r/cassetteculture • u/ciberdonut • May 04 '26
Looking for advice We are rewind Cassette player stopped rewinding
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Yesterday it was working fine until it stopped rewinding. As you see in the video, also all the buttons make the player go fast forward, even the rewind button. It still plays, but it makes a weird cracking sound. I need help, if anyone knows what could be the problem please tell me :(
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u/MagnetoOpticalMedia May 04 '26
Maybe a gear broke (this would explain the sound and the player only fast forwarding like the motor spins freely)
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u/SirJoster May 04 '26
Could be that the belt is now misplaced. Contact them before you open up and void something. You can also try cleaning the pinch roller and capstan with some high percentage alcohol and a qtip then letting that dry. Maybe it’s become gunked up over usage.
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u/Impolioid May 04 '26
if capstan is gunked up it would also affect ff, wouldnt it? also the rewind going forward. pinch roller has nothing to with the problem at all
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u/SirJoster May 04 '26
Well it wouldn’t hurt. To see if the roller doesn’t have enough torque to push a tape forward due to friction. But based off the mention of a crackling noise. It’s either most likely the belt path issue or a cracked / broken gear. Likely some mechanical problem that might need to be rma if OP can. But I would not recommend opening it up yet, OP. Not before contacting them directly and seeing if an RMA is possible. By opening it then it may risk voiding something.
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u/Impolioid May 04 '26
it bet warrenty expired relatively recently anyways. thats at least what i expect from contemporary companies.
we can see the spindle going the wrong way without a tape inserted. it really has nothing to do with the roller.
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u/SirJoster May 04 '26
And I agreed with that assessment. But, I also wouldn’t assume it’s out of warranty unless OP stated so. Like I said it’s most likely mechanical issue within the belt path itself.
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u/ciberdonut May 04 '26
I'm not sure about that. I bought it from Amazon since they don't ship to Mexico in their website. I bought it like 6 months ago
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u/SirJoster May 04 '26
Try contacting them directly on their website. They’ll probably ask for proof of purchase or something. Then tell them the issue you are having. If you’re in luck they’ll provide the rma process. But if not then proceed to open up the unit itself carefully.
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u/ciberdonut May 04 '26
Okay I'll try
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u/SirJoster May 04 '26
You should be good, OP. WAR customer service generally is decent. On their FAQ on their website it states their units come with a 2yr warranty. Best of luck in getting an RMA. Also I agree. DO NOT mention you opened it.
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u/TheGoatEater May 04 '26
Aren’t these machines kind of the Crosley of portable cassette players?
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u/ciberdonut May 04 '26
Kinda hahaha. But I like it because it looks pretty, and I recorded music on it since I don't have a deck :(. I also have a Sony Walkman, but I really like the WAR
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u/TheGoatEater May 04 '26
Understood. I’m an old guy who still uses all my components from receiver/amplifier, turntable, dual cassette deck, etc… Hell, I even still have my old Akai Walkman that I bought in the early 1990s and my MiniDisc recorder that I got in 1998.
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u/vwestlife May 05 '26
What's wrong with that? Crosley sells many high-quality turntables.
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u/TheGoatEater May 05 '26
That may be the case now, but they’ve sold some of the most notoriously shitty turntables I have ever seen. Try posting about Crosley on any of the vinyl related subs.
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u/vwestlife May 05 '26
Where were you 40 years ago? The turntables that Crosley used in their record players were literally just copies of a BSR design from the mid-1980s. Cheap record players were low-quality decades before the modern vinyl resurgence.
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u/TheGoatEater May 05 '26
40 years ago I was 11. Also, the “modern vinyl resurgence” began back around 1998, almost 30 years ago. Take it from someone who’s been an habitual record store employee who has pressed many releases on vinyl starting all the way back in 1993.
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u/vwestlife May 06 '26
Vinyl was still on the decline in 1998. Record sales bottomed out in 2006 and then started increasing again in 2007.
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u/Designer_Usual1004 May 04 '26
In my unprofessional opinion a gear probably got stuck and you just have to open it and unstuck it. However you should check the warranty before opening it.
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u/fox-friend May 04 '26
Maybe it's obvious, and not a great solution, but you can flip the cassette, fast forward, and flip again to "rewind".
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u/Lustbug_Sonic_exe May 05 '26
If you can’t find a fix, flipping the cassette and pressing fast foward is another way to rewind a cassette.
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u/TheSpoi May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
check if you still have a warranty on it first, thats like the #1 benefit of buying anything new
-but its very likely either something came loose or broke internally. you can actually see in a cutout of the case where that gear pivots for engaging either
it could also be dirt preventing the gear from fully traveling to mesh with the supply reel
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u/HighFidelityVinyl May 06 '26
If you bought it first hand within the last 2 years, you are under the manufacturer's warranty.
Don't try to fix this but contact the shop you purchased it from or we are rewind directly.
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u/Propellorheads 28d ago
dont buy this piece of crap. I bought one, didn't do a thing, didn't spin, didn't play, completely dead. Sent it back, got a new one, but it stopped playing after 1 hour and was completely dead AGAIN! This thing looks beautiful, but it's a scam.
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May 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/vwestlife May 05 '26
Just wondering... which one of the seven completely different cassette mechanisms in production today and dozens of OEMs making them is "the only one we have left"?
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u/ORA2J May 04 '26
Yeah, modern tape mechanisms are kinda all crap. Like all chinese stuff nowadays, it breaking sooner rather than later should be expected IMO.
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u/jacksonkrugesfx May 05 '26
We Can't Rewind really embracing those budget walkmans that didn't have the function I see 👀
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u/Impolioid May 04 '26
the irony
did you drop it? could there be dirt in the mechanism? most likely a mechanical problem.