*) Update report on the RS-B705. Apparently, in cleaning the unit I had managed to push the button sensors back from the actual buttons. That's why it wouldn't respond to commands. I had also mucked up the counter connector. Only one more digit to fix and the whole thing is ready to rock once more. There was also a loose component which has been re-soldered. *) Update report on the walkmans. June 2018. Yes, June 2018 before the Nichion 100uF caps are in stock at Mouser. The whole order has been held until they are ready. I nearly swore when that e-mail landed in my in-box this morning. I attempted to find alternatives, but they are out of stock everywhere. A friend has the 303 circuit diagram and is pouring over it whenever she has the free time, to try and identify what could be causing the tape units to immediately run when power is applied. I have a feeling that the transistors need replacing, but I'm not sure what to order to replace them yet. It would be odd, however, as transistors normally fail open circuit, I'm told... so maybe I'm sniffing up the wrong tree... but still... I'll just sit and wait to see what she says, as without the parts, there is little I can do at the moment, anyway. I do have my eye on two other walkmans on Fleabay, however. *) Update report on the old forum browser. I am now instigating a multiple page system, so that things like the "What are you listening to now?" won't mangle someone's browser by trying to load 2,100 posts at one go... yes, that's how many it contained. I'm currently working on 100 posts per page. I'm not sure on adding a search feature (allowing text input opens the door to SQL injection) and also a user-post browser to pull back all the posts made by a particular user... but multiple pages on that one could prove awkward. (everything is awkward until I spend two days lying on a sofa, staring at the ceiling... and then the answer usually just comes to me) Last feature is a post anchor, so that it is possible to create a link that will jump to a particular post on a page... but that might be awkward to code... not sure yet.
OK - so where am I? Nowhere in particular The 705 repair is going slowly as it requires a transistor which is now winging its way from China. Estimated delivery 23rd March to 18 April. (I bought five, just in case!) That does somewhat bugger up my ability to get into recording things. It'll be at least £500 to get a half decent deck from fleabay that can do tape analysing, which I couldn't do for a few months anyway. I did take the silver PX303 apart and although the 100uf caps won't be here until June, I decided to take the caps out and de-acidify the board. You know... I think that once fully re-done, this just might work. The other walkmans that I have now acquired, are working, but a bit of a sod that I can't record my own tapes afresh. This delay does give me a few months to get a few other things in place, however, so not all is lost. This comprises getting hold of various tapes of different types, battery investigation and various belts and holders to take the walkman units out and about. So this will give me time to breathe, at least!
This is definitely bonkers. How many caps did you buy? That is a LOT! Unless you are going to be collecting nothing but PX303s, you don't need that many 470uf... The only value I have in insane amounts is 220uf, the most common cap value.
Ah... yes... er.... well.... actually the price of the caps dropped when you hit 100. Plus, I had to hit an overall minimum spend in order to get free postage. It was a combination of insanity that will probably be repeated once I take apart the other walkmans I have here, and need to shop for more parts. The intention is to get the 303 units working... once they are running reliably, then I can take the others apart, work out the caps needed, and place another order. Oh, and to throw something else into the mix, I'm actually chasing 3D scanning and printing of the battery compartment for the PX303. Doesn't look like it will be easy... but nothing ventured...
Yes, you can get 100 caps, but it's a false economy- the price difference is very small unless you are buying over 50, and you'll never need to do that, unless you specialize in repairing nothing but J505s and their cousins (those have nearly 20 caps each). 470uf is a super rare cap basically only used in 1 or 2 models. You'll need to own 50 PX303s/505s to evvvverrrr use that many! I do buy spares, but better models will be released over the years, or become available again. For example, I held back buying 220uf SMD caps because I'm waiting for MVY series to go back in stock from my favorite supplier. I also buy different models to test before I put them in my capacitor list. I have successfully built a PB3 replacement using the small gumsticks, but I don't have time to post a tutorial yet. 3D printing a PX303 box seems quite doable as long as your box is stiff enough.
So... I buckled. After searching ebay for a while, I came to some conclusions. The kinds of Nakamichi I can afford are dropping off the lists of devices that can be refurbished and maintained. I had a number of searches on e-bay, and this popped up - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-TC-K...DUAL-CAPSTAN-DDRIVE-NEW-BELTS-RC/302592945858 Translation wasn't the best, but it looks to be a fully refurbished unit from someone with a good ebay reputation. Yes, a Japanese import so I have the voltage drop to contend with, but with the key feature of being able to automatically adjust to the tape for recording, I felt like if I missed this now, then I'd certainly be cursing myself for the rest of my life! ... sure, I can, as I type this, hear the click of the bank manager loading his shotgun... but I can talk fast, and if that fails, I can run faster. The Technics RS-B705 is still not with me. But even when it is repaired and returned, I know it will not be up to the job. A good playback deck, but its recording will be wanting. The caps are still not here and won't be for a while. But I do have one walkman running, and a few more pouches to have a look at. So there will be more on that post once I can take more pictures. (and I get the Rotel amp and Wharfdale speakers the heck out of my home office that I bought for a friend who is re-living his student years.) - http://msknight.com/technilife/?p=761 - and then when the decks are clear I can finally video the PX303 units for people to take a look at what's wrong. The scanning is on hold. I've located someone in Brighton that can likely do it... but after buying this Sony, I'll be eating baked beans for a few weeks. Told you I was bonkers :-D
That's a nice Sony deck. There are a few Sony models, around that vintage, for less money, but you have to factor in the state of repairs possibly needed to bring it up to factory-standard on the others. I had a Sony TC-K950ES, which I sold to offset the cost of other audio gear I purchased. I hope you get plenty of enjoyment using it! Nando.
