I just got this box from eBay for the princely sum of £15, however it came with some issues. 1 - The tape deck didn't work. I've 're-belted' it, and it works, however, it does something strange. If you play a tape, in either direction, it will play fine for about 10 seconds, then seems to speed up to chipmunk speed! I've not really done anymore to the deck other than change the belts, so I've no idea why it's doing this. Any ideas? 2 - It has a vertical cd player, which is pretty cool. However, it's dead, completely dead. No life at all. I did check all the connections are fitted correctly, which they seem to be, but nothing happens at all. The fuses on the power supply are both ok, I've not had a multimeter on it yet either to see if there is any power going to it. I have the service manual, but it doesn't really show much. Any ideas? Other than that, the radio works fine, no crackling on the volume, and apart from a little yellowing and a bit dirty, it's not in bad condition. Thanks in advance
Update! CD player now works! Turns out it was the door open sensor switch was bent out of shape, so it never knew when the door was shut. I've straightened it out and it works pretty well now. I may well still get a new laser for it, I've read that the KSS-150 lasers have a known fault and were replaced with the KSS-210 for that reason. I almost won a new one on eBay, I honestly (read stupidly!) thought that nobody else would want an old laser for a mid-80's boombox, but I was wrong. Still, I like the thought that I made someone pay a lot more than they would have done without my bid, so that's karma for their snipey bid with 2 seconds to go. Cassette deck sort of works. I used a couple of belts I found at home that were, more or less, the right size, and at first it would play, albeit with a fault. It would play fine for about 10 seconds in either direction (it has a single autoreverse deck), but after that would speed up to chipmunk speed. I was told it was the capstans and to give them a good clean with isopropyl alcohol, which I've done, but now it won't play a tape, so guess I'll have to change the belts to better ones and go from there. Overall, I'm happy I got the CD player working if nothing else! And for it to be something so ridiculously simple is an added bonus, and often overlooked to be something more complicated. Here is an ad from Japan of the unit. Mine is a yellowy-white at the moment, so I may try and 'retro-bright' it oneday, but in all honesty, it doesn't bother me that much for what I paid for it!
Basically yes as far as I know. The radio has an extra 'headphone' output on the back that plugs into that unit and turns it into a Dodecahorn system. I'd love to find one, chances are pretty slim tho I'd imagine. I'd never seen this box before either, that's initially what drew me to it. Well that and the price! Still need to get the cassette deck working properly, it plays the tape normally for around 2 seconds, then speeds up to chipmunk! I've cleaned the pinch rollers and capstans, and fitted new belts last night, but it's still doing it. Though tbh, I don't think the cassette I have is the finest example, so I'll dig another one out of storage and try that.
