Cassette Decks for Dummies

if you're looking to upgrade your cassette  tape equipment from a boombox or a walkman   or a shoebox recorder to a proper component tape  deck without spending hundreds of dollars on a   good quality new deck like this TEAC W-1200 or  a completely refurbished vintage deck that means   you'll have to take your chances at finding  a used deck that will probably be sold as-is   with no guarantees or returns such as this  TEAC W-370C i just found at the thrift store   the price on it was 14.99 but it was a 50% off  discount so i got it for 7.99 including sales tax even though i have no need for this cassette  deck because i already have other ones that   are far superior to it i thought it  was worth picking up to serve as a test   subject to demonstrate some of the features  to look out for when you're choosing a used   cassette deck some of the ways you  can test the deck before you buy it   and also how to refurbish the deck once you do buy  it without needing any special tools or equipment first some of the features to look out for  when considering whether or not to buy a   vintage cassette deck you can see this  is a double cassette deck but that's not   necessarily an advantage because the only  real benefit to having two cassette decks   in one unit is that you can copy one tape to  another and in fact all the really high-end   cassette decks are strictly single deck  designs they're not double cassette decks you can also see this one has a basic mechanical  piano key design where you get direct push buttons   for all the functions and your force of pushing  the button is what activates the mechanism the higher quality decks have soft touch controls  it only takes a very light touch to activate them   and then the machine does the rest of the  work in moving the mechanism into position and the high end decks have what is known as full  logic controls where all the controls are just   electronic push buttons which barely move at all  when you push them and the machine electronically   activates all the functions and some of those  can even be operated by remote control but for   a beginner i don't think there's anything wrong  with having a basic mechanical push button deck next are some of the features which are the main  reason to choose a component tape deck over a   stereo system that may have cassette decks built  into it along with a radio tuner a cd player maybe   a record player those usually just have very basic  cassette decks whereas a component tape deck gives   you extra features such as dolby noise reduction  this one has dolby b and c noise reduction dolby b the first and most widely used  noise reduction system in consumer audio   equipment it significantly reduces the background  hiss when playing tapes that were encoded with it   including the vast majority of pre-recorded  cassettes from the mid-1970s to early 2000s dolby c provides even greater noise  reduction but was not as widely   used because it does not sound acceptable  when played without the matching decoding   and is more sensitive to the  alignment of the deck's heads and for recording you get a  manually adjustable recording level   and a level meter these manual controls and  level meters allow you to make much better   quality recordings than a more basic cassette  deck in a stereo system that just has automatic   recording level which usually doesn't do a  very good job at getting the recording level   right where it should be on the tape where  it's not too quiet and buried in a lot of   tape hiss and not too loud and distorted  with a manual level control and meter   you can make those adjustments so that it's  just right when you're recording onto the tape and in addition to the aforementioned  dolby b and c noise reduction the really   nice features on this deck are its ability to  record and play back chrome and metal tapes many decks also feature auto reverse which  gives you the convenience of automatically   playing both sides of the tape without  needing to take it out and flip it over but   it requires a more complex mechanism which  may make servicing the deck more difficult there are many other bells and whistles  found on the higher end cassette decks   such as more advanced noise reduction  systems HX Pro automatic music search   and bias calibration however i just  wanted to cover the basic features   that you're most likely to encounter when  you're looking for your first cassette deck but having all these nice features is  meaningless if the deck doesn't work the first thing to check out when considering  whether or not to buy a used cassette deck is   its overall condition however the way it looks on  the outside may not necessarily reflect how well   it works because i've seen plenty of decks  which were covered in scratches and even   rust and yet worked fine after i gave him a good  cleaning and other decks which were in pristine   cosmetic condition but didn't work at all due to  needing new belts or some kind of electronic fault this one is covered in a fair amount of  scratches however as the sticker here says   the top cover is covered with  a scratch protection sheet   you may take it off if necessary and yes it  definitely