4 ms·

Do you have tips on a good tape deck model, or manufacturer that consistently made high quality decks? A friend gave me his old Sony TC-W365 which worked admira

Do you have tips on a good tape deck model, or manufacturer that consistently made high quality decks? A friend gave me his old Sony TC-W365 which worked admirably, until recent mechanical failures.

tenebrisalietum 4y ago
I have a TC-WE525 circa 1999 or 2000 that stopped working - when I would start a tape playing, it would play for a second, then stop, like it got to the end of the tape. The belts disintegrate over time and must be replaced. I successfully repaired mine from a belt kit I was able to get on Amazon. It's not terribly easy to replace the belts but I did manage to do it.
- trynewideas 4y ago
  One handy resource for tape deck belts, aside from the library of service manuals at hifiengine (whose user registration has been "under maintenance" for months, at least), is turntableneedles.com. Despite the domain name they carry a large variety of belts for things well beyond turntables, and more importantly have a searchable resource to match belts to product models and OEM service manual numbers: https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp If they don't stock the belt, you can often find the same-sized belt elsewhere. But it helps immensely to know what you're looking for. They also stock tools designed for belt replacements. This helped me replace the belts in my old Realistic/Radio Shack boombox's deck.
  - PaulHoule 4y ago
    Techmoan has fallen back to reviewing new and mostly lame products lately but back in the day he made 25+ videos where he brought some old audio equipment back to life by replacing belts. Sometimes he replaces capacitors but he does very little with electronics, but his mechanical repairs are highly effective. Here is a generic repair of a very unusual tape deck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntV8gUsbIsk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntV8gUsbIsk
itintheory 4y ago
Nakamichi is widely regarded as the highest quality manufacturer. The decks can be expensive and some of them are extremely complex to service. /r/cassetteculture is a decent resource for info.
PaulHoule 4y ago
I would repair the one you have or get a refurbished Sony from ebay like https://www.ebay.com/itm/185721049456 https://www.ebay.com/itm/185721049456 those Sony(s) do need maintenance more than some decks but they are very available.
crispyambulance 4y ago
The best ones seemed to use direct drive motors. In my opinion, the "god-tier" would be Revox B215 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revox_B215 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revox_B215) and the Nakamichi Dragon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi_Dragon). I've personally used the Revox in the late 80's and early 90's as a DJ in a college radio station. It was super durable (it had to be, in a punk environment). I don't have any experience with the Dragon but it looks cool and I see it has good performance. I think anyone who adopts a tape deck these days had better be ready for getting it serviced. Aside from the mechanical stuff that just wears out, the electronics are likely to need work after 30+ years. Capacitors, mainly.

Do you have tips on a good tape deck model, or manufacturer that consistently made high quality decks? A friend gave me his old Sony TC-W365 which worked admirably, until recent mechanical failures.

tenebrisalietum 4y ago

I have a TC-WE525 circa 1999 or 2000 that stopped working - when I would start a tape playing, it would play for a second, then stop, like it got to the end of the tape. The belts disintegrate over time and must be replaced. I successfully repaired mine from a belt kit I was able to get on Amazon. It's not terribly easy to replace the belts but I did manage to do it.

trynewideas 4y ago
One handy resource for tape deck belts, aside from the library of service manuals at hifiengine (whose user registration has been "under maintenance" for months, at least), is turntableneedles.com. Despite the domain name they carry a large variety of belts for things well beyond turntables, and more importantly have a searchable resource to match belts to product models and OEM service manual numbers: https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp If they don't stock the belt, you can often find the same-sized belt elsewhere. But it helps immensely to know what you're looking for. They also stock tools designed for belt replacements. This helped me replace the belts in my old Realistic/Radio Shack boombox's deck.
- PaulHoule 4y ago
  Techmoan has fallen back to reviewing new and mostly lame products lately but back in the day he made 25+ videos where he brought some old audio equipment back to life by replacing belts. Sometimes he replaces capacitors but he does very little with electronics, but his mechanical repairs are highly effective. Here is a generic repair of a very unusual tape deck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntV8gUsbIsk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntV8gUsbIsk

itintheory 4y ago

Nakamichi is widely regarded as the highest quality manufacturer. The decks can be expensive and some of them are extremely complex to service. /r/cassetteculture is a decent resource for info.

PaulHoule 4y ago

I would repair the one you have or get a refurbished Sony from ebay like https://www.ebay.com/itm/185721049456 https://www.ebay.com/itm/185721049456 those Sony(s) do need maintenance more than some decks but they are very available.

crispyambulance 4y ago

The best ones seemed to use direct drive motors. In my opinion, the "god-tier" would be Revox B215 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revox_B215 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revox_B215) and the Nakamichi Dragon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi_Dragon). I've personally used the Revox in the late 80's and early 90's as a DJ in a college radio station. It was super durable (it had to be, in a punk environment). I don't have any experience with the Dragon but it looks cool and I see it has good performance. I think anyone who adopts a tape deck these days had better be ready for getting it serviced. Aside from the mechanical stuff that just wears out, the electronics are likely to need work after 30+ years. Capacitors, mainly.