Cheap but good Radio Shack SCP-31 cassette player repair
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- čas přidán 9. 03. 2022
- Repairing a very cheap and simple but good-quality Realistic/Optimus SCP-31 cassette player. A broken cassette deck isn't always the fault of the belts or motor!
#cassetteculture #radioshack #repair - Věda a technologie
I'm blown away with the actual quality sound of such a relatively cheap unit. Better than any current day tape mechanism sold on Amazon currently. Makes me smile with how you brought this thing back to life.
This wouldn't impress much in 1989, except value for money. Tells you just how bad modern decks became.
@@F40PH-2CAT Especially since today's decks are basically the same design, so it's not like they have any new problems to deal with. They're just cheaping out to a (literal) fault.
for sure
Compared to MP3 the sound may seem OK. When compared to an LP the tapes sounded noisy and lacked high range even with the latest version of Dolby noise reduction and "metal" tapes. I mainly made tapes for car use. My last deck was a Pioneer CT-6R.
I have a SCP-31. Original owner. And it still works! I worked for Radio Shack in the 1990s, and purchased one because of limited space in my apartment. It's not definitely not a Rolls-Royce among tape decks - more like a Volkswagen - but it definitely did the job it was designed to do. Music played on it was clear and an easy listen. It may not be the best, but for the price a SCP-31 can't be beat.
It's sounds amazing for a budget cassete player and they look great.
Yes, and those were some interesting tapes he played.
When I worked at radio shack, these had a reputation of being very reliable despite the outward quality appearance.
Had a customer who bought a number of them tell his success with them, but were the auto reverse higher up version that had Dolby? Been so long I could be wrong, but I remember us laughing about having Dolby for telephone on-hold, but only way to get auto-reverse in that model.
Told me they actually were the longest lasting tape decks they could find for their on-hold music systems.
Long chatter, but old memory that came back.
EDIT: Wow, my memory worked...0:42 the $99 fancy one. Sold like hotcakes.
I hate to be a "dick" lol, but if you watched his video he went through the radio shack catalog pointing out the 3 deck line up. Yes a Dolby and auto reverse model was available.
@@glennjones6574 lol. YUP! I had to edit my comment. :)
That was several seconds of fine music, glad we paused for it. Seriously, it does sound like a good unit! Excellent repair.
I find it oddly amusing that the model name starts with *SCP* .
Jokes aside, I love its petite size.
SCP = Stereo Cassette Player
SCP-31 czcams.com/video/I5vQacP-fDo/video.html
Ikr? This almost feels like a video from TheVolgun when the model names are all said lmao
I'll be honest, if there's a joke about "SCP" I don't get it. 🙂
I have no problem with having an easily understood model number prefix, it makes it easy to tell if you have a Stereo Cassette Recorder or Stereo Cassette Player, or even a basic Cassette Tape Recorder. As someone who also repaired electronics back when these models were new, I appreciate the quality and value (bang for the buck) that Radio Shack provided. I miss it.
@@bobblum5973 SCP is a user-submitted Lovecraftian short story website. The website is designed to look like the user is logging onto a secret government agency's website with the format of each story being written like entries in a catalog of monsters and mysterious items or locations. Each story is titled like "SCP-42", so the name of this cassette player is quite funny, as if it has some hidden horror to it. If you were wondering, the SCP in this case stands for "Secure, Contain, Protect".
It's quite good! If you like Lovecraftian horror, SCP is good reading.
I have two of these, in working condition. Discarded by our church when we went to CD recording some 15 years ago. (We've since obsoleted the CD burner, too, outputting from the mixer board to a SSD.) I keep these two decks for the occasional dubbing request; some of my fellow geezers have family cassettes they have not heard in years. The Shack also made a tiny AM-FM stereo receiver, about the size of a clock radio. Got one of those, too, and it also works like a champ.
Love the Optimus stuff. I still use my Optimus system from 1991. I remember buying it and having to unbox some of it so it would all fit in my Chevy Cavalier. The speakers are huge.
same here. I have an optimus 10 band eq from the 90's too and it still works great in fact all of my stereo equipment is almost 30 years old and all of it still works great
But does it transform and roll out?
