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Resurrecting a Nakamichi 480z cassette deck

F

freeportd

Member
With your help, I've rejuvenated my Hitachi receiver and my wife's Yamaha receiver and have them both working nicely. Now that they are working well, I have a Nak 480 that I bought new in the 80s that I'm hoping to bring back to life. It works, but very poorly - with sound very muffled. Not good. Transport seems ok.

Cruising the internet shows that my model has the dreaded orange capacitors - so I'd like to swap them out. Sounds pretty straightforward. And there is a site (Scott's Nak FAQ) that even suggests which capacitors are best to use. The website references Panasonic ECQ-P (Z) series polypropylene caps. But they were disco'd a number of years ago. I need the following capacitors:

0.00056uF = 560pF (561) - C139, C239
0.0030uF = 3000pF (302) - C113, C213
0.0047uF = 4700pF (472) - C118, C218, C302, C303
0.033uF (333) - C120, C220
0.068uf (683) - C305

Can anyone suggest a polypropylene (or other if you recommend) capacitor that I can use as a replacement for my tired capacitors? Also, it is a 480, not 480z. I can't seem to change the title - sorry.

Thanks in advance!
 
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freeportd said:
With your help, I've rejuvenated my Hitachi receiver and my wife's Yamaha receiver and have them both working nicely. Now that they are working well, I have a Nak 480 that I bought new in the 80s that I'm hoping to bring back to life. It works, but very poorly - with sound very muffled. Not good. Transport seems ok.

Cruising the internet shows that my model has the dreaded orange capacitors - so I'd like to swap them out. Sounds pretty straightforward. And there is a site (Scott's Nak FAQ) that even suggests which capacitors are best to use. The website references Panasonic ECQ-P (Z) series polypropylene caps. But they were disco'd a number of years ago. I need the following capacitors:

0.00056uF = 560pF (561) - C139, C239
0.0030uF = 3000pF (302) - C113, C213
0.0047uF = 4700pF (472) - C118, C218, C302, C303
0.033uF (333) - C120, C220
0.068uf (683) - C305

Can anyone suggest a polypropylene (or other if you recommend) capacitor that I can use as a replacement for my tired capacitors? Also, it is a 480, not 480z. I can't seem to change the title - sorry.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Nice deck! You should ask the mods to move this to the Tape sub forum.
 
I haven't cleaned the heads - they were clean when it went into storage years ago. Do they get dirty without usage? Regardless, I can clean them - but my hunch is that I have issues with capacitors. Mods, can you move this to the appropriate forum? thx
 
Also, it is a 480, not 480z. I can't seem to change the title - sorry.

Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

Editing the title is a subscriber only feature.
 
I also have a orig owned by me from new 480 that has mechanical problems so i would like to see how your work go's. i was under the impression mine was not worth the $ to repair.
 
Yes - I've seen those. So, a number of years ago I had this deck serviced - and found out that a number of the orange caps had been replaced. Also, a couple of transistors and resistors that seem to have been adversely impacted by the bad orange capacitors. My transport components seem to be working fine.

From an audio aspect, I'm moving in the right direction. I've cleaned the heads, pinch rollers, capstans, etc and things have improved immensely, Hopefully this forum can help me get over the hump based on some new information. If I put a cotton swap on the drum for the 'supply' reel (leftmost as you face the deck), my high end improves dramatically. I'm assuming the tension I create is keeping the tape tighter to the head and that's what is improving the high end. With that information, what suggestions do you folks have for next steps?

One bit more of information for you to consider. I've cleaned up the heads as mentioned, but the playback/record head has an orange color in the 'cracks' in the head. By 'cracks', I mean horizontal slits that go from left to right. I'd almost say it's rust! I can't seem to get it off with 91% IPA. If a picture helps, I'll try to get one so that you can see what I mean. I wonder if that is keep the tape elevated from the heads and causing the high end rolloff?

Anyway - whatever you have for suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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