buyer returned a vintage audio 'defective' cassette deck ???
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- i recently serviced and repaired this cassette deck on youtube but the buyer didnt quite like it, he adjusted it himself and then decided to return it, in this video i try to understand why he returned it
my name is Rene, from 1985 to 1999 I used to repair in and out of warranty cassette decks and walkmans for Kenwood, Yamaha , Pioneer, Sanyo and other brands and with the current increasing interest in analog audio, and cassette decks in particular, I started this channel to share tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years.
I will mostly do 'end-to-end' video's about repairing, servicing and adjusting the deck from beginning to end with a lot of talking , showing , tips etc and very little editing.
If you have any questions or particular video's you would like to see just reach out and maybe I can assist ?
#cassette #cassettetapes #cassettetape #cassettecollection #cassetteculture #tape #cassettecollector #cassetteigclub #cassettes #kassettape #tapes #kaset #jualkaset #analog #cassettejunkie #kasetjadul #vintagehifi #yamaha #cassettedeck #AnalogSound #VintageAudio #AudioRestoration #VintageCassetteDeck #ClassicAudio #AudioEnthusiast #VintageElectronics #AudioNostalgia
what a painful buyer, appreciate your patience in dealing with him 🙂
@@reubensylvester8818 thank you !
He was probably playing a pre-recorded store-bought tape that used to be in his car during the Summer, baking in the heat for 20 years under the driver's seat. Then after playing the tape 300 times in his car's Pyle Cassette deck, he put it into this optimally tuned and overhauled deck and guess what. The shit tape, sounded like shit.
I also suspect a ‘less than optimal’ tape 😎
If only one cassette does not play properly, it is definitely the Tape Deck's fault🤣
thats what i was thinking as well ;-)
As a fellow cassette deck serviceman, I appreciate you making the video. I mainly work on studio based cassette decks, Portastudio's, rack gear etc but I've had various people that have no idea what they're doing. The most relevant story I had was a guy, older musician, who had a Portastudio and used it a lot to record tapes back in the 80's. I didn't know this before sending it out, but he wanted the machine to playback his original tapes. This is where a lot of back and fourth messaging happens. He didn't realise, and I tried to explain, that the tapes he was playing were most likely aligned differently to the machine I had provided. Like you, and every other serviceman, we use alignment tapes for our adjustments. I told the buyer he could make his own azimuth adjustments but in the end he said his prenotion of owning a tape machine again from the 80's was soured and returned the machine.
I have a feeling something similar happened with this machine and the buyer, that he was playing his own tapes that he recorded on a DIFFERENT machine with lesser accurate specs.. hence all the inaccuracies. The fact he didn't even know he needed to CLEAN the heads after use also displays a lack of education in the field of tape. I rarely have these type of customers, an education in tape is normally needed these days as with the revival of vinyl.
Thank you for your kind words , When i started doing this (again) i knew ‘some basic knowledge’ was ‘lost’ , i did this in the 80s and 90s for various big brands , in and out of warranty repairs , daily for at least a decade but the knowledge was common and decks were tampered with less than today
But you gave me a good idea and that it to add a printed piece of paper explaining the basics and that previously ‘self recorded cassettes’ may not sound 100% as their previous deck may not have been aligned properly whereas this one is
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair Disclaimers are the way to go. I sell mainly on eBay so I always have it in the description, but additional manuals and even a small written document about tape and how to look after your machine is a great idea. A lot of people seem to forget these machines are getting on now, possibly 40 years! so its good to remind them.
Recorded on a nakamichi deck may sound worse played back on other brands .
nothing wrong with this deck, just a user problem.
I agree ☝️
Right you are. People just can't go adjusting parameters on their deck without the proper equipment. They can try, but it's a blind attempt.
Rong user
this is one of the reasons I gave up selling electronics on eBay
I still find that 99.9% of the buyers are good people
I was surprised the buyer didn't think to clean the heads when he found that cassette where the B side seemed to lack high frequencies. I enjoyed your video.
