered good.
The only TH-camr that says, remember that video I made nine years ago? This is the continuation... No link either 🤣 I love all your videos. Never change.
It has been years since I saw the original video but this did not even occur to me 😂 I just thought oh boy, maybe this one will work!
And I absolutely do remember - from nine years ago!
I have no concept of time because it felt like only a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure I haven't rewatched it since.
Boomers are just lazy
Worst thing is I do remember the video in question and can't believe it was nine years ago it released. I'm grieving those lost years now.
Sounds like a background music system for a haunted merry-go-round!
Haha, I was thinking the end scene from The Shining movie, ghosts playing music from the "other side".
or a bioshock menu soundtrack
@@staberas
Kinda reminds me of Fallout (or at least New Vegas, haven't played any others yet).
Ha! This is exactly what my wife said.
@@staberasI had that same Bioshock vibe. It actually gave me shivers and made me want to bring out my trusty old Xbox 360 :)
"I have run out of skill" @25:17 is why we appreciate the channel, mate.
And that, in itself, is a life skill on its own. The ability to acknowledge your shortcomings. :)
Great attempt with a hearty jump into the deep end of electronics. IF you ever get the crazy urge, the head likely needs demagnetizing. Muffled sound is usually indicative of a magnetized head. Azimuth adjustment only works with a good head.
That was was I was thinking too.
@@el3dprint head may not look bad but i think its worn out. A new head should fix it.
@@andershammer9307 Exactly.
Yes. He needs a new head. The head on it is totally worn out.
came here to say the same. I brought many a wooly-sounding reel-to-reel back to life by demagnetising the heads back in the day.
It doesn't matter if the fix didn't work, it's still nice to see these old machines.
Cheers Mat
Record 10 hours of that music, slap some reverb on it, and title it "Liminal Spaces" something-or-other or "Old-Timey Music Playing in Another Room", and you have an instant TH-cam hit!
Any way we can get "correct vibration frequency" or "quantum" in there?😂
healing spell music type beat
@ Not to mention "432"
I only learned about that style/genre this week from Venus Theory ;-)
Turns out I've clearly like it for a few years as I've added a fair amount of music in that style to like tracks on Spotify ;-)
Yeah I love muffled music/speeches for sleeping
Never clicked on a video faster! I was inspired by your original video to find a Cantata 700 myself, and I did! The pinch rollers had turned into tar, but I was able to find a second player with good rollers and swapped out the whole pinch-roller armature. It works a treat! I listen to it almost every day, as background music (go figure) while doing housework or getting dinner ready. I'll put on a Christmas cartridge in December, and put on a more jaunty cartridge when I have people over. The sound isn't great (just like yours) but I find that's part of its charm! Before I moved I had it running through my amp and stereo EQ to some good speakers, which helped make it a bit less muffled. Since I moved I just listen to it on the built-in speaker, which does just fine. It is a wonderful machine that suits its purpose perfectly. Couldn't be happier. Thanks for introducing me to it all those years ago!
Good to hear Mend it Mark getting a mention, he deserves the big time. That alleged copyright strike has been a blessing.
I learnt about Mend It Mark after that unjustified copyright strike. It's good luck for me because I have years of his content to watch now.
The take down video is now on Louis Rossmann's channel. He will fight in court no matter the cost if the manufacturer tries to take that one down.
@@nhand42 I watched his whole back catalogue over the xmas break. Well worth it.👍
I've watched many of Mend It Mark's videos and he simply the GOAT, as they say.
Isn't that the guy who is always laughing when there is nothing to laugh?
I found old tape drives often need the head demagnitized. Was standard procedure when working on them.
If the head has a visible groove, then that would be a problem as the gap in the coil becomes too large.
This was my very first thought. Demagnetizing the head is easier than replacing capacitors and it would have been my first step after cleaning the head.
I was scrolling through to see if anyone had said this before I did.
The head adjustment you did is the height, azimuth changes the angle and is highly critical. It is a screw on one side of the actual head mount. Usually has a spring below it. Either that or a defective or worn head.
I entered the comments to make sure someone said this. Sounds to me like the azimuth is off. Height is what we saw you adjust.
Yes right from the get-go I said to myself, this is classic azimuth adjustment, which was then ACTUALLY CONFIRMED in the video when you said early on, "Probably the azimuth needs adjusting". Then I waited, and I waited, and I waited. And you never mentioned it again until right at the end when you then went and adjusted the height, NOT the azimuth.
