This thing is crazy. It’s this giant cassette deck with an ultimate late '70s look to it. Those huge vertical VU meters, LED “Spectropeak” display, that power button, those piano keys, beautiful.
It’s in impeccable condition, all the knobs are there, not even a scratch on the cassette door window.
It’s massive, super heavy and huge. Inside it’s amazing, it’s a basic single motor mechanism but everything’s huge in there. Huge motor, gigantic flywheel, and some kind of internal secondary chassis to hold stuff in place. Belt’s slack though, at least it ain’t goopified.
It doesn’t do Dolby but has ANRS and Super ANRS, some kind of alternative noise reduction system.
It didn’t power up at the Renaissance but it was 15$. It will make a decoration or bookend if, as I suspect, I will never attempt to repair it.
You must log in or # to comment.
Are you part of [email protected]? Would love to see that community more active
No, I’m more of a collector of objets d’art these days, I feel drained at the mere thought of attempting repairs now.
It is gorgeous.
I am basking in your envy. Did you know I only paid 15$? Imagine the shipping for this anvil at today’s rates?
There is a store out here that sells this retro stuff that a tech has refurbished. Sometimes units like those are $500-$700 depending on the brand.
My dad had a nice Yamaha one in the early 80s with that similar look.
Later in the 80s-90s they started making that cheap looking black crap with everything digital.
I suppose it depends on the brand, but unless the store has actual original parts there’s no way they’re worth that much? wowzers
They buy units also, so probably have OEM pieces. It is worth it to the buyer who wants that look, or to complete their component set, just like diamonds and the artificial price tag.
But I just checked their website , prices have gone up. Akai cassetee deck $785.
You can’t leave that non-functional! 😢 In any case, don’t fuck it up for someone who may have the skills to make it fly again!
I have the skill, not the will.
This reminds me that I have a rare cassette I should try to digitize. (It’s songs from the house band at a local radio station, in case you were wondering.)
Well take your time, the market is flooded with horrendous USB cassette players that likely will mangle your tape, or just have shitty audio. Cassettes sounded really good towards the mid '80s even at the mass-market level, so there’s a chance that tape sounds at least decent.
I bought a USB player that had a cheap and nasty-looking head with a large scratch on it, then it had the audacity to yank out tape and wrap it around the capstan. I threw it out. And I’m a hoarder.
ANRS is essentially Dolby B without the logo. Super ANRS was a unique JVC thing.
JVC made competent kit that tended to be less celebrated than some other brands. Probably worth fixing.
That’s hot.
That giant knob. Is it buttery smooth or have little clicks?
I’m guessing smooth
That’s the record level. The outer ring moves with the knob but you can also move them independently of each other. They move smoothly except when they click together at 50%.
I need to figure out why it’s dead, there are three fuses according to the schematic but I didn’t spot them, so it looks like I have to disassemble further. Also there’s a SCR in the power supply, I’ve never seen that before. Like a lot of audio electronics, the schematics are drawn with everything as a net, I can’t quickly see where ground or power is, it’s all lines among the signals.
Either it’s a crowbar circuit (which was kind of common in big bench power supplies back then, never seen it in audio), or it controls the motor because of the timer function?
