'New' cassette deck and signal clicks

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Hello,

Since my beloved Yamaha cassette deck died after 18 years of stirling
service, I decided to replace it so I can continue to enjoy my old cassette
collection.

I found a Technics cassette recorder today on offer in a local electrical
store. It was ex-display but looked in good order.

However, there are loud clicks on some of my tapes when I play them back. I
inspected the transport mechanism and it was fairly dusty so, after using
the cotton bud + alcohol routine (for the tape heads etc - not for me) I
tried again. The clicking is still there. It sounds almost like a static
click and it shows up on the front meter of the unit.

Any ideas? I'll probably return it but then I'll have to fork out much more
for a non-ex-demo machine!

Thanks in advance,

Daryl