So... The original diagnosis I'm fairly sure, was actually right, except you didn't realise what azimuth actually was. Oh the sweet irony!
Anyway, try adjusting the (real) azimuth, and I'll pretty much bet that the machine will sound a lot better. Then it will be worth swapping the rubber wheels.
Yeah the cap swapping was not necessary, but no harm has been done and it's not a bad video to see someone do it nicely (and this one was done nicely)
Like he said, he is no expert. I do love his accent and knowledge of the history of all this and dedication to it
Nice shout out for Mend It Mark.
Also...love that proper glass of whisky at the end.
That was Diet Irn Bru, but I wouldn’t say no to something stronger.
@@TechmoanThank God, that would have been quite a generous measure 😂
@@Techmoan It is Burns' Night tonight!
@@Techmoan It should have been Vimto, a proper northern drink!
I was wondering about that apple juice...
It’s almost like all the retail workers who had to suffer through the same cartridge day after day have cursed these machines to never operate properly again
It's refreshing to watch videos where things follow real-world rules and aren't fake perfect. Keep up the exceptional work!
Wether the board has polarity marks or not you're absolutely right to add your own based on the old caps, it's very common for the silk printing to have mistakes that are then fixed when they put in the components so that's what you should actually follow.
Yes, definitely - I've found boards with capacitor polarity marked incorrectly a number of times.
Yep, old macs have this problem!
As an electrical engineer (with a degree and everything), I think that you are doing a bang up job. You've prepped for the job meticulously, noted every value, chosen the right parts and did great at soldering them. Hats off! I'd be a bit suspicious about those transistors, they can die when their package splits open at a ripe age of 50-ish. About the temperature: When desoldering, you generally want as high of a temperature as it can give, so it heats up quicker. Just keep the heating time as short as possible.
Hear hear. (At that level I did astrophysics, but I'd done electrical for a few years in school.)
You don't have to preface everything you say with "as an electrical engineer".
@@sleblanc As a former wireman, yes, in this case it was entirely relevant to provide context for the comment.
@@sleblanc I think it's relevant when providing commentary meant to cut against prior feedback from other commenters - particularly here where Matt does seem to have been bothered by those comments, speaking from a position of expertise is helpful.
My parents owned a store and had one of these things as a background music system back in the '70s. I remember it sounded a little better than this but the audio was still somewhat muffled. It worked well as a pa system. The microphones around the store were patched into a shure mic mixer and that was connected to the unit. That sounded much better than the audio from the tape. The ceiling speakers that it was connected to were full range cheap speakers that were lacking in bass anyway. This thing ran at least 12 hrs a day 7 days a week and by the time my parents sold the business in the '90s those tapes sounded pretty bad. Thanks for trying but I think you got it working as well as it is ever going to!
dans.... that's what I was expecting...it sounded a bit better when rather new but not that good anyway...as mentioned already...there were far better stores background music devices 40 to 50 years ago...even an auto reverse cassette player through the cheapest amplifier would've been far clearer sound...and auto reverse existed 5 decades ago...reel to reel would be useless of course...stacking vinyl records would run out during the day too...and 8 track unreliable and too short...auto reverse cassettes would be the best solution...changed once or twice a day quickly...
18:00 - just a tip, not an expert here: add fresh solder to old solder joint, it can help when you melt the solder with the desoldering gun. I only use flux when I'm soldering things on, not when I take stuff off. If you are using desoldering braid it's nice to have flux on the braid there's saying with flux I can quite remember but it's something like this: where the heat is the solder flows there and flux helps with this. So flux is more an adhering promoter, hence I use it to solder stuff on and not while removing parts, only when I have too much solder on components and need to wick away with a solder braid. Hope this helps :)
My grandfather used to sell these. I actually have not only a couple of these machines but a box full of tapes and even a framed cantata cassette given as an award for excellent sales. The tape is unmarked and im so curious as to whats on it
Electrolytic Capacitors have electrolytes - it's what plants crave.
People love it too! That's what gatorade is for anyways
OOWW MY BALLS!!
@xureality you don't get it
@@xureality right over your head xD
Ouch, my balls!
