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Rustbucket Pioneer CT-W504R Auto NR cassette deck restoration
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2019
- Restoring a rusty but trusty 1995 Pioneer cassette deck with a unique "Auto NR" feature that attempts to automatically detect which Dolby NR system (if any) a tape was recorded with. *VIDEO LINKS BELOW (CLICK SHOW MORE):*
Its successor, Pioneer's cassette decks with Digital NR: • A cassette deck that e...
Interface's video on cleaning, aligning, and demagnetizing cassette decks: • INTERFACE Tips Tricks ...
The test recording played with the correct Dolby NR systems: • Cassette tape comparis...
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All my main stuff is old pioneer stuff. They are brutal. They just keep bloody going. I like collecting pioneer
I once had a Pioneer 3cd charger, it worked quite well until it stopped working, I never could get it going again, wish I had kept it anyways so I could have repaired it later.
@@Alexis_du_60 Yeah, I have a PD-101 and that developed a brushing sound when playing CDs. I don't know why but when I put my reviver on top it stopped. Odd quirks are what draw me to old stuff like that
i love pioneer stuff, im on the hunt for a A-88X amp XP
@@emolgatheelectricsquirrel6734 Used to have one but it outgrew my needs, sounded amazing though.
Pioneer was quite the brand back in the 80s. Affordable and durable. My first amp was one a drunk guy stepped on and I soldered a couple of bridge wires across the damaged board and used it as a basement amp for years. The next amp I bought was a Pioneer which had a weird cooling system, may even been a sealed liquid unit for all I know.
It's possible the deck lived a life in a beach house on the coast. Salty, humid air and electronics do not mix! Other than that I'm surprised it worked as well as it did.
That's what I was thinking.
At least the cassette deck sections were free of rust corrosion.
I think that might be right
It's worse when cassette decks and electronics for that matter when they live on or near the equator where the hot humid climate killed and rust them.
Wow. People should look after their equipment and give it the love it deserves. Double wow, that Vacuum Cleaner looks like it is from the 70s and belongs in a museum.
I own this same particular deck which I kept in top notch condition. I came back to pick it up from my parents house. Plugged it in, hooked it up. Still works great. Sounds amazing. Both decks record well. Did parallel record, both tapes sounded amazing, even though I used two different brands of tapes, they sounded identical. Louder and crispier than the source. This is a one amazing tape deck!
This video is so satisfying that I can't help constantly coming back to it! The looks of the deck at the beginning and the end of the video couldn't have been more different! Much like a needy orphan who found a caring family, this deck found your magic hands which offered it a second chance!!! Thank you on behalf of it... Certainly a highlight of your channel!! It almost makes feel ashamed for always chasing scratchless decks to buy...
Even the "Not the highest quality" tape decks of the early / mid 90s beat the "high quality" tape decks of today. Also... 13:38 Looks still fine. One shade of grey is enough. Who needs 50? :P
@Utkarsh Amitabh Srivastava Looks like we love the same awesome things ^_^ *hugs*
lol I was thinking of this in the context of that dumb mono player with the Bluetooth slapped in. Despite being middle-tier this thing’s like a piece of alien technology compared to that.
Still better than most modern 2010-2020 decks.
yeah especially for the prices they sell for, i mean i have this kenwood kx5530 that sounds better than even the tape decks they sell for over $1,000 now.. i don't know why they stopped building them with quality components but i can't do much about it
A couple years back I bought a nearly new condition (still had foam inserts in one of the wells from the factory) CT-W803RS (which is apparently the higher end version) to go along with my old 1981 Pioneer SX-6 receiver. It was made in Japan in September of 1995. Dual Record, Super Auto BLE on both sides, A mic line input in the front of the unit next to the headphone jack. I love it very much but one side plays a bit faster and I now see how that could be fixed thanks to this video. I need one of those calibration tapes apparently though. Very nice to see a in depth review of a deck in the same series as the one I have. I did not know if I had just gotten lucky with a good conditon one or if they were known for holding up over time. Glad to see they withstand the test of time as my SX-6 has. Love old Pioneer. So good.
