A long journey of restoring a Luxman K-15

ph2113

Active Member
Finally,I restored my Luxman K-15 cassette deck by a piece of paper:banana:.

Three years ago I paid $70 for a used Luxman K-15,claimed in working condition.it is my first cassette deck,at that time I knew nothing about a cassette deck but how to use it.

On the first day I received it I found it would stop after playing for a little while,couple days later the capstan motor failed,I sent it back to the seller for service,the seller replace the motor,fixed the unexpected auto stop issue ,sent it back to me.soon after that I found many other issues,unsteady speed,recording distortion,unbalanced volume on both channels,muting function NG,abnormal temperature of FF/RW motor..........I called the seller again,he offered refund but I declined because I'd rather to keep a dream of owning a good working Luxman K15 than having my $70 back.

Later,I did several web searches for service manual but found the seller's posts on different forums,first he asked how Luxman K-15 sounds,he wanted to know because he got the chance to buy one.later,he asked for helps to fix some issues of the K-15.......

I could see from my K-15 the seller had done a lot of efforts on this cassette deck,replaced two belts,two pinch rollers,capstan motor(Mabuchi EG-530AD-2B),reconnected mute wire(it did not appear where it should be),led and sensor.....but obviously because he couldn't get the performance he expected from this K-15 that's why he sold it out and keep his Nakamichi.

One month after I sent it to a local tech,the local tech fixed the recording mute NG by replacing a 12V relay and forsook other issues.couple weeks later I took it back and decided to fix it by myself.

I failed twice of attempting to restore the K-15 in past three years.last week I visited this forum,it encouraged me to start my 3rd attempt.this time I tracked it down to the R/P head.at last I found the misalignment of the R/P head to be the cause of unsteady speed,recording and play distortion,unexpected auto stop,abnormal high temperature of FF/RW motor(much higher than capstan motor).......

Without proper tools I did the adjustment anyway,now the cassette deck appear works fine now,sounds great,clean and clear than before and no obvious distortion perceived.the temperature of FF/RW motor is lower than before.

In order to lower the play position of R/P head I put a piece of 0.8mm thick paper under the black washer(or cushion) of the solenoid as a temporary solution.without it the actuated solenoid will push the head too high up(1~2mm higher than it should be)the result is the head will put too much pressure on tape ribbon and cause play/record distortion,unsteady speed and abnormal high temperature of FF/RW motor.....I am very glad I made a good decision to keep it three years ago.:D

I plan to use a metal washer to replace the paper which I use as my temporary solution.or if you know how to adjust the head to lower the play position for about 1~1.5mm,please show me how to do it!

Jack
 

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The K-15 is one heck of a machine. I had a K-12 and a fellow salesman won a K-15. We used it to record a high school band competition on a Luxman Metal tape and took the tape to CES. It was a popular request that year.

Your unit does not have the vinyl clad wood case. Does it have the model number on the top toward the front? My K-12 has this as do the other metal cabinet Laboratory Standard Series components from Lux.

Glad you got it fixed. You are going to enjoy it.
 
I think there is Luxman K-16 in a pawn shop near me...is it worth picking up? I know it is a Luxman k something....I will see if it is still there tomorrow
 
Your unit does not have the vinyl clad wood case. Does it have the model number on the top toward the front? My K-12 has this as do the other metal cabinet Laboratory Standard Series components from Lux.

Hi Blue Shadow,

Thanks for sharing the great story of your K12 with us,I checked my top case and saw no model number on it,does that mean mine has no Laboratory Standard components inside of it?the K15 is a 3 head design,different from earlier models,is it possible that's why it doesn't have Laboratory Standard components inside of it.I never see any K-15 has model number on top case as you mentioned.are you sure there is any K-15 has it on it's top case(not put a K-12 top case on K-15)?

Jack
 

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The K-15 may be from the next series of gear from Luxman. I know the LSS (just a step less expensive than the LRS and a year or so later, IIRC) was great gear and they had metal cabinets with the model number on them. The K-12 was one of these and it is the only cassette I now of in that group. Since I purchased my K-12 before Bill won his K-15 by a year, I guess, as well as the cosmetics of Luxman changing, I believe the K-15 is a later line unit. Its contemporaries would be the L-580, T-115 from the gear I know. I didn't keep up with Luxman offerings when I stopped selling it and catching up with all that information is difficult.

The flyer for the K-12 is here: http://telefunken.te.funpic.de/luxman/K12-01.jpg and it shows the LSS designation.

icenine, find out what it is and probably get it.
 

Indeed it's a great tiding I desired pretty much,glad to know my K-15 is part of LSS.thanks for your information.