is necessary after probably almost   30 years of having it on so let's see how easy  it's going to be to take off this protective film it was already fraying at the edge here so i use  that as my opportunity to start peeling it off   and hopefully it's just going to all  come off in one big sheet but it may   tend to come off in little pieces and underneath  it should look like a brand new cassette deck some of this is getting stuck underneath the  front panel so i'll probably need to remove the   top cover to get all of it off but  that's at least the vast majority of it but of course of a cassette  deck it's the condition of the   tape mechanism that matters the most  so looking inside this one the first   thing we can see is it's not covered in  a thick layer of dust like i've seen in   a lot of cassette deck mechanisms and the  head is nice and shiny as is the capstan and one thing which can really tell you how  heavily used the cassette deck was in its life   is the condition of this rubber roller here if you  see a buildup of brown dirt on it or if it has a   very shiny finish on it those are both indications  that the deck has been heavily used in its life   but this one has a nice matte finish on it so  it's not supposed to be shiny it's supposed   to be slightly rough which allows it to grip  the tape as it's running through the machine now that we've determined that this  deck is in reasonably good condition   both cosmetically and inside the mechanisms  we of course have to make sure it works   so naturally the first thing you want  to do is plug it in and turn it on   and when you turn on the cassette deck you  should see some sign of life usually the bottom   segment of the level meter will light up  if it's a electronic level meter like this if it has old-fashioned mechanical meters   those usually have a little light bulb that  lights up however they may be burned out   so even if it doesn't light up that does  not necessarily mean that the deck is dead next i like to do what i call the finger test  this mostly applies to these basic mechanical   push button decks because on the fancier decks  that have soft touch or full logic controls   they usually will not operate without  a cassette inserted but on these basic   mechanical push button decks what you can do is  hit eject to open the door and then press play   and hopefully you will see the  take up spindle start to turn   if it does not that means the belts are  no good and will need to be replaced but even if this is turning that  does not necessarily mean that the   belts are in good condition because if the  belts have gotten stretched out with age   they may still have enough tension to turn  this take-up spindle just spinning freely like   this but once you actually try to play a tape  they won't have enough power to turn the tape so i like to do with it playing like this i just  grab onto it a little bit and feel how much torque   it has by how much you can grab onto it and  still feel it turning if it stops the instant   you grab onto it that means the belts are getting  weak but if you can tug onto this fairly firmly   and still feel it turning like this one  that means the belts are in good condition and likewise do the same thing with fast forward  it won't be as strong as it is in playback but   you should be able to grab onto it a little  bit and still feel it turning like this one is and the same thing with rewind   now you saw it just popped out of rewind mode  a few seconds after i engaged it that's normal   for a deck which has full auto stop because  that means once it reaches the end of the tape   when it's rewinding it's going to detect that the  tape is no longer turning and automatically stop so you may have to hold down on the button to do  the finger test on this but you should be able to   again resist the movement of the spindle and   feel it has a nice strong tension on the belt  so this deck passes what i call the finger test even though that finger test  is surprisingly effective   it's best to have a known good  pre-recorded tape on hand to test it with   so you want to put it in you want to make sure  the deck rewinds and fast forwards and that you   get some indication on the level meter when  you're playing it and of course you want to   test both decks if it's a double cassette deck  and this one appears to be in working condition if it pegs the meters as soon as you hit play  even without a tape inserted that likely means   that the record playback switch in the deck has  dirty contacts one quick fix you can do which   usually does work is to open up the door hold down  the erase knockout tab detection thing with your   finger it's in the upper left corner here you can  feel it with your finger hold that down and press   record but not all the way just enough that it  engages the mechanism and you can see that little   red light come on and just hit that repeatedly  like this and that scrapes off the oxidation from   the contacts of that switch and now when you play  your tape you should no longer have that problem and you may have realized at this point in the  video we still have not actually heard what this   deck sounds like when playing a tape and that's  