Hello guys! It's been a while. My Hi-Fi setup has been fixed, but I am now facing a handful of issues. My Cassette Deck is a Dual CC 5050. From what I've gathered, not a particularly good deck, but not a terrible one, especially considering it's a 3 head model. Here's the problems it has been giving me ever since I got it back from service: -First time I tried a cassette on it, the pitch was clearly lower than it should have been. It seems like the guy who serviced it only bothered to replace the belts and called it a day. I opened it myself, adjusted the motor speed, and managed to get the pitch decently correct. -It has been very inconsistent: some days it's running at the speed I adjusted it to, sometimes slightly slower, other times slightly faster. This makes reliably making recordings a nightmare. -I managed to record a few songs on a NOS Sony CDit II Type 2 cassette, using my DVP-S725D CD/DVD player and some CD's as a source. They sounded great, magical. However, I got a iFi Uno DAC to use my computer as a source in order to record high resolution music into cassettes, but the recordings sound worse than my CD player on the same cassette. I have the EQ set to neutral, but the recordings sound muddy, and with poor detail. I am connecting my PC to the Uno through USB, and the DAC to my deck through these RCA cables I got specifically for the job: https://www.amazon.es/-/pt/gp/product/B0BJF9VN46/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 This was more of a vent than anything else but I'd love to hear any of your tips if you have any! TreezZ
If the deck is not working properly after a service, why don't you take it back to the technician and let him know you are not happy with the service? The technician obviously have not done the job you paid him or her for. If your recording is sounding muddy, check that you have the cassette biased up properly for recording, the problem is nothing to do with your interconnect cable.
I'll try to do that tomorrow. As for the bias, my deck doesnt have a bias adjustment knob. Only 3 buttons to select type 1, type 2 and type 4 cassettes. While the bias isn't perfect probably, all other songs I recorded with the DVD player sounded amazing. But not the songs I recorded from my PC.
A 3 head deck without bias adjustment, strange. Are you plugging the DVD or the computer connection directly in to the tape deck's input, if you are then you should be connecting to your pre-amp. When you connect it via your pre-amp and just play the DVD or computer, does it sound good?
Indeed. I'll include a picture of it from the internet. I plugged both the DVD player and my computer directly to the deck's input when I used them. I tried recording from my amp with the DVD player at first, but I couldnt get a signal from it. Maybe I missed something? I'll include a photo of my amp and the ports in the back of my deck (on top) and my amp (below).
Can't really tell if you have it connected the correct way round, as I can’t see the whole length of the cable. This is how you should connect the tape deck, the Play Output on your tape deck should go into the Tape Input on your integrated amp. The Rec Input on your tape deck should go to your integrated amps Tape Output. Make sure you select the correct setting on the front of the integrated amp. If that does not work, try the Tape 2 loop just in case the Tape 1 loop is faulty. I also recommend you clean the connection terminals of both the tape deck and integrated amp for a cleaner / clearer sound. You are not getting a good electrical connection at the moment.
Okay, I had the Play Output on the deck connected to the Tape Output on the amp and vice-versa, oops XD So this meant that in order for me to hear what the cassette deck was outputting, I had to choose "Source" on the "Monitor" knob in the amp. Having connected it the way you said, both the "Tape 1" and "2 > 1" options on the amp output the deck's sound. So now, where should I connect the DVD player? In the CD connections on the amp? I have a few other questions: How will my deck receive my source's signal through the amp? Which knobs should I set it to? Also, won't the amp's signal possibly worsen the sound quality as opposed to connecting the source directly to the tape deck? Will this mean I won't be able to adjust the volume in the amp while recording a cassette, as it could be noticeable in the recording? Thanks!
You can connect your DVD to any line level input you like, but do not connect it to the Phono input. Select the source you want and select the tape deck you want, the tape deck you select will receive the source you selected. If you want to monitor what is coming off the tape choose Tape you want and to listen to the source choose source. The signal through integrated amp will not degrade the sound, what is more likely to degrade your sound is not having those terminals cleaned and the free cables you are using. You can adjust the integrated amp’s volume, it does not affect what you are recording. The signal to the tape deck is a fixed line level signal.
Thank you! This was extremely helpful! I have now connected it like this: -Play output on deck -> Tape 1 input on amp -Audio Out on DVD player -> CD connectors on amp -Rec Input on deck -> Tape 1 output on amp And I can now indeed choose which source I want on one of the knobs (CD, Tuner, Phono...) and choose where it goes to on another knob (Source, Tape 1, etc). This is perfect! And it means I can now record some of my vinyl records onto tape, which I was not figuring out how to This way I'll have all my equipment plugged in and ready to go too, as I'll plug my PC into the Tuner connection on my amp. Thanks again! TreezZ
The most common reasons my decks run at non-consistant speeds... The belt is either too hard and not gripping or just a hair too loose. The rubber (pinch) rollers are hard The motor shaft has lost it's lubrication and is dry The motor shaft (or any other parts in the transport) has pieces of gooey old belt The cassette tape is not moving freely. and the wild-card is maybe something like a microwave is running and drawing too many amps on an old electrical system. Good luck!
I didn't check the belts, but they could indeed be not the best suited for my deck. It got serviced fairly quickly after all, so they're probably not the exact ones for my model. I'm 99% sure the pinch roller didn't get replaced either. It's still the original one from 1987-1989. I'm not sure about the rest. Thank you!
Sometimes the tech might use New Old Stock Belts which seem ok but they are starting to get hard, same with the rollers. If you can watch the pinch roller, sometimes you can see it "jumping" and not turning consistant. This hobby is turning into user-maintained, the techs don't seem to want to work on tape decks these days.
The Configuration of the Components seems to be OK. Sometimes the tape selectors of the amps are corroded, and so the signal cames dirty. But in this case i would make the deck responsible. And i only have a tip for a good engineer in Germany...
TreeZ, glad that you finally figured out how to connect everything and make it works. I can imagine how excited you are now with your new 'toys' I agree with Toocool: you should ask your tech to do it better, replace the belt or whatever is the problem. Servicing a deck and not fixing that is a sign of unprofessionalism. Maybe you should look for a better one. I see you live in Portugal, I've been spending a few days in Oporto this august. It's a very nice place. I live relatively near, in Barcelona. If you can't find a good tech there, there are some in Spain. But if your budget is not very small, I'd recommend another deck if you really want to enjoy the experience of recording with very high quality. A 3-head deck with many features like bias and RecCal control, peak hold meters... A Yamaha KX930 is a good example of a cheap deck with very high performance, but there are others, however usually more expensive.
I'll remove the door cover and take a look at the pinch roller, thanks. And yeah, finding good techs is pretty rare nowadays. I personally advocate for people to always learn how to fix the things they pay for, and try to do the same myself, as most techs will overcharge you quite a lot and do a poor job. But there's always a steep learning curve. Although I'm pretty sure I'd be able to work on my deck with a bit more knowledge Thank you for your message! Your website has been a great source of knowledge and inspiration ever since I got into Walkman's and cassettes. It's how I learned to record cassettes, monitor, control the peak levels, etc... Thanks for the deck suggestion. However, I'll be staying with this deck for at least a few years now, as it was from my dad, and for the low price of "free", it does the job pretty nicely for now. Thanks again!
