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Ok, survived Clarks village - just.

Thinking about it on the drive home, it seems unlikely that you would get distortion on both left and right channels due to a single fault if the fault is in a capacitor or resistor. I mean all the circuits I've looked at the signal path is basically separate for L and R, so a single capacitor in the signal path going duff might distort one channel or t'other but not both. The chances of both L&R capacitors failing at the same time is tiny, and the chances of the same thing happening on multiple radios? Nahh, Occam's razor says it's something else.

You mention a TDA4748. Are you sure of that part number - or could it be a TDA7348? TDA7348 appears to be an audio processor & switch, switching the input between radio and tape inputs, and is used in lots of Blaupunkt stuff. TDA4748 is an obsolete switch mode power supply chip, and I can't see it on any of the circuit diagrams I've found.

The other possibility is power supply. When the tape deck motor is running the unit will probably be drawing 1A-2A more that when it's running on radio or CD. I'm wondering if this extra power is enough to cause the supply to drop and/or get noisy, enough to upset the supplies to the analogue sections of the tape and speaker drive circuitry. That would be enough to cause distortion on the 'tape' inputs, but allow the radio and CD to operate normally. It would also affect both L & R of the tape equally. It might also explain why if you pick off the tape signals and feed them into an external amp there is no distortion - the speaker drivers will also take a lot of power - perhaps there is only enough power to rune either the amps or the motors, and not both?

To test that theory I'd locate the supply pin to the tape deck - probably +12V - and power it externally from a bench supply. Need to be careful though - you don't want to blow up the cassette motors.

May he Rest in Peace,  driving home at Christmas such a fantastic song at this time of year he certainly won't be forgotten.

I’m in the midlands at moment. Just had a pleasant drive around a housing estate looking at peoples lights.

Yeah. Why bother yourself when you can just look at everyone else's 

hi .no its definately not a deck issue ive swapped decks ,that was the very first thing i did years ago and now as well .i dont have a signal generator or oscilloscope but yes if i seperate the sound circuit after the head preamps and the main input ic (at the coupling caps) then i get a good sound out AND a good sound if i feed into the main ic so this should be impossible .one way should be faulty but it isnt .im back on it now and looking at dome smd caps see if changing them makes a difference !

I’m in the midlands at moment. Just had a pleasant drive around a housing estate looking at peoples lights.

Interesting account of how he actually wrote that song on the bbc a few days ago.

Can't see it being related to motor speed. That would normally result in either slow/fast playback or more likely a wow-ing type variation in the audio output as the motor speed hunts up and down.

My first guess would have been it's related to tape pickup head alignment. It doesn't take much misalignment on the tape/head to cause a muffled type sound. However, if I understand correctly you're saying you've picked off the signal prior to the main amplifier and played it through a different amp, and it sounds ok? If that's correct, then probably not alignment.

Have you got a signal generator and an oscilloscope? If so you can usually inject a signal somewhere close to the tape pickup heads and then follow it through the circuit using the scope to see where the distortion is introduced. I'd go with a 1KHz signal at low amplitude (perhaps a few mV) to start with and crank up the amplitude once you're happy. Distortion on pure sine waves is usually pretty easy to spot by eye (on a 'scope), and even easier to hear.

There are some fairly complex frequency compensation circuits on cassettes due to the different charicteristics of various metals used in the tapes, plus other compression stuff (Dolby B/C for example). Don't rule out faults in these compensaiton circuits.

Haven't got time to look deeper today - need to go to Street/Clarks Outlet centre tonight. Shops close at 7pm and parking is only free after 6pm so a narrow window to get in and out without paying.  Not looking forward to it. 

He won't be driving home for Christmas. Plagued with ill health over his lifetime i believe. RIP Chris, really liked his music.

Just for STEMO

Well done. Thanks. 

Chris Rea. 74.