I got this 951 comming my way for 25 euro. The head was dead or dirty. I took some pictures, and my guess is a dead head. Are there any spare heads laying around ? Is this not to be rescued or just for parts ?
The DCC museum got a donation of a small amount of heads, these are not for sale. No other spare heads are known to exist anymore.
Either you need a donor head from another DCC951/DCC730 or this can be a donor for repairs of other DCC951/DCC730.
Still a decent price and appearently at least an honest seller, could have sold that as untested for 100ā¬.
I was afraid of that. Iām not a repair guy, so i probable gonna sell it to a repair guy. (The seller sold it for 70 (as untested/ repair), but i let him run service- mode, and he got 3 20 error, thats how we found out. I took a change on itā¦it could have been dirty.
Maybe somebody has a use for it. At best i saved it from the trash can.
Thanks for answering Max
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Besides what already has been said, it looks like those capstans could really use a thorough cleaningā¦
===Jac
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Hi Ton,
This might change nothing to the state of the heads, but please always clean your capstans thoroughly before testing. These look very dirty/rusty. It may even damage your tapes.
Regards, Henrie
update: I see Jac made the same remark 
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I see the rust as a hint that (poor) Type I analog tapes were used that kiled the head.
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You can allways part it out, package it and send it to @drdcc. I know for sure that the salvage parts will be reusedā¦ no dcc gear should go in the trash any moreā¦
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Itās in the film, that little box!
Do you think Philips threw away their spare parts? Or will they still linger somewhere in a fault? A couple of hundred would be nice?
Because DCC ended relatively abruptly, there must have been a relatively large amount of spares in stock?
Could we just ask Philips if they do? And if so, it would be a great gesture if they donated them to the Museumā¦
Just a thoughtā¦
Mr Timmer is still aliveā¦ maybe he could shake some treesā¦
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Itās not that simple. Very likely, the decision to cancel DCC didnāt happen on the day before the Eindhovens Dagblad placed the announcement in 1996. They probably already reduced or stopped production long before that, and dismantled the development teams. All the parts and supplies that were in the pipeline were probably redirected to the Service department so they could use them to repair DCC recorders that were still under warranty, and then some.
We would love to find more parts and prototype / preproduction machines but you canāt expect to go to Philips and say āHey weāre a bunch of hobbyists with a museum on the other side of the world, do you have any leftover parts?ā Philips is a business and thereās no money in doing something like that. As soon as they could, they probably cleared out the entire factory to make space for something else that could make money. Even big machines such as the mastering equipment for prerecorded cassettes were probably dismantled for parts and used for other purposes. Unless youāre already āinsideā and you āknow peopleā, that stuff is simply inaccessible. And donāt count on Jan Timmer having any leverage at all. He has a bad reputation because heās mostly remembered for getting a lot of people laid off.
And of course, DCC happened so long ago that most people who worked on it, arenāt at the company anymore, or have passed away.
When it comes to leftover parts or machines, itās mostly a matter of getting lucky.
===Jac
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I knowā¦ chances are slim to say the least. But the longer one waits the slimmer it gets. I have no idea where to begin that investigation, but come hell or high water, I will give it at try!
BTWā¦ if Timmer looks angry, he is pretty scary! 
You all wonāt believe thisā¦last night i thoughtā¦lets check on e-bay to see if something is on sale (on the DCC department). Twenty km from where i liveā¦there was on sale a complete mechanic part (the big block with the head in it) of a 951!. I could pick it up for 75 euro, i replaced it with the āRIP Headā mechanicā¦and now i have another working DCC951 !
And i have a complete mechanic with a dead head, but with all the rest of the parts āuntestedā. Iām not this smart repair guy, so i donāt really have a use for my ā left-overāā¦so if anybody is in need for something like this. The pictures show my leftover
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Well congratulations Ton! Your bad luck is finally over!
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I was about to buy that mechanism, congratulations. I hope you donāt mess it up replacing belts and pinch rollers like I did. Keep it as a manual and collection of spare parts, if you donāt need it anymore donāt throw it away, someone will be able to make some use out of it.
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Iāve been looking the entire evening for a place at Philips to put down the question about the remaining spare parts. Because of the demise of the consumer electronics department and the closing of the Hasselt factory many years ago there are not much places to go.
I found the Philips Museum and send them an email in wich I put up the question about possible NOS spare parts for DCCā¦
Now we just waitā¦
Max, wasnāt neccesary to replace anything. I just took out the mechanismā¦replaced the complete unitā¦and there you areā¦i now have 2 working 951ās ! One with a bad cover, but Mick Jagger told me to āpaint it blackā ! Iām gonna test the ānewā one for a week or soā¦and then probably sell it or trade it.
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But as it is used, replacing belts and pinch rollers is recommended to avoid damaging tapes or making bad recordings.
Max, yes i still have 951 belts āon the wayā (problem with delivery guy due to covid-19). New belts and pinch rollers (for the new 951) i will order but doing that together with my missing items of the 130. Iām firstly looking for a repair guy close by home to replace capacitors and changings belts for the 130.
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The Philips museum wonāt help you Iām afraid. They make money from visitors and their collection is not that big.
The Philips historical products museum has a much bigger collection but they wonāt help you either Iām pretty sure. They collect things, they donāt sell them.
Anyway, weāve already been in contact with them and the Products Museum helped us with some information before. Theyāre awesome places to go visit! Thoroughly recommended, especially the products museum. Once the Covid-19 crisis is over of course.
=== Jac
I wonder what happened to the rest of that deckā¦
=== Jac