Hitachi TRK-6701W

Been wanting one of these ever since John Edward (RIP) and I were unknowingly bidding against each other for his red one, we joked about it afterwards even though he would have paid a lot less for it if I hadn't been bidding, great guy will always be missed .

Mine arrived yesterday not a red one sadly, it was filthy covered in paints spots and I mean covered, the outer speaker grills were badly bashed, dented and rusty, it looked far worse than the listing pictures, didn't take any before pictures I was too eager to get it cleaned up. I totally dismantled it and started the clean up, it took hours to carefully pick of all the paint spots.
Spent a while straightening the outer grills got them looking pretty good, not perfect but I was happy with them, gave them a coat of paint this morning.
With all the chrome pieces removed I gave these a good polish they were just starting to pit but came up pretty nice also polished up the antenna, handle ends and strap brackets.
Re-belted the deck easy enough to do except all belts had turned into that lovely black goo which was everywhere, including all over the wiring and the bottom and back of the case, a useful tip for others methylated spirits removes this quite well.
As well as the paint spots the front cabinet was all blotchy like something had been splashed on it and had damaged the paint finish, I carefully used T-cut and most of this polished out.

So here it is looking quite good and happy with how it turned out and for £12 can't really complain

 

Very nice! Good to see it getting a proper bath

 

Good job boy!!

 

Great mini, congrats! This model has been on my wish list for quite a while,
esp. the red one.

 

great job.
Now this beautiful mini will work for another decade.

 

Ooh, I have this one.
Hitachi were not always top of the heap for quality, but this one is up there, for sure.
Decent build quality, servo deck & some lovely toys: stereo wide, loudness, separate bass & treble, led level meter, etc.
Those extra tweeters are classic of the time; shove 'em on & proudly proclaim '3 way 6 speakers' - never mind that they make almost no difference to the sound, especially the piezos.
Obviously there isn't much bass - back then woofers of this size didn't deliver much boom, but with the bass way up & the loudness on the sound is nicely balanced for such a tiny machine.

I'm going to go & get mine now…

 

@mrp32Dave


I have seen, that you repaired your 6701.

My Hitachi TRK-6700 (seems to be the same) has a quite strange problem.

It came recently a little bit dirty and with dissolved capstan belt from US. I have cleaned it and installed a new belt. Regarding maintenance this boombox is a dream. The front plate with the loudspeakers can be removed completely with just disconnecting one plug. Mechanical and electronical parts can be easily removed – only some screws and connectors.



After installing the new belt, unfortunately the tape mechanism does not work properly. After pushing the Play button, the tape cradle does not move down enough. Capstan wheel and pinch roller as well as idler and tape curler do not touch each other. So, the tape does not turn. It is like a “Pause Mode”. But when pushing the Pause button nothing really happens.


Here is a Youtube Video, showing this issue:




Do you have an idea?

Or is there a recommendation for someone in Germany or Europe, who could repair it? I have the service manual for it.

 

Remove the head block & re-locate so the pinch roller moves the correct distance forward! Easy easy easy & common issue with Hitachi decks of the time! My TRK-9100 deck had the same problem & other models with soft touch mech!!

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I will check it the next time.

 

Having pulled my TRK6701 out for a play, my youngest daughter took a shine to it (she's grown out of the surprisingly good Hello Kitty egg that Ed & Betty kindly imported for me from the USA around a decade ago), so it ended up in her room, running off an external DC adaptor. It seems that kids these days really love retro stuff & the chrome & diminutive size really appealed.
Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks she switched it on & a tiny amount of smoke came out & now, nothing.
She's got the Sansui FX-700R now.
I spoil my kids!

 

I've always found this an interesting unit too.

Great pictures btw.

 

that is hitachi mechanism gt-5000,good design for cassette tape mechanism,everything else is a simplified version of it.

 

Good photography and breakdown!
I had one of these, it had good sound. I'm not sure if the 3-way speakers really produced better highs than the best Sanyos and Aiwas, though.

 

Meanwhile I found the root cause for the not proper working tape mechanism. In the tapehead block is installed a spring, which shall push the mechanism down. This is a quite strong spring. Unfortunately, it is installed in a tiny piece of (soft) plastic, that over the time has broken. Therefore, the spring was loose without tension.

To remove the plastic base, I had to remove the tapeheads. Then I took some Super Glue to fix the plastic part. After that I could reinstall the spring, now again with proper tension. Additionally, I filled some area of the spring with the Super Glue to have more stability.

After hardening of the glue, I could reassemble the head block. Now the tape mechanism works as it should. I only had to readjust the azimuth of Rec/Play head and the trace of the Erase head.








Now it works again

 

I wonder if anyone has the shoulder strap for this? It has loops for a strap, so they must have sold one.

 

Hitachi quality went down in the mid 80's, but in the late 70's and early 80's it was top. For example I think the TRK-8190 has better build quality than the JVC M70.

 

Yeah you were unlucky with yours ☹ the pip broke off whereas usually the spring jumps out of the plastic head block! You did a good job to repair it too! Now I know for next time one of these mechanisms is on my repair bench Many don't know of this puzzling fault, for me I only experienced it 1'st time in February 2018 with my TRK-9100 Compo, I replaced the pinch roller not realising I had pulled tension spring out of position!! Took me a long time to work it out!! Lol Love many of the underrated Hitachi's need to watch out for more of them!!

 

The 8290 has even better build than the 8190 with an improved more reliable cassette mechanism & of course beautiful silvery looks compared to the 8190! Both are icons to me!

 

This question I also asked myself. But as I did not find a finished shoulder strap for it, I built my own. The parts came from an online shop which sells sewing accessories.
Here are the pictures: