Old Sony MHC 1600

[bump219]

This unit is almost 20 years old. It will play for a short time and then nothing. The equalizer bars stop moving and there is no sound, but the unit is still on. I had someone look at it and they said there were no parts available to repair mine.

Is there a possibility that he is wrong?

[Mooly]

Originally Posted by bump219

This unit is almost 20 years old. It will play for a short time and then nothing. The equalizer bars stop moving and there is no sound, but the unit is still on. I had someone look at it and they said there were no parts available to repair mine.

Is there a possibility that he is wrong?

Yes

Much more info is needed... most faults on these type of units are are output stage problems (probably uses an STK derivative monolithic IC) or dry joints/ regulator/discrete regulator causing a rail to disappear.

Did the person tell you what part was not available ?

[bump219]

Thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately, he did not tell me. And to be honest, even if he had I would not have remembered what it was unless I wrote it down. I called around to local repair shops and have dropped it off at a potential definitive repairman.

We'll see what he says and I'll get back to you.

Thanks.

[pacificblue73]

Did you ever hear from the repair person you took it to on a possible repair for the unit? THE SAME EXACT THING STARTED TO HAPPENING TO MY MHC-1600 THIS SUMMER! I bought mine in September of 1991. Thanks!

[pacificblue73]

Originally Posted by bump219

Thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately, he did not tell me. And to be honest, even if he had I would not have remembered what it was unless I wrote it down. I called around to local repair shops and have dropped it off at a potential definitive repairman.

We'll see what he says and I'll get back to you.

Thanks.

Hey - did the repairman ever come up with a solution? Thanks!

[Rodeodave]

Hm, just installed a MHC-1600 in the bedroom, hope it last a while. What about your units?

The cassette player of mine doesn't work properly, it lights up and everything, but doesn't react to button pressing. That I don't mind since I don't indent to use cassettes.
What I plan to implement though is using the interface of the cassette unit to add a timer replay of a (so called) MP3 player. When the timer function powers up the main unit, it must send some sort of signal to the cassette unit to start replay, along with power for the second unit. Using this start signal to trigger the external player should do the trick, for the audio signal the dedicated pins of the interface can be used.

Now the question: Does anyone have a service manual? Not that I absolutely need it, but it'd be nice to have it anyway.

[schmegegy]

Hello: I too, have an MHC-1600. The cassette deck does not work. When I turn it on and press the play buttons, the decks just turn one way and then stop and turn the other way--back and forth, back and forth. This happens on both A and B. As others have mentioned, Sony has no information, no parts, no help. There is a "manual" if you believe that telling you what each part does, is a manual. I'm looking for a parts manual for the inside of the deck, not just the buttons and lights. I have a genius friend who will fix it if we can find the parts. But I can't even find a schematic of the inside, let alone, parts.

Can someone help! I do have cassettes that are no longer in print as records--such as Radio Breakfast. I would love to play it.

Thank you.
Schmegegy

[sirlothos]

Hello, I have a sony MHC-1600 from the 90's and evrything looks great and works ok except for the volume that seems to be really low on the speakers. Almost like the internal amplifyer is not doing it's job. I can hear cd's play but only when I turn the volume all the way up. could this be because I'm not using the original sony speakers?

any help would be greatly appreciate it

[Mooly]

Speaker efficiency won't make that much difference as long as they are the "normal" 8 Ω type and not some weird impedance like 100 Ω with a line matching transformer built in.

Is it just CD that is low or all sources ?
Headphones OK ?
Test with no speakers and a CD recorded at 0db with a sinewave in the range 50 to 400 hz and confirm the max output of the amp. Then reduce level to around 3 volts rms and see if that is maintained when loaded by a speaker.

[sirlothos]

thank you. I've tried with headphones and it's the same issue. I wasn't able to test the radio since the antenna is missing and it doesn't work with a paper clip or other alternate home made antennas. it's a really good question though.