Chinwonder2
Global Moderator 
RIP QueenZone 1995 - 2020
Posts: 607 
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Post by Chinwonder2 on May 17, 2021 9:40:25 GMT
Hey everyone, I managed to dig out my parents' old cassette deck/radio and I'm trying to get into cassettes. However, I noticed that the deck doesn't like to play all tapes consistently at the correct speed.
In this video, I'm showing how I can fix this issue for one cassette, it being Brian May's 'Back To The Light' album, for the cassette to play at the correct speed, I have to hold the play button down, but not all the way. If I press it down all the way, it plays slowly. However, a different tape I tried, it plays fine all the way down but if I do the "fix", it plays fast.
It's a Hitachi TRK-6830E and from what I can gather, it's from around 1987-88. Any help would be appreciated!
Jordan.
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Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
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Post by Lord Fickle on May 17, 2021 10:11:00 GMT
Cassette decks used to be the bain of my life! I would often find one side of a tape would play better than the other, but I can't say I recall ever coming across that problem. Have you cleaned the rollers with proper cleaning fluid (isopropyl alcohol)? Does the problem occur when playing either side of the tape?
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emrabt
Wordles & Heardles 
Politician
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Post by emrabt on May 17, 2021 10:30:14 GMT
Normally with speed issues the belts inside have stretched and need replacing, although that wouldn't explain why some tapes are playing correctly.
EDIT: have you checked how BTTL plays in another player?
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oreno
Ploughman
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Post by oreno on May 17, 2021 11:05:56 GMT
Yep 100% get the belts replaced. If they're the same ones from 1988, they will have perished considerably.
Speed is nothing to do with the play heads, though it won't hurt to clean them (and the capstan) with Iso Propyl Alcohol.
The reason for the half-press making it work is probably just down to the way the motor and spools are engaged when the mechanism kicks in.
It will be a bit of a repair job so if you're not up for the fiddly stuff..
Re the difference in tapes, this will likely be down to the tension of individual cassettes. Not a problem with a properly working machine, but a tightly wound tape will place more stress on the device than others. How easily does the BTTL cassette spool turn with a pencil?
I used to have terrible trouble with cassettes and a lot was down to simply poor manufacture, and uneven tension (I'm looking at you, The Works) making them sound wobbly. Weirdly my AKOM cassette survives to this day and is totally fine, where 90% of my tapes died of 1 thing or another after only a few years.
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