BRAWNDO Electronics
Recapping without a good reason rarely results in great success, but please don't see this as critics, I appreciate that you have the courage to just try to fix such stuff anyway and with your limited possibilities. I did it the same way before I learned electronics, also with good success :)
But what might help is demagnetizing the head. With all the old audio gear you're tinkering with, you should really get a simple, cheap head demagnetiizer. Technically, it's just a coil powered with AC, you bring it close to the head and slowly remove it after some seconds. I had great success with this on several old tape recorders meanwhile.
Hello Techmoan, I've been following your channel for many years now and have never left a comment. Today's video has prompted me to write a comment. You are simply outstanding... your humor is great and the way you make your videos is unique and very entertaining. Thank you very much for your years of commitment and the many wonderful hours. Keep it up... best wishes from Bavaria 👋
Have you tried demagnetizing the head? A magnetized head will give you a muffled sound all your treble will disappear....
Yes I think that's the problem too.
It may also be that the output is a speaker output for 8 ohms - and you connect it into an AUX input of your active speaker.
Next video would be another foot note for the professional demagnetizer advisors. Stay tuned !!!!!!. Out of the joke, it is %100 wort a try.
I had a 120V tape head demagneto from Radio Shack for my Realistic Cassette Deck. It did somehow "refreshed" the output signal. More treble if i remember. That was in 1984 after all. Peace Out!
I was thinking the same thing.
19:29 It’s always wise to do as you did and note the polarity yourself. You’d be surprised how often the factory silk screen gets it wrong!!
And sometimes the Pick & Place is setup wrong, Awhile back there were some ASUS motherboards with one or two caps on backwards. Wasnt enough to prevent POST but they did sometimes catch fire.
I'm going to give you a tiny bit of advice on your soldering/desoldering technique - using a q-tip to distribute flux just means you're introducing all the fluff from the q-tip to the solution - I'd suggest a wooden, nylon, or metal tool, like a toothpick or a small spudger, or what I call my nylon "pointing stick".
Seeing your troubleshooting process and attempts to fix stuff is very fun, don't change it due to few peeps hating! Easily one of my fav parts of your videos.
You know, audio production nerds like me pay hundreds of pounds for plugins to make music sound like this. Love it!
Stupid
I know there is a reason in some cases people in the Foley business seek out old stuff like this, Just to get the sound or basis for a sound. that they need.
My thoughts exactly. I love that haunted sound. 😀
I can replace parts on the car without knowing how the whole thing actually works, it's just things we do, and there is always a neighbour that will show up to have his say on how I should do things. And we just keep going. :) You are doing great.
I think we all have these neighbours, LOL
You gave it your best shot, and for that I applaud you. As always very entertaining to watch.
Good job replacing the caps.
Pro Tip: Modern caps are much smaller. But their size increase with the voltage rating. So by picking a much higher voltage, you can match the footprint and diameter. It doesn't matter electrically but aesthetically. It just looks more like original if you are interested in this kind of detail. So for a few cents more, you can please more of your viewers.
But as usual, you can't please them all. If you would upload a video of yourself enjoying ice cream, there are always people claiming that you enjoy it all wrong and let professional ice cream savourer do that instead.
The channel lived up to its name for this one. Definitely more patience than I would ever have.
A new VaporWave™ device.
Techmoan, one of the very few TH-camrs who could of been on old skool Tomorrows World. Natural presenter.
That's a good shout
“could of”?!
@@redlopa1could have.
@@redlopa1London fing innit. I struggle to break the habbit. Grew up there but haven't lived there for 20 years but still struggle to break the habit, so always ends up "could of" :)
Definitely Kieran Prendiville energy. I don't think Mat's going to write a hit Wicklow based comedy drama series with a priest-publican storyline, though.
The mark on the rubber roller is called 'set' or 'compression set'.
It can sometimes be partially reduced with gentle heat [90-140C]
followed by mechanical squashing and squeezing.
Preface: this is splitting hairs! You did a fine job desoldering and you’ve got good equipment for the work. Nonetheless, small tip. If you have a tricky one (or just want to be careful) you can always flow some fresh solder onto the joint and then desolder. Gob some on the iron tip, and the melted metal makes for a better thermal transfer to the existing solder joint. Then you can swap to the desolder gun, and it’ll heat right up quickly and easily, and clear completely.
It does use up solder, which isn’t the cheapest these days, but nonetheless for older boards (especially the ones that look “crinkly”) it can help to reduce the heat and the time needed.
