Philips crazy Ski Slope Cassette Deck

[@TwoLeftSh0es]

This looks absolutely perfect for those times when you want to listen to the first half of your six favourite albums and then the second half all in a row.

[@TheMajkla]

When time flies slowly..

[@isidoreaerys8745]

Exactly what I was thinking the whole time.

[@khendar]

Just dub side 2 of tape 1 onto side 1 or tape 2 and so on.

[@ohhgeez865]

70s were a time

[@kennyb6541]

It wasn't about having it for function. It was just about having it.

[@johncip]

Even bought two-tone tapes to demonstrate the flipping. What a legend.

[@sadkingbilly]

Those have been pretty standard for years here in the Netherlands :) old times.. When you knew what songs were on the red or green side!

[@Milamberinx]

Flippin’ ‘eck!

[@Mat-kr1nf]

@@Milamberinx Ecky thump!

[@deanc9195]

My favourite genre of KZbin is “person who is incredibly talented at something niche and pours their soul into it”

[@youdontseeanoldmanhavinatw4904]

So, KZbin.

[@derwissenskiosk8041]

Thats my too...

[@diceblock]

I cannot agree more.

[@z3nab1]

Lockpicking Lawyer and Steve1989.... they would be right up your alley!

[@datadavis]

My youtube favorite is all the mindless worshippers of KZbin famers.

[@Kitsune0268]

_"I'm not particularly good at repairing things, I'm just some guy who likes to tinker with things. I'll play around with them, hoping to get them working just enough to be able to show them in a video."_ That's one of the most humble understatements I've ever heard.

[@Brinta3]

It’s pretty accurate though, because “get them working just enough to be able to show them” is exactly what he did for this video.

[@DildoFagginsNL]

This is the kind of guy that makes it look so simple it will let you think: "hey why pay someone? i can do that too".. one hour later you fucked everything up beyond comprehension 😂❤

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

@@DildoFagginsNL And two hours later you've got a better handle on things. DIY repair is all bout learning how to save your next project from yourself by doing it right, and as far as learning processes go, it's really effective.

[@PlutoniumBoss]

We only see his relative successes, we don't know how many things he has in various states of being repaired at any given moment.

[@neilwilliams2907]

@@electrictroy2010 At 2:26 he explains that some the controls are not normally worded. In this case Reject for Eject, but you know that already as you have watched the video.

[@Gabriel87100]

I don't know what's best, the ingenuity and creativity of the analogue era or Techmoan's humility in going through so many small and moving pieces, partially restoring some functions in a device almost 50 years old and then only calling himself a "tinkerer".

[@djmoch1001]

He has got the patience of a saint to deal with all that fiddly nonsense inside. I'd probably give up and crawl into a ball weeping, LOL. Ultimately it's just so damned rewarding seeing his work pay off and watching this ancient gear spring back into life. I appreciate his love of ancient gadgetry, I find these videos endlessly fascinating.

[@tbonky]

Tenacious Matt! Intense focus and excution. Thanks!

[@termitreter6545]

I find you can clearly see the difference between someone doing this as a hobby and an actualy expert. That said, most people probably wont have the patience do deal with stuff like this from the get go.

[@guffaw1711]

I think his jokes that he splices in there while explaining what he's doing are the best. if you don't pay attention you might as well miss them. and I love that.

[@thegrayshaws]

Yeah if I tried to repair something like this the only thing I would succeed at is disassembling it.

[@moosemaimer]

This whole mechanism makes me think of a car company developing a means of having the engine disconnect from its mounts and slide to the other end of the vehicle... so it can drive in reverse.

[@dvkad]

It'd be more like having 6 engines in a car and each of them with forward and reverse. It's more like a solution to play multiple tapes in queue than a replacement to auto reverse.

[@vueport99]

How did you post comment a week ago when the video is posted an hour ago?

[@DavidDatura]

Great analogy! 😆

[@dcan911]

@@vueport99 I think patreon people get early sight of the vids

[@andymouse]

@@vueport99 He's a patrion, you get special access, the videos are made weeks in advance.

[@zeppelinkiddy]

As a retired mechanical engineer all I can say is that you are very skilled in your ability to both understand and repair this excessively complex mechanism. Well done!!!

[@goanton79]

like he could stick a chewed up paper into the prerecorded cassettes hole ))) instead of bending

[@atomicshark9466]

I would like to become a mechanical engineer any advice?

[@oveidasinclair982]

@@atomicshark9466 yeah, stick with electrical engineer

[@atomicshark9466]

@@oveidasinclair982 Any reason why?

[@vinhix]

@@electrictroy2010 yeah Im a lot like that, if something is easy and cheap fix I'll do it, if its time consuming I rather spend a bit more money and get it done. I really don't have that much free time, so I prefer to use my time chilling or having fun, instead of "working".

[@aesculetum]

The two-colours cassetes were a nice touch. Something that even Philips marketing didn't think about back in 1972. Great job as always.

[@organfairy]

But SONY did - well, kinda: They made some cassettes with a red label on one side and a green on the other.

[@maxwlod]

When you said, that Phillips screw is written with two "l", my mind melted. I never noticed that before 😳

[@BenTheMotionist]

"I'm just filling in time with irrelevance", well I learnt something there too man. I actually thought they were one and the same entity. I love this channel.

[@fumthings]

i think that is normal. Philips electronics is a Dutch company, hence the unusual spelling.