I'm shocked to see a RS catalog. As a child I virtually lived in those catalogs. I had a dual high speed Optimus deck. It was crucial for copying your favorite music and swapping with friends. Come to think of it I still have it in a 1950s B&W TV mahogany roll tambour case I removed the tube TV electronics to convert it to use as a stereo case. It's nice because it hides the stuff when I am not using it. It still works and beyond cleaning it has never needed servicing.
I always had the best luck with the Maxell gold and red Chromium Oxide 90 minute tapes. BASF chrome wasn't too bad but once I got some from France and they stunk like no tomorrow. The chrome Maxell tapes had superior sound but mostly they were near impossible to wear out. I'd make tapes in the dual tape units then switch it to my Sony Walkman so I could listen to tunes while I delivered my paper routes in style.
You have an interesting hobby, VWestlife.
If you're interested, there's a website that archives Radio Shack catalogs! They've done a heck of a job and have nearly every one they printed scanned in and easily viewable online. www.radioshackcatalogs.com/
The good old chrome tape smell.
If it smelled a bit like crayons, you knew it's the real deal. Otherwise its just Cobalt.
Love this video. Cassette decks and turntables are what you do best. From a UK fan!
Thankyou so much! I have successfully adjusted the azimuth and cleaned my cassette deck. It's like a a completely different deck now! Awesome video! Subscribed :)
great review as always that's what I love about your channel you're so thorough and you explain it beautifully currently I'm shopping for a tape deck wish me luck
Man, I have so much fondness for these Pioneer machines. My first (and still current) tape deck in my setup is one of these, though the Optimus re-brand you showed at 10:12 (all the components in my stereo are matching '94 Optimus, I'm kinda fond of Radio Shack brands). I never actually knew what the CSES button was for, I'll have to try it out! Really solid little machines, never once had an issue, aside from the recording level knob being missing, hah. Congrats on being able to save one! These things are tanks and will last ya for years to come.
Thank you for another wonderful video. Great job on the restoration on the cassette deck.
Thanks for this. I have the exact same deck (albeit my lcd display is more blue). I bought it new many years ago and it is still working well. I miss-laid the instruction manual some time ago so thanks for highlighting a few features of the deck I didn't know it had! Never did know what FLEX meant 👍
Found a CTW503R at good will and its really simular to this one except some front panel diffrences but components seem the same. Sounds great!
Me and that Cassette deck are the same age. Happy Birthday, Cassette Deck. 🎉
Wow, I can't believe that thing still worked in that condition... did the original owner store it next to a swamp?
Nice restoration!
@WindowsLogic If Shrek had a Tech Deck on his Deck it would be Shrek's Deck's Teck Deck
Game from Washington DC area
@@gharr1405 I can’t stop laughing 😂😂
Going off my own experiences and stories of my dad's from back in the day, as well as opinions on the internet: *most* Pioneer equipment are built like tanks.
Excellent video Kevin. Thanks for the tip on using electrical tape. I have used the same technique on a used high end mini disc deck.
You may already know this, but there is a company in Portugal that sells new pinch rollers and belt sets for Pioneer decks (and probably others, too), on EBay. Great video, glad to see there are others out there who like Pioneer consumer cassette decks.
I love old Pioneer stuff. My uncle had a Pioneer receiver that he said didn't work, I took one look at it and pushed the A speaker button. Boom, sound. He did let me keep it though.
My father had an SX-6 that he said didnt work and like you..I pushed those speaker A and B buttons. The thing is a tank. 1981 was when I think it was made and after so many years of hot garage-ing it it has a home with me and works quite well. I purchased an almost new condition CT-W803RS (a higher end version of this deck in the video) a couple years ago to use along with it and they both play well together. I love my Pioneer things.
Thank you so much man!!
I have a pioneer ctw603rs a similar looking tape deck having dolby c and s NR that also has the double playback made, but not double speed record. so in audacity i just halved the playback speed and just recorded that to a type 1 tape. then played in double speed in my deck and the recording definitely sounded better with alot less hiss.
love your videos mate. i watch every single one. Hello from Australia
I have this exact model, the only difference seems to be the colour of the display on mine is a greeny blue colour whereas yours seems to be an orange sort of colour. I bought mine around 25 years ago I think in London and it's been unused for a good 10 - 15 years. I dragged it out about 6 months ago to convert my cassettes to digital and it worked fine. I did one tape and got sidetracked. Started again yesterday but even though I can hear something turning when I hit play, ff, or rew on both decks tapes will not turn. for some reason. Was going to ditch it but then thought would make an interesting project so now it's on my todo list. Glad I found this vid, it should help.