You had me at "1991" and "Cavalier."
I owned a '94 Cavvie 2-door once, that car was VERY good to me. Bought it from 2nd owner (1st owner was actually that stereotypical Little Old Lady) at 77k for $400, and I got t-boned by a Corolla at 236k, still on the original clutch when it went to the junkyard. (After the Corolla hit me, he got rear-ended by a Jetta... The only car not requiring a wrecker was my Cavalier!) Only left me stranded ONCE, when the fuel pump failed. I'd get another one in a heartbeat if I could find one.
I told a friend of mine once that I was going to grab an office chair for free on the side of the road, and he said, "you won't get that to fit in this car." Five minutes later, he had to move the passenger seat up two clicks, and the office chair was upside-down in the backseat. (My butt is currently planted in that same office chair sixteen or seventeen years later!)
And Brett - are you talking about the Optimus 10-band EQ with separate EQ for each channel, the "IMX Expander," and the tiny-dot LED spectrum analyzer? I had one of those too, I loved it. Unfortunately I fell on hard times and lost the contents of my storage unit years ago, that EQ was in storage at the time. 😢
I enjoyed this. It was interesting when you pointed out the lack of a power switch, I hadn't noticed that. That got me to thinking how receivers used to have power outlets on the rear. I had a Yamaha CR-620 for many years, I believe it had a switched and an unswitched outlet on the back. So, you could have plugged this into the switched outlet and it would have turned on and off with the receiver. Those seem to have disappeared over the years.
Everything uses cheap annoying wall warts now
Believe it or not there's a switched outlet on the back of my AudioSource AMP 100. I don't use it, since the (rather large) toroidal transformer already whines and it's gotta be pushing some of that back into the mains power. I put that amp on the other side of an isolation transformer even though it doesn't make the whine any less audible.
This is some off the shelf black box from Parts Express ten years ago, too. Hardly anything in it other than the transformer and the heatsink for the transistors.
@The Vinyl Disguise I don't think it's really targeted at any particular device right now, but you can use that output to switch a much bigger relay and turn your entire rack of gear on if you wanted.
Still, quality is better than most that is being released today. Wow and flutter especially.
I picked up the Realistic version at an estate sale last year for a cheap price. Mines needed belt and a disc capacitor resoldered in the inside the metal shield. Working great ever since. It’s was made April 1990.
"We will now pause for several seconds of fine music."
I bought the playback only and the record deck on Ebay to go with my matching Optimus am/fm mini Amp which they were designed to compliment. Due to the age, I was hesitant, but was so pleasantly surprised. They were used in a garage work space (as it was described). Upon inspection,they were barely used, almost brand new. Both in excellent working condition. Okay they don't sonically reproduce like my larger system, but, for the den/guest room, the system produces beyond satisfactory sound. They, and the mini Optimus amp, connected to my large 70s vintage floor standing 3way speakers please these discerning ears.
My biggest gripe with these was how light they were. It was hard to use the transport controls without the player scooting all around the shelf. Thats why it was duct-taped down. The alternative was to hold the thing down with one hand and push the buttons with the other (or you could do the spanned thumb-index finger thing).
By the way, the companion SA-10, SA150, and SA155 'mini' amps that these were often 'bundled' with also had the always-on PSUs, with the power switches wired into the secondary side. I don't like that 'feature'. It's why I have all my electronics connected to power via a power strip.
This came from a good period in Radio Shack history, before the default answer to any question about a product was "Would you like a cell phone with that?"
And thanks for showing the insides in the video, I've got the SCP-25 from just a few years earlier and always wondered if Radio Shack changed the internal mechanism as they transitioned from silver to the "black plastic" look...
i miss this radioshack/tandy folders. i read them so much they still graved in my brain.
And this is why I am happy my sherwood s-7100a has a switched outlet, the turntable is powered off when the receiver off! Glad you were able to save that deck from landfill.