Thank you ! I suspected a dirty head when the buyer mentioned he only used type I tapes but at that point i already knew what the buyer wanted to return it so i kinda gave in and decided to take the deck back
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair From memory, type I tapes tended to shred more oxide than type 2 and 4 so the heads need to be cleaned more regularly.
Wow! I could feel my own blood pressure rising as you were reading out his emails! Clearly he's someone who "thinks" he knows what he's doing. Instead, he screws it all up and blames everything and everyone but himself... 🤬
thank you ! somethings are just not worth it , choose your battles wisely ;-)
So the user had a bunch of tapes recorded on a crappy deck and wanted to make a good deck crappy too just to play those bad tapes???
you come to the same conclusion i have !
Purtroppo ci sono tante persone che non sanno nulla di queste cose,non se ne intendono,e vogliono mettere le mani in cose che non gli competono,andando a rovinare le calibrazioni,che prima erano giuste.posso dirti che a me ne sono passati a fiumi di registratori completamente starati dai proprietari,combinando casini con i trimmer!.amico ottimo video,sono felice che hai ripristinato il setup,grande!
thank you so much ! grazie mille !
I've done that kind of thing in the past. Difference, I own up to my missteps.
Before cleaning the head I liked to see (hear) how the sound was and compared with the results after cleaning. But there was nothing wrong with this deck. The buyer did not know how to use a vintage deck.
Weird thing is , he has several but i suspect one or all are now ‘off’ from the standards
This issue is why I stopped selling on eBay. Too many bogus returns, often simply stealing a part such as a remote control or compatibility issues between what I sold and what the buyer would use it with... which makes it "defective". I have had items come back that were still sealed, yet the buyer used "defective" to get free shipping back.
i havent had to deal with dishonest buyers , just some 'less well informed' ones and those are a minority luckily !
I had similar issues with some vintage speakers I sold. The buyer claimed they were defective. Another seller contacted me to say the buyer had done exactly the same to him so I was able to challenge the buyer who dropped the complaint. Why are people complete tossers when buying stuff off ebay. I would have told this buyer that as he had adjusted the equipment himself it becomes non returnable!
i thought about it , but for me it wasnt worth the trouble , he send it back on his dime, i issued a refund which doesnt cost me much (€12 shipping)
I do a ton of walkman and deck repair. The amount of incompetent buyers drives me nuts. I now do no returns.
@@rhen1215 i feel your pain ! And completely understand where you are coming from
I've no idea why that deck got returned. Def think the customer adjusted azimuth. Its out, but not by much. He's probably adjusted it for a pre-recorded tape or a tape he's made at home.
the azimuth was indeed slightly off , i doubt you could hear it on pre-recorded factory tapes , but if it was slight off in one direction and you have a recorded tape thats recorded on a machine thats slightly off in the other direction you can probably hear it . anyay , it fixed and was bougt by someone else . thanks for your comments !
I think it's clear that the buyer's own tapes that he'd recorded previously were out of balance. Once he'd acquired a good quality deck that would show just how out of adjustment his previous deck was it threw him for a loop lol.
That is what I suspect as well , but its hard to convince people that what they have and what they’ve been using might not be correct
ebay has made it harder on sellers unless you are one of the big guys drop shipper etc. on there. I once sold a NIB never opened cpu I had not used yet and the buyer claimed it didn't work, ebay made me refund them if the buyer showed they returned it. Well it turns out it was attempted fraud, buyer waited until the last hour of the deadline to return it, and then posted a fake tracking number from an entirely different state that I shipped it to. After opening case with ebay they finally came out on my side. But it was a pain and this is why I no longer want to sell anything on ebay especially electronics
i still believe 99.9% of people out there are basically decent people
I think after the request to help with the adjustment should have been immediately voiced, if he wants to let him adjust and no refunds later, or let him return immediately.