[@LordJazzly]

I... noticed it but never questioned it, and that displeases me, so I just looked some bits up now. 'Fillippos' is in fact attested in Greek as a name, presumably from the assimilation of the 'h' in 'hippos' in dialects that preserved it. That surprised me; it's non-standard but also not incorrect Greek! Apparently the doubled-l form of the name in English is more commonly derived from people adapting 'Philip' to English (or Welsh, apparently) spelling rules though. And my ten minutes of youtube comment web search diligence could not tell you which is applicable to the man who made the screwdriver, if it even is either of those.

[@toydotgame]

I frankly didn't know there was a company behind it!

[@MrJimmyjammmy]

That's the sort of fact that will make you an absolute hit at dinner parties. Can't wait to pull that one out of the bag! :-)

[@motodevcam]

I'm a radio amateur and chatted to a chap across the water In Wales the first time a few weeks ago. He was telling me about his time repairing background music systems. Turns out we are both fans of your channel and we chatted about your videos for a good while! He talked about working on this and how he replaced the steing on on sled mechanism with fishing line 🤣 . We both hoped you would make a video about it!

[@Techmoan]

Good timing, I hope you both enjoy the video.

[@dirksimonsz4238]

This machine brings back great memories. They were made in Austria and in most ski resorts bars in the seventies they had one, all decked out with german Schlager hit cassettes and popular Eurodisco compilations, as well as Nana Mouskouri, Demis Roussos etc. So, while getting high on schnapps, I would sit and watch the cassettes slide down the ramp.

[@h8GW]

Quite fitting to have a "ski ramp" cassette mechanism at a ski resort.

[@bigboi9856]

i like how you called drinking getting high

[@wind2536]

@@bigboi9856 alcohol is a drug after all

[@FarnhamJ07]

​@@wind2536 Oxygen is also a drug; I guess we're all high, all the time!

[@ianf123]

My aunt owned one of these, and I’d completely forgotten about this. Yes, it never worked well, and six was the ideal number. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.

[@friendlynomad9840]

When the largest chapter in your video is "The Repair", you know the Techmoan audience is not your average KZbin audience. Great content!

[@UFOhunter4711]

I love the idea that some designers sat and were like "you know what's annoying? Flipping tapes, like just flip the suckers in the air" and everyone said yes

[@petercortens6019]

I love the idea that they did not settle with: "let's wait a year or two until there are cheap bidirectional motors & heads"

[@Ohfishyfishyfish]

@@petercortens6019 hey, if everyone who had an idea said "let's wait a year or two until there are cheap bidirectional motors & heads", we'd be back in the stone age and we'd be etching our youtube comments on a tree

[@smartereveryday]

Fascinating design

[@EinBaumHaus]

yeah

[@M3D1C2121]

Don't know why but I never expected Dustin to be a viewer of the great British reviewer/repairman Techmoan.

[@VincentGroenewold]

@@M3D1C2121 Not sure if he is to be honest, I see many creators just leaving a comment on a popular video as a way to get you to go to their channel. :)

[@decafbountiwack3658]

@@VincentGroenewold I totally see what you're saying, but I have a hard time believing that Destin would ever do anything like that for clout. He loooves the little mechanical bits and the intelligent design. While I didn't quite expect him to be here, when you think about it it makes total sense that Destin would enjoy this stuff. :)

[@ElGrecoDaGeek]

@@M3D1C2121 Nobody expects the.... ;)

[@BanCorporateOwnedHouses]

Despite the mechanism being a hit or miss due to age, this thing is freaking sick. I love old tech like this, and I appreciate you putting together a nice lengthy video for us to enjoy!

[@OriginalPineapplesFoster]

_Thank you so so much for using the correct expression (hit OR miss). You've made my day._ 📝🍍

[@josephbennett4236]

@@OriginalPineapplesFoster It could be 'hit AND miss', it just depends on the grammatical and semantic context.

[@dsb9001]

I have one of these in a box in my closet that my father tried to repair about 20 years ago and gave up on. It was originally used for background music in a hotel we had in Newquay, Cornwall in the early 1970's. I took a look at it a few years ago but quickly put it back in the box when I saw how complicated it was. Watching this video (almost) makes me want to have another go at repairing it.

[@janosnagyj.9540]

Go for it, at least now you have some video reference, not only those drawings in the manual. However if it was used like that, I bet the head is weared back to its soldering pins :) So if it was not changed earlier, I think it has to be done now (if you want to actually hear something played on it)

[@WeirdWonderful]

Did you ever get back to it ? : O

[@martinda7446]

OK. This requires a medal or a prize awarded...🏆🎖 As someone who has been repairing vintage audio for over 40 years, you did very well. You are well above the 'tinkerer' standard and I can officially promote you to semi-professional bodger. The world is a better place with Techmoan.

[@uzaiyaro]

I think I'd agree with you. I'm slowly learning electronics, and have been able to -bumblefuck- navigate my way around modern iPhones and laptops, and I've been building computers quite literally since I could lift them up. But I don't think you could plop this down on my desk and tell me to go for it without you getting a few bonus screws and bits and pieces in return. But I tend to find the best way to learn is by doing.

[@martinda7446]

@@uzaiyaro Yes, keep it up. To anyone interested in tinkering I would recommend learning the basics of electronics and material sciences as the basics can take you a long way. Ohms law for instance can make 90% of electronics make sense and can be learned in a minute.