Congratulations on your tape deck and don't forget to hit up the thrift stores once in a while. I bought one Nakamichi on ebay years ago but the other four or five I found at thrift stores for cheap. They are not the high end good stuff but they are still pretty nice units. Most tape decks are still considered old and worthless so around here they sell for dollars but they are getting a little harder to find. I remember an old thread or two on here with members from the UK that would go to "boot sales" your version of our "flea markets" They were finding some cool inexpensive gear back then.
I love these Sony decks, but they're kind of flawed design and aging wise. If you need advice on Sony TCM200 mechanism repair, I've been working on a few of these things for a while now. Upgraded a 890ES to 970ES capability, serviced a 677ES and 850ES. My recommendation is: If the rollers have not been replaced, there's a good chance you have to do it, but be warned: The supply roller height MUST be set again, and you need to get it within a quarter turn. After that, you must check tape path and set azimuth! Otherwise, you will be making lousy recordings. If you have to replace the mode belt, but do not have to replace the supply roller, do it using the method on tapeheads. As for choice of Sony ES models: based on what I've read on Tapeheads and looking at service manuals, The 950/970/990 are the ones you want. Anything under 700 is not really worth it, and the 808/909 series are closer to the 677 types than the other 900 series, due to poorer opamps and lack of jfet buffer. The 870/890 are in an odd spot. They are essentially downgraded versions of the 950/970, with a crap 4066 switch that must be upgraded to ANT4066. However, the biggest problem with these is the Recording Bias is set too low, as the record EQ circuit was essentially "sabotaged"! It's a relatively easy job to restore the EQ circuit back to 970ES spec and re-set the bias to make good recordings. Stock, their recordings are terrible. The 850ES does not have this Rec Bias problem, but lacks a amorphous record head and its circuitry is closer to the 808/909ES- playback will never be as good as the 870/890 (with 4066 upgrade). The 808/909 is the successor to the 850/870/890, but with less quality, as it is not based ont he other 900 series. There is no TOTL successor to the 990 until KA3/KA7. I like the looks of 950ES best, but I've read more than one account of leaking Elna Duorex II capacitors, which must be replaced. A warning to those that want one of those. Otherwise, it's one of the best ES decks.
The Sony I bought, looks to have been completely overhauled by someone who knows what they are doing, so I'm confident that this will be worth the money, and the trouble of converting the voltage. I'm wondering how much heat the external 220-100 transformer will put out? I haven't registered on TapeHeads yet, but I'll have to find that manual... not that I intend getting my hands inside it for many years to come. Hopefully, it shouldn't need another service for a decade at least, if I keep it clean. We have car boot sales here, but they are usually in the summer time and if you don't get there early, all the best stuff is gone. Also coupled with the fact that I can't memorise model numbers very well, so I'd likely make a completely duff purchase. I've done that before with camera equipment. As Bub has perfectly demonstrated, without knowing the history, it's easy to get an albatross deck. I'm sure that I'm going to enjoy this Sony. It'll likely record things perfectly good enough for my ears!
I'll mail out a manual to you. The transformer will waste some energy and heat, but it should not be too much, I run them all the time with no issues. I always label foreign voltage plugs with a sticker that says "110V only!" and such. Plug 110v into 220V and bye bye deck (and, slight chance of fire). Get one that is capable of at least 2x the deck's wattage. No cheap wall wart chinese crap (I have those, they are ok, but you don't want that to be the weak link for your valued deck). Judging from the pictures of your 909 listing, it seems like the heads and rollers are in good condition, but he disassembled the mech to replace the supply roller/mode belt- he probably set it correctly, but to be safe, I would recommend DIY a mirror cassette from a TDK D to check for curling. I cannot stress the importance of having at least 1 perfectly aligned deck you know performs to spec and makes compatible recordings. You don't want to find out all your recordings and mixtapes were recorded with bad azimuth and sound bad on other machines. Heinz tomato beans are the shit.
