How to silence a BSR tape deck.
Most of the irritating noise and vibration on the BSR TD2 deck comes from the large rubber idler wheel and its tensioner. Age-hardening of the rubber is partly responsible, but it spoils an otherwise clever piece of engineering.
The idler is redundant on a single-speed drive, and it can be replaced by a direct belt drive from the motor pulley to the flywheel, as fitted to the original TD1 design. Presumably the idler was introduced to enable multi- speed versions.
A readily available 120 x 4mm turntable belt is about the right length - ideally it could be a little shorter - and is easy to fit although some dismantling is required to get the idler assembly out.
The improvement is surprising - almost in another class with much quieter and smoother running - and well worth the effort.
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