[@martinda7446]

@@uzaiyaro PS I like the 'bumble**** navigate' 😸

[@paulstubbs7678]

@@uzaiyaro That kind of reminds me of when I was working fixing laptops & PC's etc, we all used disposable plastic cups to hold all the screws as things got disassembled. If you wanted to be an arsehole, you would sneak up and drop an extra screw in the cup, then amuse yourself as they would try and put it back together, usually several times, trying to figure out where this screw belonged.

[@buddyclem7328]

@@paulstubbs7678 😂 Diabolical!

[@dippydot]

That's a blast from the past - I worked on one of those back in my days as an audio engineer with Dixserve, the repair section of Dixons. I remember we were having a party at my house and I "borrowed it" to give it a "good soak test" and used it all evening (and it worked!).

[@AtomicShrimp]

I encountered one of these in use as a pub BGM in the late 80s when I was on work experience with a company that installed jukeboxes, fruit machines and the like in pubs. It was playing boring instrumental muzak constantly and the jukebox would somehow override it when a customer paid to put on a song. I think they actually chose boring music for the BGM to try to encourage use of the jukebox

[@PeteMcDonald]

Always good to see you around the internet, Mike! How's the SAFFRON business going?

[@Ozzy_2014]

@Sannesthesia Too high a glucose level would likely have the same sophoric effect as the muzak. Of course one should know even the geniuses like Mozart wrote muzak. Stuff to be background to say a garden party and outdoor meal. Not everything is an opera or a symphony experience to be focused on. They had to eat too you know. The workaday stuff the rich patrons needed in return letting you have the time to do 'art'. A symphony can be a great show for the guests and status symbol. The message being I am rich enough to throw money at art and extravagant performances and still maintain my grand estates and business empire. The trade off seems fair. Do boring stuff in return for fun later. Better than the poor people who ground their bodies and souls down in service from dawn till midnight.

[@unitedunitedunited_]

Yo, love your scambaiting series

[@Tiny-Tim]

Was that company MAM Inn Play ?

[@highpath4776]

@@tarstarkusz 30p in china the lot

[@johnlovesbridge]

It's fascinating that this juggernaut went from an idea to store shelves. Just the zillion pieces being produced is amazing.

[@OldKing2]

First generation

[@deeiks12]

My thoughts exactly. It's a bit unbelievable (and absolutely awesome) that someone thought it's a good idea to put that mechanism into production.

[@nickwallette6201]

That time has come and gone. Even looking at this thing, I see so many opportunities for simplification with a bit of digital logic. :-)

[@MrChainrule]

It's really a niche BGM machine and not any more complicated than many of the disc changers at the time, being able to load it up once and let it go forever is an attractive feature.

[@chriswalford4161]

As if Apple would ever design a slide for an iPod!

[@mynamedoesntmatter9013]

“Now if you’ve ever attempted to repair anything, I’m sure you’ll be more than familiar with this part of the process. Everything seems to be going so well, then for whatever reason, it all seems to stop working completely.” *me having flashbacks*

[@pinaz993]

Traumatic flashbacks at that.

[@clblanchard08]

Me anytime I think I might be able to save money by doing it myself. Usually I end up with new tools that I probably won't ever use again plus a professional repair bill. Oh well; I'll just keep trying for fun.

[@ScotHarkins]

PTSD - Party Tapedeck Stress Disorder OCD - Old Cassette Dysphoria

[@giggleherz]

My weenie use to be like that until I installed a party balloon inf later. lol

[@TerrorLTZ]

that line alone... hits everyone... holy shit.

[@mikemidulster]

Fantastic! I repaired hundreds of tape decks in the '70s and '80s, but this is the first time I've seen one of these. Well done!

[@thebigdavester]

This video should have been titled: "Flippin' Deck!"

[@mauritsvw]

Nice one!

[@Valveus]

Comment of the day award goes to you lol

[@DerivitivFilms]

I think you mean Phillipin' Deck! :)

[@frankowalker4662]

Hurray.

[@alexlandherr]

Brilliant!

[@welshwench4217]

Great video as always Mat! I used to service these in 1974. I'm still having therapy...

[@djmoch1001]

Man, when he pulled up the diagram in the service manual on his tablet and I saw just how complex it was and how many bloody parts it had, I just about passed out. LOL, he has way more patience that I think i would have had :) I find this stuff insanely fascinating.

[@pHD77]

I used to have this deck. Whenever I as a young adolescent threw a party back in the eighties (whenever my parents were out for a longer period of time - you know how it is, haha), I'd ask those of my friends, who were able to get their hands on the latest music, to make 60 min. mix tapes and bring it to the party. With each tape containing the latest and greatest of then current music - some even remixed together by our resident DJ - the party would not go dead from lack of music. And the deck itself even garned a bit of attraction - especially whenever the tape changed.

