The best tape recorder may fissle and rattle in the course of time. The sound becomes dull.

This indicates that dust and dirt have sedimented on the sound head. When playing a tape dirt gets caught at the sound head or the tape treading path and may damage the tape and sound heads.

This problem occurs frequently in car radios. The tape recorders in the car radio often get dirty more quickly than in the house.

How to clean your tape recorder

The most suitable method for cleaning audio equipment is isopropyl alcohol. You can buy this pure alcohol in the pharmacy. Take the smallest quantity. Even a small bottle lasts a long time and it evaporates more quickly than it gets used up.

Disconnect the tape recorder from the power supply before cleaning it!

Wet a fine cotton cloth with alcohol and carefully clean the sound heads, capstan and tape treading paths. You can also use a cotton bud. Take care that nothing seeps into the equipment.

The outside of the housing and the ventilator can be sucked off or blown out by means of compressed air. These you get as aerosols in the do-it-yourself-store. But you can also ask at the petrol station, whether they can blow out your tape recorder there.

Clean tapes keep your tape recorder clean. With dirty tapes it gets dirty more quickly. Keep the tapes in the cover. Take the tapes out of the device after use. Do not keep the tapes near heatings or on sunny window sills.