Motor runs forever, but you'd never know it.

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Superduper

Superduper

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One thing that separates most home decks from boomboxes is that home deck motors runs continuously from the moment that the deck is powered on. Unlike boomboxes where the motors run on demand. I'm talking about the squared edged classic stuff, don't know about the newer rounded edges black faced plastic junk -- I don't really have any of those. They run constantly so that the deck actions are instantaneously responsive, no need to wait for the capstan to spool up. Also this avoids possible weird pitch changes in the audio if the head engages before the capstan is at full stable speed. But they do this silently. So even though the motor is running, you'd never know it. Boomboxes however, don't have the same quality decks, so they are often quite noisy. It's one reason why I simply don't care if a boombox I have doesn't have a recording feature, or if it's not working (aside from devaluation, of course). That's because I would never record anything from a boombox, the quality isn't comparable. Even an old small realistic clock radio sized mechanical tape deck I have works 10x better than any boombox deck. One thing you can conclude is that home deck motors are far higher quality and designed for long service life, compared to boomboxes. Ok, don't anyone bring up battery life considerations, etc... that's a given. Some home audio gear, especially receivers, have a whole bunch of switched receptacles on the rear. The idea is that all you need to do is power up one main component and the other components all get turned on simultaneously. But next time you power up your stereo system, unless you want to listen to your cassette tapes, you might want to keep in mind that the capstan motor will be running the whole time that the deck is powered on. Just saying...
 
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floyd

floyd

Boomus Fidelis
My jvc td-w97 deck is like having 2 m90 in one unit because the decks are almost identical in the way they operate and perform. They even sound the same when you use the buttons and everything it's just the same .
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floyd

floyd

Boomus Fidelis
Superduper said:
One thing that separates most home decks from boomboxes is that home deck motors runs continuously from the moment that the deck is powered on. Unlike boomboxes where the motors run on demand. I'm talking about the squared edged classic stuff, don't know about the newer rounded edges black faced plastic junk -- I don't really have any of those. They run constantly so that the deck actions are instantaneously responsive, no need to wait for the capstan to spool up. Also this avoids possible weird pitch changes in the audio if the head engages before the capstan is at full stable speed. But they do this silently. So even though the motor is running, you'd never know it. Boomboxes however, don't have the same quality decks, so they are often quite noisy. It's one reason why I simply don't care if a boombox I have doesn't have a recording feature, or if it's not working (aside from devaluation, of course). That's because I would never record anything from a boombox, the quality isn't comparable. Even an old small realistic clock radio sized mechanical tape deck I have works 10x better than any boombox deck. One thing you can conclude is that home deck motors are far higher quality and designed for long service life, compared to boomboxes. Ok, don't anyone bring up battery life considerations, etc... that's a given. Some home audio gear, especially receivers, have a whole bunch of switched receptacles on the rear. The idea is that all you need to do is power up one main component and the other components all get turned on simultaneously. But next time you power up your stereo system, unless you want to listen to your cassette tapes, you might want to keep in mind that the capstan motor will be running the whole time that the deck is powered on. Just saying...
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I messed up the deck on my first m90 by turning off the power while the deck was playing.
Also the reason you can't just press play on the deck unless the power switch is on because like you said the motor runs all the time when the power is on even when not using the deck. Either way you're right about the other thing you said turning the power off to the cassette deck if it's linked to the amplifier and turned on at the same time.
 
Radio raheem

Radio raheem

Requiem Æternam
hey lad i don't think the m90 motor runs all the time but i would need to check..........i hate decks with motors on all day.....they normally go out the door
 
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Transistorized

Transistorized

Member (SA)
I remember back in the tube days, televisions would have what they called, instant on, where a low line voltage was applied constantly to the filaments in all of the tubes.

Everyone used to argue whether it reduced the life of your tubes or not. Some felt that the cool down and warm up process was harder on them with a cold start than a low power on state where they stayed slightly warm. Others naturally stated that being powered up constantly even at a lower voltage shortened their life. I don't believe that debate was ever solved, even long after the technology disappeared from homes..lol.

But back to the always on cassette motor. Growing up, my parents had a Toshiba stereo in their den that did this. The moment power was applied, the cassette motor ran all the time. I figured it might wear it out. The speakers eventually rotted away and the tuners VFD started to fade out and they got rid of it... but I swear that motor is probably still running under ground at the landfill somewhere. It never died.

On the other hand, I have experienced an alarming amount of boombox motors failing as they age. Getting one used bad motor after another. It's usually their speed control circuit that starts failing more so than brushes.

Norm and I have had a short email conversation about boombox motors, and he brought up an interesting point about my bad luck with used motors, and that's their history.

A motor that is not intended to run all the time, may have done so in a boombox where the belt stretched, broke or popped off during transport engagement. This would close a leaf switch and keep it running the entire time the box is on. This would be more noticeable on a boombox that has a sleep function because the power switch would fail to turn the radio off.

This will wear those motors slap flat out in short order. Getting a new replacement is the way to go if you can find one.

You know you have a higher end cassette deck when the motor runs all the time. You certainly need higher end components than a boombox for that to last. Upgraded capstan bearings, motor, everything.
 
BoomboxLover48

BoomboxLover48

Boomus Fidelis
I have a several high-end cassette decks, and some have brushless motors and a most of them have brush motors like in Nakamichi 482, 480, CR7, CR2, 600, Dragon and so on.
I prefer to use brushless ones where motor runs when you turn on the power.
There must be a good reason for using brushless and brush motors even though wear on commutator and brush is minimized on brushless types.
 
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