Sickly Denon DRM 710 Cassette Deck

[kensalriser]

Just pulled out this long unused deck out and unsurprisingly it's not well. No levels appear on the display and with the volume on full you can just about hear distorted underwater sounding playback. The controls operate but when stop is pressed the head doesn't disengage until the unit is powered off and back on.

I've cleaned the heads and pinch rollers but I suspect the problems are something else. Any ideas?

 

[Mynamemynaim]

Sounds like the mechanism has become gummed up with dried grease...though that doesn't explain the lack of sound fully

See if it improves slightly by leaving it playing an (old) tape on repeat for a few hours

 

[hi-fi132]

Sounds like the heads aren't fully engaging with the tape. These mechanisms have a belt that rotates a drive pulley to lift the head into place. I've fixed a few and the mechanism is a pain to work on, but the electronics don't usually go wrong.

 

[kensalriser]

Thanks for the replies. I've sold it now as I just don't have the inclination to tinker too much.

Just pulled out an old Yamaha K340 deck which also has issues - the head assembly doesn't engage with the tape, but I've discovered that with the window removed for access, I can manually engage the head (ie just push it and hold it there) and it will play. Does that indicate a perished belt, perhaps? And if so, easily replaced?

 

[hi-fi132]

Thanks for the replies. I've sold it now as I just don't have the inclination to tinker too much.

Just pulled out an old Yamaha K340 deck which also has issues - the head assembly doesn't engage with the tape, but I've discovered that with the window removed for access, I can manually engage the head (ie just push it and hold it there) and it will play. Does that indicate a perished belt, perhaps? And if so, easily replaced?

Yes, probably the capstan belt is loose as I believe it drives the mechanism functions on that model. I can't remember how easy they are to service though as it's been a while since I worked on one.