I have got a Mission MM7 mini system which is perfectly adequate for
my needs. In common with all such set-ups, there are compromises.
Needless to say with this manufacturer, the strongest link in the
chain is the speakers. It is the cassette deck which has been less
than satisfactory. Recording and reproduction have been fine, but the
deck is let down by a noisy transport, audible during quiet sections
of music.

As I still have a large tape collection, I would like to replace the
cassette deck.

Forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to get an adaptor so that the
existing ribbon interconnect can be hooked up to a full-size separate
deck with phono input/output?

If not, could anybody tell me if such ribbon interconnects are
standardised amongst mini systems, allowing for replacement by another
brand of deck?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

John

On 10 Nov, 11:50, Walney wrote:
I have got a Mission MM7 mini system which is perfectly adequate for
my needs. In common with all such set-ups, there are compromises.
Needless to say with this manufacturer, the strongest link in the
chain is the speakers. It is the cassette deck which has been less
than satisfactory. Recording and reproduction have been fine, but the
deck is let down by a noisy transport, audible during quiet sections
of music.

As I still have a large tape collection, I would like to replace the
cassette deck.

Forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to get an adaptor so that the
existing ribbon interconnect can be hooked up to a full-size separate
deck with phono input/output?

If not, could anybody tell me if such ribbon interconnects are
standardised amongst mini systems, allowing for replacement by another
brand of deck?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

John

No John, there are no fixed standards for these ribbon type cables You
will not be able to adapt them.Your only chance is if your system has
an AUX input which uses phono type sockets which could be used to
playback an external source like a cassette deck.If not..you're
knackered I'm afraid.
Regards,
Borosteve (retailer shyster)(!)

"borosteve" wrote


No John, there are no fixed standards for these ribbon type cables You
will not be able to adapt them.Your only chance is if your system has
an AUX input which uses phono type sockets which could be used to
playback an external source like a cassette deck.If not..you're
knackered I'm afraid.
Regards,
Borosteve (retailer shyster)(!)


:-)

Boro, me auld shyster china - I supect you are ever so slightly
referring to my comments about the local HiFi shop and my next door
neighbour's recent experience...no?

Let's look at the facts again:

The Panasonic VCR is 3 years old and cost 89 quid new from the same
shop. (He's looked it all up!)
The repair was quoted at 50 quid or so - although there wasn't the
climb-down on price that I thought, based on the incorrect figure
supplied initially.
The customer is a 75 year old pensioner with *30 years* standing with
the shop.
Cheap VCRs are available (elsewhere, I suspect) from 30 quid and up.
The shop is well-founded and *minting* it but not getting the repair it
once used to, apparently....

OK?

In my book, if the shop had treated him half decently he would have been
told either 'giss 20 (25?) quid and we'll fix it' or 'snot worth fixing,
I'll knock you a tenner off a new one' (which would see him out) *or*
'you could get one from Tescos for 30 quid'...??? Not just strim him for
*Top Dollar repair shop time* like he was a) a stranger, b) a normal
wage/salary earner, c) hadn't ever bought from that shop before.

Let me add some insider info which shouldn't bear on the situation but
*does* (sorry) - the 'repair technician' is one of the brothers who now
own the shop. He sits up in the roof all day (on his own now,
apparently) waiting for £50/hour work like a fekkin' spider and
doesn't/won't get involved in anything else and is an odious **** to
boot....

But, anyway that's just me - as you are no doubt *a cut above* what
exactly would you have done in the same circumstances?

Don't bother to lecture me on sales/profits/costs/overheads - been
there, done all that. Call me a prat if you like, but it was always more
on my mind that we had 27 kids between us that needed feeding and
mortgages that needed paid, rather than how much money we could place on
short-term deposit each month! (??)

(Hint also: My rates these days are £1,000/hour but it's been a long
time since I got any paid work....!! ;-)

On 10 Nov, 13:07, "Keith G" wrote:
"borosteve" wrote

No John, there are no fixed standards for these ribbon type cables You
will not be able to adapt them.Your only chance is if your system has
an AUX input which uses phono type sockets which could be used to
playback an external source like a cassette deck.If not..you're
knackered I'm afraid.
Regards,
Borosteve (retailer shyster)(!)

:-)

Boro, me auld shyster china - I supect you are ever so slightly
referring to my comments about the local HiFi shop and my next door
neighbour's recent experience...no?

Let's look at the facts again:

The Panasonic VCR is 3 years old and cost 89 quid new from the same
shop. (He's looked it all up!)
The repair was quoted at 50 quid or so - although there wasn't the
climb-down on price that I thought, based on the incorrect figure
supplied initially.
The customer is a 75 year old pensioner with *30 years* standing with
the shop.
Cheap VCRs are available (elsewhere, I suspect) from 30 quid and up.
The shop is well-founded and *minting* it but not getting the repair it
once used to, apparently....

