I have a Pioneer CT-F500 tape deck, that i got from a friend. It's from the silver age of Pioneer from the seventies. It works, but not properly. I'm having it looked at by professionals next week hopefully, but i thought i'd ask you lot for advice first incase there's something i can do without having to pay a repair bill.
Anyway, the problem is the output level. It's very, very low, and you have to turn the amp's volume up all the way to hear whatever tape is playing. Also, the VU meters aren't working. They are illuminated still, but none of the needles are moving.
A friend has had a good look at it for me, and he couldn't fix it, though he's not an expert, he knows a bit about devices like tape decks, but he could not fix it for me. So it's going to a repair shop next week. Can anyone shed some light on the problem for me please? I really don't want to get rid of it since it's a really nice model.
Well, thanks for reading, looking forward to some help.
To help the repair guy, I'd suggest getting a service manual to take in with you.
Here is one on Ebay. There are others listed as well.
Assuming the parts are easy to get, that should have you up and running!
Cheers.
Yes! Good idea Buddha. I'd thought about manuals, but not about handing one in with the deck to the repair dudes. Thanks man.
There are plenty of reasons for low output from a thirty year old cassette deack. The most common cause is a severely worn permalloy head.
I would follow Jan's advise...and include that I would not spend too much to attempt a fix. A decent deck these days is about $150 -$200 and you may have other issues such as belts, or even motor issues to deal with that could jump repair prices up. You can spend more, over $500 on a better Tascam unit, but consider how much you really plan to use this deck vs repair cost. Usually in a deck this age the rubber drive belts need to be replaced. You can buy a stand alone CD burner for about this same money.
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