Figuring that this cassette was probably used for background audio in some public place, each tape has probably been played for hundreds of hours on end. And anyone whose had a 'modern' cassette get played a lot can tell the difference between it and a new one. Replacing the pinch roller will help a small amount, but I think the real audio problem is in the tapes, themselves. Another great video though!
I would demagnetize the play head but you need a special bit of kit for that. Nice video though, as always.
no you don't, you can get a demagnetizer for about £20
@@dean6816 So.... A special bit of kit?
@@SenkJu it's just an electromagnet?? Bet you're still amazed at sliced bread 🤣
@@dean6816 That doesn't change the fact it's a special bit of kit. If it's something you need to purchase for one specific use case, it's a specialized tool regardless of how simple or cheap it is.
I kinda like this kind of background music. I grew up in a post-soviet country and we have a lot of films that were either training videos or some sort of educational films that were aired on TV and had similar music throughout. These films were made somewhere in the 50s or 60s, I'm not sure but feels somehow nostalgic even though I was born waaay after than those eras, luckily.
It may be the azimuth adjustment of the head,(not to be confused with the head tracking or height). The azimuth is the angle or tilt of the head gap which should be perpendicular to the length of the tape. If it’s off, you’ll loose high frequencies.
There should be a screw near the head to adjust this. But you should know that, it’s the same adjustment you’ll see on a compact cassette player
I always enjoy these attempts. Very fun to watch and hope for the positive outcome.
Some tape heads become magnetized after some time and need to be demagnetized with an alternating decreasing magnetic field. On such heads you can hear a muffled chirping voice. These tapes can also be demagnetized and no longer transmit high frequencies. Before recording, it is best to delete by demagnetizing with an erasing device.
When I'm working on something like that problem, I would hook up a line out from a cd player or radio tuner. to see how it sounds, hook it up to where the tape head goes in, you may need a 47k resistor for impedance matching, if it sounds clear then it will save time in replacing capacitors. it almost sounds like the tape may be bad. Since you already have the board out. I never do bulk component changes. or shotgunning of circuits. One last note, you could demagnetize the head. I have worked on cartridge players and have used that troubleshooting technique. and it is usually the tape wasn't stored correctly and got demagnetized, or the head is worn out, yours however looks good.
This reminds me of my Phillips reel to reel player, there was always muffled audio no matter how hard I tried to clean it, as I had nothing else to lose I went ahead and tried using Brasso to polish/clean the head and it worked PERFECTLY, the audio started sounding crisp and clear!
I just enjoy the calm atmosphere of your videos and that you're genuine about what you know and don't know. :) I'm glad for the little wins too, like fixing that buzzing.
Hi Matt, you might want to try to adjust the Azimuth of the tape head, NOT the height. The Azimuth adjusts the tilt of the tape head in relation to the track on the tape. What you were calling the Azimuth is the height, or track alignment. Also, generally when capacitors in the audio path dry out, the symptom will be less bass, and will make the audio tinny sounding and low level. Someone suggested demagnitizing the head, which could help.
Your soldering is perfect.
Yeah, except that you're not supposed to bend the component leads to hold them in place. It doesn't affect the soldering but it makes any future de-soldering for replacement absolutely miserable. The reason the old caps came out so cleanly and easily is because the stubs of leads were straight.
@@sootikins Yawn
@@sootikins "not supposed to" is a bit strong. It's how I was taught in electrical class! We were warned it might make desoldering harder, later, so it's of course all about your preferences. But plenty of people do it ;)
I'm sure Mat could've taped or blu-tacked every one down individually so as to keep the leads straight, but for something like this where few people care to try and save them anyway... I expect very, very few will be recapped twice.
Honestly, knowing you're not good at something and being exceptionally careful can lead to a much better result than being an expert. That was a very nice recapping job --- better than my last; I'm far too slapdash.
No matter what the result, you give us the courage to try!
@Techmoan
The only mistake you made, you caught on your own. As someone who's been doing electronics work and soldering for 40 decades+ I can confidently say that everything else you did was absolutely spot-on. You did good and did it carefully. I would say your skill level is good and indeed well good enough to do the work intended.
Awesome video Mat!
It’s always frustrating when you spend time fixing something and it either still doesn’t work or it’s worse than before.
You gave it your best shot and I appreciate your effort.
I assume it might be the cartridges.
