Forum for audio capture, restoration?
 

Hello,

I have a client that has a couple audio cassettes they want digitized, and I am wondering if anyone knows any good forums to help assist with Audio Capturing. Especially when it comes to troubleshooting cassette decks. I came across Tapeheads.net. But I haven't had any replies since my post 5 days ago. However, if anyone wants to know what my issue is, I will post it in a separate sub-forum on this site. Otherwise, if someone can point me to a good resource that would be great too.

Welcome. :)

I've been working with digital audio since 1994, and one of my video studio roles was very audio-centric.

Ask away! What is the issue?

A lot of people here are heavy into audio, from the stance of extracting audio from consumer analog formats, to lossless digital archives.

It seems you're having a deck-based issue? Sometimes the best fix is to punt, and use a different (often better) player. It just depends on what you have, and if it's worth repairing. Let's discuss and see.

Tapeheads seems to be a good resource for tape machine related issues. I'm a member there. I've just replied there to your specific query.

Thanks, Tim! Sorry for the late reply on this forum, everyone. I guess I wasn't subscribed to this thread, and therefore, I wasn't receiving notifications. If you would like to know more, here is the link to the tape heads thread. I'm still working on it. (https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/te...engage.110883/).

In case something happens in the future to the link or threads, here is the question from that thread:

"I have a Technics RS-B12 cassette deck I am trying to get working. It powers on, but nothing seems to engage or turn after hitting play. All the belts are intact too. After testing with a multimeter, it appears that the motor is getting power, but, again, nothing happens. Could it still be the motor, a mechanical issue, or something else? I'm stumped. I am also not super experienced with a multimeter, so I am hoping I measured correctly."

LS, for future reference, what are some of the better decks to look out for?

Little update. I got a new motor. But before mounting it, I tested it with the wires in the deck that were attached to the original motor. Nothing happened. So, I tested the motor with a power supply and the motor worked. I then decided to test the PSU on the original motor, and it turns! Leading me to believe it might be the wires and/or pin connector they are attached to. Wish my dumb brain had used the PSU the first time around. Think I was afraid I'd fry it or something lol.

Did more testing. Not the cable. More investigating ensues.

I dont have the circuit to check but there may be a switch which turns on motor power when the Play button is pressed. It may be dirty or misadjusted.

Thank you for the tip, Tim! I will give that a look.

This attached PDF is basically an identical model. I can't find this model's service manual for free online. Would I have to disassemble the whole mechanical parts section to fix the suggested problem? I'd prefer not to find out the hard way if I have to disassemble or not. Lol

Okay. So, by looking at the schematics and referencing this video (https://youtu.be/d3kmgQvsnPM?si=Qto9QAAzqfKrpe-b&t=291) I don't think(?) it's the switch. All of them appear to have continuity. The only thing I thought was weird was one pin on S1-3 did not have solder on it (see attached photo). But, it doesn't look like that's connected to the play switch. And I don't know if maybe it's not supposed to be soldered, because it almost looks like it never has been. And I grew up with this in our house, so I know it's worked just fine in the past. Any ideas of where to look next? Kind of tempted to throw in the towel, but I also really want to know what's wrong with this thing.