rekmeyata

I like the last comment: "You need this stuff more then we do!" that was great.

Chombi

When you guys say "repair" these Hi Fi components, what do you exactly mean?? does it take lots of electronic knowledge/skills and special equipment to do these repairs? I'm wondering, cause I have a Harmann Kardon component set that went south on me (has a constant buzz when turned on, and lately I can't even turn it on as the power does not want to stay on as the electronic switch seems to just click on and off rapidly without "catching" when I press the power button on the amp face plate or the remote ) and I really want to repair it myself if I can, cause I'm sure it will cost more to have it professionally repaired than what the set is worth (It's a "Festival 500" mini component sytem.....don't laugh, I never had a big budget for audio systems). Can one really learn/teach themselves how to repair these things?

Chombi

leecycle

Chombi: most vintage audio gear just need their electrical switch contacts cleaned and the electrolytic capacitors replaced (these are wear items that are at the end of their life span). If you know how to solder then re-capping an audio piece is pretty simple: just replace with a new cap of same voltage and capacity. As for you Festival 500, it may be that the main power caps are gone, especially if the constant buzz is a hum akin to a grounding issue?

Chombi

Yes, it's actually a hum. I have to play the music pretty loud to drown it out. Heard of the grounding problem thing might cause it, but wouldn't a grounding problem be always there from the beginning and not just develop all of a sudden after a few years?
Actually, I had a look around, inside the components, cleaned off what I can, everything looks..."normal", but I remember seeing these two largish/tallish (about an inch in diameter and a bit more than 2 inches tall) blue cylindrical transistor things on one of the main boards and one actually seemed to either had developed a hole/gash at the top of its casing or got accidentally pierced during assembly at the factory. Maybe I'll start by de-soldering and removing those two and getting replacements from an electronics shop? I'm just afraid I might make things worse and cause the components to fritz out on me totally......

Chombi

bigbossman 

In my case, I mean that I buy a non-working unit, download the service manual and schematics, and trouble shoot it to find the problem. Once the problem or problems are found and corrected, I then clean all the switches and contacts, and replace all the electrolytic capacitors.

If you do not have the skills and tools to do this, be very very careful. Many units are more than capable of delivering a fatal jolt if you touch the wrong thing.

At minimum, you'll need:

1) Basic understanding of electronic theory and component identification/function - resistors, capacitors, etc.

2) Basic understanding of transistors - how they function, how to test them, the difference between NPN and PNP, and how to correctly identify the Base, Collector, and Emitter.

3) Proper tools - DVM, isolated probes, soldering iron, hand tools, etc.

4) Be familiar with reading and understanding a schematic.

In your case, it sounds like the protection relay is kicking in to save the unit from being further damaged by a severe fault condition. A audible buzz could be a grounding problem..... or more likely a filter capacitor gone bad, like the one you describe with the "gash". Those "two largish/tallish blue cylindrical transistor things" are the main power supply filter caps, and it sounds like one of yours is burst open and leaking. Stop turning it on until you correct the fault - you'll just be causing more damage until then. Tell me the value of each of them, and I can tell you where to order and how much..... I need to know uf value and voltage rating. A picture would ideal.

Google "dim bulb tester" - read about it and build one before attempting a DIY repair. And BE CAREFUL with those main filter caps - they store an electrical charge, even when powered off, and they can BITE.

I like the 70's stuff because they are all discrete components and so easy to repair. After the early 80's most everything went to IC's and that stuff is a pain to fix.... a lot of those chips are obsolete ANA proprietary. Unobtanium.

Grand Bois

I'm surpised that Bigbossman did tell you about this site:

https://www.audiokarma.org/

There's tons of information there and very knowledgeable people that are ready and willing to help. I bought a Marantz receiver that had low volume on one side. I described the problem on the forum and a local tech offered to fix it for the price of the parts. It turned out to be an exploded cap (that I should have seen) he replaced the stereo pair and charged me $1. I'm listening to it right now. I love the 3 martini sound of '70s Marantz!

rekmeyata

There are places on the internet you can send it to and have it fixed if you don't have local access to a electronic repair place. Problem is some the later HK stuff wasn't a whole lot better then Sony! When HK moved their production out of Japan to Korea their reliability went way down, then it went from bad to worse when they moved from Korea to China. If you have one of the Korean or Chinese made components it's probably not worth fixing, and mini systems like you have can be real nightmare for parts and repairing.

What people don't realize when they buy modern stereos from big box stores is that the electronics are very fragile, their built using computer processors and those processors are susceptible to damage from surges coming into the power line. And people don't use surge/line conditioner/protectors thinking they don't need it yet won't think twice about using one on their computer!

