Hi all, I'm new round here, just been enjoying all the great pics and stories on here, nice work 
Well, I've got a little project to breath some new life into an old GF-8989. This 8989 is a unit of sentimental value- it belonged to my grandparents. I've got memories of being around 10 or 11 years old, reaching up to fiddle with it, playing whatever tape was in and enjoing the sound. It lived just outside the kitchen on a shelf as the kitchen was too small for it. Well, a few years ago I inherited it when my grandad finally passed away, and its been on a shelf ever since. Its had a sheltered life so apart from the odd scratch its in very good cosmetic condition, and just needs a clean. Electronically its ok, its got a very crackly vol pot which i'll either spray with contact cleaner or maybe replace. The tape deck plays more or less OK, but the sound is very muffled, and the left hand channel is almost dead, just a feint sound coming out. So while it would make more sense to get rid of it and get something with a line in already, like an 8989 II, I want to keep this particular unit as it has memories that go back to the early 80s. Also I'm keen that any modification I do has the least impact on the case.
Anyways, arrival of 2nd child means I'm having to downsize my home office and clear out stuff that's been hanging around. So I want to use the 8989 for computer audio, and give it a restoration job at the same time. Given some of the amazing restoration stories Ive seen on here, it can't be that hard right?!
So I'm wondering what the options are. Being a v1 8989 it only has a phones out jack, mix mic in, ext speakers (oldskool spade connectors), a stereo mic input pair with a jack labelled "remote", and a DIN marked Amp, which I presume is out only (I dont have a user guide). I guess the mic inputs only work when the tape transport is playing? Or could they be the answer? The other issue with adding a line-in is power / source select. There's a button that toggles between radio and tape/off. So, to give this unit a line-in, I guess I need to have a 3-way source selector: tape/off, radio and line-in, or a second 2-way. Does anyone know if that's how an 8989-II works?
This could be too big a job for me, I'm not too experienced with electronics, so options are:-
1. use one of those cheap mp3-cassette converters, though I'm not entirely sure how they work, and dont like the idea of the tape transport motor having to turn in order to use one. Anyone got any experience with them? I guess I'd still need to fix the tape player too for this to work?
2. rewire it with the DIN socket going to the radio/tape-off switch so that selecting radio would select the DIN for line-in. Could I do that?? It also would need some small breadboard of components I guess, resistors and whatnot?? It would be a shame to lose radio.
4. do a full job- recondition the tape deck or get it serviced (assuming I can find someone to do it in these days of disposability), mod the case and add a jack or repurpose the DIN, convert the 2 way switch to 3 way, or add a second input selector, and add any necessary electronic components for this new circuit, assuming I can figure out what's needed.
5. put it back in the loft and forget about it
Finally, any ideas what the tape deck needs? Ive tried cleaning/demagging the head but it made no difference. I've got a multimeter so I might have a poke around. Oh, and how do I not electrocute myself?!
well, any ideas greatfully received!
just a quick edit to say... thinking about it a cassette adaptor is probably the best bet, but I guess I need the tape head reading and playing correctly, so advice in that department is needed. I suppose I could just disconnect the motor so that there's nothing turning when the adaptor is in use.
Well, I've got a little project to breath some new life into an old GF-8989. This 8989 is a unit of sentimental value- it belonged to my grandparents. I've got memories of being around 10 or 11 years old, reaching up to fiddle with it, playing whatever tape was in and enjoing the sound. It lived just outside the kitchen on a shelf as the kitchen was too small for it. Well, a few years ago I inherited it when my grandad finally passed away, and its been on a shelf ever since. Its had a sheltered life so apart from the odd scratch its in very good cosmetic condition, and just needs a clean. Electronically its ok, its got a very crackly vol pot which i'll either spray with contact cleaner or maybe replace. The tape deck plays more or less OK, but the sound is very muffled, and the left hand channel is almost dead, just a feint sound coming out. So while it would make more sense to get rid of it and get something with a line in already, like an 8989 II, I want to keep this particular unit as it has memories that go back to the early 80s. Also I'm keen that any modification I do has the least impact on the case.
Anyways, arrival of 2nd child means I'm having to downsize my home office and clear out stuff that's been hanging around. So I want to use the 8989 for computer audio, and give it a restoration job at the same time. Given some of the amazing restoration stories Ive seen on here, it can't be that hard right?!
So I'm wondering what the options are. Being a v1 8989 it only has a phones out jack, mix mic in, ext speakers (oldskool spade connectors), a stereo mic input pair with a jack labelled "remote", and a DIN marked Amp, which I presume is out only (I dont have a user guide). I guess the mic inputs only work when the tape transport is playing? Or could they be the answer? The other issue with adding a line-in is power / source select. There's a button that toggles between radio and tape/off. So, to give this unit a line-in, I guess I need to have a 3-way source selector: tape/off, radio and line-in, or a second 2-way. Does anyone know if that's how an 8989-II works?
This could be too big a job for me, I'm not too experienced with electronics, so options are:-
1. use one of those cheap mp3-cassette converters, though I'm not entirely sure how they work, and dont like the idea of the tape transport motor having to turn in order to use one. Anyone got any experience with them? I guess I'd still need to fix the tape player too for this to work?
2. rewire it with the DIN socket going to the radio/tape-off switch so that selecting radio would select the DIN for line-in. Could I do that?? It also would need some small breadboard of components I guess, resistors and whatnot?? It would be a shame to lose radio.
4. do a full job- recondition the tape deck or get it serviced (assuming I can find someone to do it in these days of disposability), mod the case and add a jack or repurpose the DIN, convert the 2 way switch to 3 way, or add a second input selector, and add any necessary electronic components for this new circuit, assuming I can figure out what's needed.
5. put it back in the loft and forget about it
Finally, any ideas what the tape deck needs? Ive tried cleaning/demagging the head but it made no difference. I've got a multimeter so I might have a poke around. Oh, and how do I not electrocute myself?!
well, any ideas greatfully received!
just a quick edit to say... thinking about it a cassette adaptor is probably the best bet, but I guess I need the tape head reading and playing correctly, so advice in that department is needed. I suppose I could just disconnect the motor so that there's nothing turning when the adaptor is in use.
1st off and this is my opinion, since your grandfather owned this prized procession and its in great shape physically (which it sounds to be ) then you should not ruin the astetics of the bbx. If you want to listen to ipod/cd then you can use the cassette adaptor and nothing will need to be changed. What you should do however is either clean and repair her up or have it done professionally 
There are not many of these boomers clean and working 100% out there so its kinda like our job as collectors to save as many as possible 
I just thought maybe fitting a line-in might be a common modification, so maybe not such a big deal. The ideal scenario would be this thing as pristine as poss and working as intended, with a line in to make it much more useful in this day and age. But if its so easy with an adaptor, I guess there's no point. Well, I'll open it up, have a fiddle, give it a clean, and when I get completely stuck, seek professional help! I'll probably see if there's some way of disabling the transport so it doesn't need to be actually turning the spindles to work, I wonder if anyone else has done that. Can't wait to get this hooked up, 80s music inc electro and hiphop sounds best through one of these babies 
).
My old Hitachi 9140 has the same issue with it's 5 DIN input - I don't have to press REC but the volume and quality is pretty much useless.