[@johnlannigan9831]

I remember these with a degree of fondness. Back in 1973 I joined Comet as a trainee audio engineer, a wonderful part of my life and many memories, I've worked on many of these and the later models. Philips back in the day were very innovative with many of their designs, mostly good and some bad, this fell somewhere between the two. You were right when you said they didn't sell very many as they were an oddity, not really high on a HIFI buffs wish list and too expensive/fiddley as a general tape player. The vast majority were sold as background music and mostly to restaurants. Invariably they ended up in the kitchen so diners didn't have to listen to cassette tapes clattering about in the ski lift and it wasn't surprising that because of its location the kitchen staff looked after it. After a while, I could guess which restaurant one of these came from without looking at the job card but the dried food that had found its way into every crevice and usually the reason why it wanted service in the first place. Happy days....PS circa 12:22 fitting the belt under the plastic drive wheel was easy if you had a piece of thin stainless steel rod about 0.5mm thick, the end shaped like the letter u in uF the long tail being the handle. The hooked end went under the wheel while you tensioned the RHS of the belt and then threaded it to the left, easy ;)

[@tcphvacr9950]

Imagine the amount of engineering it took to create this. It's not a wonder it was in danger of being outdated when released, especially if competing manufacturers were working on something else during the time of R & D. Brilliant video as always.

[@Domspun]

I would love to see a video of the factory who built those. Manufacturing of these machines must be fascinating.

[@mkinitcpio]

@@Domspun right? i dont even know how they mass produced this thing in the 70s, guess a lot was basically handfitted

[@dvvdcexyvnu4395]

Your curiosity and patience is what humans should aspire to...my personal opinion

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

Indeed. Sadly, most of them are the opposite: they want everything served on the plate.

[@LuiWallentinGttler]

Well it is certainly that attitude that fosters innovation. So yes - in many ways your statement is right. Discounting all the man hours that's gone in to dreaming up ways for us to kill each other.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Dude I literally just yesterday just showed a friend that video from 5 years ago, and we both really wanted to see this silly machine. And now we can take a look

[@alexm566]

you're lucky you have friends you can share these videos with lol

[@CarlosPerezChavez]

We live in amazing times

[@danlw212]

“A solution to a problem few people needed solving” seems to be the mantra of all manufacturers in every industry today.

[@JasonLihani]

Dude I've been fixing electronics for 15 years and I've literally never thought of that tack trick to catch a spring. I love it. And on that note, this thing is a nightmare. I would've been the first guy. Got 3 belts in and was like, actually, fuck this. Edit: Also love all the rubber reversion on your hands. The mark of a true "why am I doing this" job.

[@bravejango12]

I don't work on electronics much but I do work on small engines and this trick is going to save me so much annoyance with the tiny springs random things.

[@MrCheesusrice]

The second I saw the schematic, I was like... nope. *puts case back on, and sets unit by the side of the road*

[@wal]

Wow, very cool! Thanks for all the effort you put into the videos. We the viewers, appreciate it!

[@antonsch25]

«1 week ago» 🗿

[@ytinhd5787]

LoL

[@antonsch25]

brifly34 yeah, I know. But I didn’t think that he puts them sooo earlier

[@WhiterunGuard11998]

"We the viewers..." *Grabs pitchfork* "...appreciate it!" *Puts pitchfork back down*

[@Gr8Success]

talk in your own name . i don't remember as a viewer to have been appointed you as a representative of my opinion . you are a pos assuming you represent everybody's opinion . thumbs down.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

Videos like this "in depth repairing" are my fav Techmoan videos. And he doesn't even have to be successful in the repair for me to watch it over and over again. Really appeals to the nerd in me.

[@Oliver-l1c]

Wow, those schematics! Seeing them really makes me appreciate the genius of the designers.

[@sytritewarum5720]

That was an excellent blow out diagram. Pretty much every time I manage to find one for something made recently, it's just... terribly incomplete...

[@bltzcstrnx]

​@@electrictroy2010 actually, if you look at integrated circuit internal schematic, it would be more complex than circuits with discrete components. It just that all of the complexities are hidden and not visible to naked eyes.

[@YodaPagoda]

There's no way I'd skip the repair section in any of your videos. I'm just fascinated by how the mechanism works, and watching the repair succeed was worth it. Cheers!

[@enricopillon6584]

This definitely deserves to go in your ending credits clip! 😁 I was missing this kind of your videos. This is just amazing. Thank you!

[@ThomasBaumbach]

"Other colors of tak are available." Pure comedy gold right there.

[@markc871]

hehe, that got me smiling too

[@AtreidaeChibiko]

@@plan7a BlueTak is the common one here in Australia

[@AtreidaeChibiko]

@@plan7a ah. I should have known. I thought it was a region thing.

[@Eddydatscrazy]

I came across this page by accident, and I’m still in disbelief I sat here and watch the whole 40 minute video. His voice is very soothing and he is very detailed with his work.

[@JohnnyNowhere]

I'm 64 and I've never seen one of these contraptions. What a blast. Thanks, Ace.

[@aden2957]

I'm 64 too and I've never seen one either

[@Lexilove2016]

I'm a Nintendo 64.

[@pinkace]

"I'm not that good at repairing stuff"... Sir, I've been watching your channel for years, you're a master.

[@chrispbacon5313]

@@lucasrem What??🤔

[@manlymcstud8588]

@@chrispbacon5313 did i stumble on the 'spot the millennial' game?

[@sthf_]

@@lucasrem You should not do that.

[@professorpenne9962]

I take it some people here haven't seen some of the muppet skits

[@batterieman3001]

I really got excited like a little child when I saw this video pop up in my feed! This bloke really managed to get hold of one of those flippin' (literally) decks! These 40 minutes felt like five, definitely love your videos! Keep up the great content!

[@johnkean6852]

I was fascinated with this as a child, my sister had one. The sound was excellent. For educational/entertainment purposes only!

