r/boomboxes

Can anyone that buys those aftermarket belt kits recommend good "companies" from the "cat walks across the keyboard" brands of generic belt kits that are out there on Amazon or wherever? The only seller that has the OEM belt for my boombox refuses to ship to the USA because he hates the USA, so I'm out of luck. The belt is unobtanium outside of that. I already checked official lists and nobody in the USA carries this model, as its not from the USA.

I'm having trouble disseminating from Amazon reviews which belts are good and which ones are negatively reviewed due to buyer error. I'm fixing a kind of valuable boombox that's somewhat high end and I don't want to ruin it or throw it out of sync with garbage quality junk that slacks out and snaps. Ideally I want one same as OEM, that's sturdy and lasts for decades.

I've seen a lot of those cheap belt kits that look like rats chewed on them before they were packed up. Others look like they are dirty and ashy right out of the bag.

I picked a brand that I think is good (TEANTECH) but I'm not 100% sure. It has better ratio of 5 stars than the rest of them. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BX6NG6PX?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I have a Siemens Club 722, and it's got a problem.

• It will start playing tapes fine, and play through the tape fine, if I push play and do not touch it again.

• If the tape gets nearer the the end of the A side it might start eating tapes.

• If I push play, then stop or pause, then push play again, it will start eating the tape.

• When the tapes get eaten, it will loop up into a hoop shape, then get grabbed by the pinch roller, and then wrap itself around the pinch roller.

• The pinch roller was glazed and dirty, I cleaned it. Problem still persists. The pinch roller is !NOT! rotten, it is still soft and rubbery after being cleaned, and the cleaning seemed to help improve its appearance tenfold. I am not sure if its grooved, it does not look like it is.

• When I grab the tape spindle with fingers on play or RW, the spindles will stop immediately with strong pressure, and will keep moving between my fingers with gentle pressure, and some rumbling vibration is felt behind the spindle from the belt.

• A tape torque checker tool reads "fine" on all modes of playback, but the needle was nearer to the "service now" mark but still well within the "normal" parameters (its part of a cleaning kit made for casual enthusiasts and home users and not a refurbishment facility so its not microscopically precise)

Should I put a new belt into this unit, or is there something else that is causing this problem?

Again it will play a tape fine from end to end, but when the tape gets close to the end it will unpredictably eat the tape, sometimes it will sometimes it wont (fun isn't it?). And playing the tape again after stopping the tape midway through will cause the tape to bunch up and it might get eaten.

I've got a couple old 80's style boomboxes that are perfectly functional but they look rough as heck that I got on the cheap to fix up and resell.

At what point would you say "Screw it!" with keeping the outside original on this stuff?

On the one hand I feel like someone would absolutely adore an 80's style boombox in like, purple or red or green or something fun.

From a practical standpoint, the two I'm looking at? They're pretty far gone. Nail polish scratched paint, horrendously yellowed plastic, permanent marker, etc.

I could put painter's tape over speakers, tuner plastic, and the control markings (that are thankfully clear) and leave those as silver accents, then do the rest up in something funky and fun.

On the other hand, the preservationist in me balks at that. Still, I gotta do something to them to make them presentable because I want these devices to go to people to enjoy and have fun.

Thoughts? I'm torn tbh.