Cleaning Cassette Decks

Isopropyl Alchohol (at the pharmacy) and cotton tipped swabs

Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol have worked for years. Demagetizing the heads is very important. Cassette tapes roll off the HF anyway, so demagetizing just allows the tape to record what it can. A small flashlight is necessary when you clean the pinch rollers and the head. It's been a while since I needed to do these things. I still have my Proton deck and it gets occasional use. Iwas meticulous in the old days with setting exact meter levels, best tape available, good turntable, clean records, etc. It was tedious but fun then, I'm sure you'll find it same now.

The correct procedure to demag your deck is as follows:

Deck powered down (turned off)

With the DM10 approx a foot away from the deck turn it on -- then slowwly approach the heads and tape path--

when the wand of the DM10 is really close, slowly follow the tape path of the heads.

then slowly pull the wand back to the ~foot distance and turn of the DM10.

Now you are done!

BTW the DM10 is getty pretty hard to find these days, if you have the original box keep it!

Happy Listening,

Richard

Insist on unscented 99% isopropyl alcohol; it's available at Safeway. Some shops carry only lesser dilutions (they're cheaper) like 90% and 85%.