Hi, I recently purchased a lovely Philips DCC-900 along with 12 cassettes. I’ve hooked it up to my system and have been able to play the cassettes that came with it. However, when I have tried to record new material onto a cassette from another source, the recorder seems to recognize the source and the meters are moving as it is “recording”, but when I play it back, there is only silence there. So it appears to be successfully erasing what was already on the cassette, but not recording the new material. Is this likely a problem with the record head? I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!
Hi and Welcome,
We have quite a few videos about this topic.
Your 900 should be restored immediately (if it has not been done) as capacitors will cause damage.
It will prevent playback and yes…. Also recording.
We can help restoring if needed.
Ralf
Hi Ralf,
Thanks for your response. I would be interested in a restoration. Could you tell me how that works and how much it costs? Like I said, playback seems to be functioning properly. As I recently purchased the unit, I do not know its service history. Is there an easy way for a novice to determine whether or not it has been restored? Thanks!
Various videos on our channel will help.
In short, stop using it for now. Open the 900 and check if the RW board (at the back end of the mechanism) has new capacitors. The flat cable going from that board to the right (under a metal cover) is the audio board PZ03. See if that has new capacitors.
You can check the serial number on our website, to see if it has been serviced as well by anyone in our network.
Ralf
Thanks again for the info, Ralf. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my novice questions. I wish I understood these things better, but I am just a musician! I opened it up, but I gather that I need to remove the mechanism in order to access the RW board. I will do that if necessary. I watched your very helpful video on the Philips DCC 900 restoration. I did notice what appears to be leakage from a capacitor on the large board on the bottom of the unit. The capacitor located under the blue and red wires seems to have leaked. Could this have something to do with the unit not recording? As I mentioned, playback seems okay at this point. I checked the serial number and it was not recognized by your website.
It looks like your deck needs a full resto.
Stop using it for now until completed.
Ralf
Understood. Is this something you offer? If so, how much does it cost and would I need to send the entire unit? Thanks!
Hi,
Yes we can help. We offer this service in the Netherlands and USA.
Contact us via [email protected] please.
Ralf