Recorders

Red Kite posted:

I've had this for decades. bought it second hand. Its just started slipping, but i found a service kit on ebay so may have a go at it.

RK, the DR-2 is a good deck and well worth getting sorted.  I generally try to avoid servicing Naks myself - there are so many adjustments that have to be done and you need the specific alignment tools.  However, the later Sankyo transport decks like your DR-2 are perhaps the only ones I might dare tackle for simple jobs like belt changing, so you may be alright and not need to disassemble too much of the transport. I have the earlier equivalent to your deck, a CR-3, which needs a new capstan belt, so may well tackle that myself.  The only issue is that the quality of the capstan belt is critical - and the best ones are not at all cheap (from Marrs communications). 

sktn77a posted:

Recently got my 1993 vintage SONY TC-K890ES repaired - belts and pinch rollers.  Why on earth does a "Direct Drive" tape deck have belts???  The independent repair facility that did the work said the performance was amazing (F/R, S/N, W/F, etc).  Certainly, aside from a little hiss, the recordings are very close the source material if a good blank tape is used.  My biggest issue is getting quality media without paying a fortune.

The belts on a DD deck are usually for either the cam control and/or the reel tables, and on dual capstan decks, for the  jockey belt to the rear capstan.  The Direct Drive is usually only applied to the main capstan.  There are, of course, exceptions.  For example the Nakamichi Dragon is auto reverse and so needs DD on both capstans.  I believe that there are some Auto Reverse Pioneers like this too.  Technics DD decks often had DD motors for the reel idler too.

Sealed cassettes of good quality are getting expensive - ebay is one of the only sources.  However, it's mostly the older more collectible tapes that attract serious money from collectors.  If you're canny and steer away from the collectibles and the better known tapes like TDK SA, Maxell XLII etc.. then you can still get really good quality cassette tape without paying a fortune.  For example, I recently bought some boxes of 10 Fuji KI C90 cassettes for about a pound a tape.  This is a fantastic high quality cassette, fully competitive with TDK AD, Maxell XLI, and Sony HF-S.  On the best decks this is a tape that can give close to Metal performance.  However, not being a Type II it can be a little bit hissy, so you may prefer to use with Dolby B rather than without any NR.  I'd take a top Type I tape over most Type IIs any day.  Only with more gentle music would I defer to a quiet type II.

Many thanks for a 100% useful reply Richard. Really kind and hopefully useful advice for others on the forum too.

Sounds like a very viable plan which I will pursue. As I say, I'll need to cosy up to someone with a top record player, which could of course be a bottleneck in the process possibly. I might have to invest in a Nitty Gritty machine or similar too!

Richard Dane posted:

Tabby cat posted:

Got an itch to get an Aiwa a 770 or 990. Always liked the sound of a bottom of the range one I had in 1982.I loved the meter LEDs on it.Green - Yellow - Red..... Gourgous to my eyes !

Cheers Ian

Ian, the AD-F660 or AD-F770 would be my choice. Both are very similar with an excellent closed loop dual capstan transport and three heads for off tape monitoring.  The 770 adds an effective auto tape tuning facility (the 660 offers only variable bias on Type I and II tapes) and a nice FL display, but the 660 has the multi-coloured LED meters you like.  The 990 is nice but harder to find and not really worth a premium over the 770 in my opinion - with its auto record level, it tried to be a bit too clever for its own good.  I have a 770 and recently restored a 660 - both sound very similar, and very good.

Thanks Richard.

Will try to get a good example of a 770.If I spot one on the Bay.

But as you say its a bit of a lottery.

Loving this thread.Its always encouraging the amount of Forum members with a recorder on the rack or in the cupboard

For TC and Phil, I took some pics for you of the Aiwas (AD-F660 and AD-F770) in action.  Spot the differences...

You don't have a 990?

Phil

Phil Harris posted:

You don't have a 990?

Phil

No.

But... I do have another 770 in its box with stuck pinch roller arms that will eventually need attending to, and an 880 (Excelia XK-005) with remote control, which I recently brought back to life with new belts.

