cliz305

The left channel of my Sony wm-d3 stopped working. At first, the sound just went in and out. It could get back to working with some twisting and shaking. So I thought it was just oxidation building up on switches and headphone jack, but it was not the case. At some point, it just stopped working altogether. After some quick diagnosis, I found that a wire connected to the cassette head was broken. The weird part was that it looked just fine, but my multimeter said it was not connected: it must be broken somewhere along the wire. I needed to replace the whole wire. The problem was that I needed a dual wire with shielding, and the ones I could find were fat. So I made one by myself by ripping the rubber tube off the fat one and adding some heat shrink as a shell. It was still fatter than the original but at least it fitted. It is not perfect, but it works just fine now. The Original Wires (yellow and blue) The New Wires (yellow and white)  

It is time to recap my Sony wm-DDII. The device is more than 30 years old and the electrolytic capacitors need to be replaced. I got some nichicon fine gold audio grade capacitors. They are much bigger than the original. It was tough but I managed to fit in four nichicon. I can not do AB comparison but I think there is a significant improvement in terms of sound. The bass goes deeper and feels more powerful. The high is also improved. It sounds more detailed and dynamic than before. I am thinking if I should replace the remaining three capacitors later. Update: The rest of the capacitors were replaced with some ELNA "audio" capacitors from ebay (they are relatively cheap). ELNA "audio" capacitors    

My Nakamichi CR-5 sometimes has trouble rewinding. If not used for a day, it'd take a few attempts before it could rewind again. That is because the rubber idler tire is too old (30+ years) and no longer had enough gripping force on the spindle. I purchased a new one from fixyouraudio and replaced the old one. Unfortunately, I lost the little plastic washer in the process. I made one from a plastic sheet and it worked fine. The wow and flutter also improved a bit (<0.03%). Some models in the CR series use gears instead of rubber tires. Both have their merits. The rubber tire can have issues after some years, but it can be easily replaced. The gear drive is certainly more stable, but if they ever break, good luck finding replacements (3D printing then).  On the other hand, the tension belt has turned into goo after so many years. I cleaned it up. This belt is not critical as the deck can run without it. The problem is the lack of proper tape tension increases the risk of eating t...

So, I want a three-head Nakamichi. Not a new story. I've been browsing the net to score one with a good condition at a reasonable price. "Reasonable price" might not be a meaningful term here though, because things like these are old and have been discontinued a long time ago. You can argue that their age and rarity make them priceless, or that they are obsolete and worthless. Up to you. Among taping enthusiasts, it is said that a good price is a price that you are willing to pay for. For me, it is a matter of how full my wallet is and how much the same model cost in the past for different conditions.  Hifi Shark  provides information about past sales across different platforms. It helps me a lot in terms of purchase decisions. Nakamichi CR-5 (post focusing with Lumix LX-10) The deck I ended up buying is the Nakamichi CR-5. It is basically a stripped-down version of CR-7 (one of the best cassette decks ever made) with only the lack of some high-end calibration features. C...

I recently purchased this walkman. This is my first recording walkman. It is a professional model of the legendary DD series. DD walkmans run on the special disc-drive mechanism, which offers very low wow & flutter. The professional models of this series are equipped with amorphous heads, which are very durable (very important for vintage collection!) and supposedly sound better than the head from a regular DD. I am not sure about the "sound better" part, but my D3 certainly has more treble than my DDII. The D3 is slightly bulkier than the DDII due to the extra recording circuitry. My particularly D3 was refurnished by the seller with a complete overhaul and light lubrication. The electrolytic capacitors were replaced with high-end Nichicon capacitors (electrolytic capacitors do age over time). The seller did miss one thing though: the overwrite-protection mechanism was stuck due to slight corrosion. A bit deoxit freed it up easily, so no problem. This thing is as good as...

Recently, I bought a used pair of Focal Elegia. It is a high-end product, going for $900 at launch. Mine is used, about $500. It came in a premium-looking cardboard box and carrying case. The headphones themself weigh about a pound, beautifully crafted with thick micro-fiber memory-foam pads. But headphones are less about the look, more about the sound. Different headphones have different sound characteristics. One wouldn't know what he/she wants without going through different options. I also started from some cheaper headphones that are not necessarily worse in all aspects: The Focal Elegia (Nakamichi CR-2 in the back) A few years ago, I picked up a pair of Sony MDR-V700DJ from a thrift store for $1. That was my first time trying a better pair of headphones. They supposedly went for about $200 back in the 90s. As the name suggests, they were DJ headphones designed to groove out in a noisy club or something and thus very bassy, full of rhythm. They were fine, just not very comfort...

I have been wanting an ultra-thin walkman for a while...preferably with Dolby c. So I found this Kenwood cp-c7 (technically not a walkman since it is not Sony). Bad cosmetic condition. But it does work... sort of. It has some serious battery corrosion. To clean it, I have to open it up and that is not an easy task. The buttons are printed upon soft PCB films, which are stuck to the plastic frame by adhesive. The circuit board inside is thin and fragile. The worst part is that, after unscrewing all the screws, I still found myself unable to take out the board. I thought it was held together by double-sided tapes, so I tried to pry it open carefully, not aware that a solenoid was attached to both the PCB board and the mechanical frame. That did not end well. The solenoid was broken. Looking back to it, I should have tried harder tracking down the service manual. So I had to rebuild the coil and add new soldering leads (and of course, clean up the corrosion inside the walkman also). The b...

I accidentally broke my Yamaha KX-650 when attempting to lubricate and deoxit the deck.  Strictly speaking, lubrication should be done after a complete overhaul, but I didn't have the skill for that (or just being lazy), so I simply sprayed the lubrication oil without taking anything apart. From my past experience with lubricating walkmans, I assumed the worst thing that could happen was ruining the belt, but this time, the assist motor just went crazy, turning back and forward nonstop (it is a three-motor deck). Probably the logic control was messed up and I was not able to fix it. So that was it. Guess it is time to move on. Feeling sad about the loss, I was not ready to invest in a major upgrade, but I still wished for a sense of upgrade. Also, a less pleasant aspect of my experience with the Yamaha was that I spent too much time on fine tweaks. I got too obsessed with the real-time adjustment of a three-head deck. On the other hand, maybe the need for fine tweaks partially...