Having nothing to do on a rainy day but to look up old stuff and almost sorry I did.... So many positive comments !!! Son was starting out as a magician many years ago and needed some stuff. A cassette player , power amp & speakers. Thankfully the Shack was local. Performing shows every weekend ( @7 ) in October....Thankfully , kept my receipt , after the 3rd replaced cassette player - one replaced between shows and needing a 2nd power amp....Bye-bye Radio Shack......30 yrs later , still a magician !!!!!!!
These transformers often have a thermal fuse that is taped to the secondary which opens if the windings get too hot, or just from age. I have repaired a few transformers by replacing or bypassing this. I am glad the repair worked well. What I would personally do, remove the transformer from the adapter and solder it to the original place to keep it cleaner. Love your channel, keep it up
I remember seeing these used in my elementary school. They were added to the stereo in the music room, office and gym where there was previous only record players.
It's cute as heck. I love the compact design it doesn't look super dated!
Totally agree on the nakamichi!
Unless you're archiving super rare cassette only releases then there's no reason for the average person to use a nakamichi and this would make a fine budget tape deck.
This thing is awesome! Nice repair. I appreciate you leaving your incorrect guess in too, you could have easily edited it out to make it seem like you got it right the first time but repairs are all about making mistakes and fixing them.
For anyone wondering why that happened, the 12V AC is RMS (Root Mean Squared). The smoothing capacitors will charge to the peak voltage which you get by multiplying by the square root of 2 i.e. 1.41. So once it is rectified and filtered 12V AC becomes almost 17v DC. The transformer manufacturer will also allow for the voltage dropping on load so the off load voltages were even higher,
I miss old catalogs like the ones you showed here. They were great bathroom reading material back in they day. Radio Shack, Crutchfield, etc. Seriously!
I think I have an identical unit in my basement and it still works great! My mom and dad were the original owners.
This brought me some much needed joy today. Glad to see forgotten things like this get some new life. My grandma had one like this many years ago.
At least it's not a knock-off of the Tanashin mechanism, and does have a genuine Mabuchi motor. That's already more than what you will find in most "modern" cassette players - which will also cost much more. All in all, I'd say that was a nice thrift store finding.
yeah that thing was duct taped in a janitor closet for a BGM in a store. so that thing burned out long ago.
haha I love the cue cat bar code at 1:50 in the catalog. That sure didn't last long, but it was a good source of cheap bar code readers you could modify with a simple operation to turn it into a regular barcode scanner.
I miss Radio Shack. I mean the classic one that had good, basic versions of every day electronics, not the phone store.
Top tip on the turntable keeping it unplugged!
I had this exact model back in the 80s when I was a road musician. I loved it. Small and compact with a great sound.
I had one of these from new. I bypassed the transformer and ran it off a pp9 battery. Added a Sinclair mini amp and small speakers and made my own boombox before they were ever a thing
I bought my SCT 86 in the mid-90s and it's still in regular use.
I repaired those when they were almost new since my shop worked on radio shack gear across from their store !
I still have on of these. I bought it a long time ago to digitize cassettes. (for a good while it sat on top of my PC's tower). Not a "feature packed" deck, but yeah, decent quality (especially compared to whatever crap is being spit out now!).
Talk about nostalgic !!! Wow ! How I miss the good old days of analog!! Thank you.
I even remember going to RadioShack like it was the other day
Excellent repair. Blown away by the sound quality of that cheap deck.
Yes, when ac is rectified into dc the voltage goes up a little bit. Also, unless it's regulated the output will vary with the mains voltage. I didn't see a fuse either.
The voltage goes up by a factor of sqrt(2) = 1.414…
@@MacPhantom Minus the drop of the bridge rectifier, i.e. always 2 diodes in series - around 1.6 volts for two silicon diodes.
I noticed with a lot of older power bricks that I had I was surprised at a younger age that they may have been listed as 12V DC but they usually read more like 20V after that I became very paranoid about using them with some devices.
I was reminded of this a few days ago when I pulled out a 9V DC power adapter that was outputting 16V DC. I don't know if I want to use that with my portable cassette deck it's not like I want to I have to replace something in a $500 Sony recorder.
@@imark7777777 It's simple. When you have an unregulated (non-stabilized) power supply, either AC or DC that is rated e.g. 12V/500mA, it means that - given the exact primary voltage - there's exactly 12 volts on the output when there's a current draw of exactly half an amp. On no or lower load, the output voltage will be higher; conversely, on higher loads, the voltage is brought down and the transformer saturates.