The whole idea of this format was to be a background music player so, these cartridges and tapes would have spent hours and hours on end playing and over time they would’ve certainly become degraded. It could also be that they used a low quality tape for them.
I was taking part in an unplanned reconfiguring of a store that was experiencing issues related to it just being an old building, and we needed to move things upstairs into what had become neglected storage space over the years (it used to be the office space when the store was one of those old timey little Sears department stores you'd see in the downtown street shops).
Anyway, I was usually the technical person brought in to help manage installations and such, but since this was an emergency situation, it was all-hands-on-deck, and I contributed to helping clear out the storage space to expedite the process, and to give me time to help plan an efficient layout for the equipment we'd soon be moving up there. During the cleanup phase, I found an old Muzak system, player, tapes and all, not plugged into power, but still connected to the long-abandoned store speaker system!
Nobody else gave it a second glance, but I got that nostalgic nerd feeling that you represent so well here, and I snatched that system up so I could take it home and try to revive it.
Long story short: I landed at the same place you did here. It was cool to see a little bit of the historical tech that we took for granted back when it was in use, but firing it up today? Yeah, total disappointment in the sound quality and of course the actual content itself. Funny how it feels things have improved steadily but slowly over the years, but it's not obvious how far we've actually come until one runs across something representative of the state of the art from even 15 years ago, and reality bops you over the head with the ghostly voice of retail past: "Attention S-Mart shoppers! Save big on fishing reels, today only in sporting goods!"
I'm glad you revisited this format. Having gone to the shopping center with my Great Grandma so many times in the late 70s early 80s hearing these crazy muzak tunes bring back so many memories. Wish you could have gotten it up and running better, but hey, still a fun video!
Watching your development as a troubleshooter and a repairer is not only heartwarming, but a big reason why I keep coming back to see your new content. ❤
A Look Mum No a Computer or Big Clive would've been a great collaboration on this one.
it would be great in General
@techmoan, I just love your honesty and transparency! You’re actually human, and man enough to admit you’re not perfect. It’s so refreshing in the social media space, and for me, it’s absolutely relatable! Please never stop!
Wallace would have been proud to play the first music part you played on that tape, for the penguin - master criminal Feathers...
Great video as usual!
Finally got to see the latest Wallace and Grommet yesterday. So good!
The screw you were adjusting was the head height. It sounded like the azimuth was way out. Or not enough pressure on the head, or head warn out. Tapes subjected to a magnetic field.
Ok, he's doing it wrong, he's terrible, but who cares, at least he tried to learn it rather than just sitting there and "I can't do this" over and over. Plus he will not gonna get all those fancy expensive equipment just for a once in a couple months job. I started buying and picking up my soldering iron to fix my stuff and overcome my "I can't do this" part mostly thanks to this channel. If he can do it, I should be able to do it, and ya, I can. Now my soldering probably look terrible but at least I try and it did fix what's broken. So thank you Techmoan.
I don't care that you're a novice at repairing things, I'm a novice too, and sometimes it's helpful seeing you do something wrong, so the other novices don't do it, so thank you. I thought the video was great and you made me laugh, and there's nothing wrong with that. Remember Matt, even experts were novices once. Thanks for the video, I always learn something from them. 👍🏻😊
For a self-aclaimed non-expert i must say you did a bery fine job with the recap.. well done!
"I have run out of skill"
And then the postscript noticing that you switched two screws - that's skill, and that's more than a lot of tinkerers would notice. Good on you for knowing when you've sunk too much time into a project and when to call it quits.
I don’t think you’ll have copyright issues with that content 😁
To be honest, just listening to the full recordings on the CrapTwenty channel... It's not much better.
@ craptwenty??
I worked in a McDonald's in about 1986. They had a 3M background music tape player like the first one Matt displayed with the speaker built in. It was connected to the lobby overhead speakers. It sounded muffled and with wow and flutter just like Matt's player. When working the closing shift we shut that horrible player off and used my cassettes and boombox in the kitchen. Nothing will make this player sound good. I think the music was presented to curb loitering my teenagers. As for the capacitors, Matt did it right. Just change the electrolytics. I did this in a 1970s Seeburg Jukebox amp and control computer and it works great now.
No certainly not....nobody would want to own up the fact they owned the copyright in it!!