Can't beat old pioneer equipment. I have a very early 90s pioneer receiver and it keeps on going!
All brands from Japan did use motors off Sankyo even in the Dragon are Sankyo motors
I am a tape deck specialized technician and, by coincidence, I myself own one of these Pioneer CT-W504 decks. In my opinion, this model sounds surprisingly well, but it needs to be in good working condition and well calibrated. In this present video, the method of calibrating the reproduction level is far from accurate and Dolby is very sensitive to the recording level. This is not a problem for the tapes recorded and reproduced on the same recorder, but it turns into a problem if the idea is to listen to tapes recorded with Dolby in other recorders. Since my tape deck is well calibrated, I use to let the AUTO Dolby turned on all the time and I think it works well. The noise reduction is far better then when someone uses only the Dolby B e not different from a Dolby C recording. Despite these details, the video is quite interesting and gives one a good idea of this interesting Pioneer recorder from the nineties. Congratulations for the video!
Why did you do that, though. It's almost rude to tell people "I'm more qualified than you and you did it wrong" without explaining why. If he showed a bad method, I want to know why I shouldn't be using it!
Nice orange Hoover constellation. My Grandma had that exact one. I always thought it was so cool.
I was just listening to Coast to Coast and if I didn’t know better, you were the guest. You have a one of a kind voice. It was almost too similar.
Nope. I've never been on that show.
I bought the W505R in perfect condition, my tapes sound really great. No maintenance needed so far.
Oh man, how weird! I just last week picked up this EXACT model double cassette deck at a thrift store for I think it was 8 dollars, lol. It's in pristine condition! AND as an added bonus I picked up about a month ago a 3 disk CD player (Pioneer PDR-W739) that also happens to be a CD dubbing deck so it is a 3 disk changer but it has a CD recorder built into it, I have never even heard of such a thing before. I tested them both out and they work perfectly! If anyone is interested in buying the tape deck I will list it on eBay, just respond to this post and I will list it (I have about a dozen double cassette decks so I no particular love for this exact model) Love the channel!
One of my favorite youtubers right here
Nice comprehensive review Kevin.
I had a Pioneer tape deck just like that one. It was a either a CT-W402R or a CT-W502R. It was part of my Pioneer rack system that put together piece by piece back in the 1990s. I also had a Pioneer VSX-502 Surround reciever, Pioneer PD-101 CD player, and a Pioneer GR-555 graphic equilizer.
Nice to see somebody else still using CoolEdit! Still the best audio editor ever made!
Actually it's Adobe Audition 1.5. Adobe bought out Cool Edit Pro and turned it into Audition.
Good old Pioneer. My Pioneer LD player also keeps going and going and going, and I hope it will continue to do so.
I bought mine new from Sears plus extra 1 year warranty, was a great deck, not sure where mine went to however....was nice to hear the tape head mechanical sounds again....always have liked them. ~Jak, VEG
Wateched your video a while ago and now there is one for sale in Sweden as part of a hifi-system for ab 100 USD. I think I will grab it. The CT-W504R looks just great in the ad, and there is an ok amp (SX-305RDS) a NAD CD-changer and lastly a ghastly recordplayer from Toshiba. So thankyou without your video I wouldnt know how good this deck actually is.
2:12 I have a Pioneer tape deck with a nearly identical design (a CT-W604RS, the next model up from this one IIRC and the same model Databits did a video of a few years back) and yup they did have a bit of foam on them. That's what the square bit within the circle feet is for.
Lemme also mention that this video has given me very good tips on how to adjust the tape deck. RN I got it working pretty well by adjusting the speed by ear, but I think I can get it working a lot better now. Great video.
Adjustig by ear can be yield to quite precise results. You want to check again with a speed calibration records. There are sellers who offer new ones for less than $20. I usually check this against a function generator app. Works great.
