Why does my sony reel to reel tape deck make no sound when playing a tape?

Logically, if the full tape reel and the empty reel are identical the second must fill at the same rate the other empties and all the tape from the first will fit on the second.

What does happen, however, is at the start the second reel seems to fill much quicker than the first reel is emptying, which is understandable when for any given tape length the second reel will revolve between at least twice as fast as the first reel and probably even faster.

A tape reel that appears to be half full will have much less than half the available tape capacity filled.

You do need an amp of some kind. On the back of the deck will be RCA sockets, in the red and white ones you plug a line cable to the audio in sockets of an amp or receiver. The other two sockets are record. They go to the audio out of the amp.

You need new brake pads installed as the ones in there now are dried up and may have fallen off. This is very common with older decks or 30-40 years old.
I am still working on these decks at Skywave Tape Deck Repair in the Chicago area.

Problem could be in either the record or playback circuits of unit. Try playing back a tape in another machine to see what the volume is like. If also low then the issue is with the record amp circuits.
Fixing will not be cost effective, however.

Well, not being there to try some diagnostics, there can be a number of reason that the tape plays backwards at times. One reason is that the tapes are 4 channel discrete tape requiring a 4 track 4 channel deck- this would mean track 2,4 are recorded in the forward direction. A Stereo (2 channel 4 track deck) play tracks 2,4 in the opposite direction. That is why you turn the tape over on some decks. Other possibilities could be tape path skew, that reverse relay is NOT changing the head that "listens: to the tape and that is just the start of what it could be. When a new person starts to use a deck of such age- it can be correct to assume that the deck is not working in some respect. A Tape deck Technician such as myself would know how to determine if the deck was working correct or not and know and have parts to correct it. I worked in the Factory Service in Chicago for Teac and actually have one coming into my shop in the near future. After 40 years of working on these I am still at it. I am sorry there may not be an easy answer to this.

Most tape decks have sensors monitoring the reels to make sure they're moving. Otherwise a jam is indicated. Belts usually drive the reels and they get old, stretch and/or break.

Look inside it to verify.

Using a search engine go looking for the belts for your model and maybe even find videos showing how to replace them.

That is what WE do.

FF and Rewind are functions of the reels, not the capstans. If the reels fail to rotate in response to capstan-driven tape motion the unit will assume a broken tape or end of tape. I think you have a mechanical reel drive system failure. Take it to a shop for evaluation and correction.

I also have an MR-929. The information that you need is in the 'Stereophonic 4 track stereo''. As stereo is only two tracks, there is another 2 tracks in addition to the one you are listening to. Wind the entire reel to the empty spool, and then play that. As you have to physically turn the reel over to do so, you should then hear the other tracks (or track, if recorded in mono).
I use my 929 to play my parents recording of my family from the late 60s, which were recorded on a valve (tube) Ferguson machine, which had a green "magic eye" level indicator, which as a child I found fascinating!

Howie

Hi m522posner

There is a surprising interest in "vintage" hifi products these days. Your tape machines probably needs new belts. Check this site out. You can get spares for your tape machine here. Belt kits are $17. He does repairs also, but the transport to and from may be an issue for you. I suggest emailing Bob, he may be able to refer you to someone in CA > I could do the repairs,but I am in Australia. :)

Vintage Electronics
P.O. Box 941
1241 Conestoga Creek Rd
Florissant, Co 80816

Email: [email protected]

You could have a go at freshening up the belts yourself:)

regards
robotek