Whats nice about this old stuff is you really can't mess it up, you learn what doesnt work. I have a lot of equipment made out of plastic which slowly falls apart the more your try to fix it.
That was a great repair attempt, very neat too. Such a shame that the outcome did not improve things.
Thank you for still making amazing and entertaining content even after 8 years when I first started watching your channel
I love those desoldering tools , I replaced a 15 pin audio ic in my car stereo and after I'd desoldered it, it just fell out, best ic replacement I've ever done
It would be interesting for Mend it Mark to get it working perfectly
It's funny, I've got more than 10 soldering irons and several hot-air rework tools, but I've never used one of those desoldering tools. Gonna have to get one now I've seen how easy they are.
I finally got me one last week, but I've been using the kind with a squeeze bulb for years. I'm still in the habit of trying to squeeze it before use, but at least the rest of the skills transfer over.
@@henryokeeffe5835 Vacuum desoldering tools are great (and for newer PCBs with plated through-holes, they’re practically mandatory for removing multi-pin components). Just know going into it that I call them “divas” due to the high maintenance they need compared to a soldering iron. Since they suck up not just solder, but also flux, they require cleaning, filter changes, and frequent unclogging of the tip. People often wait to run the cleaning tool into the tip until it clogs, whereas it’s much easier to do if done preventatively. And also, because you don’t solder with it, people always forget to tin the desoldering tip before use.
@@8bitwiz_ Actually the technique is quite different. With a vacuum desoldering tool, especially with plated through-holes, you are supposed to do it like this:
1. Apply the well-tinned desoldering tip to the joint.
2. Gently wiggle the component leg - when full melt is achieved, you feel the leg become mobile. Don’t stop wiggling. (If full melt cannot be achieved in about 3 seconds, stop and regroup. An old joint may benefit from first having fresh solder reflowed onto it. On ground pins on multilayer boards especially, auxiliary heating may be necessary (for example, preheating with hot air, or a soldering iron from the other side).
3. Begin vacuum.
4. Keep wiggling with vacuum for 1-2 seconds. The cool air being sucked through causes the solder on the leg and inside the plated hole to cool and resolidify. This prevents the leg from resoldering itself to the plated hole.
5. Pull the desoldering tip away from the joint.
6. Only now end the vacuum.
The method above is highly reliable, and is what professionals are trained to do. Don’t just heat and apply vacuum for a second.
I really do want a proper vac pump powered one like I used to have at work years ago.
I have to make do wirh my little spring plunger syringe looking thing 😂
Great to see another video from you, couple of thoughts which others may have mentioned - the screw adjustment only seemed to be adjusting the height in relation to the tape rather than the angle which is what azimuth usually does, couldn't see any adjustment for that , the other thing to try would be to wire the head using screened cable into one of your other working tape players , which would mean it's still playing on the cantata but using the play electronics of something better, so you'd be able to rule out the electronics. Anyway as always great to see another video from yourself. Jeremy
Well done for working out the buzz issue. I think you did a good job with the electronics.
It confuses me though. Aren't ordinary screws conductive?
I agree with the other comments regarding demagnetising the tape head.
The problem with the tape player you use has no recording facility.
A tape recorder in record mode can demagnetise the tape head.
But on a play back only machine, the head can get magnetised over time resulting a loss of high audio frequencies.
Demagnetising can restore the high frequencies.
I guess it doesn't matter what genre you're listening to in this thing, it's always going to be Big Band.
Zing!
It was fun going through your repair attempt with you. I appreciate that you share videos of things that don't work out. It makes the times that you are able to fix things feel more exciting. :)
That is awesome you got rid of the buzz! It always feels better if a repair attempt doesn't work that at least I didn't make things worse!
He’s back!
That week off felt like forever.
Yeah, but I'm happy that he takes the time that he needs. I'll gladly have a healthy Matt and a carefully made video over a channel burnout special.
Thank you for another interesting and entertaining video as usual! Always a fan Techmoan! I come back to watch for some of the older media formats, but mostly just to watch a video with you. Thank you!
5:22 Your house is going to need so many exorcisms after playing that.
Hi Mat, very much enjoying anything and everything that I’m discovering in your back catalogue, since I first found your channel. Great stuff! Regards
Back when I worked on Fidelipac carts at CEI in Melbourne, we would increase the treble by putting a low value cap across the head, typically from 60 to 100 or so pF. Don’t use more than 200pF, you’ll get too much treble and tape hiss. In stereo machines it causes weird phasing in the treble too.