I have the next model CT-W505R, Fitted with BLE and ALCA systems. It is only cassette deck i have used in the last 30 years and is still going strong.
I have the same deck. I love it. It has good quality and a lot functions:)
Back in the mid-90s our late brother left us his Pioneer gear including a CT-W602R. Dual record wells - though you can't parallel record. Would love to get a copy of some of those adjustment cassettes to get his deck working properly - and that trick to get it in test mode.
Works Fine ® - vwestlife excellent video as always!
wow not bad for a tape deck in ruff shape and after a nice clean! good pickup
Dude you have inspired me to try & fix my Sony tape deck from 1997. I think it just needs a new belt I think it’s snapped.
Auto NR aside, the deck still sounds very good, nice restore Kevin :o)
This breaks my heart. A few weeks ago I went to the goodwill and they had that same model for 15$. I didn't have the money at the time so I didn't get it. But three days ago I went back there to buy it and it was gone
I own this deck and it is in perfect condition, and I love it!
Wow that sure looks like it has had a hard life :/
I've got the exact model you have there and it's a really good tape deck for everything I need. :)
I'm glad it landed in your collection though, it'll have a good home from now on.
The search function of the deck finds gaps between tracks pretty well, if they're about 2-3 seconds, which is useful if you want to skip through by track.
This deck, like many Pioneer decks of the era, also has the SR (System Remote) feature. If you have a compatible Pioneer receiver or CD player, you can connect a control cable between the deck and receiver and be able to control the deck's basic transport functions via the receiver's wireless remote control.
Nice video Kevin have a nice week
A LOT of the dolby NR filters no longer work correctly due to capacitor rot, it is nice to hear one working mostly as intended.
But... Doesn't that mean that it's easy to fix? Replace the cap?
@@awesomeferret Yes. Calibration might be a bit off, but it should be close.
"Una música ahí... Tremenda!"
Hi a quick tip: Spin the take-up reel with your finger when trying to clean the "side B pinch-roller" and it will last as long as you keep spinning it :D. That's because there is a sensor behind the take-up reel that senses when the tape stops and that will engage auto-reverse or auto-stop. This works on my Panasonic ak-48 unit so i hope it works for you too :) gobxo//
What is the layout of the chip that deals with the Dolby selection it might be possible to do something like set an led to active for the different types
I think this may be the deck that I purchased when I was in my late teens. I remember when I used HX Pro to record a CD to tape, I honestly thought the tape sounded better than the CD.
I'm starting on this analog journey. Don't get me wrong, I'm 54, I know my way around 8-track, cassette, and vinyl. I'm starting over. I picked up a Walkman that actually works. Was looking for Kenwood or Pioneer, but "all I could find" is Sony. Oh well, first world problems I'm sure. Lol
Ooh I had one of these. Decent everyday unit. My current one is a CT-W208R these days.
That's the thing I need, because all my older mixtapes I done myself have a big silence gap
i have a Pioneer CT-S99WR that works that i found in the trailer i grew up in, it was made in Japan and has DBS noise reduction, i like it
PS: the trailer im referencing was falling apart and and got torn down, it was full of mold but had to save the deck
Long live CT-S99WR!
wow that deck sounds amazing
Very nice restoration and nice tape deck. I have yet to find the one I used to have that I can't remember the brand.
Very nice video. Thank you.
Truck Month! What a great album that is :)
Wow, Nice job!
So, after all the cleaning, it does indeed work good... :D
I have a cassette copy of Time life's AM gold 1973 my grandma had since i was a kid and it sounds fantastic, even with Dolby B and C on my Onkyo TA W100. It's been in two hot cars. It's one of my best sounding cassettes
Lovely Deck-I guess,a nice cleanup,would restore it to it’s former glory !!
Try polishing the scratched plastic with Brasso and a soft cloth. It works wonders on dust covers for turntables, so I bet it will work in this case too. If not, you can always go back to the tape solution.
I always come back to this video to get general tips on how to improve my cassette players, but today it is because I actually got this deck for about 25 bucks, in (kind of) working condition.
The recording side is lagging a lot, so I need to do belt replacement, but unfortunately I might not be able to adjust the speed as nicely as you did, as those test tapes are hard to come by.
The playback side works quite well, after some cleaning.
