Helix HX-4636 restoration

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Pulled the Helix apart again today to have a look at the decks.

As previously mentioned, this Helix has had a hard life. I knew that someone had glued the top deck door shut, but had no idea way.

Well as it turns out, the top deck's cassette carriage had broken at some point in it's life and te basically removed the carriage from the deck and glued the door to the front of the case. It sucks because the deck works.

The lower deck was not working and as it turns out, someone has been at the wiring with a soldering iron! It took some time and some testing with the volt meter to find all the correct connection points and I was able to get both decks working as the should. It still needs a new counter belt, the other belts are fine and the counter even works, but the belt for that is loose.

So, I now need to track down a carriage for the top deck.

Here is the carriage in question. If you have one of these, please PM me. Thanks



In the process...



All buttoned up!



Lower Cassette Deck Working

http://youtu.be/0AHKh6_piZ0

 

[THAFUZZ]

Its exciting to know/see that it got the proper restoration it deserved. I'm glad it went to You Chris. Congratulations!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Its exciting to know/see that it got the proper restoration it deserved. I'm glad it went to You Chris. Congratulations!

Thanks Adam, and now it looks like Superlew might have the cassette deck carriage which will allow me to fix the top deck!

If that is the case, this radio will be 100% working!

 

[Beosystem10]

OK, so by some miracle, I found the time to open up my Watson RR5600 and here come the photos as promised.

Note that the speaker connections in mine look different from the ones in yours. I'm adding the pics at a big resolution so you can click and expand them for detail. I've also taken a pic of the place where the left and right channel condenser mics are soldered to the board, I thought mine had two and hadn't been dreaming, he does, so someone has definitely been at yours in the past.
I've included images showing the backs of the speakers where the wiring colours can be seen along with the crossover caps, I've also provided one image that shows the whole f'n lot as that might be useful too, given that the two brands; Watson and Helix, appear so different. So anyhow, here's hoping that these help, I did a sort of drive by photo-shooting as I'm heading back up the road shortly.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Thank you so much for taking the time. I will have a a good look at this set up and see how different my "Custom" wiring job is.

My radio has somewhat of a hiss. Not sure if it's "My" wiring design.

Thanks again!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

All pictured SAVED!

 

[superlew]

Got it. Ding!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Absolutely AMAZING! I can't thank you enough!

1 week ago:

This radio was mis-wired so the right channel powered both speakers in mono
Had no tape decks working
Was missing the top deck carriage
Had the handle installed wrong
Was full of soda, dust and spiders
Missing back case screws

NOW:

Amp has been wired to work in stereo and I will investigate it again, per Beosystem's pictures to insure it is indeed wired correctly
Both decks are wired correctly, cleaned and play
Fully cleaned
All back case screws are in
Handle repaired

In one week:

Missing top deck carriage will be installed, so both decks can be used
Amp wiring will be reworked
Batteries will be installed, neighbors will be abused!

 

[Cpl-Chronic]

good job bringin' that abused hell-hound back to life....

 

[floyd]

awesome work!, i tell you i'm so goddamned tired of working on these basterds , its like i spend years of trying to fix these just to listen to em' for 30 minutes ,where's the logic ? lol. i need to save up and buy a box that i dont want to throw in the fire place . i did that once and what a mess it made .

the old johnny cash method of 1 piece at a time just takes to long . so i admire anybody who can fix up a box and not just rip the wires out and smash it to bits which is what is going to happen if these low down dirty basterds of mine don't start co operating. lol.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

awesome work!, i tell you i'm so goddamned tired of working on these basterds , its like i spend years of trying to fix these just to listen to em' for 30 minutes ,where's the logic ? lol. i need to save up and buy a box that i dont want to throw in the fire place . i did that once and what a mess it made .

the old johnny cash method of 1 piece at a time just takes to long . so i admire anybody who can fix up a box and not just rip the wires out and smash it to bits which is what is going to happen if these low down dirty basterds of mine don't start co operating. lol.

OK Floyd,

I'm going to pack up my tools, soldering iron and beer and head on over. We will start a production line to bang them out.

Boomboxery members: Prepare to scavenge your crap boxes, we're going to need parts!

CUE THE MUSIC!

http://youtu.be/N9-7uLg-DZU

 

[blu_fuz]

Hahahhaha, Floyd you are a trip. This is a great thread too!

 

[floyd]

OK Floyd,

I'm going to pack up my tools, soldering iron and beer and head on over. We will start a production line to bang them out.

Boomboxery members: Prepare to scavenge your crap boxes, we're going to need parts!

CUE THE MUSIC!

http://youtu.be/N9-7uLg-DZ



lately its been more of an un production line . i tell you its like they croak if i let em' sit for more than 24 hrs ,its like a ****ing magic spell wore of or something.

 

[floyd]

OK Floyd,

I'm going to pack up my tools, soldering iron and beer and head on over. We will start a production line to bang them out.

Boomboxery members: Prepare to scavenge your crap boxes, we're going to need parts!

CUE THE MUSIC!

http://youtu.be/N9-7uLg-DZ

now you got the 6 million dollar man theme stuck in my head ,
we can rebuild all my crap, make em' bigger, stronger, louder , and if that don't work i'm getting a goddamned bionic dog .lol.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

now you got the 6 million dollar man theme stuck in my head ,
we can rebuild all my crap, make em' bigger, stronger, louder , and if that don't work i'm getting a goddamned bionic dog .lol.

Some times I feel like it's the :"Six Million Dollar Boombox" and I know what you mean about letting the sit and they go to hell.

 

[Beosystem10]

Imagine if you did find a bionic dog. One of its superpowers would be taking a dump upwards so that the toxic waste from the dog would just go into space, instead of waiting on the road for some poor sap to ride their bike right through it...

 

[static2000g]

Along with the mention deck repairs, one thing I want to do with this box is utilize those cool Tie Fighter / 838 grills for the "Implied" purpose. These look like tweeters, but they are infact microphones. AND even worse, there is only one mic on this radio! So it doesn't even record in stereo and it doesn't use both grills!

I'm going to hog out the holes and fit me some tiny tweeters in there

They are perfectly angled up and should add some spacial dimension to the output. I will also reconfigure the capacitors and separate the Lasonic tweeters from the soon to be added super highs or even replace the Lasonic tweeters with a true mid range speaker if I can find on the right size.

The EQ really adds some bottom end to this radio and there seems to be enough area in the high's to make this all work.

20141113_083321.jpg

Weird, I bought this one a few months ago, and I can only assume it was damanged because whoever had said "F-it" and put a metal plate acorss the back-lol. I didn't care-lol. The box is 100 percent working order.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Weird, I bought this one a few months ago, and I can only assume it was damanged because whoever had said "F-it" and put a metal plate acorss the back-lol. I didn't care-lol. The box is 100 percent working order.

That's strange in deed, I wonder if someone cut the back open?

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

THE PARTS ARE HERE!

Thanks to member superlew I now have the top deck carriage. Only one thing left to do and that's INSTALL

Thank you Aram, you really came through for me brother!

 

[superlew]

No problem.

I'm glad someone could use the parts. I'm hoping one of those counter belts work for you.