DATE: 23 Apr 2008, 12:37 pm / MOOD: Happy

By Mr. Pravin Nair

Methods of Maintaining your  music system which includes the tape section, cd/dvd/mp3/sections.

I am presenting you with  some very simple  methods  of maintaining each section of your cassette deck.The latest music systems in the market come with a dual cassette compartment. Playback is possible in both the  compartments. These cassette compartments can also be called as cassette decks. The casette sections are marked as deck A and deck B . Among the two sections, section b is used for recording and high speed dubbing. Section A, is mostly used for playback. But it is advisable to use both the sections for playback. In Section A, you will observe that there are a few components which need equal attention, they are the following  :- The basic head, the capstan, the pinch  roller. The basic head is familiar to all of you. Close to the head, you will see a shinning silverish needle like structure/shaft called as the Capstan, near the capstan, you will see a wheel with a small tyre - this is called the pinch roller. During playback, the magnetic tape  ck passes touching the head, (from the head it gets transported to the capstan and then the pinch roller. All three components play an important role in delivering superior quality bassed sound . Let me take a simple example :- "I inserted my favourite music cassette in deck A,  during playback of this cassette, I found that the sound lacked clarity, but yet the song could be heard. I immediately stopped it, removed the cassette and checked out the head, I found that there was huge amount of carbon deposit ( brownish in colour ), I immediately cleaned the head with an appropriate,  good quality head cleaner. I used a small piece of newspaper for this purpose. ( Please note that whenever you clean the head, never use cotton or a soft piece of cloth. A news paper is an excellent medium to use because it has mild friction which will leave the head sparkling clean. Inorder to clean the head, never use alcohol as it contains water , never use perfume as perfume also contains water. Water is the main enemy of a tape head). Once I got the head cleaned, I waited for 10 minutes so that the head is completely dry. I re-inserted my cassette and played it, now I found that that the sound was very clear BUT the sound was lacking bass and the sound had maximum treble, which has never happened before. Again I removed the cassette and checked out the Capstan and the Pinch roller and found that both these internal componentes were dusty with a thin layer of carbon. I cleaned the capstan and the pinch roller using my tape head cleaner using a small piece of newspaper. I could see the dust and carbon clearely on the paper. I again waited for ten minutes and played the same cassette, I was happy to hear the sound  very clearly, very crisp bass and even the small frequencies of sound was getting amplified perfectly. So, my friends, please follow this simple procedure to clean the capstan and the pinch roller  after cleaning the head.

NOW, I WILL BE EXPLAINING AN IMPORTANT , A VERY IMPORTANT PRECAUTION TO BE TAKEN.
Please try to understand that the two cassette  decks (A+B) runs on a single motor.  95 % users make a very common mistake which could be dangerous to the motor . Let me explain with an example, a person inserts a cassette in deck A and simultaneuosly , he inserts a cassette in deck B for rewinding. The secenario now is that a song is being played in deck A, and a cassette is being rewinded simultaneously in deck B. This is extremely dangerous for the music system and will result in failure of your music system. As I said earlier,
both, deck A and deck B run on a single motor. One important point to be kept in mind is that the motor of your music system can perform only one function  at a time, it may be  playback, rewind or forward. Only one task is performed at a time . It cannot perform multitasking. So keeping this in mind, please abstain from this activity.

WHEN YOUR TAPE SECTION IS NOT IN USE,  NEVER PLACE A CASSETTE  IN EITHER DECK A OR DECK B, AS IF IT IS DONE, THE SYSTEM HEAD WILL GET MAGNETISED AND ITS HARMFUL FOR THE HEAD.

Make it a point to clean the clean the head, capstan and pinch roller atleast thrice a week, to make it long lasting. The volume knob in is usually very big in any music system. Your music system gets old as time passes, after 4-5 years of continous usage, you will begin to experience an imbalace arising from the speakers along with radio wave type sound while increasing or decreasing the volume incase you do it with the volume knob . Since your music system is 4-5 years old, carbon developes on the shaft of the volume knob. A shaft is a pointed object on which the volume knob is mounted. The volume knob can be pulled out safely if you would like to see the shaft. The volume knob is not permanently attached to the shaft. It can be easily pulled out and it also can be input with ease. In case you experience a radio wave type sound and speaker imbalance while using the volume knob , switch off the music system, turn the volume knob clockwise and anticlockwise with vigour around 5-6 times. This operation will spread the carbon which was remaining concentrated on one side. When you turn the volume knob in the manner mentioned above , the carbon will be evenly spread and this will eradicate the speaker imbalace which you encountered .

