On Wednesday, 17 July 2019 13:19:34 UTC+1, tabby wrote:
On Wednesday, 17 July 2019 12:28:51 UTC+1, John-Del wrote:
On Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at 9:26:38 PM UTC-4, Kirk M wrote:

I have a 1990's era AM/FM Cassette player. It works fine, except that it only plays on the left side. The right channel connection isn't making consistent contact. I tried to clean it using a Q-tip, with most of the cotton removed, and it made it worse.

If there was a way to reach inside the jack, and slightly bend the right-channel contact, I could probably fix it.

I purchased a new unit, and the sound quality just isn't there compared to the old one. Yes, I could just transfer all my old cassettes to digital format, but I don't wish to take the time, since these tapes are mostly from the 1970's, so the sound isn't that great to begin with. I also, don't play them that much.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Kirk M

If it's self contained with speakers, jump out the jack. If it's a headphone only unit, you'll need to replace the jack. If it's PC mounted, finding one with the same footprint will be tough. Maybe a non working unit on ebay could be found cheap. If the jack is not PC mounted, then pretty much any similar donor will work as long as the donor isn't too large to fit the cabinet.

I'd look for a donor machine on ebay with a mechanical problem.

Yeah, generally. The jack should be replaceable. If not you could always add another jack on the back in most cases. Or - if it's bodge o'clock - solder on a flex, feeding it out of the hole in the jack socket, onto which you can attach a new jack socket. Knot the wire inside, solder is not robust..


NT

PS a q-tip is not ideal for contact cleaning. If contact cleaner on card fails, try some very fine sandpaper. Better to not sand it if possible, but sanding works when all else fails.


NT