Ebay allows returns no matter what , so i may as well try to help the buyer
Jeez. Whoever bought this deck blamed the deck and not his BAD TAPES. *slaps forehead*
yup !!
This is why I will never sell any of my Sony ES units on eBay . I worked to hard to restore those units. Modern buyers don't understand these devices,and I think many people are to emotional about a time they "missed" and start buying tape systems they just shouldn't own.
I lot of ‘common knowledge’ has been lost indeed , there are now generations that don’t understand how to connect and record this equipment. I am starting to feel very old 😎
Just supply a test cassette (any random music tape) with your decks so that user does not blame your product.
I would not have taken that deck back after that guy is taking it apart. Also completely unreasonable. Sounds just like a kook to me
these days ebay doesnt give sellers much choice sadly , even if they open it up and screw with it (pun intended) you're obliged to take it back
One good reason why the seller should state that - Under *no* circumstances should the bought deck be opened within a defined (by the seller) time period, no refund will be issued.
Problem is - there are so many strange characters out there - both sellers and buyers.
BTW, another potential issue is that - a buyer can potentially return another non-working deck (same model number) as part of a scam, so be aware!
I don't think that would help, people that are dishonest would just do it anyway and say they didn't. Likewise it would look very suspicious to write that, personally I would be suspicious if I saw that in a listing - as it could be used to hide damage or poor parts inside.
Есть такая поговорка.
Лучше с умным потерять, чем с дураком найти.
Похоже это Ваш случай 😮
Thank you!
Great work sir. But I hope you use screwdriver made of Non-ferrous metal when you do azimuth adjustment(s)
Yes i do (ceramic philips) and demagnetise once i am all done
if it was tapes the guy had recorded himself on another deck and then plays them on this deck, any issues with the levels will more than likely be on the other deck and will follow the tape. They will make any deck sound off (pity he didnt provide you with one of his tapes :). This is a case of someone knowing enough to be dangerous...good job.
thank you !
Very impresive.
Thanks!
The HP Roth tapes are absolutely fine for calibration.
I did all mine with that.
agreed , the roth tapes are good for initial setup , only for W&F check i use my own tapes as the roth tape has much higher w&f (0.05-0.06 vs 0.02 on my own tapes , but as long as you have a known w&f % its easy to deduct)
The player is good😊
I remember when i first bought my Sony deck both machines were off on speed and to get them in speed i used a pre recorded tape and a cd player with the same music sorce and play them both to get the deck into phase. To do this its best to use headphones. Then you start both machines and adjust speed until both sound sorce blend together.. this is called phasing. Anyway that is how I did it.
thats indeed a good alternative way of doing it as long as your source tape is a known good and accurate tape. the phase tuning can be quite acurate as all string instruments (bass, guitar etc) are tuned that way
Years ago, well before lap-tops, I made a series of test tapes on high end machines. My source was those early test records with tone bursts and tone sweeps.... then compared left to right channels. I also did some timed recordings at various lengths where you could run a stopwatch and figure tape speed. Yeah, it was a DIY approach, but it worked well enough to get the playback lined up. Once that part was ok, we'd run test recordings then compare that on playback. 95% of the time if the playback was ok then the record was also ok.
I had it a bit easier in de 80ies , I ordered test tapes from the manufacturer 😁 no stopwatch needed
But everything is getting scarce so i am relying on people with that seem to know what they are doing for azimuth tapes and on my quartz locked DD drive reference deck for speed
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair We're probably close in age. I was learning these tricks circa late 60s and started doing it with open reel machines, as they were being handed down. (old gear from the radio industry) Had a buddy whose father worked for Audio Tape so free samples were plentiful. At times we'd pull a measured amount of tape across the room and mark it with foil sensing tape or white splice tape and do the math with one of those new pocket calculators. (new at the time) Much easier to time with the visual clue.
