Anyone know much about hi-fi?

[Del]

I scored a rather nice mid/late-80s Ferguson stereo on eBay for a great price, and although I only really wanted it for the turntable (which works pretty well), everything else works as well except the cassette deck.

It has a soft elect, which is a bit stiff, but the cassette door closes quite easily without a tape in it. Unfortunately, when you do put a tape in, it won't close as if something is jamming it.

I can't see anything obvious, so any ideas what might be causing it?

[Horsetan]

Misaligned tape?

[Del]

Tried it with three different cassettes, so I don't think it's that, but the idea of misalignment has given me an idea that maybe the door might be a bit wonky.

[Del]

Ah-ha! The head isn't retracted, so is blocking the cassette when the door closes.

That was quite difficult to see with the way the deck is designed.

Time to get the screwdrivers out!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The tape mechanism will be of the 'bent metal and springs' school of design with some interlocking to move the head off the tape when in fast wind, or when eject is selected. That the head was in the replay position with no tape in the mechanism implies some mishandling and/or mechanical malfunction. There have been some good 'shows you how' pieces on line, worth searching out.

 

At 30 years old, the drive belts and capstan may be in deteriorated condition, what with being rubbery polymer material and all. Spares are available.

[Ian J.]

I have an 'old' Memorex dual cassette deck currently stuck in storage. I hadn't used it for ages just before it got stored, and I tried it, only to find nothing would play. It turned out the drive belts had perished through lack of use and age (it was then twenty-six years old). I'm hoping, once I can move into a place on my own again, to be able to get replacement drive belts for it.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I had to bail when last posting as the family bowled up for lunch, and didn't have time to find the small belts source, who were very helpful when I last used them.

 

http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/belts2.htm

[jjb1970]

Twenty years ago I had a Nakamichi CR7 casette deck, I can honestly say no other piece of hifi equipment I've ever owned or seen came anywhere close to the level of engineering precision and attention to detail in that deck, it was built to a staggeringly high standard.

[Horsetan]

I have an 'old' Memorex dual cassette deck currently stuck in storage.....

 

I remember the Memorex adverts from the late 1970s which featured a singer hitting the top notes and a wine glass shattering: "Is it live? Or is it Memorex?"