And, of course, if the rating is in ac, it means 12 volts root mean square of the sine wave. When rectified (and filtered), the output voltage is the very amplitude of the sine, minus the drop of the rectifier.
@@JozefBogin that is amazingly the most simple explanation I've ever heard on the subject I finally get it. thanks!
So then I think the original adapter would've been 9V 0.6A-1.5A and the adapter I dug out of my collection was for a KOSS 9V 1.2A testing 13.10V open circuit. Would I then be safe combining those two?
Unfortunately only voltage and negative polarity are the things marked on the device so I'm going by eBay photos. I have yet to stick an amp meter on it as it was a few orders of magnitude larger than I was expecting.
Love how you went and essentially went the way of McGeiver to replace the motor. Nice work as always
Transformer, not motor.
Great advice about using a power strip with a power switch, no need to have the transformer permanently powered on, great video! Awesome little tape player, keep up the great videos coming 👍
Wow what a flashback. Worked at Radio Shack during the mid - late 1980's. Remember these decks.
great example of why sometimes thrifting is worth it. sometimes you pick up lemons that are too rotten but there are also times when you pick something up for a couple bucks and with some elbow grease it works like a charm. sounds nice for a deck that cheap.
I collect tape machines and Tandy Radio Shack created a lot of value for the consumer at all budget levels.
I liked the way they put together systems with all the components already matched to work together for different budgets. Remember the "Good, Better, Best"?
I use a Realistic SA-10 solid state amplifier as my bench test amplifier. Power supply same design, it draws 1.1 watt in the power off position, and 1.7 watt at power on position at idle. Unplugged or hooked up to a power strip for sure. 900 mW per channel with no balance control, separate right and left volume pots, which I prefer on the bench. Think it was $4.99 at the Goodwill.
I have one of those as well, a good, basic small amp. I got it from my brother, who somehow lost some of the knobs, which I replaced with a different set that at least all match. I also have it's big brother, the SA-150.
@@bobblum5973 I was just looking at mine and noticed there is still a sticker on the right hand side that says "Simulated Walnut Grain Finish".
Really? Isn't it obvious? Does someone really need this information? Probably someone's job putting these stickers on as it is going down the production line.
@@zulumax1 I think they started doing that as part of a "truth in labeling" law. Like having to say "Walnut Veneer" so people would know it was a thin piece of real wood, but not solid wood for the entire cabinet. Or listing the ingredients in order: "Soup; Chicken; Flavored".
I have this exact cassette deck and love it. It sounds great and has been my player since 1996 when my parents gave it to me.
The good old 80s pretty good tape deck 😎👍
I just picked up a similar unit for $4 at an estate sale!
I still have my early 2000 boombox with radio and CD and I enjoy it every time I can. Yesterday I visited a nearby recycling center and found a bag with 30 used audio tapes and 4 brand new sealed TDK. Also I found a old Sanyo from '79 I think, mono tape recorder with FM/AM/SW radio, a beauty. I still have to figure what is its fault because it powers up but no audio comes aside humming. It seems is made entirely with transistors, no ICs.
I found a bunch of these in a closet at work along with the teeny-tiny integrated amplifiers that match them. I’m keeping an eye on them so if they won’t get thrown out when the room gets cleaned out!
That's actually a really nice form. I could totally have one on my desk connected to my computer speakers for my office.
I've got one of these that's in need of some service actually. Maybe I'll dig into it soon.
This shows that there are different shades of BPC, and this one is perfectly usable, especially considering the price. Its S/N ratio is good enough for radio recordings, and its wow & flutter is surprisingly decent, although I wonder why you haven't disclosed the numbers you've measured. As a playback machine it is no worse than the $500 TEAC W-1200, which has a similar mechanism and does not have Dolby NR just like this one.
BPC often isn't even all that "C".
I don't think the case material and color is the best indicator for quality.
I tested it and it measures around 0.08% to 0.11% WRMS -- better than the factory spec of 0.15%.