OK?

In my book, if the shop had treated him half decently he would have been
told either 'giss 20 (25?) quid and we'll fix it' or 'snot worth fixing,
I'll knock you a tenner off a new one' (which would see him out) *or*
'you could get one from Tescos for 30 quid'...??? Not just strim him for
*Top Dollar repair shop time* like he was a) a stranger, b) a normal
wage/salary earner, c) hadn't ever bought from that shop before.

Let me add some insider info which shouldn't bear on the situation but
*does* (sorry) - the 'repair technician' is one of the brothers who now
own the shop. He sits up in the roof all day (on his own now,
apparently) waiting for £50/hour work like a fekkin' spider and
doesn't/won't get involved in anything else and is an odious **** to
boot....

But, anyway that's just me - as you are no doubt *a cut above* what
exactly would you have done in the same circumstances?

Don't bother to lecture me on sales/profits/costs/overheads - been
there, done all that. Call me a prat if you like, but it was always more
on my mind that we had 27 kids between us that needed feeding and
mortgages that needed paid, rather than how much money we could place on
short-term deposit each month! (??)

(Hint also: My rates these days are £1,000/hour but it's been a long
time since I got any paid work....!! ;-)

Dear Keith,

Don't tar all dealers with the same brush. If this guy had come to me
I would have said exactly as you have said that it aint probably worth
fixing. Besides that our video engineer retired through lack of work
four years ago and our audio service agent has so little to do he only
works part-time 3 days aweek!
Borosteve.

"borosteve" wrote in message
oups.com...
On 10 Nov, 13:07, "Keith G" wrote:



(Hint also: My rates these days are £1,000/hour but it's been a long
time since I got any paid work....!! ;-)

Dear Keith,

Don't tar all dealers with the same brush.


I don't, but believe me, it's impossible to find one round here who
isn't like it. Motorcycle dealers are even worse - I am of the
understanding that many of them will happily (probably not) sell a new
'bike at little or no real profit because they make their money in the
workshops on the servicing &c.!! (Different with secondhand 'bikes -
they make plenty on those!!)


If this guy had come to me
I would have said exactly as you have said that it aint probably worth
fixing. Besides that our video engineer retired through lack of work
four years ago and our audio service agent has so little to do he only
works part-time 3 days aweek!


Yes. That's the whole point - it was all about feeding the spider in the
loft....

(Consumer) electronics repairmen and quill sharpeners are in the same
bote these days - I don't like it any more than they do, but that's how
it is!

On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:07:33 +0000, Keith G wrote:

The customer is a 75 year old pensioner with *30 years* standing with
the shop.

So what? All's fair in love, war and business. The pensioner obviously
has the money, he wants his VCR fixed and the dealer is able to do so at
a price they have both agreed on beforehand. Everyone is happy. It's
still a free country, for now.

Why would a dealer cut his own throat by turning away work? Maybe the
pensioner doesn't want to turn a repairable VCR into landfill whatever
the economics. In any event, it's not up to the shop to moralise.

"Silk" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:07:33 +0000, Keith G wrote:

The customer is a 75 year old pensioner with *30 years* standing with
the shop.

So what? All's fair in love, war and business. The pensioner obviously
has the money, he wants his VCR fixed and the dealer is able to do so
at
a price they have both agreed on beforehand. Everyone is happy. It's
still a free country, for now.

Why would a dealer cut his own throat by turning away work? Maybe the
pensioner doesn't want to turn a repairable VCR into landfill whatever
the economics. In any event, it's not up to the shop to moralise.


**** me - he's only been out one day in the UK and he's already posting
here...!!???

(Assume 'he' - if it's you Keira, then my apologies for the crudities
and would you PM me?

Please...??

Sweedie...?? :-))

Walney wrote:
I have got a Mission MM7 mini system which is perfectly adequate for
my needs. In common with all such set-ups, there are compromises.
Needless to say with this manufacturer, the strongest link in the
chain is the speakers. It is the cassette deck which has been less
than satisfactory. Recording and reproduction have been fine, but the
deck is let down by a noisy transport, audible during quiet sections
of music.

Was this deck always mechnically noisy through its life? Could be worth
finding someone to give it a service. Same person, if he is worth his
salt, may well be able to point out a method for adapting connections
for line level phono. Might be a bit of a challenge if the kit has
complex remote control bus switching of deck functions, but even so
should be do-able. If it were me, I'd be in with the soldering iron -
but that's just me.... mad.

--
Adrian C