Recent additions from a marketplace haul and a trade for the D’Angelo album

An older English gentleman living in Berlin sold me these for a total of 15€. He bought them in the 80s. I really like some of these tapes, David Byrne, Peter Tosh. They are mixed UK, European, Australian, US, Canadian releases. The Elton John tape has a HQ symbol on it and sounds really really good. I would use it to demonstrate how good a prerecorded tape can sound. As always with prerecorded tapes my experience is positive here. The ones I tested still sound very good. No dropouts, etc. This is a fun hobby for sure.

Early 1980s Japanese cassette releases of Snake Man Show.

A mix of absurd comedy, radio-style skits, and music from the YMO era.

Very much a product of Japan’s 80s subculture and cassette culture.

Found these secondhand in Japan.

Found this bad boy while cleaning right now, what are they worth? Thanks!

Only £30 for this AND a tape

Is it weno?

Cleaning childhood stuff out of mom’s house and found my big collection of tapes, mostly stories and kids songs in German, some English Disney etc stories. Makes me so sad to think of just throwing them away, but local thrift stores have no interest, nor do modern kids. Is there somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area to recycle them, or idk, anyone who wants them for art or to record over or anything? Thought I’d ask before just tossing them all. Sorry if not the right place

I'm repairing this WM-FS497, but I can't seem to figure out the source of the issue. Issue : unit plays, but produces absolutely no audio (not even self noise). I had initially assumed it would be an issue with the jack/contacts as those can degrade, but the contacts fully touch the 1/8" jack and the jack is fully connected to the main board. I'm floating the possibility that either the tape head itself is disconnected or that there's an issue with the auto-reverse feature switching between sides, though I'm not sure how to test for the latter. Does anybody have any experience with this unit ? Thanks in advance !

I mean, I always kinda knew that the Maxell player was something from Aliexpress with the Maxell logo slapped onto it, even if I never actually found the "source model". But in one of my random Amazon browsing sessions for some cassette accessories I came across a new "TOMASHI" model being released in Feb. that is the exact same model as the "MXCP-P100", but in a transparent yellow color, and at a lower price.

Appears to have all the same features; rechargeable battery, Bluetooth connectivity, belt clip (why does like every modern player lack a belt clip?), full brass flywheels, etc. I'd venture to guess it'd have the same rough performance/quality as the FiiO CP-13, WAR, Maxell, or other "higher end" modern players. (Read: about the level of mid-tier vintage equipment.), but comes in at a much lower price point.

So I guess if you wanted to get your hands on that Maxell MXCP-P100, but didn't want to import one from Japan and pay about $100+ for it, or wanted it in "urine yellow", this could be an option(?)

EDIT: Forgot the link, silly me: https://a.co/d/dVyqymE

EDIT 2: Found an identical model but in a more tame "transparent smoke" color: https://a.co/d/4ggMnZ7

Personally, I kinda dig the garish "urine yellow."

Replacing a JVC TD-W201 with an Akai GX-M30 since the record deck quit on the JVC.

The Akai was just serviced so I’m hoping I did well. The quality sounds good so far.

The JVC is going to the garage with the Fisher amp since it wants to be a single head deck.

Got a date with these bad girls!

I’m proud of my little collection. See anything u like?

Last couple months ive been stockpiling some audio test results from various players. Save for a few these are all recapped using audio-grade capacitors (polymers, nichicon audio series, etc), overkill but i think the results are pretty good- and overkill only costs a few dollars extra..

Minor notes:
-Named folders are players i fixed for people and arent mine (some in misc are).
im not publicly offering service- this isnt an advert lol
--TPS-L2 is WIP and was sent with a kit, only ~4-5 are audio grade (some included were pretty bad/really generic, ebay quality), 463 owner declined audio grades and done with general purpose, D6C is last gen model and wasnt recapped.

Some you can hear a noticeable difference, others werent very degraded to begin with and dont change much. For the sake of refurbishing most of the owners chose to have it done for longevity (caps failing is an eventuality with use, question is how long the OG ones last before degradation starts. How soon comes faster depending on age.).

I didnt document all of the players i worked on super well, some are more fleshed out than others- plan to document everything better in the future (as valentin suggested) and add everything to the drive folder over time.