[@georgepreston7845]

"I'm not that good at repairing things" - this is really taking self-deprecation to a new level!

[@jwvandegronden]

agreed! plus the amount of times I would have smashed something against the wall would have made my effort to build this channel a moot one. The restraint it takes to do this is awe inspiring, for me that is. A level of self control I will never attain! In my defense, if you were interested in blind rage and destruction, this channel would have been better off with me ;-)

[@abhaynatoo]

@@jonathansabinvarietyfilms thanks for revealing the Dunning Kruger effect. are yu a psychologist. I am amazed at what type of esoteric knowledge people have stacked in their brains.

[@jonathansabinvarietyfilms]

@@abhaynatoo No, it gained meme popularity by a summary being passed around online, but it is a real phenomena.

[@MatSpeedle]

The bravery in taking on that repair deserves a medal Mat! As someone's that's managed to fix some walkmans and struggled I think my head would explode taking that on. Hat's off to you sir! Great to see this working. A tinkerer is putting it very modestly.

[@gregwilliams7354]

This reminds me of my days of being a consumer electronics technician. The electronics course I took taught all about circuits and nothing about mechanics. I worked on MANY old car stereos, cassette decks and VCRs sometimes the mechanicals were a nightmare.

[@delapravda]

Having lived thru my childhood with cassette tape players and all that stuff, I gotta admit that's the first time I'm seeing this machine and all I can say is just WOW! This is an incredible design and also I wish I had one of these back in the days.

[@marcoaurelio6553]

Luckily for that cassette, gravity is still working today

[@manlymcstud8588]

he would fix it if it didn't, then say he's not much of a quantum physics fixer.

[@enchantereddie]

Thanks to Sir Isaac Newton.

[@advorak8529]

"Complete and utter crap: Will not work on the ISS!" (review by a guy who will not even step on a plane ...)

[@stpidstuff]

If the laws of physics no longer apply in the future, god help you.

[@tacohead8543]

@@stpidstuff good reference

[@mattrobinson973]

If I ran a bar I’d have one of these in a glass case in the corner playing background music and amusing punters with its loveliness

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

With 30 min casettes, not 90 min.

[@WildBluntHickok]

@@olmostgudinaf8100 That's about the same per side as modern vinyl so it would be easy enough to plan the tapes out.

[@raychambers3646]

You could put announcement tapes in telling people that your ready to flip!

[@4lifejeph]

What is a punter?

[@familiarbreakfast1892]

@@4lifejeph slang for customer

[@jzbreezio]

The level of engineering during that time for a simple mechanism is impressive

[@BlueSupreme]

Crazy how they made these sort of things without the use of a computer.

[@SubwayToSchiff]

We did have people on the moon by then.

[@underwaterdick]

@@BlueSupreme not really, pretty much everything was made without computers, so it was the norm. Designers were engineers, they knew what would work, knew different methods, loved to build test set ups. It's exactly how it should be done to develop your own engineering abilities. Too many designers today are CAD technicians without the broad experience of experimentation. Computer simulation can assist making moving components work together, it's far cheaper and saves time. But on an individual level, we are losing skills in some areas. The work produced is no less impressive however, even if a product is less mechanical and more computerised, specifying components and programming the logic for your goal is an incredible skill in its self.

[@barrymore87]

@@underwaterdick things move on.

[@underwaterdick]

@@barrymore87 oh yes, they certainly do. No issues there. Big issue with skill fade though, you only have to look at brand new cars, trains and planes. When unexpected issues are found with a new product in service it takes a long time to fix, sometimes they can't even fix it, they simply find a work around. Years ago, they had the same teething issues, but we're pretty good at fixing these issues swiftly. The recent 737 max saga, Trent 1000 shambles, Hitachi 800 train mess when testing...

[@BenjaminHare]

Your dedication to your craft is as inspiring as the over-engineering of this cassette deck. Bravo to you, sir, for taking the time to make such a quality video.

[@captainzero119]

I would call it a CRIME to skip to the end of this video. Damn, it's all about the process!!!!

[@timbull6283]

I remember seeing one of these being used in a cafe in St. Helier, Jersey in the summer of 1976. Turn it on in the morning, turn it off in the evening with no repeat songs throughout the day.

[@mr.berlingo8211]

Just a call to the repairers every other day

[@mikebradlee3504]

Man! I felt your pain on that one. Thanks for your patience. It paid off for us.

[@guidedbyvoices23]

Being a fellow tinkerer... i could watch repairs such as this for hours, thoroughly enjoyable vid, thank you sir..

[@sacsmitty]

I’m impressed with that early ‘70’s engineering! Thanks for taking the time to do that, absolutely smashing!!!

[@hyperion8008]

Somebody in the 70's actually designed that mechanism...extraordinary!

[@CaptTerrific]

All the coolest mechanisms come from the 70s!!! This was JUST before we started having microcontrollers and servos in everything, so this was humanity's PEAK time for inspired electromechanical wonders

[@nickwallette6201]

Just think how long it must have taken to get all the prototype pieces. Must take years to develop something like this.

[@larahau]

Also the car audio 6 or 12 CD changers have crazy complicated mechanism. Smart brains for tha time 🥸

[@mikerichards6065]

I am in awe of the person who drew the isometric exploded diagrams in the manual without the aid of a computer package.

