Doubledeck
New Member
I do have a few decks but, I had only one Sony among them. The TC-630 with built-in amplifier.
I got this deck a while ago, mainly for nostalgic reasons. This model was also my first hifi stereo deck in 1969!
It caused my renewed interest in tapedecks and last week I had a chance to add a Sony TC-755A, which plays of course mechanically in a somewhat different ballpark. I had read already quite a few positive reviews of the TC-755 , a.o. on this website. And also about what little problems to expect.
Well it proved a kind of textbook case:
- Yes the pinchroller mechanism was frozen, but although the mechanism looks a bit complicated it is in fact quite easy to take these parts out, clean and lube them, And not unimportantly to reinstall them again.
- And yes the brake linings had mostly turned into black powder. Also these can be quite easily dismounted and refurbished. Yes, the reel tables fit quite tight and need a gentle knock with the handle of a screwdriver to come off. I used thin self adhesive felt as new brake linings and the brakes work marvellous again.
Curiously the sheet of green felt that I used (about 1 mil thick), dates probably also from the seventies, but was still in good condition.
Further I cleaned and lubed the deck where needed and I am now playing some of my old tapes.
In the begiinning I experienced once in a while temporary speed fluctuations (wow) but that little problem seems to correct itself. If not, I will come back to it.
The reason I am writing this, is to give my feedback on all the pieces of useful information I found on this website, but also in support of your and especially Jan Stevens high opinion of the sound quality of this deck. It just sounds very good to me.
I find the deck also quite pleasant to use. Easy controls, very good FF and Rewind speeds, good brakes (now), well controlled engagement and disengagement of the roller mechanism, etc. Only I find the capstan diameter and pinchrollers a bit on the small side, but I am not aware of any resulting problems. Prefer though a bit more robust roller (like Akai and Teac)
With regard to my maintenance experience with this deck so far: Yes there are a lot of wires in all directions in the innerworks of this deck, but well, I believe there are little specific problems with Sony electronics, so hopefully these wires wont be too often in my way.
I found the accessability of the mechanical parts quite a bit better than f.i. with Teac A and X series, where everything is mounted on the backside of the frontpanel.
Alltogether I am quite pleased with this deck!
I got this deck a while ago, mainly for nostalgic reasons. This model was also my first hifi stereo deck in 1969!
It caused my renewed interest in tapedecks and last week I had a chance to add a Sony TC-755A, which plays of course mechanically in a somewhat different ballpark. I had read already quite a few positive reviews of the TC-755 , a.o. on this website. And also about what little problems to expect.
Well it proved a kind of textbook case:
- Yes the pinchroller mechanism was frozen, but although the mechanism looks a bit complicated it is in fact quite easy to take these parts out, clean and lube them, And not unimportantly to reinstall them again.
- And yes the brake linings had mostly turned into black powder. Also these can be quite easily dismounted and refurbished. Yes, the reel tables fit quite tight and need a gentle knock with the handle of a screwdriver to come off. I used thin self adhesive felt as new brake linings and the brakes work marvellous again.
Curiously the sheet of green felt that I used (about 1 mil thick), dates probably also from the seventies, but was still in good condition.
Further I cleaned and lubed the deck where needed and I am now playing some of my old tapes.
In the begiinning I experienced once in a while temporary speed fluctuations (wow) but that little problem seems to correct itself. If not, I will come back to it.
The reason I am writing this, is to give my feedback on all the pieces of useful information I found on this website, but also in support of your and especially Jan Stevens high opinion of the sound quality of this deck. It just sounds very good to me.
I find the deck also quite pleasant to use. Easy controls, very good FF and Rewind speeds, good brakes (now), well controlled engagement and disengagement of the roller mechanism, etc. Only I find the capstan diameter and pinchrollers a bit on the small side, but I am not aware of any resulting problems. Prefer though a bit more robust roller (like Akai and Teac)
With regard to my maintenance experience with this deck so far: Yes there are a lot of wires in all directions in the innerworks of this deck, but well, I believe there are little specific problems with Sony electronics, so hopefully these wires wont be too often in my way.
I found the accessability of the mechanical parts quite a bit better than f.i. with Teac A and X series, where everything is mounted on the backside of the frontpanel.
Alltogether I am quite pleased with this deck!
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