Who has Decks and What Kind

[BubbaH]

While the system sounds extensive Nando, it certainly gives the minimalist look. Very nice.

 

[derek92994]

Here's an early picture, Ben. I still have all the same components, with the exception of the Pioneer CLD-1090, which I sold to Scott (braxus) for $20.

Clockwise from left to right: Pioneer HPM-100 speakers, AKG K-240 headphones, Pioneer SX-D7000 receiver, SAE 5000 Impulse Noise reduction Sytem, Pioneer PL-7 turntable with NOS Yamaha MC-7 moving coil cartridge, CLD-1090 Laserdisc/CD player, Pioneer CT-F1250 cassette deck, BBE 882i Sonic Maximizer, Tascam DA-30 DAT recorder.

Nando.

Great pic Nando, good to see the speakers have comfy chairs Very thankful the weekend is here, the best thing about friday is I go straight from my work to the recycle market, scored a small Pioneer sub woofer $5 (really only wanted it for the voltage selector), a Benq DVD/Hard drive recorder $5, Alpine V12 DC straight car amplifier $5, 2x Cassette containers (hold 10 cassettes each) $2. Not bad for $17, unknown if any of it works but I am going to try putting that voltage selector into the VSX-9500s after carefully checking the wiring. The 2nd 9500s has not showed up yet, will wait till mid week next week before I start to worry.

 

[derek92994]

New addition to the family. A Technics M245X DBX cassette deck, also has Dolby B/C. Single capstan, two motor, music search/cueing etc. It was advertised on a classified site for $20. When I organised to buy it was told it was not working. I said I wanted it anyway and the price got lowered to $10. Have always been curious about DBX and how good it works. Its surprising to see the VU meters with a range up to +18 DB, this is to handle the DBX capability.

Got this thing home and it appeared that the Mode belt was slipping therefore preventing engaging of the heads/mode changes. This thing looked a bit crazy in its design mechanically, using 3 belts and a complex gear system with a cam. Was a bit worried about pulling it apart being so complex. I find it strange how this is a two motor deck and it still needs so many belts, also on playback only 1 motor is used, as it relies on a small belt driven clutch pulley to turn the take up reel which then runs off an idler tyre, this is run by the capstan motor. The reel motor which drives ff/rew also acts as a mode switch/cam drive motor via belt. This thing has a huge capstan flywheel, a good sign. Deck was made in may 1983.

I pulled it down and re-surfaced/cleaned the belts as I had no replacements. Re-lubed the capstan shaft, and cam. After re-assembling and much nashing of teeth the cam belt was still slipping, so I gave it a more vigorous sanding and clean to gain enough grip so it would work properly. Heads and pinch roller were cleaned very heavily, they were dirty, then heads demagnetized with a wand. I thought this thing was ready to go, I get it into the lounge room and the auto tape selector was stuck on metal tape type This was due to 1 small wire harness not connected properly but took me a while to figure out.

The deck came with a Maxell XL-II chrome tape inside it. It was in good condition so I used it to record my first DBX mix tape. Results were excellent! Was pushing the recording level between +12 and +16db, then on playback there was no distortion, and I could not hear any tape hiss, dbx seems to work very well. I don't understand how you can get such a high recording level without distortion.

 

[pennysdad]

You deserve a "job well done" Derek.
Brilliant.

 

[VintageShadow]

Wow, the flywheel is really huge and it must have extremely low w&f this way, i'm a Technics fan and i assure you this is a fine deck, i do have the RS-B305 which is quite similar just it hasn't DBX and i love it, awesome reliable decks those Technics.

 

[derek92994]

Wow, the flywheel is really huge and it must have extremely low w&f this way, i'm a Technics fan and i assure you this is a fine deck, i do have the RS-B305 which is quite similar just it hasn't DBX and i love it, awesome reliable decks those Technics.

I'm impressed with it. The two previous technics decks I have had have been bad for me. RS-TR155 and another one similar but with HXPRO, both dual well decks. Both with clutch/rewind/ff/tension/slipping gear problems. I could not for the life of me repair them. They also engage the heads over half way during fast forward and rewind, absolute hell. Too many plastic parts, and the reels get very sticky to the point where they wont wind or just drag the tape very hard over the tape path destroying it.

This M245X on the other hand is a DBX dream come true, I will certainly keep an eye out for older style technics decks. Thanks for the advice

 

[derek92994]

The Technics M245X has wow and flutter of 0.045, impressive.

 

[VintageShadow]

Yes, their early to mid 80's were among the best of them, i see yours has the AX rec/pb head which is great, mine had permalloy and needed replacement and luckily i managed to replace it by myself with great success. Very nice to hear the w&f is very low, anyway you can check the back tension too and you need to take out the supply hub which must have some kind of grease applied on the antifriction washer so you must clean the old grease and apply a tiny amount of some better grease, if the grease is dried then can occur kind of tremblings at the end of the tape and i encountered that, after solving it the stability is perfect all the way from the start to the end of the tape.

