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Does having a radio in REC+PAUSE mode for extended periods shorten it's lifespan?

gluecifer - 2008-07-21 20:19

My Sanyo M-X620k arrived today and I'm in rapturous love with her, beautiful sounding and looking radio.

Thing is it has a line-in that only works when the deck is in record or record/pause mode. This radio is almost 100% mint in every respect and I'd hate to wear out the tape mech unnecessarily, but I listen to my radios mainly via line-in.

When in this mode for extended periods noticibly shorten it's lifespan? The deck buttons are very soft touch, which usually means it won't take a lot to go wrong with them before they develop faults. In the 80s I had a Philips compo with the same line-in function that I used to use almost exclusively with my turntable and it developed a fault where the buttons wouldn't stay depressed after a period of time.

Does the record-pause mode put more stress on the deck than regular play is what I'm basically asking, and is there a way around this through some kind of hack?



Rock On.

beatbox - 2008-07-22 02:26

Im only guessing here as I dont have that particular model, but I would reckon that CONTINUOUS use of the record/pause buttons, that is to say pressing and de-pressing them ALL THE TIME, would cause more problems than leaving the buttons PERMANENTLY engaged. Once they are locked in place, then there is little to no wear to components. I think its only due to continuous locking and unlocking that may cause problems.

But as I said, this is just a guess. Hope you work it out!

moncheeto - 2008-07-22 02:55

i only wished that they never did that to begin with they should have finished adding the rest of the line feature independent from the record that way you could monitor anything plugged with out the need of having the record button pressed..

beatbox - 2008-07-22 03:07

Yeah, it sucks.

eddy - 2008-07-22 06:42

Although the deck is in pause , the motor and a part of the deck's mechanism is turning
There will be wear at some point
Maybe , it's better to use a fm transmitter to feed your box(es) , like i do.

isolator42 - 2008-07-22 14:50

this is exactly what did for the deck on my Hitachi 3D7. When in Rec-Pause mode, the motor is constantly turning, so it will wear out faster.

The standard hack is the disconnect the power supply to the motor. Obviously, the deck will no longer play tapes...

jovie - 2008-07-22 19:11

Here's another way to look at this.If you use the line-in exclusively instead of playing tapes,you are putting no more wear on the motor than a person who regularly plays tapes.Motors were made to be active.There are probably people who cause worse damage to things by neglecting to use them.I say relax and enjoy the box. Nod Yes

gluecifer - 2008-07-23 03:57

Thanks brethren.

I'll continue using the line-in until I pick up an FM Transmitter deally later in the week.



Rock On.

isolator42 - 2008-07-23 07:56

quote:
Originally posted by Jovie:
Here's another way to look at this.If you use the line-in exclusively instead of playing tapes,you are putting no more wear on the motor than a person who regularly plays tapes...
A good point, but experience tells me you are likely to leave it on when the music stops (a tape would auto-stop at the end on most b-boxes). On many occasions it was hours later when I discovered I'd inadvertently left the thing in rec/pause.
And this after years of good service actually playing tapes. Poor thing.


quote:
Originally posted by Gluecifer:
...until I pick up an FM Transmitter deally later in the week...
That was to be my next suggestion, honest!