Tonight I replaced the left pinch roller(deformed),the K-15 sounds even better now.but I think I need the service manual and testing tapes to bring "ultimate high fidelity" out of it.unfortunately I don't have any of them.:tears:,in past three years I tried but couldn't find the SM of K15 or K12.

Last week I found the SM of Luxman K-05 is available for download:
http://elektrotanya.com/luxman_k-05_sm.pdf/download.html

Jack
 
Last night I found another issue,the play speed slowed down toward the end.the left pinch roller would stop completely during play.

K-15 has two types of pinch rollers inside of it:
diameter center hole
The left pinch roller: 13mm 2mm
The right pinch roller: 10.5mm 2mm

I used the shaft of a small DC motor to punch out shaft of the pinch roller and replaced the pinch roller with a new one.I tested it for 2 hours.it appears work fine now.(the diameter of most of shafts of capstan/FF motors is 2mm,we can use them as a tool to replace pinch roller or to replace the shaft(2mm) of a pinch roller).

Jack
 

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Jack, you never asked me for the SM for the K-12. Had it since the deck was in the shop at the store where I worked. Chris laid a tune up on that machine and it was a phenomenal machine for years. He set both my tape machines up for the tape I was using. Maxell UDXLII in the K-12 and UD35-180B on the Tandberg. Nothing like getting the machine set up right for the tape one uses. Sure I've used other, but those tapes on the K-12 sounded very special.
 
thanks... I will stop by and see if it is still there...

It is a Luxman K-118....there was no price on it so I offered $10 but ended up paying $15...is this one a good one? It is very dirty I will deoxit and clean her up when my wife goes to work tomorrow:D
 
That is a nice machine. Same time frame as the K-15 as they appear in an ad together. Three heads, lots of controls and looks a lot like a 3/4 scale K-15, smaller and easier to put into a system. The K-15 is a large cassette deck. Not having the vinyl rosewood wooden cabinet would be a plus with the K-15.

That K118 is a sweet looking unit.
 
Yes thanks Blue Shadow it has the vinyl rosewood cabinet...I did a cursory power up....it is not playing and very slow on the ff....the green VU meters and counter lights are working. I will give it the deoxit treatment tomorrow and clean the heads and keep my fingers crossed. I guess new belts would be in order too. I was able to get my Nak BX-300 going by spraying contact cleaner on the motor I do not think I will be as lucky this time.
 
It is a Luxman K-118....there was no price on it so I offered $10 but ended up paying $15...is this one a good one? It is very dirty I will deoxit and clean her up when my wife goes to work tomorrow:D

The K-118 is a great deck. 3 heads and I think it has DBX too. I had the K-117, a very nice 2 head deck, similar to the K-12.
 
K-117 is 11 pounds net
K-118 is 13 pounds net
K-12 is 23 pounds net. It is heavy and probably more closely related to the K-15 and for sure the 5K50

But whatever, Luxman's first machines, the 5K50, K-12 and K-5a were aimed directly at the sonic performance level above Nakamichi and they hit the target every time. The next ones to come out were also very nice machines, the K-117, K-118 and K-15 with the K-15 having specs probably a bit better than the K-12. These machines also looked cool in the rosewood vinyl wrap that the R-10xx series of receivers had along with the L-450, L-480, L-580 and matching tuners and graphic equalizer, preamp and power amp.

Oh I just finished sorting the spec sheets for some Luxman products I have found on the web or have in my files so this stuff was easy to write, this week.
 
I brought the K-118 to work....was able to open her up in the back office. I got the ff and the rewind going and that belt is still working...the large capstan (?) silver wheel appears to have a gooy black strip that has melted onto it....I think that is the play belt. The large wheel is not spinning. It looks as if I would go in from the bottom and replace that gooey belt. Well at least I think I know what is wrong. Thanks everyone.
The black strip around the capstan is very mushy and leaves black on my fingers like paint....
 
I brought the K-118 to work....was able to open her up in the back office. I got the ff and the rewind going and that belt is still working...the large capstan (?) silver wheel appears to have a gooy black strip that has melted onto it....I think that is the play belt. The large wheel is not spinning. It looks as if I would go in from the bottom and replace that gooey belt. Well at least I think I know what is wrong. Thanks everyone.
The black strip around the capstan is very mushy and leaves black on my fingers like paint....

Get every trace of that goo off with alcohol.
 
It is a Luxman K-118....there was no price on it so I offered $10 but ended up paying $15...is this one a good one? It is very dirty I will deoxit and clean her up when my wife goes to work tomorrow:D

Congratulations!

Luxman K-118 looks like K-15,both have two fluorescent tube displays(counter and volume level indicator),same key set design.easy to be mistaken for a K-15.

You must be careful when you clean the front silver face plate,do not use alcohol on the face plate,or you will remove the letters as well.

Jack
 
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