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Nakamichi LX-3 Plays too fast

rs732

rs732

Active Member
I picked up a Nakamichi this weekend at a garage sale for $10 bucks,all the functions seem to work fine. However,when you press play it sounds like its playing on fast forward. Does anyone have any advice on how I can fix this?
 
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Yea. Cam belt is toast . A belt kit will fix your problem. Whats happening is the cam belt is not raising the pinch rollers high enough to drive the tape, so the reels are pulling the tape over the heads at a fast pace.
 
Yes, at least a loose cam belt. Could also be both a bad cam belt and dried grease in the pinch roller arms. You might want to check the pinch arms for free movement. Do that by rotating the large cam wheel by hand. That's a big job to fix if they are also bad (in addition to the bad cam belt).
 
Thanks!

I'll try to search online for a tutorial on how to swap the cam belt.

Also,I can't seem to find a U.S. based seller that offers LX-3 replacement belts.

Can anyone point me in the right direction.
 
got myself an LX-3, changed the belts but now it starts playing fast then, after a few seconds goes back to normal speed...changed a few belts ( the large wide one and also the thin small one-that engages the heads), changed the counter belt as well, no effect. Is it the belts and the mechanics or you guys suspect something else.
By the way, changing the belts is really easy comparing to other brands!
 
The pinch roller arm bushings are stiff from dried grease most likely . Its not unusual for a deck pulled out of retirement.
 
My Nakamichi MR-2 has a fine speed setting on the inside near the engine.There is a small variable resistor speed adjustment inside the unit.
This has nothing to do with the "pitch" button on the front of the deck.
Mine was adjusted with standard tape for this purpose.
 
Excuse me. reading the question again, I saw that I made a mistake. If the tape plays if you are
fast forward, then the above statements are correct.
 
I'm having the same issue. Plays really really fast. I changed all the belts and noticed the old belts weren't worn so I think the guy I got it from had already done that. Fast forward, rewind work normally but when it's playing, it's like it's in fast forward but with heads engaged. Is it possible it's a bad capacitor? I had a turntable once that was really fast and it turned out to be a bad cap.
 
@biggal76 Sounds to me like neither of your pinch rollers are coming up far enough to contact the capstans. The capstans are what regulate the speed of the tape, and that speed is set via the capstan motor with a speed tape and a frequency measuring device. To check that, take the outer door off, close it, and put the deck in play with no tape. Watch both of the pinch rollers closely as you put it into play. they should both move upwards in a smooth arc together. If one of both don't move at all, or are sluggish, your transport needs to be overhauled to clean out all of the old grease that has likely hardened.
 
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