[@andreasklindt7144]

@@CaptTerrific I love all kind of things from the 1970's, that decade fascinates me probably the most in the 20th century. Miniaturization was already in full progress! Commercial transistors were around since the 1950äü-ǘä-ü 's, that made such novelties as car radios possible that hit the market in 1955. Minicomputers were availab le already in the late 1960's, the PDP-8 in 1968 only weighted about 250 pounds/110kg (that's only a cabinet, not a whole room anymore). MOSFETs from the early 1960's led the way to the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, in 1971. Men were walking on the moon at that time!!! And among all this futuristic wonders was this little electromagnetic miracle, that made it so easy and affordable to carry - and share - music around, that was still waiting for it's major impact a decade later... Amazing! OK, today everybody carries around a whole entertainment center and movie studio in his pocket and we can fly helicopers remotly on mars (since a few weeks ago), but still the 1970's are just amazing - and the fact that we survived all the bad things of that time too!

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

"I'm just filling in time here with irrelevance while I get it open". Spit out my coffee on that one 🤣🤣 I am so glad we get to see this, I can't believe the other video is 5 years old. I remember that one and actually rewatched it over Christmas on a binge session. Thank you for this Mat!!

[@dennisdaily5463]

You have an enormous amount of patience. As a person who started in broadcasting in 1965 I have had a ton of tape recorders open.... most developed belt problems. Thanks for your shows. Keep it up. Dennis

[@Eclectronicschannel]

They should have called it the Möbius tape changer since it plays them all in a continuous loop and both sides get played!

[@Microtic]

Released 44 minutes ago, but comment from 1 week ago. 😱 Time traveler!

[@waldnew]

@@Microtic Read the extra info, Patrons have early access to the videos

[@Microtic]

@@waldnew I thought that's how it worked. Was just trying to make a joke. 😅

[@waldnew]

@@Microtic 42 I say.

[@JustinSable]

"If ya wanna just skip to that bit" - heck no! Even if the tech is unsalvageable, the videos are fun! ^_^

[@BertGrink]

You speak for many of us, old Chap! 😁

[@woodywoodverchecker]

Yeah, you need to push that skip button with my cold dead hand.

[@rfburns5601]

I like that you have ventured into the repair side in these presentations; it makes them more interesting. So what if you're not a repair guru, it's encouraging to see folks take matters into their own hands.

[@theroommatecoach5732]

This is great! It reminds me of, of all things, a donut machine my stepfather used in a snack bar he created for a Monkey Wards store many years ago. Batter would get squirted into a revolving circular metal "spider" that sat in a tray of hot cooking oil. Halfway around the circle, each (now half-cooked) donut would get flipped over, allowing it to cook on the other side. As a kid I got a kick out of watching them get flipped! Watching the cassettes make their way down the "ski slope" reminded me of that, odd association I know . Thanks for a great video. I have worked on things like this in my day so I know the frustration as well as the rewards when you get something to work.

[@Neo2906]

Most people do ask me " Why do you love the 70s and 80s so much ????? " Well, take a look at this beautiful piece of technical art......any questions???!!!!!

[@brag0001]

Basically it's a cheap solution to the problem which is also prone to constant failure. We just like it because it's hilarious that such a stupid idea was executed with that much dedication. Playing both sides could be achieved if the motor was able to reverse at playback speed and the cassette was moved slightly to access the other side. Cycling between cassettes would be a lot more stable when using a rack and a robotic arm to grab and place them. Basically what every tape library had been doing since and to this day (they still exist for backup reasons, we have one at our company, currently 7 TB/tape).

[@ohnoitschris]

@@brag0001 yeah but that's boring and isn't reminiscent of a rollercoaster ride

[@brag0001]

@@ohnoitschris when it comes to reliability boring is good 😉

[@DiggerDeeper01]

@@brag0001 But when it comes to amusement, boring is bad.

[@brag0001]

@@DiggerDeeper01 But which tapes you insert into that thing isn't a function of the reliability of the device ;-)

[@SuPerbMusiCFan]

Okay, the thing about Philips not using Phillips screws really blew my mind.

[@WJCTechyman]

@@andygozzo72 Yeah, I hate the Phillips screws with a passion. I prefer Robertson [square] or Torx

[@wyohman00]

I was in the military and we had massive libraries of reel to reel "mix tapes" that we would use them at parties and they would play for hours. A lot of work went into recording onto the reels from multiple albums. I could absolutely see these kind of things in those environments for sure.

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

I'm thinking along these lines. I can see a player like this used in that kind of situation, or a department store. Of course, someone would have to check on it to make sure it doesn't jam

[@colanitower]

This was exactly what my former collection of reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes was about. We called them the "Swingtapes". Now it's digital on a laptop and it can play continuously for 5 days.

[@GillesVandenoostende]

My dad told me how he used to dj student parties back in the 70’s this way. He had a reel to reel and spent hours meticulously recording songs from vinyl records to them to then play back at the event itself. When he did new years eve parties he even timed it exactly so that the tape would fade out at precisely 10 seconds to midnight and then start a new song at midnight.

[@taeraresh2115]

Any electronic device that includes a piece of string as a critical component has my approval. Great job on the repair.

[@jeremyr62]

What a thing indeed. 1970 electro-mechanical engineering. Awesome.

[@dougwagner4902]

I always look forward to watching Matt's new video every Saturday morning. I guess it's sort of like the 30 something's equivalent of the Saturday morning cartoons we grew up with (at least in the U.S.) These types, where he has to repair the device as well are definitely my favorite!