Richard Dane posted:

Kevin, the recordings made at 24bit 96kHz through the line-ins on either the Marantz or Sony recorders mentioned above are of excellent quality - quite remarkable really considering their small size. I haven't done any in depth comparison against my Terratec 24/192 USB ADC Toshiba Tecra solution, but in casual listening there's nothing obvious to indicate that they suffer by comparison.  

Perhaps someone should do a review, i for one would be interested to see the results. I am seriously thinking of getting one, but then my Pioneer PDR609 gives acceptable results anyway.

revox cassette 170/215 still produces stunning results.  if you want to see the worst wiring looms the aiwa 770 and the 9XX beat all.  bonus not a 0 and 1 in sight.  R2Rs at 7ips still sound very good too

Always loved cassette as a format and still have hundreds I began to collect from the late 70s' onwards. 

Recently picked up this rather lovely mint Aiwa F-990 deck - one I lusted after as a teenager in the 80s. Yes, the styling is brash and v dated, but I love it! And it plays beautifully. 

Richard Dane posted:

For TC and Phil, I took some pics for you of the Aiwas (AD-F660 and AD-F770) in action.  Spot the differences...

Thanks Richard.

Very nice cassette eye candy........Oh temptation !

Was that a TDK SA-X lurking in there ?

Going to be patient and try and get a good example off the bay but with a budjet no higher than £150.

Your previous posts on Aiwa that I have read eluded to a creamy sort of sound.Thats what I remember with the bottom of the range Aiwa I had as a teenager.Just something I liked about its sound.Smooth but good transients.

A Nak I really enjoy is my BX300 E.Its got a richer sound than my CR 7 but gets pretty close.Love the facia.Theres so much packed in there.Even pitch adjust.Also variable output is handy.

TC,

It's an '86 Vintage TDK SA.  However, from what you can see, it could just as easily be an SA-X.

Yes, these Aiwas have a kind of big-boned sound, like an R2R.  If you're up for a bit of belt changing you could get a non-runner and buy some quality belts and re-belt yourself. Plenty are sold as not working because the original belts would melt into black goo.  Some patience thoroughly cleaning off the goop from flywheels and motor and a little bit of time spent getting the belts on could well give you a deck that's working well within your budget.  Some basic setup tapes should be all you need to get the deck in good health. Only danger is if there are other faults.  They're pretty reliable overall - in spite of the rats nest of wiring inside - but the pinch roller arms can get stuck and that's a much trickier job that needs proper alignment tools.

The BX-300E is an excellent deck.  But I would be a little wary of buying one these days.  It was a popular deck for semi pro use, and many were studio workhorses. Too many are worn out and bounce back and forth on and off ebay. 

Richard Dane posted:

Phil Harris posted:

You don't have a 990?

Phil

No.

But... I do have another 770 in its box with stuck pinch roller arms that will eventually need attending to, and an 880 (Excelia XK-005) with remote control, which I recently brought back to life with new belts.

I always wondered about the ADF-880 - it is still a lovely looking deck (very restrained compared to the others) and looks very much like my old Denon DRM-14HX and I always wondered whether they were related...

Phil

The AD-F880 is a good deck. The wireless remote control s a nice feature too, It's not quite as nice as the earlier 660/770/990 though. The styling is conservative though and there a lot more plastic used. You get the feeling that Aiwa were really starting to get squeezed on their Japan made items. The following generations after the 880 were pared back too far and aren't that interesting. 

Richard Dane posted:

Very nice, Elbow.  I no longer have my WM-D6C - It never lived up to the good rep, in my opinion. Sony replaced it too but there was always detectable wow on piano notes that should not have been there and unacceptable tape path wander on anything longer than a C-60.  It still have my DC2 and D3 though but rarely use them these days. 

I had a WM-DC2 and had endless issues with speed stability - Sony didn't feel it was an issue and wouldn't replace it.

I have no idea where it or my TCD-D3 ended up...

