No left channel in Akai R2R

[dehrman]

Hey, guys, I just picked up an Akai X-200D, a reel-to-reel tape deck. It picks up both the left and right channels just fine; I can tell from the VU meters. However, it only outputs the right channel, whether I output through the line out or through the headphones jack. I've tested on multiple tapes, and I've tried recording to tape, too...and still the same problem: the heads pick up the signal, but I don't hear anything. It's a solid state system, so a blown tube is out of the question. Any ideas?

[Scorpion8]

Try cleaning all the pots such as headphone level control and output level control. A thorough DeOxit cleaning is the first step. You can chase transistors all day not knowing that you just have a dirty control.

[Scorpion8]

Did we solve this?

[Jay Pemberton]

I have an X200D as well (given to me for FREE for going out to its owner's place and sorting out some problem he had with a 4X12 guitar amp cabinet he head, around 10 years ago) that had a problem with its playback cutting out. Every time it did, I could hear a faint mechanical 'click' coming from inside the machine.

Bear in mind, I have never had a manual or schematic for this deck, but what I figured out was that there is a relay in there whose sole purpose is to mute the tape playback output for a few seconds when the deck switches from one playback direction to the other. So something in the circuit driving the relay was causing the relay to activate all the time, thus causing the problem.

The expedient fix for me was simply to remove the relay.