haha that thing is as old as me! pretty awesome machine! i have a sony just like it except mine has double tapes in it. I will upload a video of it soon. It is pretty old but runs like new! PS LOVE Supertramp!
I found one of these in a pawn shop and got it for a steal (was missing the balance knob). The head and pinch rollers look new but someone had played with the azimuth. I'm going to send the deck out for alignment and I hope I can get some years of use out of it.
These decks have a problem holding alignment. That's most likely why yours is out of whack. Make sure that the technician seals the screws with Loctite or good ol' nail polish and they will not budge. I re-aligned my machine years ago and it has been perfect ever since. :) JC
I had a memorex auto reverse deck that has a notch in the head, shame the thing is dead now though :( I thought it was supposed to have a notch on it!
It depends on the head itself. I've used some decks with really worn heads and the quality was unaffected. This machine sounds very good on most tapes but if you play one that it does not like, you lose all the high end in one or both channels. The same tape sounds fine on another machine so it's definitely the head causing the problem. :) JC
I used to have an Onkyo, I think it was the ta-r310. The repeat button on mine activated a function that made the tape rewind and play the side again. One neat feature that my deck had was that if you took the door cover off the cassette compartment and played a cassette without it, there were two slots that led to the area just under the head assembly where you could use a small screwdriver to adjust the azimuth. One screw for each direction. Is this how you aligned your machine?
Yes, most tape decks will let you get to the alignment screws if you slide the door cover off. This machine had a problem with getting out of alignment and I had to tweak it a couple of times before I got wise and sealed the screws with some nail polish. It has held for a long time since then. The repeat function on this machine will allow you to repeat sections of the tape but I never figured out how to use it and the manual is long gone now...
That's a nice cassette deck, and it still woks pretty well.
I had a couple of auto reverse decks, most of them are not working very weel, the most common malfunction is that the head assembly that turns the head is worn out causing the head to be always misaligned. So you're really right with not using the auto reverse! The only working auto reverse decks I still have are a (not working) JVC, a Siemens and a Luxman. The JVC is horrible (Motor, Head assembly and pinch rolers are bad).
I hate it when tape heads get worn, at least its a cassette deck, so you may be able to find good heads in another deck that's not working. It's IMPOSSIBLE to find one for reel to reel.
Akai used to build decks with glass heads in them that never wore out. I wish some of those decks were still around. I have really rode this deck hard and it is a testament to Onkyo that it has held up this long. The only thing I have ever done to it is to align the heads and seal the screws so it would not drift. Plus, I tweaked the bias and record sensitivity about ten years ago. I would not even begin to know where to find replacement heads for this machine... :) JC
@BadEditPro: Hi, I know that there is auto-reverse but I am wondering what type of auto-reverse ? The head that flips or the one that doesn't.
HamtaroEL 5 months ago
@BadEditPro: Does this tape deck have the auto-reverse (flip version) or the 4 track (walkman) one ?
HamtaroEL 5 months ago
@HamtaroEL Yes. :) JC
BadEditPro 5 months ago
@BadEditPro This deck has a flippy head. I sealed the alignment screws with nail polish and it stayed perfectly aligned for more than 10 years. :) JC
BadEditPro 5 months ago
haha that thing is as old as me! pretty awesome machine! i have a sony just like it except mine has double tapes in it. I will upload a video of it soon. It is pretty old but runs like new! PS LOVE Supertramp!
cedarpaw23 11 months ago
I found one of these in a pawn shop and got it for a steal (was missing the balance knob). The head and pinch rollers look new but someone had played with the azimuth. I'm going to send the deck out for alignment and I hope I can get some years of use out of it.
mopar3000m 2 years ago
These decks have a problem holding alignment. That's most likely why yours is out of whack. Make sure that the technician seals the screws with Loctite or good ol' nail polish and they will not budge. I re-aligned my machine years ago and it has been perfect ever since. :) JC
BadEditPro 2 years ago
I had a memorex auto reverse deck that has a notch in the head, shame the thing is dead now though :( I thought it was supposed to have a notch on it!
AnalogueJosh 2 years ago
It depends on the head itself. I've used some decks with really worn heads and the quality was unaffected. This machine sounds very good on most tapes but if you play one that it does not like, you lose all the high end in one or both channels. The same tape sounds fine on another machine so it's definitely the head causing the problem. :) JC
BadEditPro 2 years ago
I used to have an Onkyo, I think it was the ta-r310. The repeat button on mine activated a function that made the tape rewind and play the side again. One neat feature that my deck had was that if you took the door cover off the cassette compartment and played a cassette without it, there were two slots that led to the area just under the head assembly where you could use a small screwdriver to adjust the azimuth. One screw for each direction. Is this how you aligned your machine?
margaretsville 2 years ago
Yes, most tape decks will let you get to the alignment screws if you slide the door cover off. This machine had a problem with getting out of alignment and I had to tweak it a couple of times before I got wise and sealed the screws with some nail polish. It has held for a long time since then. The repeat function on this machine will allow you to repeat sections of the tape but I never figured out how to use it and the manual is long gone now...
BadEditPro 2 years ago
WHAM!! Yeaaahh! I used to listen to that song on an LP again and again! :)
JoshSwannack 2 years ago
That's a nice cassette deck, and it still woks pretty well.
I had a couple of auto reverse decks, most of them are not working very weel, the most common malfunction is that the head assembly that turns the head is worn out causing the head to be always misaligned. So you're really right with not using the auto reverse! The only working auto reverse decks I still have are a (not working) JVC, a Siemens and a Luxman. The JVC is horrible (Motor, Head assembly and pinch rolers are bad).
DrCassette 2 years ago
I hate it when tape heads get worn, at least its a cassette deck, so you may be able to find good heads in another deck that's not working. It's IMPOSSIBLE to find one for reel to reel.
CoolDudeClem 2 years ago
Akai used to build decks with glass heads in them that never wore out. I wish some of those decks were still around. I have really rode this deck hard and it is a testament to Onkyo that it has held up this long. The only thing I have ever done to it is to align the heads and seal the screws so it would not drift. Plus, I tweaked the bias and record sensitivity about ten years ago. I would not even begin to know where to find replacement heads for this machine... :) JC
BadEditPro 2 years ago