[@ToniRuottu]

"Cool! I can finally play my favorite album on repeat. Just had to purchase six copies on tape."

[@Synthetica9]

You could get away with only 4 I think! Such a bargain.

[@main6974]

He literally says you'll need 3.

[@StCerberusEngel]

@@main6974 And an extra to force the tape down into proper position. But that could be more of a now thing than a then thing.

[@Synthetica9]

@@main6974 Yes, but if you have 4 you can alternate them ABAB and have it continuously play both sides in order instead of having repeating sides every so often

[@TassieLorenzo]

@@Synthetica9 Genius!

[@penguin902]

Very good insight at 37:20 about how Companies just 'trying things' was nice. We don't see it that much anymore.

[@isitreallyisitreally1756]

Damn ! I went to a Hifi Show at Earls Court in early 70’s and one like this was on a stand , I looked in wonder and never thought I would see one again , thanks techmoan 😊👍

[@gmanderson2009]

I saw one in a Norwich audio shop window in 1972, never thought I would see one again. It was a crazy price, at the time, compared to my small salary.

[@ClaymateDesigner]

I have repaired many of these decks when I was in the repair business. I still have a manual.

[@Gadgetonomy]

I can't imagine how someone actually designed this cassette deck with all that complexity inside. There must have been a crazy amount of prototypes and "back to the drawing board" moments.

[@mjouwbuis]

These were the same people who had been designing reel to reel recorders and video recorders for years so they would have been used to the mechanical complexities. Someone working on this design in 1969 may have been transferred to the team that designed the N1500 VCR mechanism a year later or so.

[@davidstone921]

You should see some of the other earlier Phillip's offerings.. Thee were many radios, recorders, & even TV's that used fascinating amounts of string, springs & Bowden cables! (Philips Monoknob?) I once had this theory that the was a very old man at Philip's R&D, probably like me with a grey beard. Under his bench there would be boxes of said springs, string & Bowden cables, just waiting to be incorporated into the next design.

[@Gadgetonomy]

@@davidstone921 I love that description. It makes you wonder. And using string inside a box of what was back then, cutting edge technology, was whacky but also a bit of genius!

[@Ragnar8504]

@@Gadgetonomy It wasn't that uncommon either. Japanese cassette decks often used string and a kind of flywheel as an inertia damper for the cassette well door! And of course radios had been using tuning string for several decades at that point (I think that technique was invented in the late 20s/early 30s).

[@dougbrowning82]

@@davidstone921 Philips had a reputation for producing great products that were a pain to repair. Europeans loved their engineering, but sometimes they went overboard. Still applies today. I opened my Philips shaver to clean it and couldn't put it back together again.

[@EddVCR]

What an odd, fantastical device. Thank you for all your videos, I really enjoy watching them! I love how you explain each device in depth including their history, as well as showing how you fix them.

[@MetalTrabant]

From the age of storing lots of music on thumbnail-sized circuits via ones and zeros, it's fascinating to see the complicated mechanics they had to invent half a century ago just to listen to a long set of music without getting up changing the tape or side. Very entertaining to see it in action! Thanks for your efforts to bring this machine to us! :)

[@newtechgs7471]

What an incredible bit of engineering inside! The manufacturing process must have been quite something

[@Domspun]

Exactly what I am thinking. Would love to see a video of the factory who made those l.

[@trisymphony]

the q-tip advisory made me laugh a lot more than it should, good job

[@kenmore01]

I cracked up when the tape counter stopped working. Sorry Matt. 😄

[@jack_2000]

I always enjoy how you acknowledge you're not an "expert" but you still try to fix things and have fun doing it, your humbleness is seriously one of your best qualities Matt.

[@fearlessfreep]

For a guy who isn't particularly good at repairing things, you certainly are really good at repairing things.

[@passacaglia28]

Agreed. He cetainly had a LOT more patience than I would have!

[@vinylarchaeologist]

How engineers figured out THIS CRAZY AUTOREVERSE STUFF before they realised it’s easier to just flip the playback head is beyond me!

[@Epinardscaramel]

Oooooooh that would be simpler, yes

[@garyhundsrucker7771]

Live and learn the hard way!Too bad the r&d depts don't go the extra mile and work out ALL the bugs like with tapes getting chewed up and cd's being scratched and skipping annoyingly!

[@750kv8]

@@garyhundsrucker7771 - They *never* seemed to fully care about the tape chewing issue to be sorted out.

[@750kv8]

Absolutely nothing, that seems easy and simple now, started out as that.

[@CTimmerman]

@@garyhundsrucker7771 Blu-ray disks have anti-scratch coating. I read they were the cheapest and most durable option for archive use at Facebook.

[@garyblack8717]

That mechanism is BRUTAL! Good job getting it running!

[@mikesam347]

At the time Philips was a huge concern with thousands of employees, including an R&D dept. I wonder what the budget was for developing and getting that thing into production. Not to mention putting it together on a production line. It looked more like a novelty than a serious piece of HiFi. I must say you did an excellent job of getting it to work, well done. I remember havin a philips hifi stereo receiver, that had a few small bulbs to illuminate the dials and tuning scale. To replace a bulb I had to unscrew the cabinet at the back which had steel brackets clipped over the frequency scale coupled with long bolts and tightened up with the screws at the back. It never looked the same after i had my hands on it. In the 70's Philips had a technical service depot in Rotterdam that was walk in - wait - walk out with it fixed, no charge. I took my VHS video recorder there, explained at the counter what was wrong, I was given a number and waited about 40 minutes. A technician brought it out, said they had replaced ( a number part) and it was now Ok. What a service...!

