My new (broken) Cassette deck

[RnR]

Hey guys,

was looking to upgrade my crappy cassette deck and stumbled upon a free Nakamichi Cr-1a.  I am using it for mostly playback, some recording every once in a while.  Anyway I was really excited about it but when I got home and hooked it up it was screwed up.  It will light up, but the green backlights on the buttons seem to sporadically go from play to pause to stop and vice versa.  Then when I push play, it makes a quick "click" sound and the little "spinners" that go in the two holes on the tape move very slightly then stop.  Not even enough to make out any sound.  Any ideas what this could be?  I heard this was a pretty decent deck, but is it worth putting  money into?  Thanks

[papabearjew]

Most likely it needs an idler tire and the cam motor has a dead spot. The cam motor can typically be fixed and I'd also be suspicious of the belt

[RnR]

Do you know if the parts would be available and if the shop would be able to do it?  In your opinion, Is it worth the effort or should i look for a working unit? 

[papabearjew]

http://vintagecassette.com/nakamichi/cr_1

You're welcome to come audition mine to see what you think of it. I basically use mine to play suspect tapes. Once proven OK the tape will be played on one of my 3 head decks. All my recording is done on my TASCAM 122mkII or Nakamichi CR-3A. The CR-1A is not a bad deck, it was the entry level deck in the  CR series. It's mechanism operates smoothly and quietly.