intentional because there are a lot of situations   where you may come across a cassette deck for sale  that you're interested in but you don't have any   means to test what it sounds like when playing  a tape but if the deck passes all the tests i've   shown so far in the video and it's reasonably  priced then i would feel confident in buying it the first thing you should do when you get a used  cassette deck is clean the mechanism even if it   already looks clean like this one clean it anyway  it's not that hard and only takes a couple minutes   on some decks you can remove the faceplate  of the door to give you better access to the   mechanism when you're cleaning it but this one  does not so we'll just have to work around it all you need is some isopropyl alcohol and  some cotton swabs i recommend using the pointed   ones because they have a tighter pack of  cotton on them which is less likely to come   off in strands as you're cleaning the mechanism  so you just take your isopropyl alcohol dip   a cotton swab into it and then you clean  the erase head just scrub it back and forth and then the recording and playback head  same thing just give it a good scrub and then for the capstan it's a lot easier if  it's turning when you clean it on this deck is   easy because as soon as you turn on the power  the capstans start turning automatically even   without needing to press play so we can just take  our cotton swab and hold it against that and kind   of go back and forth and that will automatically  since it's rotating clean all sides of the capstan as you hold the cotton swab up to it you don't  want to press it too hard right against the tip   here because that tends to pull off some  of the cotton threads onto the capstan   but if that happens just pull that off with  your fingers and start over it's no big deal if your deck does not allow you to have  this rotating when you clean it that's   no big deal either you'll just have to  try to work at it from multiple angles   to try to clean as much of it as you can but for cleaning the rubber pinch rollers i like  to use window cleaner because it still does a good   job at cleaning it but it's less aggressive on  the rubber than alcohol is you can certainly use   alcohol i've done it myself many times with no ill  effects but i just prefer to use window cleaner   when cleaning the rubber pinch rollers so  again you just take your cotton swab dip it in   and now you're ready to clean the pinch roller and again this is a lot easier if you can have it  rotating when you clean it on a simple mechanical   push button deck like this that's easy you  just press play and there it goes rotating   so you can take your cotton swab and just  hold it up against it and it as it rotates   it's going to clean it all the way around and  that should do it this one wasn't that dirty now that you've got your cassette deck and you  cleaned the mechanism and it's all ready to go   you're going to need some way to listen to  it when i've done videos in the past about   cassette decks a couple people have asked  me if these things have built-in speakers   that may sound like a silly question but you have  to realize it's not the 1970s and 1980s anymore   when people had a rack full of stereo  components in their living room   most people don't have anything  resembling a stereo system anymore so when you get a cassette deck like this  you need some way to play the music from it   one way to do that is with a pair of powered  speakers like these Bose Companion 2 speakers   these are very popular these days with turntables  and they work just as well with cassette decks on the back of any cassette deck  you'll find two pairs of RCA jacks   usually labeled line out and line in or playback  and recording now for playing tapes you use the   output jacks also sometimes labeled playback  or line out and you take a pair of RCA cables   the white one goes into the left output  and the red one goes into the right output and then you take the other end of the RCA cables  and you plug it into your powered speakers this   one has two sets of inputs they both do the same  thing so either pair will work you just plug it in   like that and now you're ready to play your music  from the cassette deck into your powered speakers some powered speakers have a 3.5mm jack on  the back which looks like a headphone jack   and for that you'll need a cable  like this which goes from two RCA   plugs to one 3.5mm plug you plug the RCA plugs   into the output of the cassette deck and then you  plug this into the input of your powered speakers if you want to connect your cassette deck to  a traditional stereo amplifier or receiver   it may be a little confusing for a  beginner because you'll probably see   two sets of jacks labeled tape such  as this one which has a pair of RCA   jacks labeled CD/tape and another  pair of RCA jacks labeled tape out in this case the pair of jacks labeled CD/tape  as an input to let you hear the audio coming   from the cassette tape in the tape deck  and the pair of jacks labeled tape out   is an output from the amplifier to let you  record whatever is playing through the amplifier   onto a tape in the cassette deck so the way you connect this