[@sdavifcom]

I'm upset that I cannot click the thumb up thingy a hundred times or so. One of your most satisfying videos of all times. Thank you for your, obvious, hard work !

[@Nightenstaff]

Bravo, you beautiful bastard. This was simply amazing to watch and you can actually feel the effort you put in to getting this going. Thank you!

[@0garythebloke0]

I was a repair technician with the mod. I know some of the frustration you encountered. I really enjoyed watching you tackle this nightmare deck.

[@0garythebloke0]

I agree, time is something we all have less tomorrow than we had today👍 Reminded me of a Bible verse ...."that you may make sure of the more important things" Philippians 1:10

[@andyhowlett2231]

I worked in the Radio/TV/HiFi trade for about 30 years from 1969. These players came along in the early/mid 70's IIRC and were just the job for pubs who wanted continuous background music without the same tracks coming around every hour or so. They were pretty reliable too, although there was a cord-drive that was meant to pull the cassette through the deck and failed occasionally. I owned an N2400 which was a great machine which made really nice recordings.

[@ian_b]

It's 1975. As your lady arrives, Neil Diamond is playing. Barry and sparkling wine gets her in the mood. Then it's Englebert to accompany the making of sweet, sweet love.

[@Syncopator]

For that you'd need some Barry White I think...

[@anononomous]

...But then there is a horrible noise as the tape starts to be consumed by the mechanism halfway through Please Release Me, then the next hour is spent carefully extracting it with a pen lid.

[@saintmichael1779]

Engelbert had a big hit "After the Lovin'".

[@deusexaethera]

None of that sounds arousing in the least.

[@chrispenn715]

Hahaha - Mateus Rose wine, surely? :-)

[@fricki1997]

You can directly tell how much time and sanity a man has spent fiddling with a piece of mechanical nightmare by how proficient he is in operating it without its cover on.

[@slappa_de_bass]

Very interesting. It is hard to imagine the assembly line, or assembly system used to construct that all. The exterior and facia, looks relatively ‘cheap’ or simple, by today’s standards, but the inside is to me - astounding. Cassettes gave me many years of discovery and pleasure: so I really enjoyed this whole production.

[@vikash878]

I don't think this much experiment happened on any other audio system other than cassette player.. Amazing .. :) :)

[@britcom1]

This would be a great machine to use to steal your unsuspecting friends' tapes (without the ski slope attachment). They would pop their tape into the machine and after it plays the A side, they can watch their tape disappear into the guts of the machine and you can then say to them, "Oh well, it's gone now." :)

[@visionist7]

:-0

[@SHO1989]

He's gone. And we couldn't do NOTHING about it. That's it. He's gone.

[@visionist7]

@@SHO1989 real greaseball shit

[@nickrider815]

It's just really interesting to watch someone repairing old machines.

[@HebaruSan]

I can't believe I'm only hearing that 2020 pun this late in the year!

[@qwertyasdf66]

I predicted a plague of 20/20 vision puns back at the beginning of 2019. I was pleased to be wrong about that becoming a thing.

[@SandyNoble]

That's really solid work imo, good one. Maybe to be applied sparingly though, there's a surprise element to it.

[@toomanymarys7355]

In the 90s, I lived in a town that had a revitalization/beautification program called the 2020 Vision, with a list of things they wanted to get done by 2020. They actually mostly did it, believe it or not.

[@davidstarsky6435]

Wow what a cool machine. This looks so awesome even when its off. This is the holy grail of casette changers. Also I always thought the compact cassette is such a superior design. These things work almost flawlessly when 40 years old!

[@Aspire198]

I have no idea how I ended up here but I'am so glad I did. That thing is brilliant! Although I imagine if you told the designers how we managed to overcome this issue they'd cry.

[@Dutch3DMaster]

I honestly never knew, but being able to read a tape in reverse in the beginning was impossible due to how the heads were constructed, they would've been able to damage the tape when reversing the direction of the tape over it.

[@jr2037]

What’s great about Techmoan is how audio history is being archived and catalogued in such a high quality engaging format. Think about how amazing this will all be to see 100 years from now. In a Bluetooth speaker, streaming world, these devices really are a window into the pre-Internet music culture. Cheers Techmoan.

[@deanobeany]

Also odd to think there could be a 70 year old in 2065 referring to brands like apple and Sony and how dominant there were in consumer electronics to a generation who have never heard of them

[@RCAvhstape]

@@deanobeany I bet Sony will still be around in 2065. Along with Coca Cola. Funny to look at movies like Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey and pick out the corporate brands that survived vs. the ones that didn't.

[@bijanpal6948]

Repairing any tape mechanism is hard work but it's that wonderful vintage design . Amazing.

[@jacknjill3000]

I love the fact there are endless electronic gadgets from the past and glad you’re taking a strong interest in discovering some of them. Keep up the great work !

[@hidronico1]

This man is the hero we all deserve making truly interesting content, one of the last hidden gems of the internet. I also love that im not the only one that geeks out over these old pieces of tech and getting to see how they were designed and put together