Phil

Phil, weirdly I had problems with (both) my Walkman WM-D6C pros, which Couldn't be fixed, but my DC2 was fine. The "mini Pro" WM-D3 was fine too. Both the DC2 and D3 are still rolling, albeit not very much these days. I do wonder if Sony had a strange bad batch of rubber pinch rollers in the 90s. They invariably need changing as a matter of course on their '90s cassette decks, whereas on earlier vintage Sonys they have lasted well. 

don't forget that in the 80s, cassettes were outselling vinyl.  and over the last few years recording studios are refitting R2R  . Analogue tape is still alive

A bit of a recorder update; on the digital front the last few 6 months has seen the arrival of a Sony PCM-D100 to replace my old PCM-M10 and maybe also the PCM-D50. The latter does sound really good though, and I'm still not totally convinced that the D100 improves on it sound-wise, so I'm hanging on to it for a bit longer.  Then again, I haven't yet tried the 24bit 192kHz or DSD recording capability of the D100, so either may well move things up a gear.

On the analogue front my Nak ZX-9 has now returned from a rather lengthy stay down in Worthing. The bill was a bit more than I expected but plenty was done, including new capacitors, and I'm assured that it's now tip top and well within spec.  It's still wrapped up and in the box though because while it was away I decided to give the BX-300E a belt and idler service and also I finally got around to putting my old and rather sickly Pioneer CT-A9 on the bench.  I bought this about 10 years ago for about £80 as it had stopped working and since then it had just sat on the shelf gathering dust.  Sending the ZX-9 to Bowers & Wilkins was just the spur to try to fix the Pioneer. 

So, I purchased a replacement belt kit (although direct drive, the second capstan drives from a belt and so does the mechanism) from the States and a replacement idler tyre from Germany.  That was the easy part... 

Anybody who has worked on one of these Pioneers with the Reference mechanism will know the problems you face when trying to work on these decks.  Partial or complete removal of the mechanism is a must on this deck as it's so packed inside access is otherwise impossible.  On the CT-A9 a belt change means effectively opening up the direct drive motor so there are plenty of pitfalls and things to go wrong. And then, to cap it all, there's a geared drive for the powered door mechanism and unless you know the trick of how to align the various cogs exactly right, it won't work properly. That's the point where you find yourself tearing out your hair.  The solution is to go and walk the dog or just walk away for a day or two, do some more online research, and then come back afresh and try again.

Another hair shredding job is getting at the idler wheel.  There's a knack to it - once you get it, fine, but up to then - "aaargh". By comparison the BX-300 is a breeze to work on.

Anyway, once I thought I had finished, the tentative moment of switch-on, and... "oh".  No display. Hmmmm...

At the back of the machine is a bank of fuses and a cursory inspection showed that one of them was blown.  Phew!  A replacement fuse fitted and all is working well.  I have only one possible issue left and that's the auto tape type selection. It seems that you can have Normal lit up, Normal and Type II lit up together, or all three with Metal.  It doesn't seem quite right so I need to double check that.  However, it all seems to be working well, including the A.B.L.E. tape tuning system, and makes some excellent recordings.  The meters are probably the most discriminating (and green) of any ever put on a tape deck.  

All in all, at times a fun yet also frustrating job, but very rewarding to now have this TOTL deck back and working again.  Horrifying to think that it could well have gone to the skip instead.

Here are a few pics..

I've got a Nakamichi 582 sitting in my loft waiting for someone to love it again. And the original Nakamichi service manual. I bought the machine new back in the day, but it's been out of use for 25 years or so. 

best

David

Richard Dane posted:

I finally got around to putting my old and rather sickly Pioneer CT-A9 on the bench.

Nice work there Richard !

I'm curious: most threads seem to automatically lock against new contributions after 8 weeks, yet this one had a break of over 6 months then picked up again. Is the lock time random, or was it simply due to insider dealing, as it were? If so, does that mean other closed threads can be re-opened on request (suitably reasoned)?

Thanks Richards.....VU's to die for on the Pioneer....super sexy !

I suspect that Richard can do pretty well anything, except allow us to edit posts after 15 mins.....

best

David

If you wish for one of your threads to be re-opened then you can just ask.  Unless there's a specific reason why it's best left closed - i.e. it was closed for good reason other than just no replies after two months - there shouldn't be any problem.  I've done it for many members and their threads in the past.

David Hendon posted:

I suspect that Richard can do pretty well anything, except allow us to edit posts after 15 mins.....

best

David

Sorry David, I perhaps did jump on it a bit sharpish.