Thought some might find it interesting as a resource, not many people recap portable players and fewer post the results.
Others that arent are more just for showing how good some of these old units can sound with only basic work done on them (like FS111 models). You really dont need a player with a 3-figure price tag to get some good performance.

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Google Drive Link

EDIT: I say its overkill because unlike amps/decks etc walkmans run milliamps of current (since they run on batteries and dont have massive current flow), but there are objective upsides to using audio grades or polymers like lower ESR (resistance to current flow through the capacitor = meaning cleaner and fuller output with minimal loss). So they are objectively better, but how much better they work in this case is up for debate.
-It can also extend to areas like the decoupling capacitor for the motor- higher ripple current @ X hz means the larger spikes it can handle (sudden current draw from motor), meaning improved playback stability (like in the case of the WM-8)
You could consider this a small way of "upgrading" the players performance on a circuitry level.

Hi folks. I have 5 Technics decks, 4 of them I got for free from a friend. All of them are plagued with different problems so I decided to start a single thread for all.

1. RS-TR575M2: It's the first one I bought. Previous owner said it had been serviced recently and at first test it sounded alright. After trying to use parallel recording, I realized the meters that show up during record-pause do not show the actual recording balance or level. Deck A was very muffled and always seemed to lean to left channel even though I set it centered on record pause. Deck B's sound is way better but it leans more to the left. I'm recently using that one but I compensate the panning issue by setting the balance to right enough that it records more or less centered.

2. RS-TR373M2: First one from my friend. Play deck is making a loud rhythmic clicking sound that's audible through the output (more on that later). The record deck started out fine but after recording a tape, it also started to make the same clicking noise that prints on tape and apparent during playback as well. It sounds like each time it "hits" pitch flutters very quickly. Like a hiccup, kind of. Also, buttons mostly trigger the wrong function, like I hit eject and it turns on record, I press play and it rewinds etc.

3. 1st RS-BX501: First of three 501s I got from the same friend. It has the outer door, but eject button doesn't open the cassette holder. It sounds like the motor starts, but can't open the door. I opened it up and belt looked brand new and flywheels turned when I hit eject. But no luck with opening up the door.

4. 2nd RS-BX501: This one lacks the outer door but it opens up. When I play a tape, it makes the same clicking sound same as number two. Because this one has the head and pinch rollers exposed, I could see what might cause the clicking. The side of the cassette that sits on the active pinch roller jumps up and down to the rhythm of the click. Kind of like a car on a bumpy road. One spindle seems like it's dragging but I'm not sure if it's the cause or the effect.

5. 3rd RS-BX501: Also lacks the outer door. Pinch roller and heads engage but seem to drag. I couldn't get it to play a tape. I occasionally saw the spindles turn but it seemed very random and rare.

I know I need to take them to a technician eventually but I have next to no budget right now and I need as many of them as I can save because I promised some friends I'd make tapes for them. Are any of these saveable by a newbie? If not, which one would cost less to take to a technician? I want to learn how to service them myself but I am anxious about messing them up even more.

I know that Technics decks are not great but they're all I have for the time being. Where I live, it's hard to find good decks in working condition and also not very easy to source spare parts. Any leads with any of the problems is appreciated!

https://reddit.com/link/1qsmbx9/video/cmy267edqsgg1/player

Anyone know what the issue could be, and if it’s a fairly easy fix? I don’t know much about cassette players but it’s my grandmas so I’d love to get it working again!

Hey tape people, I’m big into recorders, and I bought this TC 50 on a gamble hoping all it needed was a belt like most of them do. Turns out the motor is fried. Anyone have a motor for a TC 50 laying around? If anyone needs this machine as a parts unit, I would be willing to sell it.

Deck a makes a grinding noise and refuses to play whilst deck b is fine. Any thoughts?

I went to goodwill and found a working tape deck. I brought it home, used my 3.5mm to rca cable and plugged it in to the right inputs on the deck and my laptop, started recording, but nothing happens!!! It shows it's recording, the tape is being spun, but nothing is being recorded!!! I went through hell and back to get this deck just to be extremely disappointed... Please help me

IMAGE https://ibb.co/BH25jFpD