Hello from Portland & a couple of questions

Hi all:

My name is Mike and I've been sort of a failed, virtual boombox fan since a few years ago when I bought a nice little aiwa unit that I failed to fix myself or get get fixed affordably, and sadly left at the repair shop after paying for an estimate.

My son badgered me into buying a Magnavox D8443 at the thrift store the other day and everything works (except the tape counter and I haven't tested its ability to record). It's pretty, sounds good, and seems a fine place to start.

Research tells me that I'm lucky the tape player works--that a specific gear hasn't broken. Apparently I can buy a new one--maybe I will, preemptively.

But is there anything I can do now to keep it working? Is there any "maintenance" that a technically-challenged person could/should do?

And it's missing two buttons--the play and the rewind, I believe. What would folks suggest I do about that, long term? Are they easy to replace if you have the parts? As people are trying to sell non-working versions of this thing for almost 100 dollars on ebay, maybe there's another model with the same buttons...

Thanks for sharing your supportive and informative community.

Welcome and yeh that’s a good place to start

These are pretty common so there will likely be someone with spare keys on the forum. They were known as a Philips D8444 in the uk.

They’re pretty easy to work on but the best thing to do is just use it

Welcome! Which Portland?

Portland, OR, USA. I've gotten a little self-centered out here;I pretend this Portland is the only one...

estesbell said:

Portland, OR, USA. I've gotten a little self-centered out here;I pretend this Portland is the only one...

Click to expand...

I've been guilty of that too, haha. I lived in SE for years, but am now on the west side.

Checked my Magnavox mono which has exactly the same mechanism as D8444 and No, the buttons are different from what you need. Next week I am going to open my D8444 for repainting and will double-check if the buttons can be somehow exchanged, will keep you posted. If exchange is possible, then all buttons are yours: I am in California so shipping on me