 

[derek92994]

Yes, their early to mid 80's were among the best of them, i see yours has the AX rec/pb head which is great, mine had permalloy and needed replacement and luckily i managed to replace it by myself with great success. Very nice to hear the w&f is very low, anyway you can check the back tension too and you need to take out the supply hub which must have some kind of grease applied on the antifriction washer so you must clean the old grease and apply a tiny amount of some better grease, if the grease is dried then can occur kind of tremblings at the end of the tape and i encountered that, after solving it the stability is perfect all the way from the start to the end of the tape.

In the case of the RS-TR155, it was just a piece of crap and no amount of lube or cleaning would fix it, I don't even think it was possible to take the reels off without breaking them. It was a mid 90's model when the tape decks started to go to crap. This model is so good looking though with big buttons.

 

[derek92994]

Looks good integrated into the cabinet with my other Panasonic stuff.

 

[VintageShadow]

Looks good integrated into the cabinet with my other Panasonic stuff.

Very good looking Matsushita audio line you have there

 

[VintageShadow]

In the case of the RS-TR155, it was just a piece of crap and no amount of lube or cleaning would fix it, I don't even think it was possible to take the reels off without breaking them. It was a mid 90's model when the tape decks started to go to crap. This model is so good looking though with big buttons.

I know what you mean, and when you think Technics used that kind of mechanism used in TR155 also for their later models considered better ones, well, well... Infact that mechanism is not very bad but quite fragile and not so reliable, their 80's stuff are the best anyway.

 

[derek92994]

Very good looking Matsushita audio line you have there

Thanks. I remember my first Hi-Fi Stereo VHS machine was a National NV-850, this thing was awesome and so durable. My father bought it 2nd hand in 1988 and I used the hell out of it, sometimes up to 12 hours a day constant. It went through at least 3 belt kits and 1 head cylinder drum over 20 years, will never forget it and comes down to the quality Panasonic brand, 1000's of hours on that machine. That dvd recorder I have there has probably recorded over 1000 dvd's, it hasn't skipped a beat ever. The Panasonic 6 head HiFi VHS was acquired for $5 from the dump recycle market and just needed a basic clean/service of internals, also a great machine, it was at one stage used as a surveillance recorder for up to 12 hours a day, hasn't shown any signs of wear. Very durable gear.

 

[derek92994]

I know what you mean, and when you think Technics used that kind of mechanism used in TR155 also for their later models considered better ones, well, well... Infact that mechanism is not very bad but quite fragile and not so reliable, their 80's stuff are the best anyway.

The biggest problem with it is too much plastic and not enough metal. Also engaging the heads during fast forward/rewind is a death sentence to the heads. The gears fail in them/clutches slip/reels seize, even when they have not been heavily used. They are the only decks I have not been able to repair. Also talk about "clunky", you hear 4 clunks just pressing ff/rew what is the deal there? The auto reverse head flips forward and backward each time these functions are pressed, great for knocking alignment out within a few weeks of heavy use. I'll never touch that era of technics decks again. Strictly 80's vintage from now on.

 

[VintageShadow]

... will never forget it and comes down to the quality Panasonic brand,

This makes me to remember my first ever stereo boombox very early 80's and which worked great, so bad it was given away because new coming digital stuff, i still have a recorded cassette with that boombox sounding great in my actual decks.

Pic not mine.

 

[derek92994]

This makes me to remember my first ever stereo boombox very early 80's and which worked great, so bad it was gived away because new coming digital stuff, i still have a recorded cassette with that boombox sounding great in my actual decks.

Pic not mine.

We had lots of the stand up 2-way single speaker models in primary school, very reliable as well and good mechanisms.

 

[Elite-ist]

Early Panasonic/Technics from the 80's are good products, especially, that era of VCRs. I have a few 80's Panasonic/Technics components, including a very nice Pansonic portable I have taken on a few road trips, because my old car didn't have anything but the original AM radio.

Nando.

 

[Jazzyguy]

Early Panasonic/Technics from the 80's are good products, especially, that era of VCRs. I have a few 80's Panasonic/Technics components, including a very nice Pansonic portable I have taken on a few road trips, because my old car didn't have anything but the original AM radio.

Nando.

Nando,Do you still have the V-9000? If you do I am curious what it looks like.Can you send a few Photos on this thread?

 

[Elite-ist]

Nando,Do you still have the V-9000? If you do I am curious what it looks like.Can you send a few Photos on this thread?

Already posted on Pg. 2 of this thread.

Nando.

 

[Jazzyguy]

Already posted on Pg. 2 of this thread.

Nando.

Thanks I found it. It is a great looking Deck.