Help for Marantz CD-330 Cassette Recorder

[phonon]

I picked up an old Marantz/Superscope CD-330 portable cassette deck at a yard sale for ~$1, in "not working" condition. On opening it up, it seems that the only problem is that the two main rubber drive belts had somehow become tangled together and twisted by the motor. The original belts are hopelessly stretched and mangled.

Where is a good place to get suitable replacement belts? Also, I am not quite sure where the original belts went, since the damaged belts were so stretched that they could fit around all the flywheels at once with slack to spare. It would be nice if someone knew about this cassette deck or had a service manual for it.

Thank you.
-Michael Mendenhall

[Triophile]

You should be able to get a service manual from Superscope themselves - I did for my CD-330 a few years ago, and it was free, including delivery to the UK, which goes down in my book as the best service I've ever had from any company, electronics or not. The quality of the photocopy isn't great, though, otherwise I'd offer to scan it in. Have a poke around on the web for the company, which I think may still be doing pro gear.

Cheers, Jon.

[moamps]

Originally posted by phonon
I am not quite sure where the original belts went, since the damaged belts were so stretched that they could fit around all the flywheels at once with slack to spare. It would be nice if someone knew about this cassette deck or had a service manual for it.

Hi,

I have SM. Please, send me an E-mail if you need more info's.

Regards,
Milan

[DragonMaster]

Triophile,
Superscope doesn't seem to still support these models. They build portable CD burners now.

moamps,
Should I ask Superscope before I ask you for the SM?

The problems I have/had:

-The counter doesn't turn ; the belts are loose.
-The recording level pot have broken PCBs. I'm working on this problem: About every pot PCBs are the same so I'll buy two pots and use the PCBs.
-The right VU wasn't moving well, I re-adjusted the screws.
-There are a couple of bits falling out each time I open it. (A metal U shaped object, a white 1/4" long white plastic philips "screw"(Seems to come from an adjustable cap or resistor.

[Triophile]

I wouldn't bother repairing this deck, to be honest. I had one which I thought sounded bad because it was clearly in need of some repair, but a second 330 I bought recently, this one in good condition, sounded just as bad. I'm afraid I have to say that, while the transport's pretty good, the deck as a whole sounds surprisingly bad, which I suspect is due to either inferior heads (only very light wear on my second example, and they were freshly cleaned and demagnetised) or poor electronics.

Cheers, Jon.

[DragonMaster]

I had one which I thought sounded bad because it was clearly in need of some repair, but a second 330 I bought recently, this one in good condition, sounded just as bad.

All of these decks have some problems and break often. Maybe it's even the case of the second one.

My CD-330 is only able to give a good line out.(A lot better than my other tape deck) For a couple of time, the monitor speaker, the recording and the speaker outputs sound bad. I don't know if it's because it's falling in pieces, the design is poor or if Marantz got some fake Toshiba semiconductors.(They use mostly Toshiba parts)

I don't think the head is the problem. Permalloy ones are supposed to be good.

[DragonMaster]

I read somewhere that most faults were caused by high ESR caps. Might be worth changing them to see if it solves problems.

[Triophile]

As far as I'm aware, permalloy heads are normal quality. The better quality heads are amorphous, or a number of other types used by different manufacturers.

[DragonMaster]

Do you know what? I think my Toshiba deck uses crappier heads than that.

[DragonMaster]

Superscope still gives the SM free of charge. I've ordered one, just to see if I can do something with it.