Ebay messer following the classic pattern
Obviously sufficient since it returned to you intact but outwardly that was a very haphazard packing job from shippers end. My opinion.
Now if you could just instruct me how to repair either my Akai GXC 730D or my Aiwa M 250 cassette decks, I would die a happy man.
@@markcraven8386 its a box made and meant for shipping hifi equipment, just a different brand , i shipped it out a bit different (different inserts) but it came back unscathed (luckily indeed)
Excellent video. Also what I would recommend is to use a normal oscillioscope instead of a laptop, if you can of course. Good luck with repairs, I'm also a cassette addict and repair decks when I got time.
i have several scopes and they perform as well as the software , the software however is easier and has more functions all in one ;-) so unless i have to trace signals on the pcb i exclusively use the software
Hi Sir, I haven't gone through all your videos yet, but I was wondering what software you use to tune the decks and where you recommend purchasing the tuning cassettes.
this is the software i use
www.anaxwaves.com/NAKT100/
and this is where i bought my tapes (he ships worldwide)
www.ebay.de/itm/176013927759
Well next time send a pre recordedd tester cassette with your deck so that idiots don't blame you for their short comings.
I am thinking about doing exactly that
Likely his old deck did not record properly.
this old deck records perfectly , watch my other initial video on it where i show the recording
How do you connect the deck to your computer to measure wow and flutter?
Anf what software do you use ?
Br Jacob
hey jacob , the software is the NAK T100 analyzer software you can download , you can use it direct with a 3.5mm to rca cable or the behringer uca202 interface so you can connect the deck to a usb port and then the software
Buyer probably ordered another deck to screw up and torture seller
lets hope not !
Great vid but you need to do the azimuth first ..otherwise all the other settings will be wrong
azimuth was done checked and locked in the previous video
in this video i checked in (should be in the vid ?) and was found correct , and i moved on to other checks
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair how did it become uncorrect for you to correct it again at the end ? perhaps there is a mechanical problem with the head assembly. I love tape systems because they caused the need for solid state digital.. and here we are ..glorious isnt it !
@@marxman00 i didnt correct it ? , i checked it and it was still correct after i adjusted it previously (in another video)
I was an ASC for Denon. Those decks were junk when they were new.
luckily its not a denon deck ;-)
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair Makes sense, the box lasts longer than what came in it.
What's wrong with Denon? Got a CDP from 1984-5 still going strong and a DRW-760 twin cassette from 1989 doing the same. Plus playback on both is excellent...
Hi can you please share Germanys casset maker / market sites or name ? I am searching for such a test cassets . Thank you so much for your kind help.
sure, here you go www.ebay.de/itm/176013927759
Makes me wonder if the guy just wanted to use it to record his old tapes and then just return it with a list of complaints.
you know what ? i would honestly hope so , digitize your old tapes and store them in the cloud somewhere , i just did the same with very old tapes where my wife just learned how to speak as an infant , and if you tell me thats what you want it for and are willing to pay for shipping i'll lend you the deck , and send it back when you're done with it
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair Nice tape find for your wife, I bet it was exciting to find.
As far as someone using me in that situation, the next channel adjustment would need to be done with an endoscope because it would be shoved so far up their
arrrrrrr.
never mind.
@@andrewstewart8704 LOL!!
Did they already have the same deck and bought yours to swap out the guts and return you his broken deck?
I was afraid of that as well but everything is the same as when I shipped it out , nothing was replaced or missing
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair : Always log, or photograph the serial No. of the items you sell; then you'll be able to tell if the buyer fraudulently returns a different item... 😉
Be nice to get you to set up my Kenwood twin deck KX-W4020..I've been using it on and off for a year or two..since i switched it out with my other Technics single deck..one transport is a little noisier mechanically..both sets of belts were changed..I guess some grease on all the moving parts would help..it's a budget deck and it's over 30 years old....that single deck Kenwood after your testing would be a great swapsie..
