Recently acquired this Marantz PMD222 for cheap, it works pretty great except for one thing. Whenever it's playing and I move it, the tape speed slows down drastically. It seems to be proportionate to the speed at which I move it, but sometimes it doesn't happen. It happens probably 3/4 of the time if not more.
Naturally this is a fucking problem for a portable cassette tape player. I searched online, read the owners manual, browsed a couple of forums to no avail.
Any ideas?
I would be its a power supply issue.
Check battery connection solder pads for cold joints
>>933884
Holy shit, duh!
I just tested it with the AC adapter it came with and it moved around with no problems.
Thanks!
>>933884
Unlikely, dry joints would make it stop and start outright, not slow down, though in a unit this old it's not a bad check to make. Hanging a multimeter off the DC supply to the motor and observing voltage as the unit is nudged around will help confirm or deny this.
>>933883
Sounds like it has a bung bearing on its capstan pulley (pic related). If the unit slows when moved it could be because it is binding on something. Pulley is a big spinning mass of metal (gyro), gyroscopic resistance dictates a gyro will resist movement, and the more you move its pivots, the harder it will resit. This would explain the proportionality of slowdown to movement. It may also have a stop actuator (a little arm with a felt pad which sits against the pulley when the deck is in stop mode) that is binding to the pulley when it shouldn't, maybe due to a bad spring or broken post
Is the slowdown accompanied by a grinding or binding noise from the tape deck? Can you pop the back off and give the capstan a wiggle to see how well it's sitting in its bearings? Make sure you pay close attention when you remove the back as well, look for little bits of plastic or other bits that may indicate something in the tape deck has snapped.
>>933888
Well shit, I wish I updated before I wrote >933892. Nice one.
>>933892
No problem, that was a good suggestion as well! luckily I was able to isolate it without opening the damn thing up. I honestly don't know how much I'm going to be using this thing outside, it's heavy as fuck and I don't have the carry strap/not trying to be that hipster fuck listening to a giant cassette tape player on the subway in nyc.
>>933883
OP here.
Turns out the battery connects weren't the issue.
It wasn't actually the picking up and moving around that slowed the speed. It's when I apply pressure on the case above where the cassette goes.
So I guess thats just the case flexing and changing the speed the belts move? I haven't opened it up yet so I don't know, but I'm assuming it's mechanical.
Honestly now that I know that's the issue I don't think I'll try to fix it. I don't see it being a problem when using it now that I know.
Just wanted to give you guys an update
I remember once my portable FM radio's battery was so low, it slowed down too.
>>934701
Presumably you only need it to be portable for when you're taking it to where you need it. Once it's set up wherever, why would you even need to move it from its spot until you're finished?