If you decide to buy a new shelf system, today's big box store shelf systems are garbage just like their home stereo's they sell and their sound stinks. Some like the Bose are extremely over priced and over rated; if you're going to pay $1,000 for a Bose Wave you would be better off at half the price and get the Sony Muteki LBT-ZX99I, or the JVC NXD2!! I'm serious, these less expensive then the Bose systems sound far far better then the Bose.

Ideally if you're wanting to different system then keep tabs on Craigslist and try to find a vintage stereo receiver and speakers, while you're searching for one be reading about all the different vintage stuff you can find to gain some knowledge, then when you think you found one on Craigslist do a web search to make sure it's decent. Keep in mind that even a lowered powered vintage receiver rated for say 45 watts per channel is equal to about 120 watts per channel from modern Big Box stereos. Be careful of vintage speakers though, a lot of those speakers used foam surrounds and they rot which means you would have to have them refoamed, which can be done, but you don't want to overpay for speakers only to find out they need a refoam kit, but a higher end speaker that needs refoaming bought cheap can be a real find. Same thing can be true with a non-working or a noisy vintage stereo, if it's a high end receiver it may be worth buying it cheap then sending it off to have it rebuilt which may cost $300 to $500 but you would have basically a new vintage receiver. Or you can buy them already restored, there's a couple of places on the internet that sell them.

As far as hooking up CD and/or DVD players to these old systems it's not a problem, you can even hook up your TV through them, but a Blue Ray disk cannot be played through them due to the lack of an optical input.

Teaching yourself how to repair such stuff can be tricky, you could do it, but you would have to learn first on a bunch of old useless systems before tackling a good one, you screw up a good one and there will be no way to fix it after that. The other posters have more thoughts on this so read their stuff.

bigbossman 

^^ What he said.

Sorry I didn't mention it...... slipped my mind as I was in a hurry to get out the door and score a bunch of war-time blues/big band 78's

Grand Bois

You can get real bargains by buying speakers with rotted foams and re-foaming them yourself. It's something that needs to be done about every 15 years, but people think that they speakers are trash. That's how I got my AR 48s for $10. I paid $40 for a refoam kit, but it contained everything I needed to refoam the miids and woofers. I was able to refoam a couple more sets with the glue and voice coil shims supplied with the kit. Anybody can do it if I can.


I've been working on a TEAC A-4070G reel to reel deck today and it's driving me nuts. It makes me feel better that an ex TEAC lead tech told me that they all hated working on that particular model. It's built unlike all of the other A series decks that I'm very familiar with. They're great when they're running right because they record in both directions and will play continuously because they also auto reverse in both directions. The capstan drive belt keeps shifting onto the larger-diameter 50HZ portion of the pulley which makes it play too fast. Frank Sinatra sounds like a little boy. It's a new belt, too.

bigbossman 

Yup - I've picked up some nice speakers for practically nothing because the foam surrounds were rotted away. just today I turned down a pair for free.... I was out at a garage sale and I heard the wife ask the husband about bringing out the speakers. He said they were "broken" so he was going to toss them instead. I asked about them, and he offered them for free.

Had they been a nice set of Advents or something similar, they would be mine. Unfortunately, they were lower end stuff, and I already have two pairs of those cluttering up the garage. Hey - any of you local guys need a nice set of late 70's Realistic Minimus speakers? Floor sized, real wood, good working order. Free - come and get them.

I did pick up a pile of war-time 78's yesterday....... Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Artie Shaw, and a bunch of blues/jazz. Don't have a deck that plays 78's, so off to eBay with those.....

Grand Bois - you're a better man than me. I've fixed many receivers, amps, and tuntables, but have never been confident enough to try my hand at a cassette or RTR.

RobbieTunes

One of the Communist conspiracies of the 70's and early 80's was the color of the components. This I believe. The Marantz didn't quite match the Pioneer didn't quite match the Kenwood didn't quite match the Sansui. The mix and match drove me nuts, but it also caused many a man to buy matching components. Like bbm, I dug the silky smooth SX Pioneers, and the tape decks that matched, but Pioneer was smart and put the "matching" wood only on the upper level decks once they got their auto-reverse down pat.

None of my black gear is plastic. All Kenwood: C2, T2, 2xM1's, into the AT-200 timer/switching center. Though the speakers have devolved from dbx Soundfield 1's to Polk RT-12C's to Klipsch Forte II's, 99% of my listening at home is via my AR wireless phones.

Where the "other people" live in my home, the audio is the Bose 1-2-3 system, which sounds OK if you like your Dancing with the Stars to have decent sound.

bigbossman 

Today's garage sale finds, in vg+ or mint condition:

Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads (mono)
Animals - Best of The Animals
Beatles - Rubber Soul
Beatles - Sgt Pepper's
Mama's and The Papa's - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears Not the "toilet" copy.