@@vwestlife The factory spec says "wow & flutter: 0.15%" without specifying whether it is DIN or JIS or NAB, so it is unclear to me which standard did they have in mind. In any case, 0.1% WRMS is a very decent number for a cheap machine. You don't need an expensive complicated mechanism to achieve good enough performance. Thank you for the video!
@@ConsumerDV The manual for the SCT-510 lists its wow & flutter as 0.15% WRMS, so the SCP-31's rating is most likely WRMS as well.
considering the specs it indeed sounds pretty nice
This kind of transformer on the deck is fixable (they usually have a built in fuse/thermal fuse, only 110v transformers that have this fuse have 2 long pins that are soldered on the board and one short pin and all you have to do is measure to find what pins are soldered to the coils (generally one short pin and one long) i say that because i fixed a japanese boombox with the same problem and i added a external fuse to avoid burning the transformer
Came to leave the same comment. It was the thermal fuse for sure, they tend to fail by age, even if the transformer is perfectly fine...
@@janosnagyj.9540 Yes
Yes have repaired many of those transformers by simply replacing the thermal fuse or bypassing it and place a small in-line fuse inside for protection.
@@111000100101001 and works perfectly
@vinil, o melhor presente ! These decks would be happy in Japan with their 100V; it would last a little longer there!
There's always something fascinating about repairing old tech from the 70s 80s that you cant do with modern tech so easily
I remember that one, I thought about buying that when I was a teenager but ended up saving enough money, $120.00 I believe, for the Optimus dual cassette deck in 1990
I've got a Realistic branded SCP-32! I picked it up late last year and used it for my tapes before I swapped it out with a hi-fi mini system. Mine was an eBay buy so it was in great condition mechanically and cosmetically. I've got tight spaces to work with right now, so it was perfect.
Good ole Optimus and Realistic.
I like how the name makes every SCP fans excited.
I mean, what a coincidence. LMAO
Another excellent video. So glad to see an old cassette deck brought back to life to enjoy for many more years to come. Love the channel. Can't wait to see another video.
We had one at a radio station I worked at through the 90s. It was the record version and had the mechanical counter. It was used mainly to record HS games.
I still have this deck. I got it for mixing down 4 track demos to stereo cassette 30 years ago.
I had 2 of these when I was a mobile DJ. Very mistreated but kept on working!
Bought one of those for the family back in the day. Not sure what they would have done with it by now.
I'm sure the owner taped this one down because you couldn't use it like a normal deck because it was too light. It either took two hands, or you'd have to hold down the top while reaching for the buttons on the bottom with the other hand. If you didn't do that, it would just slide around as you tried to push the buttons, lol.
I had an earlier version of this (Realistic branded).. Hooked up to their old stereo mixer.. Cheapy but workable dj setup
I have that exact player currently. Works great. I use it to digitize transfer old tapes.
This is a cute cassette deck. Fantastic fix and amazing sound!
Really amazing little playback deck. Big window to see the spools spinning and sound wise i've heard way worse cheap Cassette decks for sure. The 10khz limit sadly can be heard (doesn't seem to have a lot of breathing space at the top) but for THAT it still sounds pretty darn good. If these decks would be produced again for around the same price, i'm pretty sure it would sell pretty well, among cassette music collectors. It's way better than these newer portable stereos. That's for sure.
Keep in mind that the reel-to-reel style cassette I used has been played over 1000 times -- I did a video about that a few months ago. So it's not going to sound as good as a tape that hasn't been so heavily used.
@@vwestlife Oh yeah true, i remember this LAZER cassette from that video. Fair enough then :)
@@vwestlife it’d be cool if you’d upload some audio playback from a “fresher” cassette :-)
I blame you and techmoan for the fact that I went out and ordered a good quality tape deck recently and for the first time ever started buying tapes. This should have never have happened
RadioShack have gotten me out of so many jams in my DJ days it's not even funny. I still have soldering irons and other tools to this day and I still say that they had some of the best lower costing universal remote controls on the planet. 👍
It definitely sounds better than I was expecting.
I literally bought this on eBay a year and a half ago specifically because of my small apartment. I wanted a full size deck, but knew all too well that would never work out for me.