is you take one set  of RCA cables and you connect it from the output   of the cassette deck sometimes labeled playback  and you connect that to the tape input of the   amplifier in this case labeled CD/tape and you  take another pair of RCA cables and you connect   that to the pair of jacks on the back of the  cassette deck labeled line in or recording   and the other end of that goes to  the tape output of the amplifier and now when you want to play cassettes you just  move the selector switch on the amplifier to the   position labeled tape or often there's a button  labeled tape monitor that you push in and when   you want to record you just move the selector  to the position of whatever source you want   to record from such as the radio tuner or  the phono and that will automatically feed   the output of the amplifier into the input  of the cassette deck to let you record it some cassette decks have the added  convenience of a headphone jack for   private listening of cassette tapes without  needing a separate amplifier but they almost   always use a larger 1/4" jack so you'll probably  need one of these 1/4" to 3.5mm adapters   to let you connect a modern pair of headphones if you're in doubt about how to connect everything  or how to operate all the features of your deck   read the manual even for decks which are 25  or 30 years old you can usually still find   the manual for it on sites like manualslib  hifiengine manualsonline or sometimes even   still on the original manufacturer's website  and don't be afraid to ask for help on user   forums such as audiokarma tapeheads.net  or the cassetteculture group on reddit now that we're all set up for playing tapes   let's finally hear some samples of what  this cheap little cassette deck sounds like and here's an oddity it's a pre-recorded  cassette made using dolby c noise reduction a lot of people say that these didn't exist that  nobody ever made pre-recorded cassettes using   dolby c but this one definitely was because i've  tested it and it sounds best with dolby c enabled the real fun with a tape deck is being able  to make your own recordings and mixtapes first   you need to connect your audio source you can  record from anything that has a line level audio   output such as a cd player or a turntable  with a built-in or external phono preamp or using the same kind of 3.5mm to  RCA cable i showed earlier you can   record from the headphone output  of a smartphone or computer but   you may need to adjust its volume  setting to get the best results then you need a blank tape or a tape whose  contents you don't mind recording over   if you want to record onto a high bias chrome  or metal tape you may need to select the   appropriate button or switch position unless  your deck has automatic tape type detection and if you want to use dolby noise reduction   make sure it is engaged during  both recording and playback then enter recording pause mode decks  with full logic controls usually do this   automatically when you press the  record button but on a basic one   like this you do it by engaging the  pause button before you press record then you start your audio source playing and try  to pick a louder part of the music to help you set   the recording level you may need to do a few test  recordings to find out which level setting works   best with the tape you're using and the kind of  music you're recording but a general guideline   is to adjust the level control until you see the  meter constantly peaking at or slightly above 0 dB once you get everything set up and ready to  go release the pause wait a few seconds for   the tape to get past the leader if you haven't  cued it up already and start the music playing now let's hear a sample of the  recording i made from my turntable   onto this Laser Type I normal bias  cassette tape using Dolby B noise reduction there's many more advanced things i could  cover in this video such as aligning the   azimuth and demagnetizing your cassette deck's  heads calibrating its speed and testing its   wow and flutter but i really just wanted to  make this an all-purpose beginner's guide   to cassette decks sort of a cassette decks  for dummies kind of video although i think   if you're interested in a cassette deck you're  not really a dummy you're a pretty smart person and i'm glad i featured a very simple low end  deck like this because if you look on the tape   forums online you see a lot of glorification of  the really high-end expensive decks with people   posting threads like the 10 best cassette decks of  all time and asking people what is your holy grail   cassette deck well i'd rather give some of the  attention i think these beginners decks deserve   because they are affordable easy to maintain and  they can have surprisingly good sound quality

Channel: VWestlife

Views: 192,354

Keywords: cassette, tape, audio, deck, recorder, player, teac, w370c, w-370c, review, test, features, dolby, nr, noise, reduction, recording, chrome, metal, bias, eq, troubleshooting, repair, buyer's guide, cleaning, heads, capstan, pinch roller, connections, amplifier, speakers, playing

Id: apKagpW8dtA

Length: 24min 23sec (1463 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 21 2021