$1 each

fender1

On my way to Target tonight so my son could by a water gun for day camp, I saw this out for trash. It was about to pour, dark clouds and lightning, so I quickly threw it in the back of the car. I plugged it in and it seems to work. Sansui 800A and a set of SP-2000 speakers.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

How did I do?

Grand Bois

Some Sansui receivers have an issue with one of the boards that can cause them to burst into flames! I'm not sure, but I think that the 5000 is one of them. I owned a new one for about two weeks before I sold it and bought an AU-777. I had no problems with the receiver, I just thought the separates looked cool.

The Golden Boy 

Let me know how you like those speakers...

Chris_in_Miami

Yesterday at the Goodwill, I walked past the professional pickers hovering at the entrance to the sorting area, and found a pair of Klipsch speakers (KG2's I think) on the shelf. They're two-way with a passive radiator, sound pretty nice.



The cat approved them immediately.

rekmeyata

Looks like the main driver on one of them was replaced at one time or another. They should have replaced the both drivers since you can't duplicate the exact sound by using two different drivers, although there was a replacement woofer made by Klipish that looks like the white one, you would have to unscrew the speaker from the box and look at the rear magnet housing to see if that's the one. They should have replaced them both since that white one only cost about $20 each! Then if there is any sound coloring differences between the original and replacement it would have been eliminated. Actually as long as a person replaces the speaker with the same size and done in pairs you could put any brand speaker in the box.

I saw a pair of Cerwin Vega's with the 10" woofer at a Goodwill, so I eagerly took the front grill off to check the cones and the big woofer was torn so I passed, too bad because they would have worked great in the garage.

Chris_in_Miami

The one on the left is showing the passive radiator on the rear of the enclosure. The drivers match, and I think these may be the original units.

Veloh

Anyone have advice in re-foaming? I have BOSE 301 Series II that need re-foaming. Where's a good place to get replacement foam? What glue should I use? Is there a difference between generic eBay foam or something that costs X2 or X3 as much? Feel free to PM me if I'm too off topic.

bigbossman 

Partsexpress.com. They'll sell you the right kit, or do the re-foam for you for a very reasonable price. I highly recommend them - great folks to deal with.

https://www.parts-express.com/term/bo...ose+301+refoam

Grand Bois

I ordered a subwoofer from Parts Express. It had a terrible hum and I didn't like the way it sounded. It was no problem sending it back, but the shipping cost me $50.

I get all of my bulbs from dgwojo.com after out of spec bulbs from another source caused an issue with a receiver. He tests all bulbs before shipping them to make sure they're in spec. I just ordered a couple of Marantz power switches from him. The generic switch that someone put in one of my receivers lasted less than a year. It won't turn off!

rootboy 

This is a very interesting discussion. I sure wish I lived closer to one of you guys. I'm out of my element here. Picked up this nice amp last Spring. Pioneer SA 9500. What a machine. Worked fine. Until it didn't. Push button power switch, a wear item, is intermittent. I think it's just worn out.



So, at the moment I have it bypassed by plugging directly into a power strip. I would love to replace it but not holding out much hope for finding an original one. I did get a recommendation for a replacement switch on Audio Karma but will probably have to retro-fit or alter the original aluminum button. Problem is, I have no idea about which would be the proper capacitors to replace the two evident on this switch. Would one of you guys be willing to help me figure it out? Notice that rather ominous sign of heat showing on the plastic switch enclosure.

T-Mar

I've got about 450 LPs and an equivalent number of CDs. The LPs are mostly 1950s to 1970s. The CDs are primarily 1950s rock 'n roll and older female vocalists. It's just too hard to find this stuff on vinyl, in decent condition. The only modern artist that I listen to is Katie Melua.

The hardware is mostly mid-1970s: Rabco ST-7 turntable, Hafler DH101 kit built preamp, Harman-Kardon Citation Sixteen power amp and KEF Ref 104ab loudspeakers with upgraded crossovers and long disintegrated foam grills. The only modern concession is the CD player. I've been sitting on the fence for a while, trying to decide whether to buy an Oppo BDP-95 Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-Ray disc player. If Dramatico suddenly decided to bring Melua's catalog out on SACD, it would probably push me off the fence. I'm also constanly on the lookout for a reasonably priced, 1st generation Oracle turntable.

I'm also still vintage with my video monitor, a circa 1991, 27" Panasonic Gaoo. I have yet to audition of modern TV that does a better job of reproducing B&W, which is critical to me, as I'm an avid fan of silent cinema.

Grand Bois

Rootboy-

I can't help you, but I'm sure you'll get expert advice on the Pioneer Forum at audiokarma.org.

Chris_in_Miami

I refoamed a pair of Altec Lansing speakers about a year ago using generic foam from ebay and Aleen's Tacky Glue from the craft shop. That was the first time for me and it was very simple, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another set of quality speakers with bad foam surrounds.