I own a fairly old Pioneer CT-S740S tape deck that has seen very, very
little use. About eight years ago, I treated myself to this after getting
five numbers up on the Lottery. It would have been a Nakamichi, but, 'er
indoors, threatened to leave me if, in her words, "I squandered so much
money on some fancy deck", and that an "Amstrad would do the same job, just
as well".

With hindsight, I should have realised this relationship was doomed and gone
ahead with the purchase of a Nakamichi, as we split up not too long after.

Anyway, due to house moves and various other reasons, as I stated earlier,
the deck has had very little use and at one stage it was boxed up for about
four years. However, maybe it's the old eyes or maybe I'm just imagining it,
but the fluorescent display seems to be -well - for the want of a better
word...degrading. It seems to have lost its nice sharpness and brightness,
it looks sort of patchy, positively dull and awful.

Is it likely to be the display and if so, would it be economical repair?
Quite honestly, I really like the deck and as I've had so little use out of
it, wouldn't mind spending a reasonable amount of dosh.

Any thoughts and an idea of the cost to repair it, would be appreciated.

TIA

tox

The Legend wrote:

I own a fairly old Pioneer CT-S740S tape deck that has seen very, very
little use. About eight years ago, I treated myself to this after getting
five numbers up on the Lottery. It would have been a Nakamichi, but, 'er
indoors, threatened to leave me if, in her words, "I squandered so much
money on some fancy deck", and that an "Amstrad would do the same job,
just as well".

With hindsight, I should have realised this relationship was doomed and
gone ahead with the purchase of a Nakamichi, as we split up not too long
after.

Anyway, due to house moves and various other reasons, as I stated earlier,
the deck has had very little use and at one stage it was boxed up for
about four years. However, maybe it's the old eyes or maybe I'm just
imagining it, but the fluorescent display seems to be -well - for the want
of a better word...degrading. It seems to have lost its nice sharpness and
brightness, it looks sort of patchy, positively dull and awful.

Is it likely to be the display and if so, would it be economical repair?
Quite honestly, I really like the deck and as I've had so little use out
of it, wouldn't mind spending a reasonable amount of dosh.

Any thoughts and an idea of the cost to repair it, would be appreciated.

TIA

tox

Ha! Amusing post. Women eh??

Anyways, your display is most likely ok and the cause could be a bad
capacitor in the power supply section. This was a common fault on VCR's
especially Panasonic, AKAI and a few others. As to cost ~ pennies if you
can do the job yourself, £40-£60 I would guess at a repair centre, labour
charge being the biggest factor here.

Rich..

The Legend wrote:
I own a fairly old Pioneer CT-S740S tape deck that has seen very, very
little use. About eight years ago, I treated myself to this after getting
five numbers up on the Lottery. It would have been a Nakamichi, but, 'er
indoors, threatened to leave me if, in her words, "I squandered so much
money on some fancy deck", and that an "Amstrad would do the same job, just
as well".

With hindsight, I should have realised this relationship was doomed and gone
ahead with the purchase of a Nakamichi, as we split up not too long after.

Anyway, due to house moves and various other reasons, as I stated earlier,
the deck has had very little use and at one stage it was boxed up for about
four years. However, maybe it's the old eyes or maybe I'm just imagining it,
but the fluorescent display seems to be -well - for the want of a better
word...degrading. It seems to have lost its nice sharpness and brightness,
it looks sort of patchy, positively dull and awful.

My old Pioneer CD player has the same problem. I close the curtains or
turn the lights down. When you find the fix, please let me know.
And the Lexus is going the same way. :-(

--
Eiron.

The Legend wrote:
I own a fairly old Pioneer CT-S740S tape deck that has seen very, very
little use. About eight years ago, I treated myself to this after getting
five numbers up on the Lottery. It would have been a Nakamichi, but, 'er
indoors, threatened to leave me if, in her words, "I squandered so much
money on some fancy deck", and that an "Amstrad would do the same job, just
as well".

With hindsight, I should have realised this relationship was doomed and gone
ahead with the purchase of a Nakamichi, as we split up not too long after.

Anyway, due to house moves and various other reasons, as I stated earlier,
the deck has had very little use and at one stage it was boxed up for about
four years. However, maybe it's the old eyes or maybe I'm just imagining it,
but the fluorescent display seems to be -well - for the want of a better
word...degrading. It seems to have lost its nice sharpness and brightness,
it looks sort of patchy, positively dull and awful.

Is it likely to be the display and if so, would it be economical repair?
Quite honestly, I really like the deck and as I've had so little use out of
it, wouldn't mind spending a reasonable amount of dosh.

Any thoughts and an idea of the cost to repair it, would be appreciated.

**You need to measure the power supply Voltages, to verify. If the
supplies are within spec, then the display may well be faulty. A VFD
(Vaccuum Fluorecent Display) is like a valve. It will wear out.

You're looking for around 40-50 Volts DC, measured fron one of the lit
segments to the filament. The filament connections are usually the first
and last pins on the display. Positive Volts is usually on the filament.

Trevor Wilson

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Trevor Wilson wrote:

**You need to measure the power supply Voltages, to verify. If the
supplies are within spec, then the display may well be faulty. A VFD
(Vaccuum Fluorecent Display) is like a valve. It will wear out.

This is quite true but if it's had little use that's presumably not the reason.

VFDs are pretty long-lived. I still have one one a 1988 VCR hat's a little
'watery' now but still functional.

Graham

If you can get the front panel off then you'll likely find the the disaplay
and the inside of the viewing window has a hazy film on it, clean it off
with a very soft cloth to avoid scratches.

I used to repair vcrs and always cleaned these up as a matter of
course......

Pete