Luxman R-5030 weird tape monitor problem

[N8Nagel]

Bought this off an AKer and really like this little unit, aesthetic challenges aside.

Swapped it into my main rig because the R-1120 is being flaky and I can't live without sound... everything is great BUT there's something seriously odd with Tape 1. I am watching TV with sound coming in through Tape 2 and everything works fine. However I have an old R2R hooked up to Tape 1 just because I have it. I was making cables this evening (basically zipping, marking, and heat shrinking some of those cheap AR cables together to get rid of all the old spindly grey ones) and replaced that cable so of course I had to test it.

With a dead input selected and no tape mon, if I have the tape playing, I hear sound out of the left speaker only. With Tape 1 selected, I hear the sound from the tape on the right speaker only.

This *has* to be a mechanical problem... right? I just can't think of an electronic failure that would cause this to happen. I'm just not prepared to take this apart until something is fixed... I have a Sansui that needs transistors (I hope that's all it needs) and the R-1120 is with the tech right now. Not a big deal as I don't listen to tapes as a matter of course but I tend to adopt gear and then expect it to work 100%...

 

[N8Nagel]

Never mind! Some dumbass, who shall remain nameless, mixed up left record and left play when he labeled the cables. All better... and the tape monitor switch is properly deoxited now

 

[Blue Shadow]

All in a day's messing with gear. How does the sound of the 5030 compare to the 1120, get back to us if you can't tell us yet.

 

[N8Nagel]

I can't do an A/B as the 1120 has a left channel issue... It got dropped off and several other receivers rotated in (I got a HK 330B for a gift so that needed to be tested, also a Sansui 2000a was racked for a while until it developed a hiss) before I even got the 5030.

That said, the 5030 sounds very nice, and squares with my memory of the 1120 when it was working right. I think it is also likely the best sounding unit in the house at the moment, next in line being a Marantz 1070 integrated and/or a HK 330C.