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