Thanks for the service manual. Received safely. I don't have a perfectly aligned deck, unfortunately. I do have a 3,000hz tape for speed, but it looks like I'm going to need other test tapes as well. So much has happened since I joined here in mid December, that my head is still spinning! Still so much to learn, and mistakes to make. And yes, Heinz do make good beans. A little noisy on the exit, but worth it
So... what's happened now? Well, I'm kind of at a stalemate. The Sony K222ESJ is here and settled in nicely. Getting some good recordings out of it. I now have a mixture of second hand TDK SA-90 and MA-90's to feed it, along with some new SA-90's (which are of the later manufacture... hey, I'll take what I can get) and also twenty new 799 Studio Masters. Also managed to bag a sealed Limited Edition SA90 which was my favourite cassette. I never had metal when I was young... couldn't afford them. So now I'm messing around. Bagged an Aiwa HS-PL55 which is on its way from the USA. I got it for the battery box in the hope that it will fit the PX30(3) units. (Service manual just uploaded to the store) The seller said it has been re-capped and had a new belt. If they'd mentioned that in the listing then someone else would probably have snapped it up before me. Talking about battery boxes, I still haven't progressed getting the 303 box 3D scanned yet. That's going to be something to do when I've actually got some cash left over. I think a firm in Brighton might do it. Managed to get some J-cards printed on an old ink jet printer. Bought some blank J cards from a company that deals with retro media, as I was fed up of dealing with paper cut outs like I did when I was a teen. I want to do the job a bit better this time around ... admittedly not much better, but it's a start! When the last walkman is here, I've got to start taking all the units I have apart and work out the capacitors needed, before I can go on another bulk cap shopping spree to get all the parts I need, and then I can settle down to a mass repair session in a few months time. That is also going to require financial recovery first! One PX303 is here, waiting for the 100uF caps in June. The other two are in someone else's hands for repair. I know I swore I'd never let two units out of my sight at the same time, ever again... but this person comes highly recommended.. so now patience is the name of the game. They might be beyond repair... I don't know. Only time will tell now. I have the week off next week, so I'm planning a walk in the country with my only working, recapped walkman. - At least I can now start making decent mix tapes.
Make sure you get an azimuth test tape and the right software/equipment o use it. Many TCM200 Sony decks I've come across have drifted from azimuth, and need alignment. Or you're making recordings that only sound good on the original deck. When you're getting ready to buy caps, send me a list of the Walkmans you plan to repair, and the caps you want to buy, I'll try to see if I can save you some money by buying a future-proof set of caps in 1 order in reasonable amounts, to save on shipping.
Thanks very much for the offer. I hope to have everything taken apart and listed in two or three weeks. Azimuth alignment is something I haven't done before, but I can see it is necessary. So far, I've recorded on the Sony and played back on an Aiwa walkman, and all sounds great ... jump to 10 mine and 50 seconds into this video -
So... this is what we're dealing with... HS-PX557 - Unit is working, but likely needs a recap and acid clean. Also azimuth and speed checks I wouldn't mind betting. HS-RX610 - The radio works, but the tape doesn't. I suspect the belt. Also, the usual caps, acid, azimuth and speed. HS-PX610 - Sold faulty, tape stopping, so it's going to be caps, acid, azi and speed, possibly belt while I'm in there. HS-PX303 - Currently de-capped waiting for the order to arrive in June. Has been acid cleaned. HS-P505 Mk II - Has been acid cleaned, re-capped, belted and is currently working nicely. Sadly, I used tantilums in there for the rare caps, but they'll get changed out most likely when I get others working well. HS-PL55 - Working, but needs the usual acid, caps, azi, speed and a belt if I can find one. WM-EX502 - Working, but sounds muddy. Will throw the usual at it and that should bring it out. I have the service manuals for all of them. The PX610 is just waiting for me to assemble the images into PDF format and that will also be on the forum service manual collection in a day or two. Of course, there are two other HS-PX303 units currently under the care of Marian. Only time will tell on those units now. Next step will be to take them all apart and see what caps they use.
So, I've been quiet... but I'm not doing nothing... I'm hardware modding three backup Original Xboxes while I can still get the parts, and when that's done I can safely overhaul my original, original xbox which desperately needs cleaning and a CPU paste change. Once these are out of the way, then the bench will be clear to look inside the walkman collection to see what caps are needed. If you want to know more about that, I created a small blog post here - http://msknight.com/technilife/?p=832 - but next post here will be back to walkmans in a week-ish, at a guess.
I have listened with interest to your video and the question of the use Of Dolby B or not! However you be interested to learn that Juno Records sells a large number of Indie tapes on cassette and also sell Thats Metal tapes (SUONO) at price 0f £4.95 I recall Here is the Link I hope it may be of interest to you https://www.juno.co.uk
Listening to my rambles should come with a health warning ... many thanks for the link. I'm going through it now. This month I'm flat out after buying mod chips and ide/sata converters, but next month I'll be giving Juno a good look. Cheers for the heads up.
