It’s A Technician’s Pride To Handle Such Antiques Sets – AKAI 2-IN-1 AJ490-FS
This set belonged to a person, a classmate of my elder brother, who came to know of my work through yet another classmate! He was taking care of this set like a prestigious collection and did not want to give to unknown commercial technicians, fearing a don’t-care-attitude. The complaint was that the tape stopped working and there was deterioration in pick-up of his favourite FM stations. To tell you frankly, I was lucky to get a piece of this type in my hands for service, as these were and still are adored by music lovers all around! The quality of output is something amazing and the sound effects are awesome!
Though I wanted to do a thorough work of dismantling the whole set and replacing all the electrolytic capacitors as usual, I had no time at all with a lot of personal commitments and other pending works. So, very reluctantly, I did only what was necessary; i.e., replacing the belt. The FM was working very well when I gave an external antenna to the TRA, which I informed the customer. The set was very clean inside and I had no cleaning work to be done, showing how much care the customer taken and how much fond of it he might be.
After removing the back and front cover, which comes apart when we remove the five long screws from behind, the set can be serviced easily for such complaints. I removed the motor holding plate, which also served as the cover for keeping the capstan in place and replaced the broken belt and fixed the plate back. I then cleaned the pinch roller and played cassette to listen to the wonderful sound output once again in this type of set, after a long gap. It brought nostalgic memories in me! Let us have a look at the inside of this lovely set:
I adjusted the speed of the motor to get a proper voice of the artist through the hole provided on the rear of the motor (see last picture above). Since I always use this cassette for tests, I am very much accustomed with the voice modulation and such adjustments by just sheer listening met the purpose. After ensuring that the set worked very well, I fixed the back and front cover and allowed it to run for several hours before informing the customer about readiness of the set.
Let us have another look at the set when it was working, before I conclude this article with declaration of sighting entry of satisfaction into the bag:
For those who are interested in seeing my work on such a similar set, can click on the following link:
https://jestineyong.com/revived-an-antique-akai-stereo-cassette-recorder-aj-500fs/
This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 74 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.
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Albert van Bemmelen
November 23, 2024 at 5:12 pm
The amount of spare parts at home you have in stock like rubber belts and all those capacitors to replace must be enormous Parasuraman!
Resulting in another very fine repair that you took extreme care of!
Parasuraman S
November 23, 2024 at 8:28 pm
Many thanks for your keenly observative comments, dear Albert!
Waleed Rishmawi
November 23, 2024 at 5:40 pm
from the title of the article I know it had to be you and only who can handle and appreciate such work. good job my friend i wish I have your pasision in this kind of work. someday it will get back to you and then you will have the chance to replace all the capacitors needed to be replaced. thanks for sharing and have a blessed day
Parasuraman S
November 23, 2024 at 8:30 pm
Yes, let's hope for the capacitor day (LOL)! Many thanks, dear friend!
Mark J
November 24, 2024 at 4:05 am
Parasuraman another great article on vintage radios. I also like working on them for the nostalgic memories.
Parasuraman S
November 24, 2024 at 10:50 am
Many thanks, dear Mark! Your comments are always very encouraging!
Yogesh Panchal
November 25, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Good Job! Sir,
Few days back in my native home i scraped off my old Philips Cassette player,Because plastic parts & screw holder plastic studs were totally deteriorate & some are Broken also, which may take more time involvement to repair & align to hold internal Mechanism . so i give up spending the time on this unit. i am having too many Audio Cassette in our native; now just looking for good working used player.
Parasuraman S
November 26, 2024 at 8:20 pm
Many thanks Yogesh Bai, for your comments and sharing your nostalgic memories!