Busy hands | Disquiet mind

You've repaired your cassette player. You spend time digging out your old cassettes, only to discover that the tape has snapped and is loose inside the cassette case. What do you do? Learn how to repair them of course!

( Details )

Lower section of a cassette tape, with clear leader tape threaded
Photo by chebe

The Bush KCS-317 cassette recorder/player is a recent, budget, device for playing, and recording, audio cassette tapes. I picked it up during lockdown when I wanted to digitise old tapes I'd found, but discovered that my existing players were no longer functional. If I recall correctly I had exactly two options; a portable player, or this one, which I chose for the mains power plug. It has a bunch of other features, like playing from usb sticks, none of which I'd needed. But the sound quality was never good.

I recently fell down the Steve's Electronic Repair Shop rabbit-hole, and the 'Cassette Tape Player. How it works and how to repair.' video in particular emboldened me to sort out that player. So I found a speed calibration test tape which has 15mins of 3,000Hz sine wave (actually 3,010-3,020Hz), and instructions on how to use it. The tape showed the player to be running fast, and as if I needed more encouragement, the buttons, the big chunky physical plastic buttons got stuck in play. It had to be opened up.

(I couldn't find any photos, or manuals, online for this player, so I'm including more than is necessary here in case anyone ever needs them.)

( Details )

With the top case removed I could plug in the player, play the speed test tape, and ever so gently adjust the motor speed with immediate feedback. It is a horrible sound, but a very effective test. After I got the frequency to between 3,010-3,020Hz I closed it back up properly, and tested it with a well known tape. The in-built speaker is not good. The in-built microphone is not good. Considering it has a mono tape head, and doesn't have Dolby Noise Reduction, there is a limit to what I can expect from this player. But with the correct speed setting it sounds okay, on headphones at least.

Adjusting the motor speed
Photo by chebe

This project was absolutely an exercise in persistence.

I had previously restored my parents' old turntable, but the plastic hinges on the lid were broken, which made it awkward to use long term. Even the stereo system in that post got shuffled around and packed away in the shed as not-strictly-necessary.

Fast-forward a few years into a more dystopian future and an ongoing pandemic, and we find me, spending a lot of time at home, looking for projects to distract myself. I had recently gotten a 3D printer for the first time, and I came across a kickstarter for the SongBird turntable kit. They would supply the hardware, electronics, acrylic, and 3D models, which you then print yourself at home. This seemed ideal to me, because if anything ever broke I would (or at least should) be able to replace just that part easily. I backed it in May.

The kickstarter campaign fulfilment was a bit delayed (by the creators catching covid), but not for long as all the parts went up on MyMiniFactory in October, followed by a few updates (that resulted in a naming schema I could not follow). I read the instructions, and decided to not make things difficult for myself and to simply use PETG like they do. I'd never used PETG before, so I did a bit of research and ordered some filament (ROSA3D PETG Standard Light Green and ROSA3D PETG Standard Black) and a Spring Steel Sheet applied PEI Flex Plate for my printer. They arrive, and I print out all the parts before the end of the year.

( Parts list )

But we all know a turntable cannot be used on its own, it needs speakers, and a preamp, so I have to dig out, and clean up, my old stereo system and preamp. I found my old Cambridge Audio 640P preamp, and couldn't find the power plug. So I order a replacement. All this takes a while. June rolls around and I, at least, finally get all the parts assembled into a turntable!

All parts assembled
Photo by chebe

I also needed furniture to fit the stereo into my office, which had to be found, ordered, stained, and assembled. Which required rearranging other things, changing power strip layouts, and then I get covid. This takes a while.

In the instructions they say we need a 'Rega Baerwald alignment protractor V2', and they provide a link to a forum, that is shutting down leaving the file inaccessible. I bought an alignment protractor, but I'm glad backers are sharing copies of the file in the comments now (not least because the place I got my alignment protractor no longer seems to be stocking them).

I finally get enough energy to do the rearranging and I realise I do not have two sets of phono-to-phono cables, and that I really need two sets of phono-to-phono cables. I also find out that I have to order them, because nowhere locally physically stocks them?!

Everything arrives, and I'm setting it all up, going through the fiddly calibration guide, and, it's not working. I get the multimeter out and take the turntable apart. But everything seems okay. I try the stereo system AUX with a portable CD player, and that's working. I even test the brand new cables. That leaves the preamp. The power light comes on, but there's no sound coming through. So I order a replacement, the Behringer PP400 Phono Preamp that they mention in the instructions. Which means I can also print the preamp mount part (pa1mk3-1), to tuck the preamp under the metal arm.

Printed in black;
- pa1mk3-1, at fast quality (3 hours), doesn't look great, but does the job. (Slicer also complained model had problems that it repaired.)

A month later the new preamp arrives, which I attach with two M3 x 5mm screws, and I wire everything up. Finally I can listen to some vinyl.

( Pictures )

Close up of needle, just because
Photo by chebe

Clip of turntable in action
Video by chebe

For the past while I've just been tending to the many needs of my technology.

For instance, I picked up a Fiio X1 (2nd gen) a while back. And, well. When it works, it does work beautifully. The sound is great, and it even responds to the media controls on my bluetooth headset. However, it doesn't always work. Good news is they are actively developing the firmware and respond promptly to support questions.

Still, every so often you'll run into something very non-intuitive. Like, playlists.

There is a Category > Playlists menu option. But the only way to get playlists in there is seemingly from the Now Playing screen, which would mean adding song by song. And the playlists are named; Playlist1, Playlist2, etc, with no means of editing.

To get more useful playlists you must create them externally, on your computer. They are basically just a txt file with .m3u extension. Though you may prefer to use a music player program. You may, or may not, need to add #EXTM3U to the first line of each file. Then the songs are listed one per line, as relative paths, to the file-on-device. These playlists must be placed in the root directory of the player, and can only be accessed through the Browse Files menu option (not Category > Playlists).

But, in their limited function, they do work. So, um, okay?

I do love Creative music players. What I do not love is the Windows-only nature of their software. Luckily there have always been programmers willing to spend time getting MTP devices to work under linux, however clunkily.

But I got a new player recently, and was surprised to find that it's not MTP. It's just a regular mass storage media device. Which means it can be used with regular music software like banshee and rythmbox, with one small tweak.

Props to the author of this snippet.

Plug in, mount device, touch .is_audio_player (or otherwise create empty file with this name) in the root of the devices file structure (e.g. /media/My Zen/), unmount and disconnect device. Start your music software and reconnect device. It should appear automagically. And this should work for any kind of mass storage media device.