Yup, my turntable is that way - no turn off button, always supplying power. So I had it plugged in my amp power in. When I upgraded my amp, I decided to plug it in a switch outlet along with my VCR, because I don't use them very often.
When I worked at Nottingham Radio in the 80's & 90's, the owner did a part time job as assistant projectionist at a Cinema. The 'non sync' music, i.e. the music they played before the show & after was done using one of these cassette decks. I have a couple too use them at the test bench as a useful signal source when testing amplifiers.
Richard, G0OJF, UK
What a nice little cassette deck! Luckily the repair wasn't too bad - sounds great too.
Thanks for the video which brought back good memories.
I remember these units on sale in the Tandy shops here in the UK.
Great fix, Kevin. I wouldn't have mind to see you clean it too 😁👍🏻
Pretty damn good little player. Glad you resurrected it.
10.20 In
X-Dreams - For Always 1984
Love It
🙂
I have one of those. It is good. Still, I never expected to see another one on YT in 2022!
impressed by the sound of that player and cassettes
Ah brings back memories! I used to own one of these back in the day.
I always enjoy your videos - thank you!
Will always have a soft spot for Realistic Tape Decks as my dad had a Realistic SCT-35 when i was little which was bought from Tandys in the UK
Thank you for reviewing this. I use mine on occasion to transfer cassette based music to digital. It works nicely.
Love these! I have two from ebay both for cheap. So easy to use and set up
Bought one new in '89. Not used much but still works.
Just good stuff comes out of your channel! Another fine video presentation!
Great repair. A job well done sir ! 😎👍
Sounds nearly as good as my Nakamichi...well, maybe not nearly.
Super fun rejuvenation.
I remember seeing these at clubs, carnivals, and churches during the 90s. For a cheap deck, these are very reliable. I wonder if the play only 8-track decks sparked the idea for these.
About 5 years ago I was at a local retro repair shop to get a some belts they had and as a question about something else I thought they might repair. In that process they said they had a Radio Shack tape deck that was not worth their time to replace the belts due to the cost, so I was given the tape deck. It is much like yours here but it also has the record function as well. New belts and it was just fine....
That's a nice cheap fix. I usually see these in thrift stores as well. Maybe it's worth while grabbing one.
when my oldest sister got her first job in the entertainment industry , she landed a job with a jerk of a boss who recorded sounds and sound fx for plays and movies . one thing she learned from this guy was how to clean a cassette deck properly .neat outfit.
I had the UK version of this tape deck (from Tandy) around 1990 - 95 when I used to host pub quizzes and did some occasional deejaying. (also had the Realistic battery operated Stereo Disco Mixer) It was useful if I had certain tracks on tape instead of vinyl as not being a full blown professional DJ then was sometimes cheaper to get tapes. It made finding a track on a tape interesting when trying to ffwd/rwd to find it while a record was playing so had approx 3 minutes before I would have to play. No-one seemed to notice the difference though. I was a bit upset when it eventually died on me. Well, the play button popped off and the soft(ish) eject nature of the door made it a bit slow for quickly changing tapes so I guess I was slightly too rough with it as it broke too but I think the final straw was when motor started to die too. Great wee device... 🙂
Tandy items where all made by sharp, Philips and various manufacturers so you always got a good sound etc 😀
0:43. I'm more surprised that 8 track players were still being sold in 1989 considering that the last new album on 8 track was in 1988 and the last factory 8 track deck in cars was in 1982. And for the same price as the Realistic cassette deck!
Ha ha that’s awesome! It’s like half a cassette deck!
What an unlikely failure, and a great workaround fix. One could even wire up a 12V DC power supply in the same location (again with no need to worry about polarity) if they didn't have a proper AC power supply - there would simply be a ~1.2V voltage drop from the diode pair in the rectifier.
After having done the exact same hack Kevin did, except on a boombox, I don't think I would repeat it again. I'd rather install a barrel jack so there's less to get tangled and so I can use any of the gazillion 12vdc adapters I have on hand.
I used to make 10% commission on sales working at Tandy Australia. Great times in the late 1980's