Where are you located ? If in europe i’d be happy to help
tops
Do you service DAT recorders ?? I presume by your accent you are in Holland
I have done a few DAT’s , if you drop me an email we can discuss ?
Well it sounds crazy thogh yhat after you sold this deck , you let him fool you to a trap , that it will make your day bad. . you should not teach an inexperience person do a repair or adjustment , that will result in a catastrophy , and eventually ends up in you door. never , never . if he doesn't know where the bias or the big ass . he doesn't know a F#$%^'n thing. . So if i'm the JURY .. it's on You .
sad to say... but its ok fix it again...
i allways assume people act in good faith and i will not talk bad about anyone that is not 100% happy with their purchase , this buyer clearly had 2nd thoughts and he wanted to send it back
Hi Sir , do you have SONY FH7 Vinyl player .
sorry i dont
Did you refund him? Who payed the shipping?
Buyer paid shipping
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repairyou are a seller, I would buy from!
@@joeprete7424 thank you ! And of course i refunded the buyer , that goes without saying
Please don't ban me before you read my first comment. I used to be one of the big restorers and sellers of vintage gear in the UK.Compact cassettes being that old really can clog heads in less than four runs of a tape. I'd recommend cleaning the heads with IPA, but not pinch rollers every time they use their decks. Also I'd never recommend A customer to intervene with the calibration of any of the parts. Never demagnetise a single"two" head cassette player. When recording onto a tape the heads demagnetise due to the higher bias going through the head. Always demagnetise the "3" head arrangement. And please never trust a buyer. I have been burned so many times. If any of your seals have been tampered with: No money back guarantee. Hope it goes well for you.
PS level indicators can be adjusted by using a sine wave generator to check their accuracy. A lot of people like to see both of the levels act equally. It's a stereo source, azimuth can be completely wrong on the tape and taes can have a continuous edge fold due to having been listened to or recorded on bad equipment. If I were you I'd get it back before the seller put their greasy fingers inside and I would have sold it to a decent one. Sorry if I had made a lot of punctuation and mistakes but I'll not go through the comment before I post it. I do it on a mobile phone and my eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be
Why would i ban you ? Youre basically describing what i was taught by the japanese designers and manufacturers 35-40 years ago when i worked for them
Question.
Do you think Nakamichi enthusiasts are weirdos?
i think some Nak's are overrated and some other TOTL decks from other brands can be equally good , and some enthusiasts are taking it a bit too far in their dedication (how that for politically correct ? ;-)
but there are dozens of decks out there that are equally good and reproduce the source just as well or sometimes better because they dont use the typical nakamichi 'sound color' and are mechanically much easier to service and with mechanical , NR and other specs better than most NAKs
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair have you seen the Tascam 4 trac deck that was out in the 80's ?
I restored a Technics M65 deck full recap, new belts, idler and minor adjustments. It had some scratches that where picture. It is the rack mount version. This guy contacted me few days later complaining about the pictured scratches, the rack mount holes appeared in was yanked out, the shipping cost was too high that he was robbed on the price. He claimed the feet where installed wrong etc.... Weirdest transaction I ever had. I don't know what his intentions where.
can't win them all , and sometimes its not worth fighting over
His tapes need adjusting
Most likely
What is your EBay ID so I can see some of your for sale items.
for now i only ship to europe as the shipping costs get prohibitively expensive for shipping outside europe
www.ebay.nl/usr/dracha3
Are you a qualified electronics service/repair technician? Alot of these guys claim to be just that. I would never buy electronics from ebay as ppl have tampered with the settings, etcetera. Ebay has a bad reputation for this kind of stuff, just saying
it depends what you mean by 'qualified' ? if you are asking "were you trained in japan by the japanese technicians that designed these and had regular meetings with them in their european HQ' , yes i was ;-) and its also why i post video's , to hopefully show what you can do yourself and potential buyers can actually see whats been done to their potential purchase
My apologies, but a few years ago I bought a tape machine from ebay and it was tampered with DOA . Ended up junking the unit. This is why I am a bit cynical. I lost money and I don't deal with online platforms anymore.
