T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows of someone in the Mass area that repairs vintage electronics? Thanks.
"Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans"
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
Anyone,Anyone......
Alex2507
Audioholic Slumlord
No.
Alex2507
Audioholic Slumlord
Seriously. After my RI repair shop closed I went to another place that held some Carver amps for over a year. I told them that I was done waiting and took my broke gear back. Later I got a line on a guy around Harvard and his answering machine said he wasn't taking in any repair work. Do you wanna buy some broke Carver amps? Very reasonable pricing available.
Rickster71
Audioholic Spartan
It's getting tough, most of the good guys are gone. They're hitting retirement age.
You'd have to be willing to ship it somewhere.
Vintage parts are harder to find and the old guys that knew the old equipment are moving to Florida and hanging out at beach bars, etc.
You'd have to be willing to ship it somewhere.
Vintage parts are harder to find and the old guys that knew the old equipment are moving to Florida and hanging out at beach bars, etc.
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
That stinks. I think I will pass on Carver's......
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
I guess your right. I didn't think it would be this hard to find someone local.
TLS Guy
Audioholic Jedi
It would be helpful if we knew what it is you want repaired.
Not all vintage gear is repairable. Most tube and discrete transistor gear is. Gear post 1970 that have ICs is often not repairable. Even with the older gear finding potentiometere is often a huge problem.
In addition us old guys are dying off or getting too stupid so finding someone to help you is not so easy now.
It is not just electronics either. Finding people to fix old vehicles and tractors is a problem. I had to return to Grand Forks three years ago to get a 1930 De Soto running for a parade.
Just a couple of months ago a local guy could not find anyone to get a 1954 Ford 600 tractor running again. This turned into a major mechanical restoration including a complete rewire. I ended up his only hope. His bill ended up almost $3500 with labor at around $2000.
1954 Ford 600
The 1930 De Soto
Keeping all types of vintage gear like this going is unfortunately a dying skill set.
If you tell me what you need, I will let you know if I can help you.
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
I have a Technics cassette deck 631. The left VU stays pegged all the time and it just buzzes out of the speaker. The right channel is very low. Everything else is good.
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
KEW
Audioholic Overlord
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]I have a Technics cassette deck 631. The left VU stays pegged all the time and it just buzzes out of the speaker. The right channel is very low. Everything else is good.
My first tape deck was Technics of the same series, but a step down from that!
I have to ask, is this a sentimental thing?
The performance of cassette decks improved significantly over the next few years after this model and you may be better served by buying one of the later models than repairing this one.
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
[/QUOTE]
My first tape deck was Technics of the same series, but a step down from that!
I have to ask, is this a sentimental thing?
The performance of cassette decks improved significantly over the next few years after this model and you may be better served by buying one of the later models than repairing this one.[/QUOTE]
No sentimental value. I have the receiver that was sold with it as a package deal and I don't have any other way to play the 30 or so cassettes I have. If it turns out to be a good chunk of change to fix it I will take your advice.
My first tape deck was Technics of the same series, but a step down from that!
I have to ask, is this a sentimental thing?
The performance of cassette decks improved significantly over the next few years after this model and you may be better served by buying one of the later models than repairing this one.[/QUOTE]
No sentimental value. I have the receiver that was sold with it as a package deal and I don't have any other way to play the 30 or so cassettes I have. If it turns out to be a good chunk of change to fix it I will take your advice.
TLS Guy
Audioholic Jedi
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]I have a Technics cassette deck 631. The left VU stays pegged all the time and it just buzzes out of the speaker. The right channel is very low. Everything else is good.
Sorry for the tardy reply, but I wanted to make use of an unusually hot weekend here to complete most of the enormous amount of fall work there is round here.
I have down loaded the service manual for that machine.
I have all the equipment necessary to service that machine which is a long list.
I have the following comments, all the early high gain circuits are IC and almost certainly NLA.
It looks very similar to the Pioneer machines of the period, which I do have experience with.
A big problem, and I suspect the issue, with your machine is that the rec/play back head is burnt out and open circuit in the left channel.
This was common in early machines biased for high bias Cr tapes. In order for magnetic hysteresis not to be a problem, the Rec head is flooded with a high frequency sign wave during record. This is a critical adjustment. Now in the early days they underestimated the heat build up, so head failure was and is not uncommon. The supply of those old glass heads dried up years ago.
I am prepared to service your machine. However I charge $75 per hour. I will have more than an hour into it before I know the problem. There is a high chance the machine will be non repairable.
Assuming the machine is fixable, there will be a host of critical adjustment to do following the repair, which take hours of painstaking work.
There are two identical machines for sale on eBay, one for $110.00 the other for $85.00
I leave the decision to about repair to you.
