Topic: Nice Garage Sale Score

[runonce]

Nice find this weekend - got it cheap...

AKAI 635D with 7 10inch reels. 4 unopened.
This is 1/4 inch tape.
Each reel will run 192 minutes, in each direction, at 7 1/2 ips.
Three head, Auto-reverse, azimuth adjustment.

Excellent condition.  The transport functions perfectly - but it has some audio issues.

One channel is out - the other intermittent and dirty sounding.

I want to believe its all related to the output pot being dirty, but the fellow who sold it to me claimed it "had a diode out" - not sure how much stock to put in that comment.

I have found a few places to get it serviced - but still shopping around for that.
I hate to think of having to ship this thing - although the fellow in Illinois offers special shipping boxes and seemed pretty confident about safe transport.
DC, Philly, Balt, Pitt are all not too far for me to deliver - so if anyone know a tech who does this sort of work, I appreciate the lead.

And it came with a recording of a FM broadcast of the 1983 US Festival. Devinyls, Quarterflash, Ozzy...

[stevetoney]

Cool. 

I'd just take it to your local electronics repairman and pay him an hourly rate to find the issue.  Saves shipping.  These guys can find a bad diode/capacitor/resistor regardless of whether the device is a TV, radio, washer, etc.  It's all electronics.  Diagnosis is one part of the job...repair is another.  His biggest challenge to repair will be finding replacement components if the bad part is obsolete, but if it's a diode, transistor, etc. not so much.

[mfrench]

You might also check out audiokarma.org
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=157  <-- "Tape" forum
There are a bunch of r2r-heads over there, in a section dedicated to Tape Machines.  They might be able to help with this deck, or make suggestions to repair facilities.

[spyder9]

I'd flip it on eBay and make a killing.  That's what I did with two Tascams that I found at a community college surplus sale a few years ago.  Boxing and shipping the beasts was the only pain.  My 2 cents.

[runonce]

I'd flip it on eBay and make a killing.  That's what I did with two Tascams that I found at a community college surplus sale a few years ago.  Boxing and shipping the beasts was the only pain.  My 2 cents.

Oh yeah- I've was like, "that might be my 680...or R44..."
But I do want to get it working - and I'd have to use it - a few times!
The thought of shipping the thing in an ebay sale is risky for sure...
we'll see what the repair bill might be. I dont have much in it - so its easy to keep.

I already have about 10-12 other reel to reel decks, but I've been mostly seeking older mono decks for transcribing older recordings.
But, that's revived my interest in running with some of these older formats.
The recorder comp I posted in another thread is much older AKAI deck, a 1969 X-1800SD @ 7 1/2 ips vs. a bit bucket.