I picked up this Hifi Component system the other day from Ebay Germany and had it shipped to the UK. Everything in it works flawlessly, except the cassette deck is broken. Firstly it has shot belts, which is to be expected, but I have tested using an SD card cassette adaptor (the types popularly used in car cassette players as it doesn't require working belts to use) just to confirm the heads etc are all okay. Although once the tape is inserted the cassette decks VU meters flash to the beat of the music there is no audio output over its five pin din connector into the back of the pre-amp. I have confirmed the problem is not with my amplifier or preamplifier as using a Din to RCA lead and my iPhone on the tape input it produces a nice clean and crisp sound. When the cassette deck is then hooked in with its five pin din cable total silence. The cable is also brand new and was bought off Amazon yesterday. I assume this is some kind of capacitor issue? Although, I've worked on a few cassette decks before, Namely my Sony TCK611S which I rebuilt fitting in new belts, Capstan motor from Pacific Stereo, and a Pinch roller and adjusted heads etc. This miniature form factor deck looks rather complicated and the parts very intricate. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas of what to look out for in regards to diganosing the problem further.
That beautiful unit is made by AIWA but I knew just seeing the L22 in the title. Can you shoot a photo of the back? None of my units have DIN, I'm assuming yours doesn't have RCA out jacks. I did look at the Wega on that awesome AIWA Compo Thread and there's RCA Jacks next to the DIN, do you have the same set up? I would check the RCA outs first, maybe take a multimeter to the DIN, if you can find the pinout, then look over the wiring going to the outputs on the inside. My experience with audio equipment is that the plugs and jacks can get a lot of abuse and the wires get lose, corrosion get on the connectors or they just get bent and don't make full contact.
Hi Yes it only has a five pin din plug on the back and two connectors below that for the microphones. I have a slightly newer L30 which I got for parts, which is RCA for record and play, but doesn't quite match this system styling slightly off. However this unit worked over RCA with my SD card audio cassette. Heres some pictures This is a picture of the back of the cassette deck with the Din plug plugged in. Here's a picture of the Din unplugged Here's the back of my Pre-Amplifier with the Din plug for the tape monitor (The output on the right is not relevant to the tape deck. This links the Amplifier at the bottom bottom to the pre amplifier.
I wonder if it will record. I would also check the DIN output into an amp or similar using a DIN to four phono cable which you can get quite cheaply. i wonder if the DIN cable should have a cross-over. As the old saying goes "the great thing about standards is there are so many to choose from". Finally I wonder if it has a play record switch. The multi-way ones inside boomboxes ( usually linked to the record button in some way) have a reputation for getting dirty and stopping them from working.
I did try with my five pin din plug (to red & white RCA) hooked into the back of the cassette deck and then my Pioneer Amp. All I got doing that though was a horrendously loud buzz on the input. Do you think I need one with a din plug and red, white, yellow and black RCA instead? The only thing I've been able to confirm so far is that the problem is not with my Akai amplifier or preamplifier as using the Din to RCA cable and then linking into my iPhone on the tape monitor input it produces a nice clean and crisp sound. Also what does a Din cable with crossover do?
Mine has RCA's where your DIN is, looking at that dent it might have loosened a wire, I'd take a look in there for any broken connections. I've got both of the "portable" compo units, one is huge with the L22 Tape Deck and the other slightly smaller version has the L30. The matching units are all the same size so mixing them up just doesn't look right. I don't know a lot about DIN connections since we never see them over here, except in the early 70's equipment, but I assume the pinout should be then same for all tape decks, maybe you can multimeter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector I learned something, I didn't know these had two mic jacks in the back, pretty cool.
The great HIFI Engine has the service manual for this unit. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/aiwa/sd-l22.shtml It looks like there's some rusty dirt and corrosion on the tape deck DIN, I'd try to clean that while your at it.
I cleaned the din connectors unfortunately no difference. I managed to trick it and put in record mode and I can actually get the VU meters to bounce and flash to the aux 1 input from my iPhone. So it obviously seems like input to the deck is working. The record level adjustment knob also works and if you turn it down the VU meters get softer and softer. I turned the amp up as loud as it would go and you can hear some very very faint clicking/vibrating sounds like it might possibly audio. Or maybe even feedback from the cassette motor? Eitherway when you stop the deck the faint clicking stops. I have no idea what this could be. I've checked inside and no problems seen all seems to be connected up right. That dent also isn't a dent, but a hole cut in the chassis. The black external facia is covering up hole. Someone obviously pierced the external facia to get access to something at sometime.
Did you check that your DIN-RCA interconnect is for DIN-out? You have a 5-pin DIN there: central pin is the ground, on one side (lets call it Left) two pins for L&R "in" for recording, two pins on the right are for L&R "out" to play cassettes. My main stereo is Naim Audio with all DIN interconnects (5-, 4-, and 3-pins!!!) and I know all too well how confusing it is to connect RCAs to it
Jorge is thinking along the same lines as I was. Does the amp have phono inputs ? If so I would buy a four way cable like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-5-Pin-Male-Din-Plug-to-4-x-RCA-Phono-Male-Plugs-Audio-Cable-007352/191524904427?_trkparms=aid=555017&algo=PL.CASSINI&ao=1&asc=54808&meid=f037ce89b911493db99d647545f8cf57&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1&&itm=191524904427&_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226 and try each phono plug in turn. The five way DIN has an earth and four audio signals left and right out for playback and left and right in for recording. If you only have two phonos on your cable then as Jorge says they might be the inputs. If a system is all DINs then a crossover cable would definitely be needed to connect two cassette decks together. I don't know about cassette deck to amplifier. DIN was intended to make life easier but can rapidly get very complicated.
I’ll probably give that cable ago and see, i do think it’s probably something more serious though than a wrong cable. The five pin cable i bought for it was this off amazon Hosa MID-301BK 5-Pin DIN to 5-Pin DIN MIDI Cable, 1 foot https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000068NTK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_onc1BbT3ZMQ6Q
I’ve got this system plus a spare tape deck. These are identical to the 30 series (I have several of these) in terms of what’s inside the cases (bar the change from din to rca). Overall I’ve had about 7 of these decks through my hands over the last three years, and never had the issue you’ve found, unless I forgot to reinsert the plug connected to the facia back in after replacing belts. Might be easier to source another deck.
It turned out it was a caps issue and has been fixed months ago now. I’m very happy with it. A great second Hifi
