Tips for buying a cassette deck, in 2013, in Chicago?

Yeah, Goodwill. Or Your Charity Shop Of Choice. Go in with sense of what's decent and what's crap, ask the staff if you can have a listen first, to make sure that it ain't broken. You may not find a pristine Nakamichi, but you'll find cassette deck separates. I'd be wary of decks stacked with 80s innovations (extended play, auto-reverse) and go with something with that 70s brushed metal vibe.

Hell, I bet if you sent a nice email to all of your friends' parents you wouldn't have too much trouble finding someone with one sitting in their garage they want to get rid of, frankly. I imagine you could listen to cassettes until you die without having to spend more than $5 on a deck.

Seconding the TASCAM 202mkV. It's the SM-58 of tape decks: Bulletproof, and everybody uses it because it always works. Pitch control is nice for worn out tapes. It's very chunky sounding when starting/stopping, but that's because it's built like a tank.

If you want to get it repaired, take it to http://www.deltronicschicago.com on N. Halsted. They specialize in fixing old electronics for a fair price. Ask for Jon. Tell him Nate from Germany sent you.

Cassette decks wear out. They are mechanical devices. A used one will always be a gamble and will always be less good than a new one. A pawnshop one is likely to suck. And new ones that do a quite competent job can be had for $100-200. Problem solved. TASCAM studio grade stuff if you want to go high quality. The most important part of a cassette deck is the tape you put into it. If you care about taking care of your tape, especially, buy a new deck.

I built a similar setup and found the components on Craigslist. The biggest problem is that any old deck is likely to be at least 20 years old, and the various rubber belts and tension wheels have often become brittle and cracked or decomposed into sticky goo. These parts are cheap, but the labor cost of fixing a tape deck will almost always exceed the cash value of the deck. I wanted to relive the experience of making mixtapes from LPs, and it was worth it to me to pay a technician to get the deck up and running, but this is something you should be aware of before you go down this road. It's just part of the entry costs for having a sweet 1970s silver-face tape deck. Auto-reverse decks are looked down on because the auto-reverse head is just one more moving part that will inevitably break or go out of compliance and harm sound quality. Don't buy a reciever with a built-in tape deck. Others have mentioned Nakamichi, Pioneer, TEAC, and Tascam, which are all good brands. Tascam in particular sold a lot of well-made decks for professional use (recording studios, radio stations) but they often suffer from wear and tear that comes with such use. My suggestion is to browse craigslist, note the models that look good in your price range, then google the make/model along with the terms "tapeheads" or "audiokarma" to get some informed opinion about whether it's worth adopting them. I like the old Pioneer CT-Fxxxx models, like http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/4239635909.html or http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/4204213189.html (and yes that second one is pricey, but it's a great deck). This http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/4195196502.html looks super cool, and the price on this http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/4241824311.html is right. (Sankyo made a lot of parts used by other brand names). If you come into some cash over the holidays, you could blow it all on this gorgeous http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/ele/4246878517.html setup.

I bought mine at an indie record store for $50, it's worth calling and asking around at those places. I know Logan Hardware has a few shelves of old audio equipment, they might have a tape deck there? Decibel Audio will also sell some decent ones (but expect them to be $200+).

Out of the Past sold these (at least five years ago), though they were, like everything else there, in a giant pile that you would have to pick through in order to get one. But while we were there, there was a dude testing them at the front desk.

This thread was extremely helpful to me because it helped me figure out a budget and a correct mode of action. I'm a little less bummed that there's issues with the built-in tape deck on the reciever I bought; it seems pretty par-for-course for something that old. Decibel Audio covers parts+labor for the first six months, so I'm going to give them a chance to replace all the belts/drives/whatever, because it's starting to sound like $75 is a deal for reciever + (tape deck + refurbishing). If that works, I still have a 6 month option to trade it in, during which time I can troll Craiglist and thrift stores and whatever. I have a better idea of what to look for now. If they're unable to fix it, I can use the credit toward a standalone reciever, and Logan Hardware has a tape deck for $60 with a three month return window (thanks, naju).