The CD/MP3/MP4/DIVX/DVD/CD ROM/DVD ROM section
Technology in sound is advancing day by day. If you purchased a VCD music system in the year 2000, you will feel left behind today because of the technological advancements. In the year 2000, music systems with MP3 or DVD were not exisiting. In the year 2001, Mp3 became popular and music systems were available which could play an audio cd, VCD and Mp3. When you examine the Mp3, you will find that more than 100 songs can be stored and the sound quality is more or less equivalent to an audio cd. Mp3 costs less than an audio cd. As of today Mp3 disks are very cheap, cheaper than a cassette. As a result, nobody will use the cassette section. A person who has purchased a music system in the year 2000,  has an alternate means to play an Mp3, Mp4, Divx, DVD. You must purchase an MP3, DVD, DIVX player  without an amplifier. This player or add on can be connected to the auxilary section of your music system. Most of  the music system have an auxillary system. This is the best method of getting a very clear and good sound quality from your original amplifier. The lens in a player which performs the same function as a cassette head is the most important component in an add on . Again there is only a single lens which will read your Audio CD, MP3, Mp4, DVD, DIVX. THE PRECAUTION TO BE TAKEN WHEN YOUR PLAYER IS SWITCHED OFF  IS THAT ALWAYS KEEP ONE CD, IT  CAN BE AN acd, mp3 or dvd inserted in the cd tray . This is done inorder to protect the lens from dust collection. Always clean the lens of your cd player or musicsystem with the special disk cleaning kit available in the market. Never use any liquid that may come along with the cd lens cleaner kit. Make it a point to clean the lens of your player atleast thrice a week for long life.

PHASING THE SPEAKERS OF YOUR MUSIC SYSTEM IN CASE YOU HAVE ONLY ONE PAIR OF SPEAKERS:-
 Speaker Phasing is very important to inorder to listen playback of minute frequencies of music. Both speakers should be placed 5 meters away from the main component (full size music system)left and right  respectively. Both the speakers should be kept within ear level or hearing level. Never ever place your speakers on wall corners which are very high. 90 % music lovers make this mistake . The simple reason is that when a song is being played, both the speakers emit vibrant air from its diaphram, this air which is emmited hits the wall corners and gets back to the speaker diaphram which is harmful to the diaphram of the speakers. The speakers should be kept ventilated. Another disadvantage is that you will loose sound frequencies and there are 100 % chances of speakers emmitting distorted sound. When speakers are kept at wall corners, severe dust collection takes place and it becomes difficult to clean . Due to the above factors which can be severly damaging the speakers, it should be  very strictly kept within ear level where it will receive maximum ventilation. The air emmitted at every punch should hit your chest. Its gives you a great feeling of the powerful sound effects.
Another important factor to be noted is that, incase your music system is located a little far, and you prefer to place your speakers in the opposite direction, you will find that the original speaker connecting cords are not long enough, this a major loop hole. 95 % of music lovers connect  speaker wire purchased from outside  and connect it to the main  original cord, they twist both the wires together and bind it with an insulation tape.  to get that extra length. In this type of an arrangement for both the speakers, it will work fine BUT there is a major drawback which many people are unaware of and that is it can lead to short circuit because the extra wire used to connect the original speaker code may be of inferior quality. Before a short circuit occurs, you will see a flash message "PUSH POWER", this is an indication that a short circuit is about to happen. In this case, you should immediately switch off the system. After 5 minutes, switch on the system, if it works wll and fine else if the same message is flashed. Switch off the system. Check the position of the speaker cord wires connectivity, it may happen that the negative or positive  ends which are connected may be disconnected, immediately reconnect the speaker chords correctly into the system.
The second most common problem is that since you have connected extended speakers to the system, this extended chord has failed to handle a very strong audio signal. In case of a PUSH POWER message, the xtended speaker chords are the main trouble creators. You should immediately disconnect the extended speaker chords , throw it away and use the original code supplied my the Company. The only disadvantage is that, you will have to bring the speakers close to your system. It will always be better to call up the the Company (of your branded system) and ask them to supply you with the original chords. normally in this case, the techinical staff of the company will visit you and do the needful.   

SOME COMMON PROBLEMS ARISING OUT OF YOUR MUSIC SYSTEM AND SOME SIMPLE SOLUTIONS:-

1)While playing a cassette, sound comes only from the left speaker, there is no sound from the right speaker!!

Solution: Check out your speaker connections to ensure that there is no loose contact in the connectivity. If you see a loose connection, immediately reconnect both the speakers (negative ends to negative ends and positive end should go to positive ends of the components. Check out the system now. If the problem persists then check the head of the section(A or B) whereever you played your cassette. Clean the head and your problem of sound imbalance will be resolved.

2)The CD/MP3 is not playing, you have tried your best but still the response is STATUS QUO !!!

Solution: Sometimes due to cold weather or during the rainy season, there is a possibility of CONDENSATION   taking place in the CD LENS,  in this case, switch on the system for approximately 15 minutes. DO NOT PLAY ANY CD. This procedure is followed to warm up the entire system so that the
CONDENSATION formed in the lens get evaporated. During this heating process, keep your system idle, ddo not play anything in the CD/DVD section and the cassette section. After 15 minutes, switch off the unit. wait for sometime and then play your music cd or any other cd , your problem will be resolved.

3)Incase, while playing any CD, the sound lacks the bass effect.

Solution: This is a very common problem. This problem arises because of improper connections of your speakers +ve end of the speaker chord  may have been connected to the -ve end and vice versa. Immediatly  correct the speaker connection.

View Entry | Leave A Comment