Philips DCC 730 frequent drop-outs

[gjperakis]

Hello and greetings from the UK

I recently bought a DCC 730 from eBay that has lost its recording abilities and only worth for playback. It started working okay initially, but now it’s dropping out more and more frequently. It started by doing it once per whole album and now it’s like a hick-up during some songs.

I only listen to pre-recorded albums, I have no interest in recording. Any advice would be very welcome because I just sold a DCC 951 for spares that had a similar problem only to receive another one doing the same!

Thanks and regards
George

[MrD]

Hi George,

Sounds like a similar issue I had with my 730. Read this topic for solutions :

DCC730 Capstan motor issue

I do have the same problem with a DC-10 but it’s on some of the tape, not every tape, and the side B the most. Side A sometimes. When the problem occurs I push the tray up or down. It plays normally again. Please help.

You can start with the easy stuff first :
With a cotton swab and some IPA (isopropyl alcohol), clean the head and pinch rollers.
Problem not solved? Replace the pinch rollers. DCC musuem sells them, or 2dehands.be also has a guy selling new ones.

It’s an easy replacement. Just pop out the old ones with a flathead screwdriver, and manually push the new ones in. No need to take the whole tape drive apart.

Touch the housing of the deck regularly to avoid static electricity buildup between you and the deck.

[saturn5]

Hi George and welcome to the forum (Its me Dave )
@MrD do you have a username for the guy selling on 2dehands.be?
Thanks.

[gjperakis]

Hello MrD, thank you for the kind response.

I have some questions:

• Cleaning the head and pinch rollers requires opening the tray or the uncovering the whole deck?
• I am noob, I don’t even know how a pinch roller looks like, do you have an example?

thanks again
George

[Max]

You have to open the deck, but it is really easy on the DCC730:

Replacing the Pinch Rollers on every Digital Compact Cassette Player

[MrD]

@saturn5
click here .
Not sure if he’s shipping to the UK though, but you can ask him. Communicating was very good and friendly.

@gjperakis , I’ll post some pictures/info when I get home from work. Do you have a torx screwdriver? It’s needed to open the top lid of the deck. I think it’s a torx 6 thats needed.

Edit : no foto’s needed, this video explains it excellently !

[gjperakis]

thanks!

[saturn5]

Just some useful info, I would not struggle trying to get pinch roller out like in that video. Just remove the top plate to get full access to heads and rollers. If your unsure I can try a short video to help.

[ivanr]

Do you get the dropouts on both analog and digital output including headphones? I have a very strange problem with my 730 that the dropouts are only on the digital out but if I connect the analog out to the amp but still use the digital out on the amp from the DCC, the dropouts go away, almost like it needs to be grounded. I know this is weird.

[gjperakis]

Hello! Thanks for your message!

I don’t use the digital outputs, just the analogue. After inspections, I found the pinch rollers in a bad conditions so I’ve ordered replacements. Your problem sounds more of bit-skipping issue rather than a rolling problem and it is very weird! I say take it to an exorcist!!!

[saturn5]

@ivanr I would remove the mainboard and check ALL solder points on the bottom of the board for dry joints. Especially focus on the power connector socket and the analogue/digital in and outputs. The soldering on these boards in my experience suffer from dry /cracked joints.