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
[/QUOTE]
Sorry for the tardy reply, but I wanted to make use of an unusually hot weekend here to complete most of the enormous amount of fall work there is round here.
I have down loaded the service manual for that machine.
I have all the equipment necessary to service that machine which is a long list.
I have the following comments, all the early high gain circuits are IC and almost certainly NLA.
It looks very similar to the Pioneer machines of the period, which I do have experience with.
A big problem, and I suspect the issue, with your machine is that the rec/play back head is burnt out and open circuit in the left channel.
This was common in early machines biased for high bias Cr tapes. In order for magnetic hysteresis not to be a problem, the Rec head is flooded with a high frequency sign wave during record. This is a critical adjustment. Now in the early days they underestimated the heat build up, so head failure was and is not uncommon. The supply of those old glass heads dried up years ago.
I am prepared to service your machine. However I charge $75 per hour. I will have more than an hour into it before I know the problem. There is a high chance the machine will be non repairable.
Assuming the machine is fixable, there will be a host of critical adjustment to do following the repair, which take hours of painstaking work.
There are two identical machines for sale on eBay, one for $110.00 the other for $85.00
I leave the decision to about repair to you.[/QUOTE]
Thanks TLS Guy. It does sound like it would cost more than what it is worth so I will just look into getting another one. Thanks for the links also.
Sorry for the tardy reply, but I wanted to make use of an unusually hot weekend here to complete most of the enormous amount of fall work there is round here.
I have down loaded the service manual for that machine.
I have all the equipment necessary to service that machine which is a long list.
I have the following comments, all the early high gain circuits are IC and almost certainly NLA.
It looks very similar to the Pioneer machines of the period, which I do have experience with.
A big problem, and I suspect the issue, with your machine is that the rec/play back head is burnt out and open circuit in the left channel.
This was common in early machines biased for high bias Cr tapes. In order for magnetic hysteresis not to be a problem, the Rec head is flooded with a high frequency sign wave during record. This is a critical adjustment. Now in the early days they underestimated the heat build up, so head failure was and is not uncommon. The supply of those old glass heads dried up years ago.
I am prepared to service your machine. However I charge $75 per hour. I will have more than an hour into it before I know the problem. There is a high chance the machine will be non repairable.
Assuming the machine is fixable, there will be a host of critical adjustment to do following the repair, which take hours of painstaking work.
There are two identical machines for sale on eBay, one for $110.00 the other for $85.00
I leave the decision to about repair to you.[/QUOTE]
Thanks TLS Guy. It does sound like it would cost more than what it is worth so I will just look into getting another one. Thanks for the links also.
TLS Guy
Audioholic Jedi
Sorry for the tardy reply, but I wanted to make use of an unusually hot weekend here to complete most of the enormous amount of fall work there is round here.
I have down loaded the service manual for that machine.
I have all the equipment necessary to service that machine which is a long list.
I have the following comments, all the early high gain circuits are IC and almost certainly NLA.
It looks very similar to the Pioneer machines of the period, which I do have experience with.
A big problem, and I suspect the issue, with your machine is that the rec/play back head is burnt out and open circuit in the left channel.
This was common in early machines biased for high bias Cr tapes. In order for magnetic hysteresis not to be a problem, the Rec head is flooded with a high frequency sign wave during record. This is a critical adjustment. Now in the early days they underestimated the heat build up, so head failure was and is not uncommon. The supply of those old glass heads dried up years ago.
I am prepared to service your machine. However I charge $75 per hour. I will have more than an hour into it before I know the problem. There is a high chance the machine will be non repairable.
Assuming the machine is fixable, there will be a host of critical adjustment to do following the repair, which take hours of painstaking work.
There are two identical machines for sale on eBay, one for $110.00 the other for $85.00
I leave the decision to about repair to you.[/QUOTE]
Thanks TLS Guy. It does sound like it would cost more than what it is worth so I will just look into getting another one. Thanks for the links also.[/QUOTE]
Servicing tape machines of any type is a labor of love.
These days honestly, when it comes to most vintage anything, the owner has to be prepared to be the service tech/mechanic. That is true of a lot of my audio gear, my CJ 2A Jeep, my three tractors and my generator.
Don't junk that machine though. Put it up on eBay cheap for parts or repair. There will be an enthusiast somewhere who loves to fix those machines, and they are usually well stocked with bits and pieces and parts machines, like I am for Revox reel to reel machines and older Quad gear.
I have down loaded the service manual for that machine.
I have all the equipment necessary to service that machine which is a long list.
I have the following comments, all the early high gain circuits are IC and almost certainly NLA.
It looks very similar to the Pioneer machines of the period, which I do have experience with.
