Pioneer CT-50R

agree... Pioneer was famous for having good taste in look.
after all, my own CT-737mkII here is one of my decks i like the most, about the look.

while my ANT-modded marantz SD60 (black colour) sounds wonderful but i find it just ugly!

luckily, i do listen with my ears, not with my eyes. :D
 
Inside of the CT-50R.

Main board with microprocessor and the Dolby chips (Hitachi HA12058NT).
CT50RE1.JPG

The RYM-164 tape transport and power supply board.
CT50RE2.JPG

The rotating head, the tiny wires are very fragile and can break at the soldering.
CT50RH1.JPG

View of the springs arrangement of the door and the tape guides (the left one is fitted with an infrared sensor for tape end detection).
CT50RH2.JPG

The very dirty tape path before service.
CT50RH3.JPG

Measurement of the tape guides height with a spark plug adjusting shim set.
CT50RH4.JPG

A not too much complicated mechanism that features two motors and 3 solenoids, trigger (yellow wires) for moving up the head bridge, reverse (green wires) for reversing the head and brake (blue wires) for reel brake release during ff/rew and head positioning during music search mode.
CT50RM1.JPG

No zinc diecast molded levers & sliders, that's one of the reasons it is more reliable than the infamous 3 motor direct-drive mechanism.
CT50RM2.JPG

The RXM-111 capstan motor, usually dead of very noisy, I replace it by new Mabuchi EG530AD-2B.
CT50RM3.JPG

The RXM-112 reel motor, never seen a bad one, just needs a tiny drop of oil in the sintered bearings after almost 40 years.
CT50RM4.JPG
 
Leo: Good, clear photos and easy descriptions and tips of what you encountered in the Pioneer CT-50R.

Nando.
 
The CT-1150R is up and running, note the little cosmetic differences.
20210822_005947.jpg
It had the common problems, slipping idler tire, capstan belt turned to goo, very noisy capstan motor, that was easy to fix.
 
The physical differences appear to be minimal such as button colours and some of the fascia script.

Nando.
 
Guys I've been checking this thread out with a bit of interest. Way back and just prior to leaving home for the Nav, I had a CT-S88R that if I recall right was one of those old "floor models" when Circuit City was still around. It had dbx, and quite a decent set of features BUT.. over the years since (I actually gifted it to the old man as I didn't rebuild anything at the time) I do recall it too having that issue with the reversing mech if I'm reading this thread right. For me it was actually any time I tried playing a tape, I would either get lucky and the transport fully engaged, or more times often than not it would still be attempting to get the heads in the correct direction before raising the head deck.

Grease and/or dirty contacts? Wow.. not sure if it's still in the pile of equipment stored until I eventually part with all that stuff. Ears not as good as they used to be, so a preamp + DAC and my two remaining WOPL amps is all that I use now.
Can't YET part with all of the old tape stuff tho.. threads like this make me tempted to pull it all back out. :occasion5:
 
Well not all things are the same but when you say the reversing mech does not complete the cycle that would make me think that the old grease they used is gummed up and if cleaned out and Lubriplate put in then the unit would work like new and stay that way. I have seen many transports that have been disabled by that crummy grease they used- it is almost like they knew it was not any good for too long. This was used throughout the industry over there so one brand did not have advantage over the other except maybe Revox because they did not use Japanese grease. Still I had a Tandberg 3014 that had gummed up grease so they did cheap grease too. Revox has it bad caps and so did Nakamichi. No one was perfect.
 
Hello, sorry for reviving this old thread, but I need your guidance, I bought this CT-50R player on eBay for 80 dollars, which according to the seller was in perfect condition, I do not specify what he meant if it was aesthetic or functional , the problem is that the player only rotates the idler motor, it rewinds left and right but the capstran motor does not rotate, I opened the lid and I could verify that the motor does not rotate at any time, therefore it does not activate the mechanism to play cassette, any idea you can give me? I wouldn't want to return it because it's scratch free and like new, but this is driving me crazy. thanks any help is appreciated
 
Check for voltage at the capstan motor if it is there then the motor may be dead. turn it a little to see if it will start otherwise you will need a new one. The DC motors in these deck do not last forever and there might be the possibility that you will need to put a EG motor that is like the one you have in there now. The motor shaft will need to be the same as the one in there to fit the pulley. We don't know what the Pioneer speed was at this point. You also need to detect which direction it will turn. CW or CCW. These are the problems we end up dealing with.
 
Welcome to Phoenix and to the Pioneer CT-50R club.
On most my CT-50R I've had to replace the capstan motor.
Original is a Matsushita MMN6A2 rebadged by Pioneer (Sony did the same on the TC-FX series).
You can replace it by a Mabuchi EG530AD-2B, 2400rpm CCW.
 
20tajk7 said:
Welcome to Phoenix and to the Pioneer CT-50R club.
On most my CT-50R I've had to replace the capstan motor.
Original is a Matsushita MMN6A2 rebadged by Pioneer (Sony did the same on the TC-FX series).
You can replace it by a Mabuchi EG530AD-2B, 2400rpm CCW.
Click to expand...
thanks for your help! As soon as I have some time I will change it and leave my impressions, thanks again!
 
Skywavebe said:
Check for voltage at the capstan motor if it is there then the motor may be dead. turn it a little to see if it will start otherwise you will need a new one. The DC motors in these deck do not last forever and there might be the possibility that you will need to put a EG motor that is like the one you have in there now. The motor shaft will need to be the same as the one in there to fit the pulley. We don't know what the Pioneer speed was at this point. You also need to detect which direction it will turn. CW or CCW. These are the problems we end up dealing with.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, I'll be looking and checking, I hope I can revive this machine again, it's very nice, thanks again!
 
20tajk7 said:
Welcome to Phoenix and to the Pioneer CT-50R club.
On most my CT-50R I've had to replace the capstan motor.
Original is a Matsushita MMN6A2 rebadged by Pioneer (Sony did the same on the TC-FX series).
You can replace it by a Mabuchi EG530AD-2B, 2400rpm CCW.
Click to expand...

Hello my friend, looking at a Denon DR-M1 that I have damaged, will this motor work for me in Pioneer? the numbering is MMI-6A2HUA
 

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20tajk7 said:
Almost working, forward play & recording is good but the autoreverse is erratic, that was due to the oxidation in the autoreverse switch.
Click to expand...

Hi, @20tajk7

I have a CT-50R and I have the same problem: sometimes, the autoreverse is erratic.
I want to clean the autoreverse switch, could you please tell me which one it is?
Thank you very much for your dedication. Great post!

IMG_20221115_190951.jpg
 
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