- Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:53 pm
#103022
@nathan there’s loads of great Yamaha decks for sure, but like all decks of any brand in 2018 it’s often pot luck wether the belts and circuit boards are good, even Nak decks need a little TLC. For example, today I got into a Bang and Olufsen Beocord 2000 and the belts were like cheesy toothpaste and it took an hour to clean it off my hands, clothes, table, everything! And that’s a high end deck.
I would say there’s a checklist. 1) does it play, 2) is the metal head clean, no white crud, scratches, 3) do the cogs and rubber tyres turn when you try and prevent them turning, 4) which Dolby does it show - Dolby C is most recent, B is very good, S is early and NR probably earliest, and by ear can you hear a good change in hiss (test it with a tape). If so, it’s probably an ok purchase.
Don’t forget belts are dirt cheap for popular models. Do an eBay search for your model and if there’s spares it means there’s healthy infrastructure available.