Teac A73000 Volume Issue

[rockwell]

Hi,

New to this board and new to reel to reel.

I just purchased a Teac A7300. It works fine except the signal on the left channel is very faint. If I boost the volume it's starts distorting but stays faint. Anyone have any ideas? I'd be most grateful.

[Skywavebe]

Hello Rockwell;
Clean heads, Check for open gap evidence. It is possible that the bias is too low or that there are some dirty switches that are causing the problem. If there are head wear marks, the tape may on the left channel be riding up on the edge. Electronics wise, I think this model had black card edge connectors in it. I have one or two here but my bench is packed at this point.
The card could be out of the connector or the connector can also be cracked cutting down on connection. You could also be experiencing the bad electrolytic capacitor issue due to it's age. Try exchanging cards if there are separate left and right. If the problem follows the card then there is a problem on the card.
I can be of further assistance if you contact me directly. I am in the Midwest.
It is wise with all these old decks to just recap them anyway to insure relaibility.

Good luck.

[rockwell]

I'll look into that. I don't think it has anything to do with the tape -- I have the problem just monitoring the incoming signal, before tape rolls.

[toddbailey]

This may sound like a dump response, but did you check the source of the signal and the wiring connecting it?

low cost cables for example are notorious for failing. However unlikely, worth while to validate the signal path before anything else.