Hello all,

I have finally got my own boombox after many years of admiring others. I purchased a lovely looking hitachi 3ds super woofer of ebay for a very reasonable price.

The radio works fine, and it sounds really nice but I can seem to get the line-in to work, as i bought it to play a mp3 player out of this is a bit annoying.

I have heard that you need to have the record button pressed down to make it work but it won't seem to go down, do I need to to have a tape in it?

Any help would be most appricated.

Thanks,

Simon.

Isolator42 will know

kool boombox!!

if it has a dedicated line in rca sockets, you should be able to switch the line in on .....it should be next to the radio/tape/line in selector switch...........normally mic inputs or rec-pb 5 pin din sockets need the record button depressing............anyway if its not got the line in selector, put a tape in and press play/record..............good luck

If you need to press the record swich down (i dont know) all you need to do is press the recording tab down...located inside the deck at the back on the left hand side...just press this tab and then press record....let us know how you get on..

Thanks for the responses,

I have held the record switch down and the button went down, works perfect now.

Cheers for all the help.

Simon.

DO we get chocolate now? 

Better late than never... that's me 

Indeed, the 3D2 is one of the early 3Ds & therefore one of the few without a dedicated line-in (same as the 3D7). Most other 3Ds that don't have a CD player have a 'proper' line-in. It's not the end of the world, however. If you are never going to play tapes, I'd suggest opening it up & disconnecting the deck motor. This will minimise noise, save wearing it out, & also save power if used on batteries. Then insert an old tape without the record-protect tab removed, press record & you're good to go.

The 3D2 is the best sounding Hitachi 3D with a single 4" centre woofer, & also amongst the very best for treble - those tweeters actually seem to do something on this boomer. The build quality is also up with the best of the 1st gen 3Ds. The 3D2 is a good performer, considering it's size - barely bigger than a mini.

Just go easy on the bass EQ slider when blasting loud - that 4" woofer can't take the same pounding that the 6" woofers on the bigger 3Ds are capable of.

Hi.

I know I'm kinda hijacking this old thread, but it is so similar to my problem, that I couldn't let i slip. 

So, I just got this 3D2, and I'm going to use it with my mp3-player. Problem is, when i hold the recbutton down, it plays the music, but with ALOT of noise. Is there a way to get rid of this? See you mention removing the tapemotor. Is this hard or can it be done by a rookie?

Thanks

OK, some questions...

Is the noise like radio interference?

Is it coming from the speakers or somewhere inside the boomer?

Is the noise constant, or does it change with the music?

Does the noise get louder & quieter when you adjust the volume & does it remain if you set the volume to minimum?

...we'll get there 

Thanks for answering me

1. It sounds like it, yes, but it's not that fragmented, it's like more consistent.

2. Speakers.

3. It's constant. As far as I can hear.

4. It gets louder if I crank up the volume.

One thing though - when I tried it today, the noise was less noticable than yesterday. 

One other question: what is the sound like when you play a tape? Is the unwanted sound still there, in with the music from the tape?

It's beginning to seem like it might be a dirty contacts issue. When record is pressed, a mechanical switch operates that converts the playback head to a recording head in the tape deck. As this switch is rarely used (especially in a 20+ year old boomer) it's contacts get dirty, so good contact isn't made when it's switched.

Try repeatedly pressing:

  Rec > Stop > Play > Stop > Rec > Stop > Play > Stop.

This will repeatedly operate this switch & may 'wipe' it clean. If this improves things, the best thing to do is to get at it with some switch cleaner, but that means taking the boomer apart.