Help with an old modular sound system

buttheadrulesagainbuttheadrulesagain
in Help Wanted!
My family has an old Kenwood MIDI M-959 sound system back from the beginning of the nineties.  It turns on, but the cassette player deck won't play it correctly: it advances for a few seconds, and then stops. The CD player doesn't recognize if it has a CD or not. How good are the chances that these problems are just due to dirt/dust? The last time this system was used (several years ago), it worked correctly. If it's dirt, how can I clean it? is there a good product I can use, like a spray or something? Would I have to open it? Is it better if I send it to a repair shop $$$?

Comments

  • removed04092017removed04092017
    The laser in the drive may be bad, that's common for stuff even today. I'd google some on your model and see if it's a common problem. With the cassette player I have no idea. Good luck.
  • buttheadrulesagainbuttheadrulesagain
    Unfortunately, not much comes up when I google it (I tried before posting this). There's a "service manual" around, but it's not free on the places I've seen it, and it's diagrams and stuff I don't understand anyways. Funny thing with the CD is that it recognized the disc the very first time I put a CD on it today, but it refused to play, like a typical dirty lens situation. After pulling out the CD, and reinserting it, it didn't recognized it anymore (nor the fact that it didn't have a CD).
  • samaronsamaron
    Try cleaning the laser head. Although, it probably can be dead as well since it is 20 years old now.



    The cassette deck sound like it have a bad belt inside. That too is very common. Cassette decks use rubber belts from the motor to drive stuff inside. Open it up and see if the belt(s) have good contact and/or are broken. I've had a couple of cassette decks where the belts turned into goo. If it is not the belt, then the motor might be uncalibrated or close to death.
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