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Cleaning my Denon DRM-710

ketamine

ketamine

Get some, Go again!
I just got this for free from my old boss, he said I might like it. It looks like a pretty nice deck. I read some of the posts on cleaning decks and see a HUGE amount of opinions on what to use. I am leaning towards 409 for the price (wife won't eat me alive for buying it,) and also because some people had good luck with it. I notice a lot of them talked about getting the grip back and restoring and such, would that all be needed for a deck made in 1991? Any opinions on just how clean this thing needs to be or how much it would need to be restored. I think he had it sitting in the garage doing nothing. Lots of dust. Thanks. Any links to cleaning the entire unit would be useful as I am only familiar with cleaning computers =P. Thanks guys. To sum it up, would a 1991 tape deck need "restoration" or just cleaning and with what.

P.S. Anyone know if this is a decent deck? :music:
 
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I have one.

It's "okay"

Although it was near TOTL for the year it was introduced, it's not one of the "classic" Denons, by that time, production had shifted to Malaysia and quality started to fall.

It's not a bad deck, and can still sound good, however should you have a serious problem, it's not worth sinking much money into.

If you want high quality Denons, look at the 1984-87 line-up.
 
I think it's better.

I don't want you to think it's a bad deck, it's not.
I was just trying to say, don't get wrapped up in any costly repairs.

Just be sure to clean the pinch rollers, make sure they are supple, not shiny, 99% alcohol works well.

Try the transport for a few days, using tape you don't care about, then just enjoy!
 
I have it's younger brother, the DRM-740 and it is definitely a fine deck. It compares with my Beocord 5000, but the Beocord 9000 has far better dynamics (not really a fair comparison, but both decks were TOTL in their day, differences are early 80's vs. mid 90's.)
 
This is a simple mech and pretty easy to work on. Change the capstan belt and make sure you get the original from Denon if it's available. If not Marrs Communications will have an exact replacement. The pinch rollers are critical for proper operation. Use Ethanol to clean them. Rubbing alcohol dries out rubber, but it's ok for one time use. If the pinch rollers are shiny you will have to replace them or it will eat tape.
 
I'd don't buy the "Isopropyl alcohol" dries pinch rollers thing.
Most manufacturers of both open reel and cassette recommended it.

In over 20 years of listening to tape, I've never seen a problem that could be singled out to Isopropyl alcohol"
Heck, a JVC KD-95 that my father bought in '78 has perfectly fine rollers, I've been cleaning it for decades.

I must be one of the "Lucky Few"
 
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Then the "Lucky Few" have one more member - i've used IPA for more than 30+ years , never seen any problems either......
 
Tanks guys. I will go with alcohol as it is inexpensive and also seems to work for most, If I see any black coming off then I will stop immediately or notice anything else harmful. Is the belt replacement totally necessary or is it something I should look at first? I am not familiar with tape decks but will look them up in google and here and learn the parts and what they do =D. Ty!
 
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