I plan to use this to make some mix tapes of my own to play in my Walkman and in my Japanese mini disc/CD/cassette bookshelf unit (because the bookshelf unit is horrendous, introduces a lot of hiss in any recording)
I can never get pinch rollers cleaned well running the mechanism. I either have to get down in there
or take the roller out. You can put a big strain on the drive system and belts doing it this way also.
I've actually broke belts doing it that way. But to each his own. This is a good cassette deck if you
find one. They are reliable and play and make decent recordings. Cheers! Goooood video. 🍻
I don't know about your deck, but with my Onkyo TA w100 if you put half a cassette shell in it and press play and it there's enough room for me to get a q-tip in there.
@@connorm955 one good thing to do is about once a year or so is
take that roller out and clean it good if you use the deck regularly. I think it just gets
cleaner if you can hold it in place and scrub it. The tape is more stable across the
head the cleaner you keep that pinch roller system. I try to hold the roller with a finger
and scrub till I don't see any oxide and then advance the roller. I just don't like putting
that strain on the drive system. I have one Teac rack machine that broke a drive
belt doing that once and in my 30 years of repair I've seen guys actually break the
holders doing it that way or get the cotton swab twisted in the mechanics and have
to take the drive apart to pick cotton out of the works or replace some gear that broke...... LOL
Especially the older these machines get, you don't want to do no undue strain on
the mechanics if you can help it. Especially if they got a lot of plastic or nylon gears.
Cheers to you 🍻 -Al Cox
It's a very durable tape deck I have the same one and its been through hell but works perfectly.
I have a thrift store CT-W502R. Looks almost the same, but no Auto NR. I will have to figure out if it's B or C on my own. Both tape wells need belt replacements. I want one of those wow and flutter test tapes, and an azimuth test tape would be nice as well! From the fact that the Auto NR doesn't tell you which is implimented, and it inappropriately switches during quiet passages, I'm glad I have the CT-W502R instead, I just need to get around to the belt replacement!
Does the cassette Wells on the pioneer the same with on the Yamaha K-98 and also is the head/demagnetize cleaning cassette tape works?
I am so glad you did this video. I literally just bought the same deck. I picked it up for about $150 au. I had to manually adjust the asemouth to which I had to do by ear. I am wondering how did you put this into test mode? I am overall very happy I got this deck. Thanks for posting!
You can download the service manual which will tell you how to put it into test mode.
Cool tape deck player, I hope it gets fix! :)
"I don't know what happened to it."
Garage. A lot of these things come from garages or sheds. Even you said so.
But at least they're cheap on ebay! I got a Sega CD at a garage sale that was clearly in a garage (just being stored) for years, but it claned up nicely and that's all that matters to me.
Interestingly, any electronics residing in beach homes near salt water will exhibit the same corrosion. If I see any rust on the back of a unit in an eBay listing (e.g. the screw heads), I always check the seller's city/state to see if it's a possible victim of beach disease.
I have a (i guess its high end) CT-430S pioneer casette deck which is very good, and the styling is very simmilar! Despite the fact the auto N.R. doesnt really work yours still a nice find!
You should experiment with some rubbing compound on the plastic to remove scratches. Kind of the same way people clean car headlights,
Maybe all the foam is from being transported in a flight case to studios or gigs? Great video by the way
Wonder if you could help me with something? I have a Pioneer A333 amp that only works in ‘direct’ mode, any ideas? Thanks
I share the curiosity about the encoding on especially modern tapes. Future's "The Wizrd" sounds much brighter than Billie Eilishs' "When We All Fall Asleep..." but ultimately, for actually listening, "your own ears" are prime without exception. The encoding (or lack of it) is just one step in the massive recording/production/mastering chain so ultimately just put the knobs and dials where they sound good, is my philosophy.
I know this is an old video but did you use the isopropyl alcohol to get the rust off the internals ?
Thank you
David ❤
I have the CTW650R.... Working in 2019❤❤❤
What a great video! Thnx
I got my hands on a Pioneer CT-W603RS, Dolby S and NR, with BLE and HDX. I haven´t found a video about this deck and know very little about these decks in general. Would love a history of it, maybe a walkthrough like a mini review. Is it just a generation newer and therefore the 6 instead of 5 series? Dolby S function have been mind blowing!