CEI? Melb Aus?
@ Yep, early 80s
@@Wenlocktvdx sorry should have clarified. I don’t know what CEI is.
I’m also in Melb.
Consolidated Electronic Industries, were located in Thornbury in the 80s. Closed down around 83, 84. Most radio and TV stations bought machines from CEI. The 993 and 996 models were very popular. 993 = Mono, 996 = Stereo
Love ya Mat, you have made my weekend for years. Seeing your videos show up in my feed is like a warm cuppa on a cold winter's morning as my mum would say. Appreciate everything you do sir, sitting here with my VU meter Techmoan shirt on in North Carolina in the US. You are appreciated worldwide and are awesome 😊
That's incredible that a different metal screw could have such an effect, I would never have thought of that!
I enjoy that your curiosity drives you. You obviously have a question and just because you aren’t an expert never stops you from looking.
Send it to Mend it Mark! He'll know what to do with it.
ahah we all had the same idea : )
Good job Matt! Don't let anyone tell you you're doing it wrong. You have the guts to try it.
I really like how these old circuit boards are usually brown whereas newer ones are usually green. The brown color really adds to that retro aesthetic, even if most people never actually see them
They were also hand drawn, so the traces look like curvy roads, not tight angles
Couple of random facts:
Modern circuit boards are made of a type of fiberglass, which is to say, glass fibers embedded in plastic. Older circuit boards were made from "phenolic paper", which is to say, cotton fibers embedded in plastic. They're surprisingly similar materials.
Also, modern circuit boards are actually kind of a buff color, not too dissimilar from the light tan seen here, but somewhat translucent. The green is from a coating on the circuit boards that, among other things, helps prevent solder from accidentally touching more than one trace. That wasn't really needed with the wide trace spacing in old circuit boards, so no coating was used. The coating is frequently referred to as "solder mask", and while green is traditional, these days you can get it in basically any color.
@ Cool facts, thanks!
A few observations from an old electrical engineer who's done more troubleshooting and repair than I care to remember...
- The signal on magnetic media does deteriorate over time, even sitting in ideal conditions. The high end deteriorates faster than the low end. It's quite possible that those 50+ year old tapes simply sound like that.
- Demagnetize the tape head, as others have said. This can help clear up muffled audio.
- As for the "recapping", that's seldom necessary on vintage audio gear. The capacitors made up until the mid-'80s were of exceptional quality. In the '80s, cheaply made caps started hitting the market. It's quite possible that the caps you removed are still better than the new ones you installed.
- And when installing components, try to get them flush against the board. While not doing so is unlikely to cause any problems in this case, at higher frequencies, the additional lead length can cause issues. Besides, it looks better to have them flush mounted, and in the case of larger (heavier) components, it reduces the fatigue on the leads from any vibration.
No criticism; what you did worked. We all have to learn somehow.
The head likely needs demagnetizing
You may not be an "expert", but you TRIED and know enough to attempt a repair!
My hat is off to you!
0:53 I want to see this on the next series of Severance
You may not be an "expert" but its cool your trying to do it ypur self and learning new skills
Perfect for any haunted house!
I just came here from watching BuyitFixit failing to fix a Lenovo tablet. The contrast between '70s electronics and modern electronics is quite amazing, mind boggling indeed.
Been watching you for a decade or so now mate, always interesting . Keep them coming!
I'm a web developer.... and I'm not even an expert, I still make mistakes....... That's the joy of life, we all keep learning new things......
I'm also a web developer. After 20 years I still make so many mistakes, and learn new things.
Love your videos, Techmoan. They are the highlight of my Saturday youtube viewing! Thank you, sir.
Techmoan is about to go Office Space on this player 😄
Maybe you could inject known good signal directly into the head (using these cheap aux to tape adapters) and use an oscilloscope or oldschool signal tracer to find out where exactly higher frequencies are being lost.
It does seem like you need to demagnetize the head like other people have said. It should be easy enough to do too.
I've been watching a fellow who does replace capacitors on a regular basis. He uses a unit called an ESR meter. It measures a cap's resistance and has a chart so that you can compare the reading to what it should be. This devise is quite helpful. Other indicators are a bulging top or a leaking capacitor.
Send the other player to Mend it Mark. I’d like to see him fix it!