A big problem, and I suspect the issue, with your machine is that the rec/play back head is burnt out and open circuit in the left channel.
This was common in early machines biased for high bias Cr tapes. In order for magnetic hysteresis not to be a problem, the Rec head is flooded with a high frequency sign wave during record. This is a critical adjustment. Now in the early days they underestimated the heat build up, so head failure was and is not uncommon. The supply of those old glass heads dried up years ago.
I am prepared to service your machine. However I charge $75 per hour. I will have more than an hour into it before I know the problem. There is a high chance the machine will be non repairable.
Assuming the machine is fixable, there will be a host of critical adjustment to do following the repair, which take hours of painstaking work.
There are two identical machines for sale on eBay, one for $110.00 the other for $85.00
I leave the decision to about repair to you.[/QUOTE]
Thanks TLS Guy. It does sound like it would cost more than what it is worth so I will just look into getting another one. Thanks for the links also.
[/QUOTE]Servicing tape machines of any type is a labor of love.
These days honestly, when it comes to most vintage anything, the owner has to be prepared to be the service tech/mechanic. That is true of a lot of my audio gear, my CJ 2A Jeep, my three tractors and my generator.
Don't junk that machine though. Put it up on eBay cheap for parts or repair. There will be an enthusiast somewhere who loves to fix those machines, and they are usually well stocked with bits and pieces and parts machines, like I am for Revox reel to reel machines and older Quad gear.
KEW
Audioholic Overlord
tcarcio, If I was you, I would be looking at pro-audio units which I believe will have better durability. If you are willing to invest $380, something like this would be nice (it seems like in today's market, you are either going to get a dual cassette or a cassette with cd player).
http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-CD-A550-mkII-Player-Cassette/dp/B0147GC7VC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1444720211&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=TASCAM+CDA550+mk
I am confident that this unit will easily outperform your '78 deck. Unfortunantly, it has been my experience that cassettes sound best when played on the same unit that recorded them. When I had my Nakamichi, nothing sucked worse than playing a "commercially recorded" audio cassette!
http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-CD-A550-mkII-Player-Cassette/dp/B0147GC7VC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1444720211&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=TASCAM+CDA550+mk
I am confident that this unit will easily outperform your '78 deck. Unfortunantly, it has been my experience that cassettes sound best when played on the same unit that recorded them. When I had my Nakamichi, nothing sucked worse than playing a "commercially recorded" audio cassette!
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T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
tcarcio, If I was you, I would be looking at pro-audio units which I believe will have better durability. If you are willing to invest $380, something like this would be nice (it seems like in today's market, you are either going to get a dual cassette or a cassette with cd player).
http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-CD-A550-mkII-Player-Cassette/dp/B0147GC7VC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1444720211&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=TASCAM+CDA550+mk
I am confident that this unit will easily outperform your '78 deck. Unfortunantly, it has been my experience that cassettes sound best when played on the same unit that recorded them. When I had my Nakamichi, nothing sucked worse than playing a "commercially recorded" audio cassette!
Well I got the deck I have for next to nothing so I thought if it could be repaired cheaply I would do it. Thanks for the link though I just don't have enough cassettes to warrant spending $400. Thanks anyway. TC.
M
marksas
Audioholic Intern
Not sure where in MA you are located but there's actually a good shop here in Salem, MA called Salem HIFI Service. The owner has a little shop chock full of vintage gear, he's a bit eccentric but knows his stuff. I'd give him a call or swing by his shop one of these days.
http://m.yp.com/salem-ma/salem-hifi-service
http://m.yelp.com/biz/salem-hifi-service-salem
http://m.yp.com/salem-ma/salem-hifi-service
http://m.yelp.com/biz/salem-hifi-service-salem
T
tcarcio
Audioholic General
Thanks, I decided not to fix it but I will remember that place. I am in the central part of mass so Salem is about an hour and a half away from me.
KEW
Audioholic Overlord
$43:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pioneer-CT-S200-Stereo-Cassette-Deck-Tape-Player-Recorder-/301747332919?hash=item46418ae737
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2141725.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xcassette+deck.TRS0&_nkw=cassette+deck&_sacat=0
I'd check CraigsList to avoid shipping and be able to test before buying.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pioneer-CT-S200-Stereo-Cassette-Deck-Tape-Player-Recorder-/301747332919?hash=item46418ae737
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2141725.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xcassette+deck.TRS0&_nkw=cassette+deck&_sacat=0
I'd check CraigsList to avoid shipping and be able to test before buying.
KenM10759
Audioholic Ninja
Hey there fellow Worcesterite! I'm a little west of you now though my son and his fiancé just bought the house in Worcester where I grew up and I'm there in the city for them (and for lunch at Maury's Deli or Bushel & Peck) fairly often.
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