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sony tc-651

xwarp

xwarp

Active Member
have a few questions about this r2r.

i picked one up at the local swap meet for 5 bucks. in decent shape and had an empty realistic metal reel to go with it.

veneer on it is ok, few chips.

all functions seem to work, i.e. ff, rw, play, stop, so forth and so on. unable to actually play it as i don't have any tape yet.

now, two questions and depending on answer of 1st question will most likely determine the 2nd.

1st

i have not found a whole lot of info on this player other than that the 600 series sony's were lemons, but that was a single person's opinion.

is this player worth keeping/restoring?

2nd

if answer to 1st is yes, then obviously, this will be also:

local thrift shop has a non-op tc-651 for 12 bucks. worth it for spare parts?

thanks!
 
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If it's autoreverse with stationary heads and it doesn't need anything other than minor cleaning up, that's a very nice find, and in which case definately pick up the parts machine to go along with it.

If it doesn't show immediate hope of working well with just minor cleaning, then don't bother with the parts machine, else you'll wind up with two doorstops instead of one.

Some of the Sony autoreverse decks had a rotating head that would flip around upon reversing. Those are to be avoided. I think the 651 had stationary heads, but you'd better check. If they rotate/flip on direction change, you have a big paperweight.
 
this one has stationary heads if i recall correctly.

will have to go check that other unit out this afternoon. i know the thrist store has had it for a while now, maybe i can get it for less.
 
I used to own one of these and have regretted selling it every day since. The 650 and 651 are the home version of the 850, the major difference being the reel size. It has a plug in head block, you used to be able to get a 2 track block for it. Remove 2 screws unplug the head, plug in your 2 track block, bingo! It's a mastering deck. All boards unplug, and the transport control board also swings out on a hinge for easy access during servicing. The EQ and bias controls are all accessible from the bottom without removing the case. The only downside to this deck is it used the permalloy heads, which wear faster than the newer Ferrite heads. It's built like a professional machine and performs great. There are other TC-6xx decks that weren't so hot, the TC-630 for instance. Maybe that is what the "questionable source" was referring to.
 
xwarp said:
this one has stationary heads if i recall correctly.

will have to go check that other unit out this afternoon. i know the thrist store has had it for a while now, maybe i can get it for less.
Click to expand...

It's a good deal for $ 17.00 project, having a parts deck is never wrong.
Maybe after you test with a tape the first one works fine :thmbsp:
 
Vintage TX said:
Maybe it was my comment you found, never had any luck with 645, 650 or 651 Warren :D
Here is one (650) that im still working on, one problem after another shows up, it's back on the shelf for a rainy day assignment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-3KZ61iYGc
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Other than the heads wearing out, I never had a problem with mine, and obviously I used it enough to wear out the heads!
So what issues does it have, Rolf?
 
went by the thrift store to save that other unit and i'll be damned it was gone.

but i did find a couple of tapes to play with though and had to do some tweaking and finally got the deck to play.

will need to find a service manual for it. will post pics later.
 
dr*audio said:
Other than the heads wearing out, I never had a problem with mine, and obviously I used it enough to wear out the heads!
So what issues does it have, Rolf?
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Warren, it has bad mojo all over :ntwrthy:
Well, transport section for the most part, a couple of the spark quenchers were swolling on the power-supply board, replaced those + couple of transistors.
The fforward + rewind is fine, no issues at all, but play function that's the biggest problem, sometimes don't engage, next it works fine for 5-10 minutes then release itself on playmode, or suddenly the whole transport doesn't engage at all when powered up.
I found a second headstack (2-track) from a radio-station so, like you said it can be coming handy for both 2 + 4 track options, but overall sound quality doesn't do it for me..sorry
Of course the belt was gone, bad brake-pads, one reel-table busted, and when it finally was working and I put the cabinet back on, transport stopped..
Will give it another shot again, have a feeling the whole power-supply board need to be re-capped, like I said..bad mojo :no:
 
Vintage TX said:
Warren, it has bad mojo all over :ntwrthy:
Well, transport section for the most part, a couple of the spark quenchers were swolling on the power-supply board, replaced those + couple of transistors.
The fforward + rewind is fine, no issues at all, but play function that's the biggest problem, sometimes don't engage, next it works fine for 5-10 minutes then release itself on playmode, or suddenly the whole transport doesn't engage at all when powered up.
I found a second headstack (2-track) from a radio-station so, like you said it can be coming handy for both 2 + 4 track options, but overall sound quality doesn't do it for me..sorry
Of course the belt was gone, bad brake-pads, one reel-table busted, and when it finally was working and I put the cabinet back on, transport stopped..
Will give it another shot again, have a feeling the whole power-supply board need to be re-capped, like I said..bad mojo :no:
Click to expand...

My bet is a bad relay or bad drive transistor for the play solenoid / relay. I think I still have the service manual, I'll see if I can offer any ideas.
As to the sound, I found on mine that there is a 100K resistor in series with the input, and the capacitance of the internal cabling was causing the highs to roll off. I bypassed the resistor with a cap, but knowing a bit more now about electronics, I would just replace the resistor with a wire. That will bring the highs back.
 
I think you are right, maybe replacing all relays would be best.
This came from a radio station and probably had alot of hours in the past.
Heads show some wear but have good replacements if I decide another attempt is on the horizon.
Thanks Warren, I'll let you know when it's coming down on the bench again:thmbsp:
 
Picking up a 650 tomorrow. Supposedly it worked when taken out of service 25 years ago. Looking forward to playing with it this weekend. :)
 
I hope you get lucky, have 2 non-working sitting here with bad mojo
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Thanks. This will be my first RtR. Not sure why I'm getting it but the price was right and I wanted one back in the day. It will probably cause more frustration than enjoyment.
 
Got lucky.

Thought I was getting a 650 but turned out to be 651. The deck was sitting in a half open box for 25 years with a sony demo tape queued up. I got it home and opened the box and there was no power cord. I cleaned it up a little and picked up a power cord from Lowes. It is a 2 prong cord and just needed a little trimming to fit.

Deck seems to work okay but hard to tell with the old tape and me not really knowing how to run it. Some sections sound okay and some not so good. Anyone one up to give me a tutorial on how to use this? Now I'm on the hunt for tape and vinyl. Think tape is going to be much harder to find.
 

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With Warren's help I've been using this deck for about a month. It works great and I recently picked up some blank tape to record some vinyl. Tonight I noticed what I would call a sweet smell while using the deck. It is definitely not a burning smell. I’m sure a recap would be the prudent thing to do but I’m tempted to just keep spinning it and see what happens. Any thoughts on what I could be smelling. Trouble or 40 year old dust?
 
The 650 and 651 are excellent machines. The only real flaw was that these featured the short-lived permaloy heads.
 
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