Cassette direct drive decks

[thomhew]

Hello - it's been a longtime since I got my first Collaro record player. I have returned to the fold via cassettes because of their warm sound and compact and tough format. I have been collecting cassettes in France (I live in France) and New Zealand for a couple of years. I have moved through radio cassettes which sadly all snapped their rubber bands. So I went onto decks and I got in a Philips direct drive N 2515 luckily at emmahaus in Beziers. My cassette life changed and it has never missed a beat for 3 years. I now have a stupendous collection of cassettes. In fact as I type now I am literally knee deep in them. Great! One tragedy was I got a Tandberg deck before I knew anything and I gave it back to emmahaus. aaargh!

I have a couple of sundry japanese decks - a Technics M51 with something called 'autorec system' Question 1. What does that do? and a Pioneer CT-W710R which like the Technics is belt driven. But what a massive wide belt. But they are both noisy unlike the Phillips.

The second question I would like to ask fellow cassette deck fans is about another deck I picked up the other day for 15 Euro. A National Panasonic direct drive RS275. It's a goodie. Built like a tank sounds great - wonderful machine BUT it doesn't fast forward or rewind. Everything else is OK.
Can anyone help me. I am pretty handy with a soldering iron, but am no expert in electronic repairs.

Thanks and anyone wanting to sell a deck or cassettes let me know

cheers

Hew

[Poultrygeist]

Honestly the only cassette decks I see anymore are at thrift stores. Had a case of nostalgia the other day and couldn't pass up the $5 Nakamichi at Goodwill.