I might have just done something stupid. I got ahold of the above
reel-to-reel machine to play with. It's got a foreign power plug (two
round prongs), requiring 240 VAC. Years ago, my friend had it working
on 120 VAC with an adapter, but the machine has been unused for a long
time. The adapter he used is shot, so I bought a new reverse 120 V to
240 V converter, rated at 40W. The Akai unit is rated at 140W.
Without checking the wattage ratings, I plugged the thing in, powered
it on, put a tape on and pushed the play button. The mechanism engaged
briefly, but the meter lamps got dim, and the mechanism immediately
disengaged. My concern is whether or not I might have done damage by
under-powering the unit. There were no pops or smells or bad noises.
Does anyone know if the behavior I described above could be related to
broken belts or something else?

Thanks,
Dave Corsello
www.davecorsello.com