Aboutcleggsan Expertise Consumer Electronics of all kinds. Audio, esoteric audio systems and components, video, tv. Digital equipment for consumer use. Ham radio and automotive electronics.
Experience Electrical Engineering; recording, broadcasting, design, international standards, tv and radio theory and practice.
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Expert: cleggsan Date: 7/5/2008 Subject: Aiwa Compact Stereo System CX-ZL70
Question I have 2 problems:
(1) The tape deck on the left side of the unit 'ate' a tape, and now I can't open the door to that tape deck.
(2) When I try to change the radio station to another setting (on the unit itself, but not from the remote), the radio setting does not stop at the setting I want to stop at, but races forward without stopping.
Thanks very much for any advice you can offer.
Mitch
Answer This is getting to be quite an old model and is obsolete in terms of its technology. It has lots of features and you may not be able to find an equivalent on todays market!
ONE: The deck may be just worn out or jammed. The adjustments are very mechanical and are difficult to re-adjust even for a technician who knows how to get inside the set.
Have you tried a hard reset? Do this by unplugging the power cord and let the set rest for 20 or 30 minutes. If the jam-up was caused by a corruption of the control software the reset will correct it.
If the reset does not help you will need service either by yourself or by someone who knows their way round inside this units tape handling mechanism. It will require removal of the covers to allow access into the tape transport area. The jam may be mechanical, such as tape wrapped around the capstan shaft, cartridge itself damaged or worn or warped, etc. Or the problem may be software related and the drive motor and the clutch and other mechanisms are not functioning as they should. This investigation will require a meter to check for the control voltages or motor feed, etc. If you take it into a shop the service fee will be considerable as it sometimes takes a long investigation to determine the cause(s).
TWO: The reset may cure the station selecting problem. If not, the controller IC or related electronics is probably defective. It could be a cold solder joint or a bad IC or just about anything in between. It requires investigation into the circuits that provide this function and they are buried in the multi-purpose circuit which handles all the station selection, presets, tuning, etc. It is a complex function and requires one who can study the internal circuit operation in determination of the cause of failure. It could be trivial or it could be very expensive. If the tuning operation is working okey with the remote it would seem the problem lies with a simple voltage control inside the set. I am estimating the problem is not a serious one but one cannot know without testing and troubleshooting.
Also, the frequency hunting can be caused by lack of strong enough signal to detect a station. If the preset scanning function is working well and it is just the next station hinting that is the problem it may be your antenna is not connected properly or is not getting the stations adequately to provide a strong enough signal level.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions or if any of my comments are not clear to you.
C
PS: Page 28 of your owners manual has special instructions on how to reset the entire unit. You might follow that procedure as well. If you have lost the owners manual you can download it from the aiwa.com site freely.
