DCC 821 - Help, what do I do?

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum. Quick introduction; I was born too late ( in 2000) to really experience DCC in its glory days. Yet since I’ve got to know about its existence it has fascinated me tremendously. About 4 years ago I got my hands on a DCC 821 car stereo, i got it for €10 including a Dire Straits pre-recorded DCC. At first I didn’t get it to power on as the on/off button was a bit wanky.

Recently I got out of storage again to give it another try, this time with succes! It works, and to my surprise, even produces trouble free audio when playing a DCC. Now the thing is, how do I keep it that way? Reading around the forum I read a lot about the common issues with DCC players. What I haven’t found much info on is the car stereos. Does anyone know more about this player and of the things I need to be wary of?

Hi and welcome,
The reason you do not find much information is because they are really rock solid.
Eventually the belt will need replacing and we have repaired one 811 (cheaper version of the 821) by replacing all SMD caps. The SMD caps will eventually go bad.

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Congrats on the amazing find, I would as usual stay away from analog tape.