Hello there! I have a JVC DD-5 direct drive cassette deck, everything works perfectly fine except for the fact that it sounds really dull and soft, I tried cleaning and demagnetizing the head but it still is severely lacking in treble. I fell like it may be an issue with capacitors but i'm not sure I want to risk that much of a money and time investment replacing them since I have older decks than this one that have plenty of treble. Any ideas or tips on why it sounds so dull? is this a common issue? Thanks
Here's the service manual, I'd try swapping out tapes and seeing if there's a difference or if they all sound bad. I'd also check it through the head phone output. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/jvc/dd-5.shtml You might need to adjust the azimuth to get the highs back. http://richardhess.com/notes/2006/09/27/azimuth-hows-and-whys/ I might pull one of my JVC's down and take a look at it, I always liked the way they played and looked and they had some nice silver-faced units.
Thank you, I tried out those tips but no luck. I also just did a side to side comparison with my Sony TC-K55ii and the JVC just sounds way more muddled in the highs. Strangely enough with super ANRS turned on it sounds a little crisper, even though non of my tapes are encoded with it.
I actually never tested that feature out till you asked, I recorded an Alan Parsons Project song to a SA60. Playback on the JVC messing around with the tape selector switch will have it go from a little dull to a little harsh, on the Sony it's clearer but also harsher, I can't decide which is better. It doesn't sound that bad in my Walkman though but it is a little brighter than my other tapes. I was surprised with how much treble I got out of it compared to playing back tapes. although when compared to my old mix tapes made on a Technics M22 the old ones sound better so somethings up.
