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Sony tape player
xxtimbo
Posts: 8,877 Forum Member
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Hi,
Ive got a sony audio tape player,
must be 18 years old or so.
Ive still got tons of cassette tapes and still
like to play them but find that , one by one the cassette side of my radio cassette players begin to fail.
The radio works ok, but the motor seems to go in the cassette players sooner or later.
So Ive turned to this little sony tape player,
it still works great. It runs off 2 aaa batteries... each 1 and half volts.
Ive got about 6 elec adaptors, Ive tried them all on the sony, taking the voltage down to 3 volts dc of course... but no joy
Ive changed the polarity too , they just dont seem to get it going
but slip 2 aaa batteries in there and it runs a treat
anyone explain why I cant get one of the six adaptors to work it ?
Ive got a sony audio tape player,
must be 18 years old or so.
Ive still got tons of cassette tapes and still
like to play them but find that , one by one the cassette side of my radio cassette players begin to fail.
The radio works ok, but the motor seems to go in the cassette players sooner or later.
So Ive turned to this little sony tape player,
it still works great. It runs off 2 aaa batteries... each 1 and half volts.
Ive got about 6 elec adaptors, Ive tried them all on the sony, taking the voltage down to 3 volts dc of course... but no joy
Ive changed the polarity too , they just dont seem to get it going
but slip 2 aaa batteries in there and it runs a treat
anyone explain why I cant get one of the six adaptors to work it ?
0
Comments
One "problem" that may catch you out is the inner diameter of the plug. If that is 2.5mm and the pin in the socket on the player is 2.1mm the plug will physically mate with the socket but that 0.4mm difference means there is no electrical contact.
And there is of course the possibility that the socket is broken.
So you d think I d be making contact with one of them
But you re right. The socket size could be the prob
It very commonly is, are you also sure you have it configured for the correct polarity?, often the socket on the unit is labelled which is +ve and which is -ve.
And as I said it might also be a broken socket. If the socket is the type that switches the battery feed off as you insert the plug then since the batteries still work it suggests it may be the ground pin that is faulty. Two very common faults are a dry joint and a broken contact pin.
With a dry joint the solder doesn't flow properly round the pin and make electrical contact properly. Sometimes a gentle wiggle on the plug can move the pin enough to make contact briefly. Easy to cure with a soldering iron to remake the joint.
But I have also seen these type of sockets where the contact pin breaks where it enters the body of the socket. Only remedy there is to replace the socket.
I dont have the will power to start operating on it with a soldering iron.
Ive just moved a big music centre into the kitchen
one of the two cassette players on it still works... for the time being.....
the cassette players on so many radio cassettes seem to have a built in self destruct system... I must have about 6 now that are defunct.
They are highly mechanical, so obviously wear out over time - like a car for example, you should have them serviced regularly - but it's not cost effective on cheap items such as cassettes.
Once they get a bit of age on them they generally aren't worth repairing, even assuming the parts were still available - basically you need to replace belts, pinch rollers, rubber tyres/wheels, clutches and the worn out heads.
cassette plays tapes... the sound is brilliant
the right hand cassette player is caput.... thats the one that records too so I cant record any of the fab music I get on this high class music centre.
A good tape deck is prob the answer
Ive got an Arcam system too ( minus a tape deck )
Its always these tape cassette systems that conk out
modern systems prob have digital recording onto hard drives......
no moving parts !
HDD's have moving parts, and HDD's fail.
Very very rare in PC modern systems and unheard of in stand alone audio players
Some car based HDD's are actually SSD's masquerading as HDD . SSd's are the ultimate in reliability .
all that machinery has been replaced in modern DVD recorders just like the old fashioned typewriters were replaced by word processors..... things have moved on.
My tiny mp3 player plays audio files...
cant think theres any motor whizzing about inside there !
SATA drives fail just as much as IDE ones did, failure certainly isn't 'very rare'
A LOT depends on the manufacturer, Quantum and Seagate are probably the worst, with Hitachi and Samsung probably the next worst - WD seem pretty good, and I always fit those as replacements if I can.
HDD usage in audio recorders is very minimal, so I've no idea what sort of failure rates those incur, but as they use the same drives it's going to be pretty well identical.
I suggest you read the specs on them, SSD's have strictly limited numbers of writing cycles, life is likely to be less than HDD's, depending on how much use they get.
Certainly if SSD's can be made with much higher write cycles then they would be an excellent device.
I did have a few WD drives fail but that would be circa 1997 ! in modern PC that are mainly used in offices or domestic homes its is truly very rare to see a failing hdd .
I have got a portibile sony tape player , I did a search on Google to find the correct sony adapter and purchased it , the power socket it to small for any of the adapters I have so you need to buy the proper sony one .
I still use cassettes the main issue is the belt will eventually need replaced I have got a vintage 1968 sony TC 50 which still works after replacing the belt.