Up-cycled Sony TC-209 SD cassette deck

[Roog]

Hi, I thought I would post my conversion of a ‘not working’ Sony TC-209 SD cassette deck into an audio streamer using a raspberry Pi running Picoreplayer, hardware including an official 7” touch screen and an Allo digione hat providing SPDIF output.

My project was motivated by my colleague and friend but also a YouTube vid by Darko who made the choice of computer and matching screen an easy selection.



I started this project as a bit of therapy and it has certainly kept me busy during my free time.

A low cost DAC feeds the original VU meters via their control circuitry, the cassette player ‘piano keys’ have been modified to operate micro switches which now operate the RPi to give direct control of REW/stop/play/ff & pause, much like these controls would have operated the original cassette mech, it also includes a new one, the REC key skips to the next track. My thanks to members in this place who helped me with the key map for PCP. The line level pots adjust the level fed to the VU meters to keep them dancing, I don’t suppose calibrated VU meters matter much on a streamer.

I have retained the internal PSU circuits as much as reasonable and these feed non RPi functions.

Looking forward to my next project, looking for ideas.

[sodface]

Really cool Roog! Nice job. I have my Dad's Teac AL-1250 reel-to-reel, I wonder what could be done with that...

[Roog]

Really cool Roog! Nice job. I have my Dad's Teac AL-1250 reel-to-reel, I wonder what could be done with that...

Thank you @sodface, I am not at all knowledgeable on the Teac reel to reel machines although I am aware that some models are quite sought after and worth servicing. I wish that I had kept my 80’s Teac cassette deck a V-5RX, that was a distinctive machine.

[Heuer]

Superb piece of work! Looks fantastic and fits in with the retro and recycling ethos. Well done.

[Roog]

Superb piece of work! Looks fantastic and fits in with the retro and recycling ethos. Well done.

Thank you for your kind thoughts @Heuer.

I have seen so many nice retro styled bits of kit lately that I fancied adapting one to put it to daily use. This Sony cassette deck lent itself very well to this task, it wasn't working when I bought it and the necessary repair was not clear to me, so I didn't feel too guilty about repurposing it. Its quite a large machine and this placed few restrictions on how i could use it.

They are also fairly low cost, probably due to a lack of interest in cassette decks of modest performance like this one, which suited me in this slightly risky venture.

It makes me feel slightly better about my actions in that I did repair the second (also not working) JVC cassette deck I bought at the same time. Ironically, it is unlikely that I will have much use for it!