N707 with misaligned heads, worth fixing?

[AE86_Racer]

So Ive come across an N707 with what the owner claims to be a misaligned recording head(I assume this is the case because it plays but not records). Is it fixable and how much if it is?

[Superbaldguy]

Sony would charge you for the optical block, the whole assembly that includes the head and lens. I doubt the cost makes it worthwhile, unless you got your N707 for nothing. I'd put your money towards a new Hi-MD recorder - if you can find an NH700, that would be a good choice.

[sector001]

i agree a mid level HiMD recorder would probably be the better option. unless u can get some sort of estimate first and then decide later if u want to get it fixed.

[THIS SUCKS]

Have it repaired if you can afford it. I know I would. Why would it have to join the junk heap yet?! It plays? Great. It can be made to record again? Even greater. Lets try and slow this waste attitude down somewhat when possible. I am determined to get the CD player section of my -not so- old JVC system repaired / optical block replaced. The tuner works. The double auto-reverse cassette tape section works. The amp works. Why discard / put it aside completely yet?!

i have one with that problem. dont buy it it will erase your disks even with the write protect enabled. the only thing to do is use it for a player only after you take it apart and remove the magnetic record head so it cant erase the disks by accident.

[Ral-Clan]

It sounds to me that it might NOT be a mis-alignment problem, but rather a break in the ribbon cable that leads to the recording head. If this is the case, people have been able to repair this ribbon cable (I think it was a big problem on the MZ-N505). The flexing of the ribbon cable causes this short to occur.

If you can can get this unit for almost nothing and fix it yourself then it will be worth it.

I am a big proponent of REPAIR rather than REPLACE....save from the landfill, etc. like some other posters.

Unfortunately Sony have a pricing policy that is meant to deter this.

The LCD cracked on my MZ-R700. I called for a repair estimate. The price of the PART was $125.00 Canadian, plus labour (I assume add at LEAST another $50).

Obviously they DON'T want to fix their equipment and would rather that you bought a new one.

In the end, because of the repair philosophy, I purchased the part and installed it myself....but really, it was not financially worth it. Better to get your MD spare parts from old, broken units which you can buy for peanuts on Ebay.

In fact, I think some of the lastest, cheap NET MD players used identical ribbons to the 505 and maybe the 707?

Edited May 15, 2007 by Ral-Clan