CFS-99 Left Channel Gone On Tape Deck Only

Hello All

I'm on my third one of these, I'd hate to add up how much I've spent thus far to try and get a fully working CFS-99, but it's such a beautiful looking boombox I just keep trying. The first one I bought got fixed by my repairer, but it came back with the same issue my new one has where the left channel isn't coming through on tape. When I quizzed my repairer about this he replied "That's interesting.." and thats as far as I got. The less said about my second CFS-99 the better.

This new one is in beautiful condiiton, and when I turned her on the same thing happened: radio and line in are perfect stereo, but left channel on tape isn't there.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Now, theres a couple of things I wanted to get down first: on the one that came back from the repairers I cleaned absolutely everything and no love.
This new one I've not opened up yet, and don't really want to until I've got a good idea of what I'm looking for. I've cleaned the usual suspects on the old one, record switch, mode selector, headphone socket, etc.

One issue that's interesting, is that the old one didn't have any action on the left needle meter when I played tape, this new one has an unmoving left needle regardless of mode. So, I was thinking the first thing to do would be to swap out the new dodgy needle meter with one of the ones I know works. This will then at least tell me if theres any action at that stage.

This is more of a feeling out post, and I apologise for being a bit vague, but I wanted to put it out there before I get into it.
I've got lots of spare bits from my other ones, but if anyone's had any previous experience or ideas about this I'd be most grateful.

Thanks rockers.



Rock On.

You can rule out the main pre & power amp sections so changing the VU isn't going to tell you anything. Have you tried to adjust the azimuth of the head (if possible) to see if it helps? do you have a multimeter to check the continuity from the head to the circuit board?
If you can solder, switch the left & right head inputs on the circuit board to see if the fault switches channels or remains on the left channel, if it switches the problem is the head, if it remains on the same channel the fault is further down the line.

Thanks, Matt!
This head issue is something I'll have a play around with.



Rock On.

Ok, no love on adjusting the head's azimuth.

Interesting note, when the balance is pushed all the way the left, theres zero volume. When it's moved even slightly to the right form this far left position there is instantly quite a bit of volume in the right speaker.



Rock On.

Gluecifer said:

Interesting note, when the balance is pushed all the way the left, theres zero volume. When it's moved even slightly to the right form this far left position there is instantly quite a bit of volume in the right speaker.



Rock On.

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Is it the same when using other sources? try plugging an external device to the right channel only to see if it acts the same.
Because you said the other inputs are fine on stereo I would be looking at the head first then tracing from there.

I've got no ansers sorry .... but I just don't see the appeal of this box, it looks awkward imo

The Box of Boom said:

but I just don't see the appeal of this box, it looks awkward imo

Click to expand...

That's part of it's appeal, it's pretty unique.
I really like my CFS-99 but use the CFS-77 more often.

I don't know if violation is your immediate method Rick, but if it was me I'd replace the head including the wires, at the circuit board where they attach. I don't know the model at all but possible that entirely coincidentally they have all been damaged the same way? Like if the case was removed the first thing to catch would be something that could pull on that sensitive area? Anyhoo that'd be my first port of call.

Gluecifer said:

Ok, no love on adjusting the head's azimuth.

Interesting note, when the balance is pushed all the way the left, theres zero volume. When it's moved even slightly to the right form this far left position there is instantly quite a bit of volume in the right speaker.



Rock On.

Click to expand...

My Hitachi TRK-9300W had the exact same issue when I got it. If you slide it to the far left, no sound, then if you moved it slightly to the right, there was more sound from the right speaker than there should have been due to the very 'left biased' balance setting. Turns out it was the balance slider at fault - it needed an extreme amount of cleaning/working to get it to work right. As the balance is very rarely adjusted, it was well and truly gummed up.

Just an idea.

James...

Ahh, i was thinking this too Jimmy. Especially how the balance is organised on this.
But this problem is only through tape, surely if it was a balance issue at that stage it would effect all modes.

I'm taking her apart today and will see what I can come up with.

Warren's suggestion of replacing the head array is right at the top of the list.

Wish me luck!



Rock On.

Good luck Gluecifier! May your Sony soon reach working order!

I also have the VERY same problem!

So strange!

It works well on line in..and radio..

No matter what, I will keep loving it for the looks.


I flew over the schematics..... and gave up on trying anywhere to land and fix the problem... so confusing.. may be I am getting old..

I knew it couldn't be isolated to just me, thanks for settling that, Royce!

Well, I've taken the third one apart cleaned everything, and replaced the VU meter. The left channel still won't move though.
I've taken the repaired deck out of my first one and put it in, still the same issue (to be expect however, as it did exhibit it as well).

This has to be solvable!!

I might have to call my repairer and dump all three at his place and see if he can make me one good one, as I've no idea how to use a multimeter
or trace things that aren't patently obvious or just require some cleaning.



Rock On.

To check the deck function, I recorded and tried to play back the cassette in another box, It recorded so good!

So, it has nothing to do with the tape head. The fault is somewhere hidden in the lines that lead from the pre amp to the main amp lines, which in fact makes so many wide turns hard to understand with my skill level. What do I know?

I'm sure folks like our Superduper will figure it out in a heartbeat!

Yeah, Line Out behaved the same on mine, fine for everything but cassette.

Does your Left side of the VU meter work, Royce? Mine's motionless on every mode.



Rock On.

My you've some nerve sending boxes off to the repair shop like that! I wouldn't really trust them but that's just me.
The record head and the playback was are two separate heads so the recording trick might not be proving anything. I would just transplant a head with wires from another cassette deck into it to check that out. I wish I lived close by! I'd love to have a crack at it!!

I tried to have a go at replacing the head, Warren, but the set up in the tape mech is an abomination.
I got one head out of one but didn't have the gumption to take out the one that's in my new one....

I'll talk to my repairer and if he's too busy to do anything soon I'll attempt a transplant. I'm not convinced it'll work though,
the insides of this radio look like they were designed by something out of Hellraiser and there could be 50 other points
where the channel could fail. Still, it is my last option at this stage, so I'll gather up all my gumption and see what happens.



Rock On.

Gluecifer said:

Yeah, Line Out behaved the same on mine, fine for everything but cassette.

Does your Left side of the VU meter work, Royce? Mine's motionless on every mode.



Rock On.

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Both my meters work fine for all functions.

Playback head replaced, still screwed.

All three are going to my repairer this week and he can sort it out.



Rock On.

Gluecifer said:

Playback head replaced, still screwed.

All three are going to my repairer this week and he can sort it out.



Rock On.

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Well done for trying so hard to fix her up.

Hopefully your repairer can make 1 good one out of 3!!

James...