Today I scored a copy of snoop dogg doggystyle for $1 - yes one US American dollar, but it was just a loose tape. I can’t seem to find a j card to complete the look. Aside from printing a black and white crappy bootleg on my home printer…where do you all find j card cassette inserts for your tapes?
Any advice or recommendations welcome.
I got really excited when I saw a pile of tapes on Facebook marketplace photo and I happened to see this Smashing pumpkins case. I washed over with excitement. Seller didn’t want to split any up. Strange mix of music and $100 for the lot. I offered $10 for the smashing pumpkins and they finally agreed.
40 minute drive only to find out that the dawn to dusk cassette tape was missing. Case and j card intact but no tape :( even had a Walmart receipt from 2001.
If anyone has a Dawn to dusk tape they wanna sell lemme know.
Grabbed it and also found a loose snoop dog - doggystyle tape for an extra buck. Not entirely a bad haul today.
Picked up this kraftwerk cassette over a month ago and it was a bit more than I would have liked to have paid, but it kept calling to me from the shelf. Much to my chagrin, the cassette played unpredictably and incredibly slow and would not roll smoothly. Took it apart. Cleaned and checked. Put it back together. Same thing. Took another crack at it a couple weeks later. Still no joy. Would literally stop the mechanism from spinning. For the $15 I paid - this was incredibly irritating.
Decided to try a felt pad replacement this morning. Cracked open Kenny G as a donor. Someone had gifted it to me as a gag gift. No hate, just not my cup of tea. Wouldn’t you know this Kraftwerk tape is now running absolutely perfectly now and I can actually listen to the damned thing!!! Turns out it was the pressure pad. I’m so pumped.
Kenny’s soul will always live on as part of radio-activity. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Had issues with my Sony Walkman with some crazy warbling sounds (check previous posts.) Couldn’t figure it out. Decided to try and find a cheap donor unit. Scored one on eBay for a moderate price. Transferred everything over from my “crappy” unit over into the new one. Had to pull the 3D printed spring hook and the belt over into the new unit as well as the volume knob and faceplate - kept the original case as it was in much better cosmetic condition. At this point servicing this thing feels like routine. Now, I have a Frankenstein unit with parts shared between the two portables.
I kept having REALLY low audio and couldn’t figure it out. Decided to replace some caps. Wouldn’t you know my dumb ass was putting 3v into the unit when it requires 6v to operate? Felt so dumb troubleshooting low audio for a couple hours until I finally realized I was using incorrect voltage. Folks. Check the voltage. It ain’t gonna run or sound right if you don’t!
At any rate. I’m happy to report that my Sony Walkman is up and running again and hopefully will remain in service for years to come. Happy to finally have it all together in one piece rolling tape.
That’s two W’s in a row. Still can’t figure this Panasonic rx 5150 out.
I’m posting this in hopes someone can help me troubleshoot. I also want to add context from a previous discussion that didn’t lead to a fix. Aside from the squealing mentioned there, that post describes my issue almost exactly.
Previous thread: https://www.boomboxery.com/forum/threads/new-owner-of-rx5150-left-channel-very-weak.28052/
Issue
Picked up a Panasonic RX-5150 with a very weak right channel.
Left channel: strong and clear
Right channel: ~10% volume
What I’ve Found / Fixed So Far
Unit originally only played properly when the record mute switch was depressed
→ Fixed by addressing record switch
Record mute slider was stuck
→ Cleaned with DeoxIT and worked it free
→ Playback now works normally without toggling rec mute
Cleaned all accessible pots and switches (2x with DeoxIT):
Volume
Balance
Bass / Treble
Radio / Tape switch
Other accessible controls
Reflowed balance pot solder points
Cleaned headphone jack (ISO + DeoxIT)
→ No bent pins
→ Audio passes correctly, but right channel is still low
Repaired cracked LED meter / TPS board
→ Bridged broken traces
→ TPS seek and lighting now working
Voltage selector is set correctly
Current Symptoms
Weak right channel on:
Tape
Radio
Headphones
Built-in speaker
Balance knob fully right does not restore normal volume
Loudness button works (changes tone), but doesn’t fix channel imbalance
TPS button works, but no effect on issue
Moving / twisting headphone plug causes no change
Important Test Result
Line-out is perfectly balanced (L/R).
Ran line-out into another boombox line-in
Monitored via record mode
Both channels are equal
This suggests the source/preamp section is fine up to line-out.
What Seems Ruled Out
Tape head issue
Source selector/front-end issue
Voltage selector issue
Speaker itself
Headphone jack alone
LED/TPS board as root cause
Typical dirty control issue
What Seems Most Likely
Fault after the line-out split
Right channel power amp/output stage issue
Possibilities:
Bad capacitor / transistor / resistor in right channel path
Cracked trace or bad solder joint in amp/output section
Note: the user in the linked thread recapped the board and didn’t fix it, so caps alone may not be the issue.
Complication
Accessing the solder side of the board is difficult, and I’d prefer not to disturb the radio dial string unless absolutely necessary.
Questions
Has anyone actually fixed this exact single weak channel issue on an RX-5150?
Since line-out is clean, does this strongly point to the AF power amp/output section?
Are there any known common failure components on this model for this symptom?
Appreciate any insight. This one’s been a tough one to figure out.