@@vancegosselin no worries , I mainly make these service and repair videos to hopefully assist the newer generation how to do it themselves, selling them on ebay is just so i dont end up with dozens of decks in my workplace and selling is not the main goal. But i will take them back if the buyer is not happy. This video is all about understanding if i maybe missed something during repair, which is always a possibility
the original video is here
th-cam.com/video/Cxn_3MZPfJg/w-d-xo.html&
TDK is known for selling hocus pocus stuff?
as i said , they are *not* known for selling hocus pocus stuff ;-)
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair wow, I did not hear THAT right! Sorry 'bout that!
How can I find your sales in eBay?
i typically only sell in europe as shipping get prohibitively expensive for most people ? but this is my ebay : www.ebay.nl/usr/dracha3
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair
Thanks for your reply. You have a new subscriber! I have a JVC KD-V6J that needs work. I ordered the service manual. I have to get courageous and replace the belts, then see if I can figure why there is no sound on the left channel! If you have a little time, any suggestions will be appreciated!
@@rafacq i am sure you will do great ! If you run into issues while working on it (take many pics or video while doing it) drop me an email with some pics and i can see what i can do from a distance , my email is on my channel : cassettedeckrepair@gmail.com
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair I just ordered the belts and they shipped from Portugal so it will be a few days before I can start working on it. Thanks so much!
Ebay sucks. Haven't used it since 2012. You're wasting your time.
we all make our own choices , i have been using eBay since 1999 and it works for me 99.999% of the time
Stop talking and show the cassettedeck
;-)
Basic stuff could have been done at home 😅
i am doing it at home ;-) but with the right software tool and some tapes it can be done , my other video's show exactly how
Pretty good W&F, I also use The Hanspeter Roth calibration Tapes (HPR) But I found the Azimuth tape (The one I received 5/2024) were about 150 to 180 off (Out of phase) compared to the A.N.T
thats pretty bad (150-180) ? if you compare to a good pre-recorded tape can you determine if the roth or ant cassette is better ?
They are good tapes, Their are not many option out their "GlennLab" "A.n.t" Not selling right. Which cost a lot more than HPR
People still dont use these old relics do they?
More and more even , there’s a huge amount of people that love the analog audio scene
Yes they do. I'm getting lots of cassette decks and open reel machines serviced for folk more recently . I've got a nice Aiwa ad f770 if you're interested.
@@JD-lk7im Nah
I have a fair stack of vintage audio gear that I have found at charity tent sales and from older folks cleaning out to down-size. Most if it was bought for $10 - $20 and didn't need much to get it going again. Where else can you find a Pioneer Spec 1 and Spec 2 (pre amp and amp) for $20 each?
@@Synthematix i even found some old tapes with french radio on them , i digitized them and asked another YTber , whose channel is specialized in preserving old radiostation broadcasts from all over the world, if he wanted them to post them. He was extremely surprised that i found 70s and 80s french broadcasts from a well know personality and is now uploading them to preserve them . Without these ‘obsolete’ machines all that radio heritage is gone
Ebay buyers !?!?:-((((
Hello sell you. India??
@@Mithun-143 i would like to but shipping costs are very high
Buyer does not have the intelligence to clean the heads, but your dead certain he adjusted a trim pot...............I beg to differ.
@@robertdavis5714 he asked about it and i compared what i got back with the video of what i sent out , using the same adjustment tape there now was a difference
I explicitly state no returns, cash on collection. Unit will be demonstrated on collection
Hi Rene, where do you sell these cassette decks ?
here is my ebay account, due to shipping costs i have only made these available within the EU
www.ebay.nl/usr/dracha3
@@cassettedeck-walkman-repair Nederland. 😊
@@jaapgraanstra281 Nederland 🇳🇱 idd 😎