Moth R. Superior
Active Member
Greetings all, I'm a bit new to the realm of cassette decks, and I've recently acquired a few of them on the cheap.
- Yamaha CT-520
- Sankyo (yes, Sankyo, with a "k") STD-1800
- Hitachi D-410 (with original manual and purchase papers!)
I've decided to tackle these one at a time, so as to perhaps learn my way around the mechanics step by step, problem by problem.
First off, are any of these "stand out" machines? If so, what are the pro's/con's of one over the other? I realize this is a pretty big question, so feel free to just help me with my next one.
I've decided to start off with the Yamaha, mainly because it's got cool looking meters and a nice wooden case.
It powers up, runs, all functions as far as rew/ff/play seem to work just fine, and all the lamps work as they should.
However, it sounds like it's underwater. So far, I've only tested it with the headphone jack, I plan to hook it up to my system after work tonight.
Also, as it plays, there is an occasional "spike" in volume that only lasts for a second, but the meters appear to read more correctly when this happens (they read very low as it is).
I did a preliminary cleansing of the head with some alcohol and cotton swabs, but to no avail.
My instincts lead me to a) contact cleaner, b) a faulty adjustment of the head, c) a faulty/used up head, d) an issue with something in line with the output signal path.
After some extensive research on line, and thread hunting with a search of the keywords of my symptoms, and the fact that I can't find anything in reference to "cloudy, "foggy", or "submerged" playback, I am now turning to you, my Audiokarma community, for any guidance.
Sorry for the long winded post.
-Mike
- Yamaha CT-520
- Sankyo (yes, Sankyo, with a "k") STD-1800
- Hitachi D-410 (with original manual and purchase papers!)
I've decided to tackle these one at a time, so as to perhaps learn my way around the mechanics step by step, problem by problem.
First off, are any of these "stand out" machines? If so, what are the pro's/con's of one over the other? I realize this is a pretty big question, so feel free to just help me with my next one.
I've decided to start off with the Yamaha, mainly because it's got cool looking meters and a nice wooden case.
It powers up, runs, all functions as far as rew/ff/play seem to work just fine, and all the lamps work as they should.
However, it sounds like it's underwater. So far, I've only tested it with the headphone jack, I plan to hook it up to my system after work tonight.
Also, as it plays, there is an occasional "spike" in volume that only lasts for a second, but the meters appear to read more correctly when this happens (they read very low as it is).
I did a preliminary cleansing of the head with some alcohol and cotton swabs, but to no avail.
My instincts lead me to a) contact cleaner, b) a faulty adjustment of the head, c) a faulty/used up head, d) an issue with something in line with the output signal path.
After some extensive research on line, and thread hunting with a search of the keywords of my symptoms, and the fact that I can't find anything in reference to "cloudy, "foggy", or "submerged" playback, I am now turning to you, my Audiokarma community, for any guidance.
Sorry for the long winded post.
-Mike
