Fisher 490/492 - Capstan Belt - FBM9.2 Works BEST!

Cpl-Chronic

Member (SA)
Everyone quotes the thinner FBS9.2 as the main drive or capstan belt but I found it slipped some especially when using music search because the deck is designed to use a thicker belt, I think. This deck uses a heavy mechanism. The capstan motor is quite large with a wide, solid brass, spindle pulley & belted to a big capstan wheel for good stability. I tried the FBS9.2, as listed everywhere as correct & it played well with very good Wow & Flutter at around .06% RMS but it would slip under the torque demands of the music search system. I would bet that people who rebelt their Fishers with this belt would have an issues with RR, FF or Music Search but playing a tape would be fine. I assumed it was the tires or something like that.

I noticed the FBS9.2 looked quite narrow for the motor pulley & would only contact about half the surface area of the pulley. It could fit a wider belt with ease so I ordered the FBM9.2, which is quite a bit wider than the listed belt & a bit thicker too. Once I substituted the wider belt instead of the one quoted everywhere else, all music search options works well so far & I have to dial it in & do a test run for accuracy & sound quality.

Stay tuned...
 

Cpl-Chronic

Member (SA)
....And we're back...

The wider FBM-9.2 belt is working awesome & I really do believe this is the correct belt to use instead of the FBS-9.2 that is quoted by Tedee Hashee & others on this site. It fits exactly on the motor pulley, using maximum surface area & works much better overall than the more narrow belt I used before as listed here & everywhere. I dialed in the speed & head alignment(azimuth) & now she sounds very good with great channel separation, soundstage & stereo imaging from the cassette deck now. The speed is almost dead on with a 3000Hz test tape clocking in at 2992-2998Hz which is pretty mint. I played a few songs I recorded on my Denon 3-head deck & the sound is superb.

For your veiwing & listening pleasure, please watch the video with really good headphones or speakers to get an idea of the sound quality. Of course, it doesn't sound near as good as in person, but you get the idea.

 
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