Pffft. Wow. That thing is a mess! Ebay is really sketchy with used electronics. Some sellers will go as far as calling something "works good" as long as it shows some sign of life.
I'm a fan of Pioneer PD-S stable platter CD players and I've been considering of complimenting my CD decks with a compact cassette deck. This was an obvious choice, but anyways thanks for extra info.
To say it was recovered from the Titanic, its not looking too bad!
I used to have one of those, sound was missing too much top end for me so I gave it to my brother
My bad it's the one I had before the one I gave to my brother, that one sounds good to be fair
If you use the deck to record in Dolby c it sounds really good or did to my ears about 25 years ago lol
*Links to the videos I mentioned:*
1. Its successor, Pioneer's cassette decks with Digital NR: th-cam.com/video/v14AEKgX29U/w-d-xo.html
2. Interface's video on cleaning, aligning, and demagnetizing cassette decks: th-cam.com/video/kYK9Y7HMOR4/w-d-xo.html
3. The test recording played with the correct Dolby NR systems: th-cam.com/video/09Cm_hilnWE/w-d-xo.html
good vid, recommissioning abused deck. like your vids. was digit al NR Pioneer employed on other decks useful, or screws-up sound?-playback system, not engaged when recording?
It might still be possible to add a display for the auto dolby selected system by putting two LEDs on the appropriate internal switching signals.
i cant see buying a cassette deck now ofthe problom of no chrome cassettes do you know of a place to order them from ... if so please letme know thank you..
@vwestlife would you say Auto NR is a pre Digital NR version? Or totally different things?
this thread is from the q tips. I have had this happen on my cassette decks too
Have almost the same deck here. CT-W208R. It doesn't have this auto Nr selection feature (which by the way doesn't really bother me). What it does miss is the headphone output! It also misses the scratches and corrosion by the way and allthough it might be a bit older it's still working very well... Bought it for €5 or so. Uhm yes the doors indeed are annoying though. I accidentally/purposely broke the door of the record deck out, but that's no problem... I just place the tape in there without door, still works (until now touch wood).
Anyway don't underestimate Pioneer.... Guess it never was the most popular brand but it seems to last well.
I like that white noise / hiss on magnetic tape anyway. _a e s t h e t i c_
I know of a cassette deck that you might be interested in: Denon DRW-750A
Reasons
1 two non-autoreverse two motor decks with denons cassette stabilizer
2 the deck has manual bias adjustment and has dolby b and c along with HX pro
Yes! DRW-750 and DRW-650 both are one of the best dual well decks you can get while avoiding autoreverse.
Preferably I would get in this color over black by miles. Looks so much sexier and beautiful to me.
DRW-650 th-cam.com/video/SWFGbqFSi_I/w-d-xo.html
DRW-750 th-cam.com/video/yGcd2Izakac/w-d-xo.html
Emil Lawrence the DRW-750A is slightly better, considering it has a cassette stabilization mechanism
@@ttheone3518 One thing I don't like about stabilizing mechanisms are that it protrudes cassette viewing windows. They became more conmon in early 90's decks such as Aiwas.
Good to see that the wow and flutter does in fact exceed the rated spec. .09 is pretty bad, but dang, it sure sounds better than the spec.
That one is an exact copy of my OPTIMUS PROFESSIONAL SERIES SCT-57 (with the exception that mine has Dolby S, AUTO BLX BALANCE, and many more functions), which I still own and use.
Most Optimus cassette decks were made by Pioneer.
@@vwestlife Too bad I cannot send you a picture of my deck. It still looks (and plays) like new. I like to take very good care of my stereo system.
Wow! I cannot believe I watched this video 4 years ago! An update, my SCT-57 has a problem when playing either tape on the A side the speed is faster (the music comes out very fast - like as if the Chipmunks are singing or you are dubbing at fast speed), but the B side is perfectly fine.
I have that same exact cassette deck type. Mine is a pioneer CT-w404r I got it at Goodwill for $10 the sticker of the day was blue and it was marked as $19.99 there was an RCA model that looked identical I probably should have bought. If it's still there I'm going to