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Conference hips::uk_audioo

Title:You get surface noise in real life too
Notice:Let's be conformist
Moderator:GOVT02::BARKER
Created:Thu Jul 28 1988
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:550
Total number of notes:3847

407.0. "Car radio/cassette problems" by KRAKAR::WARWICK (Can't you just... ?) Tue Mar 30 1993 12:46

    
    The Phillips Radio/Cassette in my car has developed a slight  case of
    speed instability. It seems to manifest itself most on recent TDK D90
    cassettes. When it is doing this, there is a noticeable "wow" every few
    seconds. It doesn't seem to do it all the time, and it happens on both
    play directions (it's an autoreverse deck).
    
    What's the likeliest cause of this ? If it's dirty rollers etc., are
    any of the commercial cleaning kits going to do any good ? Is it more
    likely to be one of the internal elastic bands ? Unfortunately, I can't
    easily get the unit out to have a look as it has "special" screws
    holding it in.
    
    Trevor
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
407.1try cleaning firstBAHTAT::SALLITTDave @LZO 845-2374Tue Mar 30 1993 13:0712
    It's very likely it needs cleaning. I use one of those cleaners that is
    built into a cassette case, which seems to do the trick. If you have
    some heavy deposits, cotton buds and isopropyl alcohol (about �1 per
    250ml at Boots) works very well too, provided you can access the heads
    AND see what you're doing!
    
    I'm surprised you experience most problems with TDK tapes. I have
    *never* had a TDK tape go wrong in any way in the car. I have
    experienced similar problems with That's tapes in the car, once they've
    been used a few times or if they get hot.
    
    Dave
407.2fixed, for now...KRAKAR::WARWICKCan't you just... ?Thu Apr 15 1993 14:1317
    
    I bought one of the Allsop head-cleaning kits, which succeeding in
    scrubbing a large amount of brown gunk out of the player, but didn't
    help the speed instability very much.
    
    I decided to have a go at fixing it myself before consigning it to the
    repair shop. A colleague here had a spare drive belt for the same type
    of set, so we first tried changing that, which didn't help at all.
    
    When we had the cassette player running in the lab, it appeared that
    pressing the pinch roller more firmly against the tape cured the
    problem. So, we disassembled it some more, and applied a bit more
    bend to the spring that presses the rollers against the tape. This
    seems to have fixed it, although I wonder how long it is going to stay
    fixed. I think that maybe it could do with new pinch rollers as well.
    
    Trevor