Cassette deck went bad?

[Styleking]

Hey all,

I bought my Telefunken M1 to a local guy becase the tape deck had no sound coming from it. The technician said he thought maybe the switch needed to be cleaned. All the functions of the deck seemed to work(ffwd,rwd, play) except no sound? Today he tells me that the tape deck is no good and can't be repaired? He said that it has a life span and this had reached its life span. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

Hey all,

I bought my Telefunken M1 to a local guy becase the tape deck had no sound coming from it. The technician said he thought maybe the switch needed to be cleaned. All the functions of the deck seemed to work(ffwd,rwd, play) except no sound? Today he tells me that the tape deck is no good and can't be repaired? He said that it has a life span and this had reached its life span. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Life Span? Huh? I don't believe that, I think he's a little too lazy...

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Hey all,

I bought my Telefunken M1 to a local guy becase the tape deck had no sound coming from it. The technician said he thought maybe the switch needed to be cleaned. All the functions of the deck seemed to work(ffwd,rwd, play) except no sound? Today he tells me that the tape deck is no good and can't be repaired? He said that it has a life span and this had reached its life span. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Life Span? Huh? I don't believe that, I think he's a little too lazy...

Technically everything in a tape deck is fixable if the parts are available and you have the tools and knowledge. This is why many old decks aren't repairable or technicians won't fix them. I would ask him what is it specifically that is beyond repair, what is broken?

 

[jaetee]

That's pretty lame.

I would try to find a different technician and never use that one again, if it can be avoided. It sounds to me like your guy can't tell you what the exact problem is, which (for a decent tech) really shouldn't be that big of a deal. I might understand if he came back and said such and such is broken and he can't get the parts needed for the repair. But to simply say it outlived its usefulness sounds like he just gave up.

There are techs out there who are challenge-driven and really pride themselves on solving difficult problems. I consider myself lucky to have access to such a guy in Tampa, FL. And I know he worked on Ford93's Telefunken M1 before and commented on it's high quality.

As a last resort if the braintrust here cannot help you out with some DIY suggestions, and you feel strongly enough about that M1 and decide you want to ship the box somewhere to have it fixed, I'm pretty sure Ted can isolate the problem, and more than likely fix it. He has repaired my M90, Pioneer SK-71, GF-666 and quite a few other items for me over the last decade.

Ted Chapman
Audio Laboratories
Henderson Blvd, Tampa FL
813-286-2675

 

[Styleking]

I contacted Telefunken about an authorized repair shop, but they wanted no part of it. I ended up bringing it to a local tv repair guy who specializes in Magnavox. I figured he must have experience with boomboxes since Magnavox manafactured them. I guess I should have been wary when he said he had "heard" of Telefunken. Does anybody know anybody in or around Boston who has experience in repair?

 

[Styleking]

That's pretty lame.

I would try to find a different technician and never use that one again, if it can be avoiced. It sounds to me like your guy can't tell you what the exact problem is, which (for a decent tech) really shouldn't be that big of a deal. I might understand if he came back and said such and such is broken and he can't get the parts needed for the repair. But to simply say it outlived its usefulness sounds like he just gave up.

There are techs out there who are challenge-driven and really pride themselves on solving difficult problems. I consider myself lucky to have access to such a guy in Tampa, FL. And I know he worked on Ford93's Telefunken M1 before and commented on it's high quality.

As a last resort if the braintrust here cannot help you out with some DIY suggestions, and you feel stronly enough about that M1 and decide you want to ship the box somwhere to have it fixed, I'm pretty sure Ted can isoate the problem, and more than likely fix it. He has repaired my M90, Pioneer SK-71, GF-666 and quite a few other items for me over the last decade.

Ted Chapman
Audio Laboratories
Henderson Blvd, Tampa FL
813-286-2675

Thanks Jatee! I'll give him a call.

 

[Superduper]

Most old relics can be repaired using a variety of creative efforts.

An example is the infamous Sharp GF decks which can frequently be made working again by using some hobby shop fuel line. No doubt that is not a Sharp sanctioned form of repair so don't forget, we are not talking hobbyist repair, we are talking professionals here. While the owner of a boombox might not mind driving around to various hobby shops looking for a fuel line that will fit, you can't expect the technican to do that for you. Who will mind the store? What will happen when a suitable tubing could not be found? What if service documentation is not available for that model to him? How much would that cost you at $50/hour? How about $75 or even $100/hour?

So in general, if parts are not available, they generally won't take the time to investigate further because the device is deemed not economical to repair. You might try to find someone willing to work on vintage/antique electronics. These shops at least have some expectation that improvisation might need to be applied and are more familiar with older gear.

My personal feeling in this case is that the shop determined that a simple cleaning of the selector switch will not correct the problem and lacking service documentation (I believe the telefunken M1 was never released in the USA) decided that repair would be too challenging to waste time on.

 

[MasterBlaster84]

My personal feeling in this case is that the shop determined that a simple cleaning of the selector switch will not correct the problem and lacking service documentation (I believe the telefunken M1 was never released in the USA) decided that repair would be too challenging to waste time on.

That was my thought too.

 

[baddboybill]

Most shops wont work on electronics without a schematic, even if its mechanical I have a simular problem with one of my decks on a dual deck Lasonic.. I was able to test for sound on both decks and they both are working using deck ones preamp input but my problem is somewhere on the preamp where deck 2 starts I am not saying thats the problem but without a scheme it can be a bear

 

[45player]

Not sure how close you are to upstate NY, But I would be happy to look at it for you. I do this to also make the Youtube videos, to help others.

 

[Styleking]

Not sure how close you are to upstate NY, But I would be happy to look at it for you. I do this to also make the Youtube videos, to help others.

I'm no to far. I could mail it your way. Have you seen anything like this before?

 

[Macdude443]

Possible the playback head coil opened up, but I've never seen this happen. Try putting it in and out of record a few times. Might be a dirty rec/play switch. NY is closer to Boston, but I'm in State College, PA and I've been repairing audio electronics out of a small store here. I would also be happy to give it a look. It'd also give me some time with my new oscilloscope!

Good luck.

 

[45player]

I have seen most problems before- Audio repair has been my biz for over 40 years- even earlier, if you count the years as a little kid finding out how stuff works! I am located about 6 hours west of Boston, maybe 3 or 4 hours east of State College. So shipping should be cheap. PM me if you want my info- Chris

 

[Macdude443]

It looks as thought you'll have this problem fixed in no time